Work Areas

[Don101]

there are some nice setups there guys thanks for sharing it has given me a few good ideas how i could improve my set up that i have, i like the idea with the boarding with holes in it and hooks

[mulefool]

Excellent tips on having an efficient shop Steve. Especially the beer fridge. I'm always more efficient with a couple cool ones. On my polyethylene table tops, yes I do flip them around until there's nothing left before getting a new one. The last 4X8 sheet I bought was around $125. For my carving I use a 3"X18"X24" granite machine shop surface plate. I beleive I paid $80.00 for it 10 years ago. Before that I used a tombstone, too, til I broke it in half. It is inset flush with the top of my carving bench. I have a drawer with holes I can just drop the tools into. I find I always end up standing while I carve so the top is just the right height for me to stand, although I do have a chair the right height if I want to sit down. I should probably take some pics in my shop to share, I can demonstrate some of the "don'ts" of a well organized shop for you all. I don't know if this should go under a seperate topic, but I'd sure like to find a better form of lighting. For my carving bench I've got a regular light on one side and a halogen light on the other, but still can't seem to avoid shadows. The overhead lighting is all flourescent, but I'd sure like to get one of those really good lights like they have in the doctors office on a stand with a gooseneck for working on saddles.

[barra]

Thanks guys. I have picked up on some great tips and have taken bits and pieces from each and every one of you. The pictures are a great source of inspiration. So much so that I have had a bit of a rearrange using your ideas. Now to take some pictures.

Barra

[K-Man]

Lighting is an issue with me as well. Originally there were only two 8' florescent lights up on the ceiling - ~15 feet up. We've slowly been adding additional florescent lighting and a little bit of track lighting. I'd welcome any suggestions in that respect.

[Don101]

you could always add a small simple pulley system and drop and raise the lighting to suit your needs,

i have three spot lights on the ceiling above my industrial tools a have a large fluorescent light above my table the second will go up when i get around to it and i will rig it up so i can drop and raise it above my table, i also have a small florescent light at the table end above my stamps and three movable spot lights that i can arrange where needed when carving or stamping,

and i wonder why my electric bill is so high ..LOL

[steve mason]

go2tex;

I have use casters on my saddle stand for years with no problems, there are a very heavy duty locking caster, the stand does not move at all while I am working on the saddle. I have used the locking casters on a cement floor and I now use rubber horse trailer mats on my shop floor, did not make a difference on how well the stand stays put. I sure do like the rubber mats as they a much less fatiguing on my back when I am standing all day, another good benefit is when I drop a tool on the floor I do not worry about the edge getting damaged.

In regards to lighting, I was just talking to a local braider this week about this very subject, he has started use some lights called "T8" and said they are much better than regular fluorescent lights, they give you more light, less shadow and no flicker like some fluorescent lights do. Now I have not used them yet but i am going to try them out. I did Google "T8 lights" and found some info on them.

[barra]

http://studio-productions-inc.com/white_pa...o_lighting.html

The lighting topic has gotten me thinking because mine is attrocious so I got to thinking about better use of the lighting I have. This got me to thinking about reflecting the light to where it is most wanted. I have started searching on the net under efficient lighting and then under photographic sites. I'm going to play with this idea further.

Barra

[Rod and Denise Nikkel]

And now, for something completely different: Here are some pictures of our tree making shop, for interest's sake if nothing else.

The wood working part is 20 x 16. It is dominated by the 32" bandsaw in the center of the floor. This saw is designed to saw logs into lumber. We need height for the jigs used to make the cuts on the bars for the fork and cantle to fit into. We use a 1/4" furniture blade on it so we can make the tight turns we need inside the gullets especially. The table tilts so we can cut at different angles, and the blocks in front of the bottom door are used to keep all those angles consistent.

Behind the bandsaw is the modified belt sander. Rod uses the wheels at the bottom of the belts to shape the wood - the small one on the right for gullets and the larger one for everything else he does. It is amazing how much wood this thing will eat very quickly. Hanging on the wall to the left of the sander are the jigs used to make those all important cuts in the bars. And to the right is the 12" jointer/planer combination machine. You "joint" on the top, then the tables flip out so you use the underside of the same blades to "plane" or thickness the wood.

Moving around the room, you come to the glue corner. There is a Wade fork in the glue press, with the layers for another Wade being laminated side to side in the clamps sitting on the bench to the right of it. On the wall to the left are jigs used to cut the cantles at different angles. Behind the glue press are patterns and other marking out tools, (plus the stack of orders waiting for us to get to them) while under the bench are specific sizes of laminated forks ready to mark out sitting behind stacks of wood pieces that have been cut, planed, thicknessed and edged and are awaiting their turn at the glue press.

Moving along the wall is the large workbench. The next orders Rod is working on are on the cards hanging at the back of the bench, while the parts for those orders that have been marked out or already cut out ready for shaping sit underneath. This bottom shelf is also where Rod also stores his side grinders. There are more patterns and more marking out tools on the wall here as well.

Behind the door is the drill press Rod uses for metal horns, and a second glue press with a set of bars in it. The drawers and cupboards contain other hand tools, small pieces of wood for horn caps, and other odds and ends. The vise on the stand gets dragged all over the shop and to the cement pad outside when the weather is nice. Rod clamps the wood in the vice, which can twist and turn all directions, and goes at it with a carbide wood carving disc on a side grinder, sending dust everywhere. Summer, when he can work outside, is much nicer in the shop.

Through the door way is the 10 x 16 "rawhide room", which right now only contains the Great White Shelf (aka the freezer where the hide is kept until needed) and the small room with the furnace and hot water heater, etc. In the summer, making rawhide is an outside job. Below freezing (November to April here) Rod uses the rawhide room. It's walls are plastic sheeted to keep them dry. We try to fill the freezer in the fall before it gets too cold so that it is at least late January before he has to make rawhide inside.

Past the doorway is the wood stove in front of storage shelves for horns (getting low at the moment) glue, varnish, etc. On the back wall is the starting point for all the trees - lumber. Different woods are on the different racks. Below the wood are trees in varying stages of drying sitting on 1" thick, totally flat pieces of marble, weighted, wrapped and "pounded" as needed.

Summer plans for this year include adding an extra 12 feet out the north end of the shop to make room for a much better dust collection system. It will have a separate small room for the cyclone, and a "dirty room" for Rod to do his grinding in. It will also give us room for more bench space so Rod doesn't get in my way quite so much. Dust is what kills or stops the careers of a lot of tree makers, so we are looking forward to drastically decreasing the amount of it that we breathe. The last picture is just to prove that, in order to cut down on the dust, Rod works outside as often as he can. It was taken on March 24th of this year.

PS. As for what we do with our scrap - we use it to lower next winter's heating bills!

[Go2Tex]

Hey Rod and Denise, what's the best way to store trees so they don't warp before they become saddles?

[Rod and Denise Nikkel]

Go2Tex,

We'll start a new thread (Storing Saddle Trees) to answer your question, so we don't change horses mid-stream - or topics mid-thread. Whatever...

Thanks, Denise- post is here:

http://www.leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=1180

~~Johanna