My Workshop Tour

Eric Patterson

Moderator
Staff member
I posted this on owwm.org and figure you folks would be interested too so l'll repost it below.

Well, not really a tour, more like a few pictures to look at and me collecting my thoughts in writing as I look to the upcoming year. This is the time of year I don't do much at the shop. It's hunting season and I spend a fair amount of time with my son duck hunting. But hunting season ends on Jan 29th and Feb and March are the best months to make shop progress. No hunting, no yard, and too early for food plots and improvements at the hunting property mean weekends and some weeknights are prime time for workshop projects.

The big project for the upcoming year is to complete the upstairs at the shop which is being turned into living space, a tiny home if you will, of 360 square feet of bachelor pad to be built in the craftsman style. When I built my shop I had the area above the woodshop made with attic trusses. Looking back I should have done the whole shop with attic trusses. At the time I didn't realize how much could be done with that space and was pinching pennies. Like everyone says, "I should have gone bigger." But I digress. As of today the upstairs is framed, electrical and plumbing roughed in. The interior work is about to begin. First on tap is to machine that heart pine auction win for the bead board ceiling, install and insulate. That should keep me busy for a while.

Hard to believe my building was completed eight years ago. My middle son was a freshman in high school when the build started. He's an Auburn grad now. Plus my oldest graduated cc, and daughter is about to head off to Auburn. Damn time flies! The woodshop isn't completely finished, but it is close. I still have to run dust collection ducting and the Newman tenoner needs to be restored. But beyond that the workshop to-do list is empty and it will just be an evolutionary process.

The shop is 40x70 with 12' ceiling and the woodshop is 30x40. The remaining 40x40 is for parking boats, storage and a general work space. Construction style is pole barn on a 4" thick slab. This isn't a detached shop. I built it on a lot about 10 minutes from my house. The thought being we will move someday and I don't ever want to move my shop, plus HOA prevented me from going big. The biggest upside is the shop is essentially a commercial building and has appreciated much more than were it a detached shop. There are some things I would do differently today, but I do not regret one second building the shop. It is the gathering place for myself and friends and used multiple times a week with no end in sight. Upon retirement I plan to run a small business of making duck hunting related items such as classic gunning boxes, duck calls and displays, taxidermy shadow boxes etc..

I'll just post the woodshop pictures now and quit rambling, but I'm happy to answer any questions about the shop, machines, or anything else.

Eric

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Eric,

I have shop envy. You have done a great job with it. And it is so clean!

Yup definitely green right now with envy...
 
Eric,
The shop really turned out nice. You did an outstanding job laying out, finishing, and equipping it. Only shortcoming I can see is you need to find a bigger bandsaw; the one you have now looks a little small for most woodworking jobs ;)

v/r
Bill
 
Richard

These pictures were taken for the owwm.org calendar, therefore I cleaned the shop. Typically I clean the shop after every project. But in the midst of a project it can get pretty bad.

Thanks for the compliment.

Eric
 
Bill

I've added a few more machines and benches since we cut your Cackler parts. My machine wish list is pretty short these days and for sure another bandsaw is not on it. Next time I need to move the Tanny I'm calling you :)

Eric
 
Always love your shop pics.

I've come to realize that I really dislike and want to forever minimize my time spent setting up and maintaining tools - which is something I know you love. I'm building in my head my future retirement shop and have most of what I need - good 10" table saw, good 12" planer, good 12" miter saw, jointer (have a 6, am looking for an 8" long bed parallelogram).

I noticed the track for the miter saw. Do you find that it works well for you? It seems awesome, but sometimes things that seem awesome aren't as useful as they would seem.
 
Tod

I'm not so sure I'd say love. Once I complete a machine restoration the last thing I want to do is work on it again. In fact, I am truly fatigued on machine restorations and with only one left (Newman Tenoner) I am winding that part of my shop development down. It's time to work in the shop rather than on it. I have a lot of projects on the horizon. The living space over the shop will get a lot of attention this year and then the BBSB restoration, another Devlin build, and as I head into retirement I look forward to more duck hunting related woodworking projects. Speaking of that, after searching for a long time I have found a box joint machine, aka hauncher, in Nebraska. I am making arrangements to pick it up in Feb. This machine opens the door for me to start making the traditional gunning boxes I've dreamed of making for years using traditional box joint joinery. Most folks cut box joints one finger at a time. That's okay for a few boxes but I want to make and sell a bunch. This machine cuts all the fingers at once up to 20" wide. It's a survivor from when goods were shipped in wooden crates before cardboard. Most of these machines were scrapped. I'll keep you guys updated on this purchase.

Almost forgot, yes, the stop block T track works very well. I use it all the time. Occasionally I have to clean the dust out of the track, but it is quite helpful and makes for fast and repeatable cuts.

Eric
 


Steve Steffy said:
Do you even work in there?! Where is all the saw dust and wood shrapnel?

Very nice!!


I was thinkin it but then you wrote it.

Mighty fine machine restoration museum that few places can touch. Very impressive indeed. Would take many days, or many folks for clean up afterwards I imagine. Way beyond my ability.


my 2 cents
 
Eric

Wow, looks great. Would have looked sooner, but been busy with hunting, barn and then website being down. Now to study your pictures.
 
Eric Patterson said:
The big project for the upcoming year is to complete the upstairs at the shop which is being turned into living space, a tiny home if you will, of 360 square feet of bachelor pad to be built in the craftsman style.

Eric

Two things, I'm going to assume your "out of state visitor reservations" for those living quarters, is already booked solid for the next ten years. [cool]

2nd observation, I see what you did with that last shop photo. Anybody viewing the previous photos who was not green with envy by that time, would then be seeing green, when presented with the last photo. You sneaky devil you. (yes, this is the way your original photo displays on my computer screen, except of course for the added text)
 
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Dave

The green pic is the result of something going on with the new server move, I think, maybe. Not sure why it is happening but I've seen it happen a couple times now. Weird behavior, not meant for effect.

Eric
 
Eric Patterson said:
Dave

The green pic is the result of something going on with the new server move, I think, maybe. Not sure why it is happening but I've seen it happen a couple times now. Weird behavior, not meant for effect.

Eric

Green or not,,,,,,,,,, nice shop. [wink]
 
All

Thanks for the compliments. I have derived much pleasure from my workshop and I know you guys can appreciate the work that went into it.

Eric
 
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