Jay’s Standalone Workshop

My shop is approximately 600 square feet in a 2,500 square foot building. There is also an 8’x13′ finishing room on the mezzanine above the shop and two wood racks along the shop and back wall. When needed (like on a recent project where I had a commission for 5 dressers with upper hutches), I spill out to the other 1,900 square feet.

Major power tools are 10” Delta tablesaw with custom wing, 12” Power King bandsaw with the Carter scrolling guide, Jet 14” bandsaw for ripping and resawing, Sommerfeld router table with Triton router, 15” Jet planer, Craftsman 6” belt/9” disc sander, Jet oscillating spindle sander, 12” DeWalt miter saw, Craftsman drill press, 8” Grizzly jointer, Jet 22-44 oscillating drum sander, Oneida cyclone dust collector and Jet DC-650 (that is dedicated to the Jet 22-44ODS, sanding and vacuuming the floor). Tucked away under the stairs to the mezzanine is a 150 gallon compressor. Also present are a Foley-Belsaw circular blade sharpener, belt grinder, Tormek and hand saw filer. You might have also noticed the torsion box top sitting on saw horses and the outfeed table (which has an insert for when I want to use it as a downdraft table.

I have a decent selection of clamps, but honestly need more parallel clamps of the smaller (18” to 24” range) size. Most of the clamps are either in the framing of the mezzanine or hanging along the edge. I also made clamping cauls on the jointer to reduce the number of clamps required for glue ups.

Although I started out as a Normite, I’d say the shop is becoming more and more blended. I have to give Marc credit here. It would likely have been a long time before I knew about or purchased a router plane, for example, but have used it countless times. I know it has improved the quality of my power tool joints. I included a couple of photos of some of the handtools. My #7 and #51 Lie-Nielsen’s were tucked under the bench, as well as my DMT and Shapton sharpening stones.

I’m sure I am missing stuff, so please feel free to ask questions. You can also take a look at the Facebook page. There are more detailed photos there. Also, very quickly about me…I’m an architect by training and started woodworking when I was in my teens (I’m now in mid 30’s) under my grandfather’s watch. Still it’s only very recently that I began pushing to get a shop set-up, tuned up and running in order to make projects for myself, family and commissions.

The images were taken in between projects and originally intended for updating the insurance records, but I thought I’d post them here too. For what it’s worth, since I started vacuuming the shop instead of sweeping, it seems to stay cleaner and also cleans up faster. BUT, for those of you who hate clean shop photos…don’t worry, it is trashed now!