My new shop layout

[twofour878]

Can I move in??

[badger]

I think working tidily helps keep your head organised.

Great shop!

Karl

[RawhideLeather]

Thanks for that Bruce - now I think I'll go burn my shop down and start over!

[Rayban]

Very impressive Bruce...you would make Al Stohlman proud!

[kseidel]

Great new shop Bruce! As I was looking at your pics, I was thinking how nice to get to see your shop! Well thought out and efficient. After having a big shop, it would be difficult to shrink into a smaller space. I see you are a splitter junkie too....

Keith

[Randy Cornelius]

Bruce, I like what you have done. I will be posting a simular post in the next couple months. I built a new building 2 years ago hoping I would have a new shop soon after but it all takes money to finish. Anyway we put up the ceiling on thanksgiving day being both boys were home to help. Will go up next week and get insulation and wall board. Made them work for dinner!

What I have been tossing up and down is what to do about hardware storage. I seem to have collected a lot of hardware, buckles, rings, dees, snaps and saddle hardware. Seems everytime I order I order more tha needed and then seem to never have the right thing for the next job. Now I have it hanging everywhere so I can see what I have got. I have thought about peg board and those little storage bins and several other ideas but maybe someone can tell me some neat storage way that I have not thought about.

I will post pictures when the shop is complete it is 20 X 30 with a bathroom and everything. It is slowly coming together.

Randy

[bruce johnson]

Thanks for all the compliments and suggestions off and on list. This has been a work in progress, and I have to give credit to about everyone I have had the privelige to visit in their shop. In my old layout the bench with the splitters was more to the center. It kind of divided the room, but allowed me to get to both sides of that bench. The splitters were on both sides, the rein rounder sat diagonally on one corner and the crank skiver on the other. I lost the bench spave it butted up against, and most of the work got done on the tool bench or the table. With the new layout, it really opened the space up, but I lost that other side of the bench to work on. I really like having the two Chase splitters set up. The Krebs style are easily changed and can be reset easier than the Chase patterns. I normally will have the Chases set to a specific depth and not change them much now - one at 11 oz and one at 8 oz. The Krebs does everything else.

One of the PM suggestions I got was to mount the bench tools on boards that slide into a slot. They can be stored out of the way, and slid into a slot for use. In my old shop which was smaller I dropped an Osborne 84 and broke it several years ago. I got a little nervous after that. I got used to the layout of not having a long bench space to work, but may move the rein rounder, crown splitter, and crank skiver to boards. I use them a little less. Once the electrical work is finished, I can finish off the ceiling. I am going to put in an overhead shelf along one wall. That will free up some storage space under the bench for the tools go under there. One of the better things I bought was the drafting files. All of my cutting patterns fit into them and lay flat. Makes it easier to find them and put them back right away. I got that idea from visiting Ken Nelson in Rapid City last spring. Mine came from an office furniture supplier. At some point I will have a stamping bench with an inlaid stamprock too.

Keith,

I have been trading up splitters for several years. I like the Chase patterns and I like the Krebs style. (Information - Keith has a 14" Chase style that is very nice. You don't see a 14" everyday.) On the fall trip I got an HF Osborne Chase style from Keith Pommer. After I got back from my fall trip, I ended up with a Randall Krebs style and a 12" Hanson Chase style too. I sold one of the Chase patterns and the Krebs. I have another Hanson Chase pattern and the HF not pictured. Yeah, I'm a splitter fan.

Randy,

This is the best hardware storage setup in any of my shops or layouts. The saddle hardware is all on the pegboard. On the racking by the patio door is the rest of it. I have 4 18 drawer parts cabinets that back up to each other, and parts drawer facing out on the end too. There are a couple on the shelf below it also. All of the silver is in two of them - sorted by size and pattern. The buckles, snaps, and rings take up two. The other ones have misc fasteners like rapid rivets, tacks, odd nails, etc. One has the oddball stuff - crystal bling, spots, that kind of stuff. It is a lot handier to have the hardware in drawers than taking up way more space on the wall.

[hidepounder]

Very nice Bruce! You have some good ideas. I'm envious!

Bob

[HARVEY]

Bruce, glad to see you finally removed that half-eaten cheeseburger still in its wrapping from your work bench. As one who's been in your shop, I think you should give on-site tours, or sell 2-for1 admission tickets to the museum AND your shop. Lookin' good, my friend.

Harvey

[Rayban]

My wife asked me if I was planning on straightening up my shop area (Garage) before the kids came over for Thanksgiving...you know what that means....so I did, and she even commented on how nice and orderly it looked...nothing like yours Bruce, mind you......so while my grand-daughter was here she asked me if I would make her a simple little bracelet, so I did. When I was done with it, the shop looked like I'm used to it looking.....

Edited November 30, 2008 by Rayban