Okay So Not Enough Space For A Proper Workbench

[kikilamour]

I have just moved to a new place and to cut a long story short I can comfortably get my machine in but my old workbench will prove too large for the room unless I can get one short enough.

Is it possible to cut, stain etc on the floor in the meantime or am I kidding myself here?

[Northmount]

A lot depends on how your knees behave, and how often you have get up and down for things you left on the counter or where ever. Need to of course protect the floor if it is a finished floor, else you may have another job that will have you on your knees fixing it. Knee pads help with the knees but are a bother too.

Also want to watch for splashes on the front of any cabinets, but that is really nothing new!

Tom

[cgleathercraft]

I have limited space as well and have been staining/finishing on the floor. I lay down some cardboard to protect the carpet and go to work. I leave my granite where it's at on the workbench because I don't like moving it around. When I need to cut a piece out of a side i'll unroll it on the floor. It's the only way i'd have enough room for a full side to lay flat. A full side covers nearly all the floor space I have available. I will rough cut a pattern on the floor with scissors and do my final cuts on poly board on the workbench with a blade of some sort (whatever I feel like using that day).

[HippieLee]

I sometimes do cutting and sewing with just a laptop board on my lap. Not whole sides, of course, but I can get a lot of stuff done in my recliner while watching TV.

And I have a big brown stain on the carpet in front of my recliner to prove it. :-)

[Big Sioux Saddlery]

I have cut parts for quite a few saddles on the floor! My knees are starting to give me some trouble the last couple years, so I don't spend any more time on the floor than I have to anymore. At times I would have more floor space in my house than the table or floor in my shop, and I'd lay out several sides at once to juggle the patterns around. I just kept a cutting board under where I was cutting. Most of it was rough cutting anyway and I'd later cut to size on my cutting table. If you're not picky about dye stains on the floor of your shop, there's no reason you can't do that there as well.