Building a leather workshop

[Schno]

I went through my garage and I've cleared out 40 square feet of room (8' x 5') with enough clearance to get around easily on all sides. Unfortunately, due to the layout of my garage (which also serves as our walk-in closet), I don't have a wall to anchor against, so it's all free standing. I'm a complete neophyte when it comes to making things out of wood, so I'm kind of trying to work this out by reasonable guesswork. I'm planning on 1/2" plywood for a table top, supported by 4x4s (too much?) I want to leave as much space as possible underneath for bins and storage.

Here's the area I have to work with:

And here's the plan I've come up with for my ideal work area:

So if you had 40 square feet for a leathershop, what would you do with it?

[jbird]

howdy!

So for my $.02 this is what I do every day other than leather I am a furnitre cabinet bulider and builder any way the layout looks fine but 1/2 inch plywood is not good enough in my opinion use 3/4 plywood and were you are thinking about 4x4 posts I would build a basic box out of plywood and put shelfs in them screw these to the ply wood top, other wise it will not be stable for pounding and sewing plus you kill to birds with one stone. With it being free standing you must make it stable or you will not be happy. One trick you can use is to build the boxes so you can ad wieght like a sand bag or something. Well good luck hope this was not hard to understand.

Josh

[UKRay]

Schno, I'd definitely go with Josh on the thicker plywood. The thinner stuff would be a misery to work on as everything will bounce and jump about too much. The box idea is a good one too.

Whn I built my workroom I was fortunate to find some well made, solid oak ex-library tables and just resurfaced them with larger chunks of heavy sheet material to make them fit the available space. IMHO, especially if cost is an issue, I would suggest you go this route. Find existing furniture with built in storage (solid old desks are great) and resurface with ply or something similar (maybe raised up on battens to take your inset slab) to make them fit exactly into the space you have allocated. You might also want to add some provision for template, lace and strap storage plus a proper 'self-healing' cutting surface as this will save your knife blades and your temper! LOL

[Schno]

IMHO, especially if cost is an issue, I would suggest you go this route. Find existing furniture with built in storage (solid old desks are great) and resurface with ply or something similar (maybe raised up on battens to take your inset slab) to make them fit exactly into the space you have allocated.

I definitely like the idea of building off of a pre-existing base. I can probably find a decent oak desk on craigslist.com for cheap.

I would build a basic box out of plywood and put shelfs in them screw these to the ply wood top, other wise it will not be stable for pounding and sewing plus you kill to birds with one stone.

I'm not entirely sure I get the plywood box idea. Wouldn't that require that the backside of the box be closed? I'd like to be able to access the area underneath my workbench from either side. I do suppose it would be more solid, though. I'll have to think about that one a bit.

1/2 inch plywood is not good enough in my opinion use 3/4

Thanks for the warning! 3/4 definitely sounds sturdier and it's not really all that more expensive

So, aside from a vice are there any other generic table-top tools that you guys find especially useful to have mounted somewhere? I was considering a buffing/grinding wheel combo...

[DCKNIVES]

Well, I'll be the odd man out.Working in small shops and my garage my whole life has given me an appreciation for being efficient.Since it will be in the center of the room my thoughts would be to have a bench that is somewhat mobile. I would look into a couple of roll-away tool box bottom cabinets and attach your top to them with clamps or bolt them together.Additional cabinets and add-ons can be added using thumb screws.The roll-aways have brakes to keep it in place and will offer alot of storage room.I use a couple for my knife and leather supplies and love them, and should I need to move them I can easily. Just a thought.Dave

[Meleck]

Check the free section of the Plans Now website ( http://www.plansnow.com/mdplans.html ). They have a few workbenches you can base your worktable on. You may also want to check this site for free plans .They have desk and workbenches plans. Some of them are pretty involved but the office desk ( http://ourhouse.ninemsn.com.au/ourhouse/fa...shop/08/896.asp ) seems fairly easy to realize.
For the table top, I recommend a technique I learned from the Shopnote magazine. You can use MDF as a body for your table top. It's a little heavier and more stable than plywood. To avoid the problem that MDF has of absorbing water, you glue a piece of 1/4" hardboard over the MDF. You can also use double-sided tape to be able to replace the hardboard. The hardboard is very resistant to pounding but not that resistant to cutting. Anyhow, it's a stable surface that is remarkebly smooth.

Edited May 2, 2014 by Johanna

[ArtS]

The base for my workbench are two old oak bank desks. Probably from the 1950s. They bug and wide but most of all solid. I have a 3/4" plywood layer on top of that and then a thin (about 1/4) layer of that press board (what they make put holes in for pegboards). I cut the insert for my granite out of the press board and plywood.

ArtS

[Schno]

I've been out of it for a few weeks while I've been building this. But finally, I've made the move from a cramped room in my house where I lived in mortal fear of accidentally dumping dye all over the floor to my garage where I'll live in not quite as mortal fear of dumping dye all over the floor.Here's where I've been working for the last six months:

And this is my new Official Artisan SkinCraft Island of Doom and Sewing Center!

Thanks to everyone for your input and advice. This was my first go at building anything like this. It was a lot of fun to design and build and I learned a lot that I didn't know. Hopefully soon I'll stop sneezing sawdust. It's time to get back to leatherworking!

Edited October 21, 2008 by Schno

[UKRay]

Its far too tidy, Schno - not anywhere near enough tools strewn around and no little bits of leather and edge shavings on the floor. hey there are no dye stains... Sorry, not good enough!

Nice to see it all came together for you. I'm sure you will enjoy it!

[Luke Hatley]

very clean & neat shop....