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My Current Shop

Overview of My Third and Current Shop (2003-today):
When we decided to move from Westland, one of the major requirements of our new house was that it had the room to support a good sized basement woodshop. Well, I got what I wanted, and I’m now in another basement shop. It’s fantastic. Cool in the summer, warm in the winter, I don’t share space with vehicles, the floor is relatively level, and I’ve even got an egress window to let in plenty of sunlight and fresh air. My only challenge is getting tools and plywood downstairs and completed pieces upstairs, but with a little planning that’s not a big roadblock.

One of the investments that’s given us the most “peace of mind” is a good alarm system. Ours is monitored and covers all areas of our house – including the shop. A smoke detector and fire extinguisher are also a must, and this shop has those bases covered as well. I also installed rubber interlocking mats over most of the concrete floor to help keep my feet warm and cushioned. I feel very comfortable and as safe as can be expected in my shop.

Here’s an overview of the shop layout. Overall size is 20'x22'. This should help put the photos that follow in perspective.

Front and center, my Unisaw with Excalibur overarm blade guard and shop-made outfeed table/downdraft table:

A couple recent shop additions forced a redesign of the original floor plan. I placed the planer and jointer in the middle of the shop to the right of the Unisaw. I ended up liking this configuration better since it groups all the lumber prep tools in one area and provides plenty of room for infeed and outfeed. This pic is from the other corner of the shop on the back side of the Unisaw.

Circling around the shop, starting from the SouthWest corner, my workbench with pegboard storage:

And to the right, more pegboard storage, CMS station, my grandfather's old Gerstner tool chest, a PC with internet access and all my MP3s for music, and a file cabinet:

Continuing around, here’s the PSU banner, toolboxes, drill press, bit storage cabinet, and router table:

Moving “right” along (ha ha – get it?), the bandsaw, scrollsaw, and drum sander:

Here is the egress window, clamp storage area, and lathe:

Here is the dust collector, comfy chair, and wood storage. You can also see part of the air cleaner hanging from the ceiling in the upper right corner of the picture:

Finally (sort of) the shelves that I use to store the dovetail jig, sanders, fasteners, finishing supplies, spare parts, etc. To the right of the shelves we come full circle in the shop to the sharpening center and the hand tool cabinet above it:

You can find much more detailed info about the shop equipment on my Tools and Shop Projects & Jigs pages.

Questions/comments? Send me an email!