Guitar Gear Forum

I’m fortunate to have a really cool workshop in my backyard. From what I can tell, it was built shortly after my house was built in 1962. When I bought the house, I was told it was called a ‘Mother-in-Law house’ - but I said “nope - workshop”, and removed all the carpet, closet, and anything else resembling a living space to move my tools and machines into. I use the room for wood and (basic) metal working for projects around the house (mainly molding, decorations, etc around the house), and am planning to get into guitar, furniture, and cabinet making as a part-time hobby. I’m also wanting to get my kids in there so they can learn how to build things with their own hands.

The shop is a completely self-standing, 1-room structure, which measures about 19’ by 11’ on the inside, with a ceiling that’s just shy of 8’ on one side and slopes down to about 7’ on the other. I wish it was a little taller and wider, but I can’t complain. Because of the way it’s situated - detached from my main house, separated from neighbors by a cinder-block fence along one side, and the house on the other side being on land that steps up about 4’ - very little noise from my machines gets to anyone, making it nearly as sound-mitigated as the studio in my garage

Up to this point, I’ve done some basic setup in the room, placing machines, workbench, tool storage, and shelving where I thought they would work out, but I’ve always wanted to set it up well, with electrical, dust collection, and compressed air located throughout for convenience, and my machines set up to maximize what I can produce in there. What follows is a log of things I’m doing to get the shop outfitted for these activities.

Here’s a couple of pics. They show where the room is situated, relative to my garage and the closest neighbor. Notice their roof is much higher than mine, which gives a sense of how much their house is stepped up from mine (helps a lot with the sound mitigation for both the studio and shop). You can also see the funky sloped ceiling (starts tall on the front, slopes down toward the back). Yes, the thing looks like a redneck paradise, but I’ve been doing a lot of cleanup inside, which means that a bunch of stuff has been moved outside that can stand to be left in the outdoors while I fix things up on the inside.

So, here starts the real confession. I'm a pack-rat, and a slob at times. I tend to grab a box, throw a bunch of tools and materials in it, do some job in the attic, in the house, outside the house, etc., and that box gets tossed in back with the mess. Or I'll use hand tools with the machines and have stuff all over the place in the shop. The pics below show some of the resulting piles left after a pretty thorough first-pass at cleaning up (didn't have the heart to photo it at that point). Basically, I've got a ton of room for improvement. My machines and tool areas needs attention, organization, setups, and improvements in the worst way.

Looking in from the door - back left corner



Looking further to the left - front left corner



From the door, - back right corner



And the right side

A starting list of projects looks like this

• Basic cleanup and organization - all tools and machines put (generally) where they belong, sweep the crap out of the entire space (including the thousands of bee carcasses, which I'll cover below this list), hardware collected and ready for sorting
• Rack storage for the wood, pipes, and other large and small (cutoff) materials I have around for various projects. Everything has been stored in corners, in boxes, on the floor, against machines, you name it. Seriously demoralizing to deal with.
• Table saw improvements - I've got an awesome, massive , heavy, and large cabinet saw that is not only useful for cutting material, but it also serves as an assembly table. Unfortunately, it also doubles as a collector for tools and crap that I'm working on, and I constantly endanger myself by cutting long material without proper extension tables on the back and side of the saw. I also have some large jigs and fences that need to have convenient storage places (rather than the middle of the floor) to put them when not in use
• Router table - I built a small router table to do small projects. It's located in a bad place and needs proper dust collection. I'm rebuilding it into the right-side extension on the table saw.
• Downdraft sander - the extension on the table saw looks like a perfect place for a sander table, which will be hooked up to my dust collector and help keep the shop cleaner.
• Electrical system - I've got sketchy power coming into the shop from the garage from a subpanel that I've had to reconfigure for my studio. Time to pull a proper 50 amp, 220 volt subpanel, so I can set up my 220 volt tools on their own breaker(s) and have solid power lines for outlets (which I want to locate throughout the room and hanging from the ceiling) and lighting (which needs to be expanded).
• Dust collection - I have the machine and some temporary hoses. Want to plumb the system along the walls for all the major machines.
• Workstation organization - the machines, workbench(es), storage, racks, etc. all need to be organized to maximize the space, to allow for larger projects to be built efficiently, so I can keep my mind on woodworking rather than constantly having to find where I left something in the middle of messville. Also want to make it conducive to my kids being able to come in and work safely on projects of their own.
• Kid-proofing - I've got machines in there that will think nothing of ripping an arm off an beating you to death with it. Switches are all too easy to hit, and become more than dangerous in a hurry. I want to set the space up so that I can contain my kids in an area where only hand-tools are available, and also be able to disable (through breakers or switches) the machines so they can't be turned on unless enabled.

That's a pretty good to-do list of things I can do with little or no additional $$$ investment. Beyond all that, I hope to acquire a bandsaw and oscillating spindle sander along with more stuff for my routers and other tools.

A big part of the momentum for this began a couple months ago, when my youngest son and his Webelos group were receiving their Arrow of Light award, which is the highest rank they can achieve in Cub Scouts, and culminates in their 'Bridging ceremony' that graduates them into the Boy Scouts.

We had a pattern for a wall plaque left over from when my oldest son went through the same process, and I decided to make awards for the 7 boys in Dylan's group so that we could hand them out at the ceremony. The pic below show us working in the mess, before I got fed up and started doing something about it.



Then we took the cutouts to the Webelos meeting, and put the boys to work sanding and painting





Here's the 7 completed awards. We made standoffs for the Indian arrow out of dowel cutoffs, and fixed them in place with leather strips. Was cool working with the boys and dads to make these rather than buy them from a store.





And a couple shots of the ceremony. Yes, I know this has nothing to do with my workshop. I'll get back to that in a minute.

After getting things somewhat in order in the shop, the first order of business was to build wood racks, so I could get a bunch of the materials off the floor and out of the way. I'm going to build racks around much of the perimeter up high (can't spare the wall space for multi-level racks), but this one was first.

It ties into the framing around this window



Built up frame using 2x3s using my favorite pocket screws





Getting it mounted



And then building up the rack shelving brackets using 2x3 and triangles cut from scrap plywood



And the finished product. Seriously making a difference. Can't wait to build some more.



Of course, my son can't help but start making his own project. I didn't realize it until later, but he started pounding nails into my workbench and other shop furniture that I've been finding for the past couple weeks.

That's cool. I half expected there to be leather crafting going on too.

damn if I had that when I was a kid I'd probably have more brain cells left . Awesome !

more to come...

yeah looking through the whole thread... this is seriously really awesome. My dad knew how to do a lot of things but had no patience to show a child how so my technical skills are limited. Kids needs skills like this we've lost touch with that as a society.

Pretty slick Grime!

I'm happy that I'm not the only one who's tool area is "eh, fuck it i'll put it over here-ish."

Nice setup! I will echo yours and Ovid's lack of tool organization skills. I inherited a bunch of tools from my grandpa years ago and the "tool box" still looks like a f**king dumpster fire

Nice work on the Arrow of Light awards I got my arrow of light then promptly said f**k it when Boy Scouts came along because listening to Megadeth and doing stupid sh!t was much more fun

Modesteban wrote: My dad knew how to do a lot of things but had no patience to show a child how so my technical skills are limited. Kids needs skills like this we've lost touch with that as a society.

My dad did HVAC work for a living and I worked with him a fair bit. I think he was an un-diagnosed tourette's sufferer He passed down a few skills but they came at a price

Good on your Grime for passing the torch down. Without the impatience and profanity; I hope

JiveTurkey wrote:Nice setup! I will echo yours and Ovid's lack of tool organization skills. I inherited a bunch of tools from my grandpa years ago and the "tool box" still looks like a f**king dumpster fire

Nice work on the Arrow of Light awards I got my arrow of light then promptly said f**k it when Boy Scouts came along because listening to Megadeth and doing stupid sh!t was much more fun

Modesteban wrote: My dad knew how to do a lot of things but had no patience to show a child how so my technical skills are limited. Kids needs skills like this we've lost touch with that as a society.

My dad did HVAC work for a living and I worked with him a fair bit. I think he was an un-diagnosed tourette's sufferer He passed down a few skills but they came at a price

Good on your Grime for passing the torch down. Without the impatience and profanity; I hope

I've bought more than one thing again because I know I have it somewhere but it was faster to run to Ace and grab another one than find the one I own.

Ah well. I'm going to be forced to reorganize the area next year since hopefully its becoming a laundry room/half bath.

JiveTurkey wrote:Good on your Grime for passing the torch down. Without the impatience and profanity; I hope

Steve is honestly one of the most genuinely kind and well intended dudes I've met. He's a big warm bear hommie at heart. I bet he has monster patience. Totally untypical personality type for a GABbro

ovid9 wrote:I've bought more than one thing again because I know I have it somewhere but it was faster to run to Ace and grab another one than find the one I own.

Ah well. I'm going to be forced to reorganize the area next year since hopefully its becoming a laundry room/half bath.

Preaching to the choir, Paul

I am rebuying stuff that is already organized in molded cases and I just use it and put it back into said spot in it's case. The old stuff sits in a pile in the corner, rotting away This is expensive but he has helped in the organization process. I know where the stuff is; I just don't want to dig through the d@mn pile to get to it

Thanks for checking it out, dudes. The feedback is great!

I've got a little more to the story that brings me up to date, and will keep adding to this like I did with my garage studio build (see my sig, if you haven't already )

When I saw the thread title; I have to admit it made me think of Slobber Rod's workshop thread (said, of course; with all the love in my heart Slobber )

My tablesaw needs two extension tables. One on the right side, which the fence needs to ride on, and one in the back, to help support wood being cut that's longer than the tabletop. Rather than just build up tabletops that'd probably be used more as 'crap catchers' than anything else, I decided to build one into a router table and the other into a downdraft sanding table.

This series of pics covers the router table extension, which I did this past weekend.

After cutting the support pieces and top to size, everything gets pocket-screws to hold it all together



Parts layed out



Fastened together





Ready to mount to the rails



And on it goes





I was going to rely on the wheels to let me pull the saw out from the wall when I needed to use the router table, but I think I'm going to flip the whole saw around. That way, the router table is ready to go at all times, the sander table (still to come) will be in the workbench area, and the starter switch for the tablesaw will be in the machines area (safer for the kidlets).

With the side extension done, now I get to build the rear one. This'll be a bit more challenging, because it'll be a bunch of weight that has to be supported properly, or it'll wobble when I try to use the sanding table or (worse) it won't hold the weight of the material being run through the saw and give me problems at the worst possible time (like when I'm mid-cut )

It'll become more obvious what I'm doing after I get a bit further this weekend, but here's the first part being installed - 4' section of angle iron that I had to cut down to ~40 inches and bolt to the cabinet.





I've also bolted a couple boards to the top rail in back, which will allow the top to be fastened. This weekend, I'll be installing the support pieces, top, and side boards. Bad description, I know - I'll pull up a pic of what I'm going for when I get a chance.

Thanks for reading. Back in a bit

Major wood! You gots da shop goin on!

Really cool that you're able to share the interest with your son. That's awesome!

Holy crap dude! That looks awesome.

Modesteban wrote:yeah looking through the whole thread... this is seriously really awesome. My dad knew how to do a lot of things but had no patience to show a child how so my technical skills are limited. Kids needs skills like this we've lost touch with that as a society.

Thanks Mike. I consider myself very fortunate growing up. My dad is definitely a jack of many trades.

He had a cabinet shop with his brother when I was born. From that, I learned a lot of woodworking skills. He worked at McDonnell Douglas as an electrical engineer for many years as well as forming and running a CNC retrofitting company for a brief period that I worked for in the summers. From that, I was exposed to computers before anyone else I knew in the 70s and 80s, as well as electronics, programming, and other skills that formed the basis of my 28-year career in IS/IT.

During the late 70s and through the 80s, I learned a lot about construction, electrical wiring, and plumbing by helping him remodel our kitchen and add on about 800-1000 sq foot to the back of the house. And in the 80s, he 'blessed' me with a car that didn't run - told me that if we could get it fixed up and running, it was mine. Wound up tearing damn near everything off the car and rebuilding it. Was a POS, but I learned incredibly valuable mechanical skills that also help me in my job and through my life.

I completely agree about kids needing these skills - it sure as hell has helped me do some amazing things in my life. One of my primary goals with all this is to build guitars from scratch, which requires an incredibly wide variety of skills in woodworking, metalworking, electronics, finishing, and ultimately playing the damn things. I plan to involve my sons in building a couple to learn on, and then get them working on guitars of their own that they'll keep (hopefully for life).

ovid9 wrote:Pretty slick Grime!

I'm happy that I'm not the only one who's tool area is "eh, fuck it i'll put it over here-ish."

Yeah, I learned from the best. My dad was notorious for leaving tools all over the place while we were working on whatever MASSIVE project he dreamed up that day (he's a MAJOR workaholic). From that, I learned the most diverse set of 4- and 5-letter words, along with prime context

JiveTurkey wrote:Nice setup! I will echo yours and Ovid's lack of tool organization skills. I inherited a bunch of tools from my grandpa years ago and the "tool box" still looks like a f**king dumpster fire

Nice work on the Arrow of Light awards I got my arrow of light then promptly said f**k it when Boy Scouts came along because listening to Megadeth and doing stupid sh!t was much more fun

My dad did HVAC work for a living and I worked with him a fair bit. I think he was an un-diagnosed tourette's sufferer He passed down a few skills but they came at a price

Good on your Grime for passing the torch down. Without the impatience and profanity; I hope

Thanks JT. With you guys, I'm glad to know it's not just me (or my dad )

I can't take full credit for the Arrow of Light plaques - one of the other dads in my older son's Webelos Den came up with the pattern. I just took it and did mass-production. I think we made like 11 or 12 that first time. The 7 this time has convinced me that I'm DONE DOING THESE THINGS One of the coolest parts about my son's plaque is that I used some special wood that I recycled from another project - I had a DLP TV on a stand that I was worried that my kids would ruin, so I built a shelf that acted as a bumper in front of the TV, and they ruined that, instead, by running their toys on it, scratching it, drooling on it, chewing on it, etc. So his award has a special sentimental (and DNA) value

About the tourette's, see above. My dad taught me the basics, then my cousin and two foul-mouthed grandpas taught me the rest.

And yeah, my kids have heard some of the fffffoul words, too

ovid9 wrote:I've bought more than one thing again because I know I have it somewhere but it was faster to run to Ace and grab another one than find the one I own.

Ah well. I'm going to be forced to reorganize the area next year since hopefully its becoming a laundry room/half bath.

NOTHING pisses me off more than KNOWING I have some tool, but can't find it, and after making 3 rounds (along with some choice tourette's), finally giving up and making the long drive of shame over to Home Depot. And bonus points for Depot being out of that one thing I need. :

Modesteban wrote:

JiveTurkey wrote:Good on your Grime for passing the torch down. Without the impatience and profanity; I hope

Steve is honestly one of the most genuinely kind and well intended dudes I've met. He's a big warm bear hommie at heart. I bet he has monster patience. Totally untypical personality type for a GABbro

Holy shit, Mike - I don't think you know me very well at all

Seriously, this really made my day. Thanks for the kind words

JiveTurkey wrote:

ovid9 wrote:I've bought more than one thing again because I know I have it somewhere but it was faster to run to Ace and grab another one than find the one I own.

Ah well. I'm going to be forced to reorganize the area next year since hopefully its becoming a laundry room/half bath.

Preaching to the choir, Paul

I am rebuying stuff that is already organized in molded cases and I just use it and put it back into said spot in it's case. The old stuff sits in a pile in the corner, rotting away This is expensive but he has helped in the organization process. I know where the stuff is; I just don't want to dig through the d@mn pile to get to it

Tell you what - I am a pro about justifying new tool purchases when I have a new project to do. Hanging a new door? I just HAVE to have a new hinge mortising jig and a jointer. Hell, lets get a new router to go with it. Oh, $3 off the newest 20v Lithium DeWalt drill? Fuck yeah!

JiveTurkey wrote:When I saw the thread title; I have to admit it made me think of Slobber Rod's workshop thread (said, of course; with all the love in my heart Slobber )

must have missed that one. Link?

ajaxlepinski wrote:Major wood! You gots da shop goin on!

Really cool that you're able to share the interest with your son. That's awesome!

Always wanted to make a line of woodworking-related clothing (hats, bibs, etc.) that played off the 'Got Milk?' campaign... 'Got Wood?'

Having the kids involved makes it all mo' betta

JerEvil wrote:Holy crap dude! That looks awesome.

Thanks, buddy! Gotta keep the GABros woodworking momentum going, eh?

Hell - we oughta start a woodworkers thread to show off our latest projects. The GABroskis!

Sweet workshop dude. I'd love to extend mine a bit for messy work. My repurpose the basement for woodwork stuff. Also kreg jigs are awesome. I had one but someone stole it