I don’t know where all this energy and focus has come from but I have caught up on a few things sitting on my desk and now I’ve even gone out to my Woodworking Workshop.
I had some ideas on how to reorganize the shop based on my usage of the shop the last year or so. I’m still using my power tools but I’m also using a workbench and many hand tools including chisels and planes.
My workshop is very small at about 12’ x 18’. I’ve got everything on wheels so I can move things around easily and to optimize space, I have pretty much every space on the wall used. I had two primary goals.
1) To try to get space that I could leave my workbench open (it is a collapsable workbench, very handy for small workshops like mine) full time. I’m using it too much to really have to fold it away all the time.
2) Reposition my large table (it’s a Festool worktable with the legs folded away on a rolling cart with storage below – I designed and built it custom for this purpose) so that the entire length matches the length of my table saw and backs up to it.
All the other things that I did were simply to help accomplish these 2 goals in the most effective way. In doing it, I’ve moved both my drill press and bandsaw to the opposite end of the shop from my workbench. I’ve also put my tool chest in the middle of the shop which has the nice benefit of making the tools easier to access but also that part of the shop now has more space to work or get through.
Overall, I’m pleased with the transformation though time will only tell after I get in the shop and do some work that it not just about cleaning, reorganizing, or fixing storage. My next projects before I resume real woodworking is to replace my tabletop on my drill press and to replace my table saw blade storage system. I’ve gotten some new ideas that were inspired by some articles I read recently.