New woodshop #1: Purchase

That Wood Shop is about as nice as can be! A blank canvas you can paint in Pumpkin colors and outfit as you wish. Very cool, and congratulations! I look forward to following along with the Shop Developments as they come out.

-- Don't anthropomorphize your handplanes. They hate it when you do that. - OldTools Archive -

Thanks will start with shop layout plans next.

-- Don K, (Holland, Michigan)

An empty, unfinished, 24×28 shop? You’re in the same boat that I was (and still partially am lol) Hopefully you can get it finished up faster than me! Should be an awesome shop by the time you’re done

-- Mos - Twin Cities, MN - http://www.youtube.com/MosquitoMods - http://www.TheModsquito.com

Looks like a great space, Don. Not sure what you’ll need the house for.

Are you going to have to share with vehicles in winter or will it be all wood shop?

-- https://www.jtplaneworks.com - In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice. In practice, there is.

Congratulations and happy moving

-- Norman - I never never make a mistake, I just change the design.

Sounds like my or our retirement ideas.
Less yard to take care of
Smaller house to keep up [just the two of us]
Shop away from house so not tracking in saw dust.
Now just need to get er fixed up to suit.

-- An Index Of My Model making Blogs https://www.lumberjocks.com/htl/blog/130264

Mos I hope to get it completed by the end of next summer. But I will still be working up in the UP
until I can work out intermediate health insurance until I can get Medicare.

JayT The dog and I get a bed room in the house use of a bathroom and kitchen. the rest of the house will be full of my wife’s fiber art I.e. looms, spinning wheels, felting, knitting and crochet tools, dying supplies and lots of wool. So far I have turned a 6 by 11 foot room into a cedar closet. I hope to leave room in the garage for a small car and a shared sitting area.

Norm Thanks.

htl Yup thats the plan. Took us under 2 hours to clean the house top to bottom befor we left for return to Houghton.

-- Don K, (Holland, Michigan)

Don, wow, a blank slate. first thing is to get a 200 amp service and put in lots of 220 plugs, LED lighting, and when you are planning your shop,think in terms of work stations for specific tasks such as glue up and cutting. I would install heating tubes in the floor and pour a new floor over that. Radiators and sawdust don’t mix well. You will need a finish room. Add a porch on the east side for sitting and finish work in the summer. Insulate, insulate, insulate. A suspended tile ceiling will make everything much more quiet.

If code will allow, finish the inside walls with plywood, not plaster. I would also install an air system with several outlets on the walls. Put all your tools on wheels or better yet, nylon glides so you can move them around until they find their home. I know you are a hand tool guy, but your first tool should be the largest SawStop you can afford. Next is a sliding miter. Then a drill press.

Instead of an off bearing table, I bought some Craftsman level saws on Craig’s List, yoked them together and put different dado blades in each.

This allows me to cut long wood, wide plywood, and make 1/4 and 1/2 inch dado cuts with no set up time. It also provides a large assembly area.

Have fun, building your shop can be as much fun as what you make in it.

-- Big Al in IN

I’d kill for a shop that size :)

Congratulations bud.

-- Shooting down the walls of heartache. Bang bang. I am. The warrior.

Thanks Al and Fridge. I have already ordered 200 amp service. Details in next post. My wife wants to buy me a SawStop, but I am resisting.

East side is the lot line. So cannot put a porch there. I’d rather not put a porch on the west side. The yard is small enough already. Behind the garage the back side is enough room for one, but I think I will use that space to air dry lumber and store lawn mower and garden tools. There is a nice big deck off the back of the house that will have to do for sitting. The only possibility for enlargement is to add a second floor, which I want to do once our current house is sold and if the boss will let me.

Here is an arial photo. The structure behind the garage is the small garden.

-- Don K, (Holland, Michigan)

... until I can work out intermediate health insurance until I can get Medicare…

- Combo Prof

Let me know in a PM what you figure out for that, if you’re so inclined. It’s what’s keeping me from considering a more early retirement.

-- Don't anthropomorphize your handplanes. They hate it when you do that. - OldTools Archive -

cool, i too plan on retiring in 2 years. I just bought 4 acres on a lake in va. I’m going back to the country from the city.

One thing I noticed based on your location, better get some good insulation in that building!

Keep the updates coming man, I’m not too far behind you.

-- Sooner or later Liberals run out of other people's money.

One thing I noticed based on your location, better get some good insulation in that building!
- bonesbr549

Really. It seems so much better then where I live now. But I guess you mean it gets too hot.

Where I live now:
Houghton weather averages

Annual high temperature: 48.9°F
Annual low temperature: 31.7°F
Average temperature: 40.3°F
Average annual precipitation – rainfall: 27.87 inch
Days per year with precipitation – rainfall: -
Annual hours of sunshine: -
Av. annual snowfall: 208 inch

Also we have 8 months with some snowfall.

Where I will live:
Holland weather averages

Annual high temperature: 59.2°F
Annual low temperature: 39.8°F
Average temperature: 49.5°F
Average annual precipitation – rainfall: 36.75 inch
Days per year with precipitation – rainfall: -
Annual hours of sunshine: -
Av. annual snowfall: 70 inch

Only 5 months with snowfall.

But anyway I will indeed insulate.

-- Don K, (Holland, Michigan)

What a wonderful chance, the house looks lovely and like just the right place to grow old.
The workshop… Well… Hmmmm… ok, I screaming of envy! Laughs. What a wonderful chance, to get to build a workshop there, from a blank canvas and colours made of your dreams.
Congratulations.
Best thoughts,
Mads

-- MAD F, the fanatical rhykenologist and vintage architect.