Where is your workshop?

P

Philadelph

Joined
May 23, 2008
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Here's another question that lots of people could benefit from hearing the answers to: Where exactly is your workshop?

Not in terms of geographic location, but as in "my garage" or whatever. Personally my setup is currently a little scattered because I don't live in my own "house". I have a room in that basement with most stuff and a couple tools in the garage. Neither is a good situation. The basement room is so dark even with full lighting and the garage obviously has temperature extremes. In March I'll be moving and having workshop accessibility will be a huge factor. I am wondering if most people's shops are part of their homes or if anyone actually rents a workshop? So basically, you can give as much or as little info as you want and it will help me in my decision (others too hopefully)! Thanks
 
My forge area is a converted "Cover It" tent, and the rest of my shop is in the basement. Check out the "Shop tour" page on my web site to see what I mean.
 
my shop is in the boiler room in the basement...it is very small and cramped, and i would love to move into a larger area where i could fit more tools... i would love something like a 2 car garage. maybe in a couple of years i will be somewhere that i can setup a real shop.

edited to add; patrick reminded me another problem besides general space with my shop. i have to walk around with my head down because of how low the ceilings are...it's not a huge problem but it gets annoying.
 
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My shop is in a detached garage built, by me, as a woodworking shop 15 years ago.

Interest have changed over the years so now it's my knife making shop.

Charles
 
Low ceiling basement, thank god I've got cement floors. One day I'd like to have shed. Right now it's set up for jewelry, but just got my grinder bench and vacuum/dust collection set up today.

Patrick

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I'm lucky enough to be an a home with a separate building (too small though).

The attached garage is full of tools, tractors and stuff
(never understand the people who have room for keeping their cars indoors at the exclusion of tools...different mentality)

I kinda believe if i was starting from scratch, I would keep the knife shop away from the house...that griding dust will migrate from the basement into every part of the house...

It's not permanently heated, and a real pain in Winter...one more excuse to not go out...
If it was inside the house, or permanently heated, it would be so much easier to step in more often for small bits of time.

Lighting
Maybe I'm getting old, but i like lotsa light..
Fluorescent tube lights with Phillips DAYLIGHT tubes are helping me out...a more blue light, is not so dim as the normal tubes, or yellow incandescent bulbs. (TSC is having some specials lately in my area)

tip
Paint the walls and ceiling white. It reflects 85% of light. Many dumps have paint exchanges setup - get other peoples leftovers free and save the environment at the same time...

Access to doors and the outdoors is important. If you come across equipment cheap, but can't get it into a basement shop...that 's too bad. My father has always insisted on having a walkout basement and now i see why.


Bumping your head? I HATE that...lowering the floor is a lotta work though...
 
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I actually have two separate buildings. My finish shop (which is a 24x24 garage) is located about 20 steps outside my back door. My Blacksmith shop is approx. 25' behind my finish shop, and consists of a 20' X 58' steel building. My photo table, and my engraving bench are located in the basement of the house. I intentionally located things the way they are because each is segregated for the tasks performed within. The Blacksmith shop is all about hot work and steel. The finish shop is just that.....for finishing. Both are heated (just about have to be here in Montana)
The photo table and the engraving bench are located in a climate controlled area of the house, that is comfortable, so that the long hours spent there are as comfortable as possible.

Where ever, and whatever your shop setup is...the key is good lighting! Not just a lot of one kind, but varied sources such as incandescent, florescent, halogen, and even some sodium vapor lights....each will show things the others will not.
I don't think it matters how big or small your shop(s) are....the rule of thumb is that no matter what size it is, the tools inside will quickly grow to overfill it!
 
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Ed I recall on another forum the thread where you posted pics of the building of your shops.... I'm very envious except for the necessity of heated floors. Don't have that problem down here in Bama. :D

Currently I have my benches on one side of our attached garage and forge in the driveway. As soon as the inlaws remove their stuff from the detached workshop/storage building (they just built a freaking 20x40 barn and use my little building to store stuff) I'm building a smithy and wiring up the building out there.
 
Mine is in my basement. It's not the perfect shop, but it's not too bad really. I don't really think it maters where you make them, the basics are still the basics any a bigger, better shop with all new tools won't make any difference untill all the basics are mastered.....At least that's what I tell myself when I'm lusting after a new grinder, or a bigger shop.
 
I have my grinders, lathe and mill in a 12x 24 patio space I enclosed. My forge, anvil, blast cabinet and what not is in a 20x 24 garage a bit beyond the house. I dream of a big shop, with a couple small rooms that I can setup with everything all organized. A 30x 50 shop with a one bedroom studio apartment up stairs would suit me.
 
My forging shop is set up in what used to be a boat shed, at my folks place about 45 miles from my house. I had to move it there after my neighbors started complaining about the noise of pounding on the anvil (whiners!:mad:). My grinders, mini mill, drill press, workbenches, etc... are still located in my garage, which is where I do all of my finishing and handle work. Leatherwork and sheathmaking I do in an extra bedroom that's been converted into a family-type hobby area.
 
I have a 16' X 16' shop about 15 feet outside my back door which is always in a state of total disarray. I built it as a storage building but it got converted to knife shop.
Stan-
 
I'm working out of our garage. It is an oversized 2 car garage and I currently occupy about 1/3 to 1/2 of it. But I can use my space better kick out our old junk and take over all that I want, provided my wife can still get her car in there when I'm not working.

Allen
 
For now its in my basement. A space about 12'x20'. Someday I'll move into my garage, after I get it properly insulated, wired, heated, etc...
 
smitty0331 said:
I don't really think it maters where you make them, the basics are still the basics any a bigger, better shop with all new tools won't make any difference untill all the basics are mastered.....
Click to expand...

I totally agree here. My only problems currently are: the lighting- it is so dark that it's almost depressing working in there. It's not MY house either so I can't exactly change wiring, etc. which brings me to the next problem- electricity. In the WHOLE basement shop area there is ONE working outlet (110v) which can be scary. The things that need to be plugged in at one time or another: 1.5 hp Bader Grinder, metal cutting bandsaw, wood bandsaw, shop vac, 1x30 belt sander, dremel, my fiancé's pottery wheel, a storage freezer, the one GOOD light that I use to light my work area from above (still inadequate), etc... Also, the walls are all unfinished and obviously not white which doesn't help. So I need a better option. I'll be moving soon which I can't wait for. One consideration that I'm also thinking about is heating. A detached shop would be great, but not on freezing winter days unless the heating was all setup. So I'm wondering how you garage/out-back guys manage.
 
Mine is in the basement too, and it's a fact the dust migrates everywhere. I use a lot of rugs on the floor to keep the tracking down, and hung tarps to enclose the area a bit. That helps with the dust. I'm lucky to have a high ceiling and it's dry. I really appreciate having a decent climate to work in year-round.

I've learned that Ed's suggestion for multiple kinds of light is a good idea, and I use many different wavelengths/colors of light, from florescent to halogen to good ole incandescent. The bulb-sized florescents are starting to get brighter, and I'm using more of them lately. I also put different temps of floodlights in common shop lights, those aluminum cone things that'll clip anywhere. They're cheap and put out remarkably good light.

Recently I bought a Pelton and Crane dentist's light off eBay. I haven't installed it yet but it puts out a very good light on a specific area. I don't know about the color yet though, whether it'll be beneficial or a pain. We'll see.
 
I had to smile when I read about your wife parking her car in there! That was my concession for building the Blacksmith shop.....one of the 12' bays had to be designated as "Cindy's Parking Space".

I certainly can't complain though. While I was on my last tour of duty in the middle east before retiring from the Air Force, my wonderful wife emailed me saying..."If your going to be a Bladesmith when you retire, then you need a good shop to work in." By the time I had returned home from that TDY, she had already found a steel building company, sent them the specific size requirements, and had received a quote on the building kit.....God bless her!

Her ONLY requirement was that there be an overhead door in one of the bays, and that she could park her vehicle in there.
Even when its nasty cold and snowy outside, she has no problems with me pulling her rig out while I'm in there forging. Talk about a KEEPER! I am truly blessed to have the full support of such a wonderful Lady!
 
I agree Ed, she is a keeper.
I had a 12X32' workshop built behind the house this summer. Still setting up and organizing as I go. Since I haven't started forging yet, hopefully next summer, this size suits me just fine for now.
 
I have a shop in my basement, and it's divided into different areas, with differing amounts of cleanliness. A room with CNC equipment, lasers, and computers; manual mill, lathe and other stuff in another room; and a separate room for finishing. All rooms have white walls and white pegboard and lots of lights. You can't have too many tools, lights, or pegboard. :thumbup:
 
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