Shop Tour

In November of 2008 we bought a house on an acreage. There were so many things to like about the place but it didn’t have a shed and the garage only had 15 amps of power. I knew my woodworking hobby would be on hold until other projects got done. In September of 2009 I finally built a shed and in October I got a sub-panel with more power ran to the garage.

My old garage had interior dimensions of 24′ x 24′. While is was a nice size for a two-car garage, it had a pole in the middle of it, a low ceiling with an I-beam and ducting, plus walls that weren’t very useable. My new garage is smaller at 22′ x 22′ interior but I think it will be a better shop as it has tall ceilings and no pole in it! Below are pictures of my new shop which is finally ready to cut some wood.

My cabinet saw is a Steel City with 50″ cutting capacity. This saw is a powerhouse and it’s amazing how smoothly it runs. I built the outfeed table for it.

I have a Grizzly 17″ bandsaw which I bought right before we put an offer on our new house so I haven’t used it much at all.

My Grizzly 8″ jointer has been a solid performer. 95% of the wood I use is rough-sawn so this machine gets a workout.

Every board that gets ran across the jointer also goes through my Shop Fox 15″ planer. This machine is a workhorse.

I absolutely love my Jet 16-32 drum sander. It’s amazing how much time it saves cleaning up glued-up panels.

The Harbor Freight dust collector was made famous on the Woodnet forums. There is nothing to brag about with this dust collector but it has done the job.

No shop should be without a drill press and my Grizzly has done just fine. Notice the treats on top for when my little buddies come visit me.

I got this Hegner scroll saw from a guy that unfortunately had to give up woodworking because of his eyesight. I haven’t used it much but heard it’s a great scrollsaw.

It’s amazing how much fine dust my Jet air filtration system collects. It’s also great at circulating the air from my heater.

The precision of the Leigh FMT jig is amazing…

…and same can be said about the Leigh D4 dovetail jig. The VRS attachment really improves the stability of the router.

I have 2 DeWalt 618 routers, each with a fixed and plunged base.

I built this classic oak tool cabinet for my shop. Susie says it’s too nice to keep in my shop and I tell her it’s not going anywhere!

I also built this Ultimate Tool Stand. It’s amazing how versitile this tool station is and I think every shop could use one.

This workbench was the very first woodworking project I did. With a solid-core door as the top, it doesn’t look pretty but takes a beating. The cabinets I got for dirt-cheap from a cabinet shop that put the fridge opening on the wrong side. I need to build some simple doors for them.