Show Off Your Bench, Organization, Workshop, And Such...

[nmlvaio101]

I hope nothing like this was posted before. I just like to see how different craft artist have their setup in organization, benches, or workshop to help me or possibly other people get an idea or different forms.

[camano ridge]

It has or similar posts. Check out this thread http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=41062&hl=workbench#entry255496 No harm in posting it again there are probably many people new to the forum since the last time it was asked. As aoon as I unberry my bench I will post a picture.

[nmlvaio101]

Man, I swear I have tried all types of common words to find a similar thread before posting this with very little results. All nuts.

[billymac814]

I've seen how organized some of you are, I'd be half embarrased to post pictures of my shop. Its in disarray right now as I had a guy running wires in here for our Internet, I may post a picture or two when I put some stuff away.

[billymac814]

The first shot is what you'd see coming in the back door. Off to the right is the bathroom and "kitchen" but its not visible. My cutting table is right in front. I have a large bin under it for scraps for patching and under the other half my leather lives rolled up. It also doubles as a dying table if I'm doing large batches of holsters as my dying table is not that big.

This one is towards the front where the patcher and post machines live. Also visible is the area with most of my hardware is and where I install it other than holster hardware.

Next one is where I do most of my work at, in between these two benches, off a little further is my Cowboy, Consew and cutting table and splitter.

Next is a shot of the same area but from the other way. You can barely see my Tippman gathering dust in the right and my holster/clicker press in the front. A small aircompressor under my bench powers it.

The next shot shows my finisher and a few big stitchers for repairing shoes and then in the way back is my dying area with the spray booth

Next shows my press better, the boss sitting there, most of my Blueguns and some dies, the Tormek sharpener and to the left of that is an area for storage, you can't see it but there's 3 metal units full of drawers that I keep small parts in and less used hardware.

My shop is pretty much the definition of 10lbs of crap in a 5lb bag but on well. I plan to get a newer smaller finisher in the next few months, that'll save some room and rearrange some things a bit to be a little more efficient.

[benlilly1]

Billymac, you DO need a bigger shop!! Envious of all your tools!

[WScott]

That is a great shop Billymac

[billymac814]

A bigger shop probably isn't happening anytime soon, it is still a work in progress but I think that I can maximize the space a little better. It was strictly a shoe repair shop up until a little over a year ago and when I bought the place I also got about 35 years worth of clutter and then I moved in about 6 more machines plus the cutting table and workbench, the press and a bunch of smaller stuff. Once I get that big old finisher out and replace it with a smaller modern one that'll spare me a little room and I'm going to switch my benches around.

No matter how much room I have its never enough. It wasn't enough when I was working in my kitchen, then it wasn't enough when I had a dedicated room and its not enough now with 800 sq ft. I have about another 800 sq ft in the front where the counter and store front is. It is a good location in a shopping center now although most people plan to come to my shop so I don't know if it would be that big of a deal if I moved somewhere else but I'd definitely want to spend as much as I can on advertising to let people know I moved and didn't close up although I do get the occasional customer that I wouldn't mind them not knowing where I went:-)

[WScott]

This is a great thread, it is cool to see the big guys and their machines

Edited February 2, 2013 by WScott

[billymac814]

This is a great thread, it is cool to see the big guys and their machines

Did you edit out your picture? I didn't get to see it.

[WScott]

Sorry, it turned into one of those enormous page filling annoying pictures.

It is just a pic of my workbench and window.....it is in my gallery at the end of 'computer bag '

It is hard to re size and adjust Mac/Apple photos on here. I have been email reducing them but that one is HUGE

[MakerUnknown]

WScott,

You on a Mac without a photo editing software? Open the pic in Preview and adjust size through there. Use SAVE AS if you don't want to resize the original

[WScott]

WScott,

You on a Mac without a photo editing software? Open the pic in Preview and adjust size through there. Use SAVE AS if you don't want to resize the original

You, sir, are Awesome.....got it. Wife is making me shut down for now, but "I'll Be Back"

[billymac814]

Yea mine are pretty huge, I take them with my iphone and upload them to photobucket using the app and share them that way. I know they end up being big but if I had to get them on a computer to resize them I'm afraid I probably wouldn't bother. Unless you're talking the kind that are so huge that you can't even see what it is??

[WScott]

Ya, that is the size I am talking about ...it fills the whole $%#ing screen.

You would have to hit the save button on the LR to see the photo on here.... that drives me nuts(er)

[WScott]

Ya, that is the size I am talking about ...it fills the whole $%#ing screen.

You would have to hit the save button on the LR to see the photo on here.... that drives me nuts(er)

Sorry Billy, your pictures are perfectly sized. I was talking about the ones that take over your screen when you open them.

Hope I didn't offend there

[billymac814]

No not at all, I was just making sure that my pictures weren't like that. I'm always on here in the mobile version so I have no idea what size they show up on a regular screen. I know if I send a picture from my phone the size of the file is pretty big too.

Sorry Billy, your pictures are perfectly sized. I was talking about the ones that take over your screen when you open them.

Hope I didn't offend there

[Randy Cornelius]

Here is a few pictures of my shop, added some equipment since this was taken but at least it looks cleaner than it is right now.

Randy

[WScott]

Great looking workspace there!!

Loving your workbench, tools and huge cutting table

Nice stuff

[Basically Bob]

Randy, I really like your shop. It is really obvious that you have spent quite a bit of time planning and thinking about work flow and organization.

[Cyberthrasher]

I'm embarrassed with some of these workspaces that have been shared

The first one here is an overall shot showing how small of a dungeon my wife puts me in.

Here's a closeup of my main desk where i do my tooling, cutting, and sometimes templating (as you can see here). The soda fridge is on the far left.

This is a corner view that shows my wonderful dye rack and leather storage system, plus how I store past artwork. I slap it on the wall for reference while tooling and pretty much just leave it there.

Next up is the dye/glue/finish/burnish table. It also has too much other household stuff crammed everywhere. The gray rubbermaid under it is my primary scrap storage. I'm in the middle of dying this strap, so that's why I'm templating the next one at the wrong table.

Closeup view of the most ghetto stitching pony you'll ever see . It works for me for the time being.

Light box (subbing as more storage at the moment), another scrap box for the little cut-offs, and some seats in various states of work. The beer fridge is on the right.

[billymac814]

That kinda reminds me of my old shop space. I think it was roughly 100 sq ft or somewhere near that. I sometimes think I was more efficient there, all I had to do was spin 180 degrees around in my chair and I was at my sanding and burnished area and spin 90 degrees more and I was at my stitching machine. I only had to get up to dye and cut. Cutting was a real pain though as I couldn't lay a side out anywhere and that was why I knew as soon as I got a bigger shop I'd have a big cutting table.

[Cyberthrasher]

Cutting was a real pain though as I couldn't lay a side out anywhere and that was why I knew as soon as I got a bigger shop I'd have a big cutting table.

That's one of the 2 main things I'd like to fix. I need a longer tooling bench since most of my work is belts and guitar straps. Right now they hang off either side and I'm always afraid of something rubbing wrong. But, the main thing I need is a better cutting table. Right now I take it over to my bedroom floor on the other side of the wall and roll out my side to cut with a large cutting mat underneath the edge. As it is, a good side of leather barely fits in my floor space with all the other junk we have protruding from the walls.

[needles]

I am really jealous of all you guys, i don't have a work area, its permitted only with written consent from the wife signed by both parents, then i can set up on the dining room table until she and the teenager get fed up with the tapping..then its pack it all away again ..one day.......when i take over the world...err well the spare room if im lucky....working on it....

al

[billymac814]

I am really jealous of all you guys, i don't have a work area, its permitted only with written consent from the wife signed by both parents, then i can set up on the dining room table until she and the teenager get fed up with the tapping..then its pack it all away again ..one day.......when i take over the world...err well the spare room if im lucky....working on it....

al

Don't feel bad, I used to fit all my tools and supplies in a box like this. And packed them up each night. I eventually got a desk that I could leave them out, then a whole workbench, then a whole room, then the shop I'm in now.