Coping With A Small Workshop

[impulse]

Thanks all for your comments! Please share any ideas that I can improve on.

Eglidiride - Lead block is the best way to preserve the edges on punches. It is firm enough for one solid wack when punching, but being a soft metal, it cushions the punch. After one side is pock-marked, I flip it over. It is easily melted down to refresh the surface when necessary. I do this outside on a camp stove to avoid fumes.

Cheers

Lois

[Tannin]

That is an impressive feat of organization, impulse. You should come fix my garage workshop (used for: leatherwork, woodwork, electrical stuff & bike/mower/chainsaw/car maintenance), it really needs a serious organizational make-over! My wife has threatened to do it for me several times but if I let her loose on it I would never see many of my little "treasures" again, I am sure. :D I like your pull-out cutting table, that really is exceptional. And the overhead storage - although my workshop roof is too low for that. My workshop is a mess but it has potential to be good & a few good features which work well:

Ikea!

I have one wall covered with a wooden Ikea shelving system, which I really like: cheaper & looks much nicer than metal shelving I think, versatile too:

However, my wife assures me that I don't make best use of it

I made a nice new workbench that I made to replace the old worm-eaten one inherited from my father (it includes 2 small pieces of timber from the original, to remind me of him), and it now fully fits the available space, not huge but generously sized. The top is 2 layers of 16mm plywood (to make it solid & massive for woodworking), partially covered with an A2 green cutting mat. Tall, ~36" high. Had to add a big shelf underneath the bench just to store "stuff" on - full now, of course. Ditto the bench top . I have a folding table behind but this is full of "stuff" too, as is the space underneath it

The other key feature which really saved me though was "inheriting" two tall Ikea Trofast toy storage systems from my son. This sort of thing:

The regular trays are good for most tools. Double height trays for taller/bulkier items e.g. glues, leather, cables, etc. Treble height trays for the odd very large item. Mine are "packed to the gunwales"

Hawk Scarborough, any tips or images from your layout that you'd care to share?

Edited October 24, 2015 by Tannin

[Hawk Scarbrough]

Very cool- thanks for sharing!

I do have a question "lead block for punching" - I have never seen that before. Would you explain how you utilize the lead block? ( i would have melted that down and used it for muzzleloading rifle round balls!)

Thanks!

Yea, I would too, but I don/t shoot my flintlocks much anymore

[Lostranger]

I'm currently setting up a shop in a small space, and I enjoy seeing and hearing what others have done. My shop is going into an Olsen step van that spent most of its life as a mobile classroom in Harrisburg, PA. The working space is 16' long by a little less than 8' wide by 6-1/2' tall. I don't expect to achieve good organization without lots of trial and error. Just getting my Champion wide throat into the van was a challenge, but we got that done over the weekend. Today I'm installing a work bench and our old Pfaff that I had professionally tuned last year. It was sold for home sewing in the fifties, but it does a great job on leather if it's not overloaded.

One of the space saving tools I'm bringing from my interest in lutherie is a free standing column vise that I'll bolt to the floor in a yet-to-be-determined location. Here is a link to what I use: http://www.stewmac.com/Luthier_Tools/Types_of_Tools/Vises/Erlewine_ShopStand.html

I have both the angle vise and the guitar repair vise. I will leave the angle vise on the stand most of the time and bolt things like splitter, skiver, creaser, etc. that see occasional use to a piece of 2x4. Using such a tool is just a matter of clamping the 2x4 into the vise. I've been thinking about putting a 2x4 on my instrument repair vise and replacing those jaws with a set of stitching horse jaws. That would give me better hand stitching capability without taking up floor space. I do a lot of hand stitching, especially on the back side of leather keepers. I use no staples or tubular rivets.

With the shop-in-a-van, I'll be able to travel to rodeos, horse shows, group ride staging areas and the like to do mostly repair work. We will also make new harness and tack on a case-by-case basis. May also keep a few ready made items such as purses and belts.

I ran a shop out of my home from '82 to '04 as a sideline to my professional job, but this will be a full-focus endeavor for my wife and me. I'm a craftsman, but I'm far from an expert in any area of leatherwork. I'm pleased to have discovered this forum because I can already see a wealth of expertise and a good attitude. Those things are important.

When the weather clears here in the Blue Ridge, I'll take some photos of the truck and start a thread. Hope to get my lettering installed next week.

Best to all,

Jim in NC

[impulse]

Tannin,

That IKEA shelving and toy storage looks ideal! My biggest tip is to LABEL everything. As I accumulated tools and hardware I found this essential. Also my shelving (which I rescued from the dump) is reasonably close together, so everything is easily accessible at a glance.

To all space- challenged leathercrafters - please keep the ideas coming. I'm sure that I can learn more!

Cheers,

Lois

[Tannin]

Hi LostRanger, I recognise the Erlewine brand on that luthier stand: in the USA Dan Erlewine wrote the book on guitar repair & maintenance, literally - I have a copy on my bookshelf. I had to look up "step van" tho'! Looks like a nice, substantial bit of kit:

In the UK, not as substantial but I would think an old cycle repair stand might have some potential as an alternative (saw a heavy duty one in an auction recently). Or perhaps a bench grinder stand, as sold by MachineMart:

https://www.machinemart.co.uk/p/bgs1-bench-grinder-stand/ - Cheaper with a grind?!

https://www.machinemart.co.uk/p/draper-ag101-adjustable-bench-grinder-stand/ - Adjustable height

BTW I've seen some little leather-work kits made by the young, hip (as opposed to traditional) traveller community here in the UK. The kits are little more than a small leather neck pouch with a few needles, some thread, wax and a rudimentary handmade awl - the sort of thing I would imagine nomadic hunters might have used for thousands of years. Something I try to remind myself of from time-to-time, especially when eyeing up interesting new tools :D

Edited November 27, 2015 by Tannin

[Skipndance]

Hi All

After I read thru this thread, I did a general google search on small space workshops and came across this link to an article on setting up a shop in a one car garage. http://www.startwoodworking.com/post/smart-shop-one-car-garage

This is another, similar article: http://www.kregtool.com/webres/Files/newsletters/kregplus/march15.html

Both are talking about a wood working shop, but I was thinking that the principles apply such as considering workflow, keeping big pieces mobile and using an adjacent work surface as outfeed support (or in the case of leather, maybe a couple of work surfaces could be put together as a cutting table).

I have a 1 car detached garage with my 1 bedroom apartment, so I'm considering all of the suggestions. As I get it set up, I'll share anything that seems like it would be helpful.

[impulse]

hi Skipndance

- good to see another female considering setting up a workshop! I also had to keep costs down, so everything is re-purposed treasures from others' trash. As much shelving as you can fit in is the best advice. Post your plans and I am sure that the helpful folks on this website will guide you wisely.

Cheers,

Lois

[Tannin]

Tannin,

That IKEA shelving and toy storage looks ideal! My biggest tip is to LABEL everything. As I accumulated tools and hardware I found this essential. Also my shelving (which I rescued from the dump) is reasonably close together, so everything is easily accessible at a glance.

...

Lois

Lois, I just labelled all of my IKEA drawers - good idea! My drawers already had specific purposes, so it was easy for me to label them but now my wife will hopefully be able to understand & access them too & without too much dread.

There were some other unexpected benefits too:

- It made me realize that I have a some drawers that overlap and which can be combined into the larger drawer (e.g. the contents of "chainsaw parts & grease" can go into the large "Machine tools parts & docs" drawer).

- I found new homes for some workbench clutter (e.g. metal polish & compounds can go in my existing "Polishing stuff" shoebox).

- I found a drawer of birdfeeder spares(!) which should probably be discarded now to free-up storage for more useful things (which are currently cluttering my workbench).

- I found a drawer of bike seats(!) which should be sold on ebay.

I feel liberated :D

[Skipndance]

hi Skipndance

- good to see another female considering setting up a workshop! I also had to keep costs down, so everything is re-purposed treasures from others' trash. As much shelving as you can fit in is the best advice. Post your plans and I am sure that the helpful folks on this website will guide you wisely.

Cheers,

Lois

Thanks Lois. I'm taking baby steps right now since I work full time - got to pay my bills. My mom was a saddler and passed away about 18 months ago. So many of her clients and people I know were encouraging/begging me to continue her work, but I'm not at a skill level where I can just step in and do the work. I can generally see what needs to be done, but don't know the step by step of how to do it. The frustrating part was that about 6 months before she passed, we had talked about me coming up in the summer and having her train me, so I could help her, but we never got that far. I kept her tools, equipment and supplies, and brought them to my place a little less than a year ago, a week before I started my new job. Everything is kind of squeezed in with my personal stuff, which will need to be thinned out further.

My friend's husband works in construction, so I drew a diagram of a workbench (and gestured a fair bit) that would fold up against the garage wall when not in use and asked him to look at it and tell me if that was feasible. He collected scrap wood from the job sites and built the workbench for me with a couple of improvements/considerations I hadn't thought of. I have been buying little things here and there and now just need to get in there and rearrange things so I can finish setting it up and have room to work on things. I have two 4 ft wide wire shelving units on casters that I got for cheap that utilize the vertical space and keep things accessible. My next projects are to get some peg board for the wall behind the bench (between the open studs) and magnetic strips for tools, nail down the cutting surface on the work bench plywood top and then to cut the carpet scrap I got to the size of the work bench surface. I got some toggle fasteners to attach to the carpet and work bench, so I can take the carpet on and off easily.

I'm starting with a few small projects. I have lots of stuff I need to figure out how to use in order to bring my ideas to life. I'm looking forward to gleaning what I can from this community and sharing what I can that might be helpful.

Lois, I just labelled all of my IKEA drawers - good idea! My drawers already had specific purposes, so it was easy for me to label them but now my wife will hopefully be able to understand & access them too & without too much dread.

There were some other unexpected benefits too:

- It made me realize that I have a some drawers that overlap and which can be combined into the larger drawer (e.g. the contents of "chainsaw parts & grease" can go into the large "Machine tools parts & docs" drawer).

- I found new homes for some workbench clutter (e.g. metal polish & compounds can go in my existing "Polishing stuff" shoebox).

- I found a drawer of birdfeeder spares(!) which should probably be discarded now to free-up storage for more useful things (which are currently cluttering my workbench).

- I found a drawer of bike seats(!) which should be sold on ebay.

I feel liberated :D

Tannin, it's amazing what you find and can consolidate when you start cleaning out drawers. Congrats on your newfound liberty!