Making of the Workshop - Behind the Scene

Thuan said:

Going Green

Things are finally coming together in my new place. I moved to my new house three weeks ago and had been working hard to get to the point where I can start on my workshop. Here's the result of last night's work. Fresh paint went on the walls after I removed the existing shelving nailed onto the walls twenty years ago. This color is the result of me mixing all the paint the previous owner had left behind into a 5 gallon bucket. Luckily my wife is happy with this color, she likes happy shades of green. We park her car on the other half of this garage, so a happy color is important to come home to after a long day's work, it also neutralizes the mess I'm going to make.


The tool chest is place in the corner of the garage. It has predrilled holes running the length of it for adjustability. I figured I should design the storage system with plenty of room to grow since there are plenty I still have to learn and plenty of bad habit I have to un-learn.


If I want to be organized then I better make things easy to put away, the magnetic strip for my handsaws should help. They're in easy reach, in theory should be easy to put away as well. There are lesser used saws in the chest.


The next step is to install a couple rows of French cleats so that I can hand things without having to drill new holes and find studs.

Click to expand...

Thuan said:

Going Green

Things are finally coming together in my new place. I moved to my new house three weeks ago and had been working hard to get to the point where I can start on my workshop. Here's the result of last night's work. Fresh paint went on the walls after I removed the existing shelving nailed onto the walls twenty years ago. This color is the result of me mixing all the paint the previous owner had left behind into a 5 gallon bucket. Luckily my wife is happy with this color, she likes happy shades of green. We park her car on the other half of this garage, so a happy color is important to come home to after a long day's work, it also neutralizes the mess I'm going to make.


The tool chest is place in the corner of the garage. It has predrilled holes running the length of it for adjustability. I figured I should design the storage system with plenty of room to grow since there are plenty I still have to learn and plenty of bad habit I have to un-learn.


If I want to be organized then I better make things easy to put away, the magnetic strip for my handsaws should help. They're in easy reach, in theory should be easy to put away as well. There are lesser used saws in the chest.


The next step is to install a couple rows of French cleats so that I can hand things without having to drill new holes and find studs.

Click to expand...

Thuan said:

Going Green

Things are finally coming together in my new place. I moved to my new house three weeks ago and had been working hard to get to the point where I can start on my workshop. Here's the result of last night's work. Fresh paint went on the walls after I removed the existing shelving nailed onto the walls twenty years ago. This color is the result of me mixing all the paint the previous owner had left behind into a 5 gallon bucket. Luckily my wife is happy with this color, she likes happy shades of green. We park her car on the other half of this garage, so a happy color is important to come home to after a long day's work, it also neutralizes the mess I'm going to make.


The tool chest is place in the corner of the garage. It has predrilled holes running the length of it for adjustability. I figured I should design the storage system with plenty of room to grow since there are plenty I still have to learn and plenty of bad habit I have to un-learn.


If I want to be organized then I better make things easy to put away, the magnetic strip for my handsaws should help. They're in easy reach, in theory should be easy to put away as well. There are lesser used saws in the chest.


The next step is to install a couple rows of French cleats so that I can hand things without having to drill new holes and find studs.

Click to expand...

Thuan said:

Going Green

Things are finally coming together in my new place. I moved to my new house three weeks ago and had been working hard to get to the point where I can start on my workshop. Here's the result of last night's work. Fresh paint went on the walls after I removed the existing shelving nailed onto the walls twenty years ago. This color is the result of me mixing all the paint the previous owner had left behind into a 5 gallon bucket. Luckily my wife is happy with this color, she likes happy shades of green. We park her car on the other half of this garage, so a happy color is important to come home to after a long day's work, it also neutralizes the mess I'm going to make.


The tool chest is place in the corner of the garage. It has predrilled holes running the length of it for adjustability. I figured I should design the storage system with plenty of room to grow since there are plenty I still have to learn and plenty of bad habit I have to un-learn.


If I want to be organized then I better make things easy to put away, the magnetic strip for my handsaws should help. They're in easy reach, in theory should be easy to put away as well. There are lesser used saws in the chest.


The next step is to install a couple rows of French cleats so that I can hand things without having to drill new holes and find studs.

Click to expand...

Thuan said:

Going Green

Things are finally coming together in my new place. I moved to my new house three weeks ago and had been working hard to get to the point where I can start on my workshop. Here's the result of last night's work. Fresh paint went on the walls after I removed the existing shelving nailed onto the walls twenty years ago. This color is the result of me mixing all the paint the previous owner had left behind into a 5 gallon bucket. Luckily my wife is happy with this color, she likes happy shades of green. We park her car on the other half of this garage, so a happy color is important to come home to after a long day's work, it also neutralizes the mess I'm going to make.


The tool chest is place in the corner of the garage. It has predrilled holes running the length of it for adjustability. I figured I should design the storage system with plenty of room to grow since there are plenty I still have to learn and plenty of bad habit I have to un-learn.


If I want to be organized then I better make things easy to put away, the magnetic strip for my handsaws should help. They're in easy reach, in theory should be easy to put away as well. There are lesser used saws in the chest.


The next step is to install a couple rows of French cleats so that I can hand things without having to drill new holes and find studs.

Click to expand...

Thuan said:

Going Green

Things are finally coming together in my new place. I moved to my new house three weeks ago and had been working hard to get to the point where I can start on my workshop. Here's the result of last night's work. Fresh paint went on the walls after I removed the existing shelving nailed onto the walls twenty years ago. This color is the result of me mixing all the paint the previous owner had left behind into a 5 gallon bucket. Luckily my wife is happy with this color, she likes happy shades of green. We park her car on the other half of this garage, so a happy color is important to come home to after a long day's work, it also neutralizes the mess I'm going to make.


The tool chest is place in the corner of the garage. It has predrilled holes running the length of it for adjustability. I figured I should design the storage system with plenty of room to grow since there are plenty I still have to learn and plenty of bad habit I have to un-learn.


If I want to be organized then I better make things easy to put away, the magnetic strip for my handsaws should help. They're in easy reach, in theory should be easy to put away as well. There are lesser used saws in the chest.


The next step is to install a couple rows of French cleats so that I can hand things without having to drill new holes and find studs.

Click to expand...

Thuan said:

Going Green

Things are finally coming together in my new place. I moved to my new house three weeks ago and had been working hard to get to the point where I can start on my workshop. Here's the result of last night's work. Fresh paint went on the walls after I removed the existing shelving nailed onto the walls twenty years ago. This color is the result of me mixing all the paint the previous owner had left behind into a 5 gallon bucket. Luckily my wife is happy with this color, she likes happy shades of green. We park her car on the other half of this garage, so a happy color is important to come home to after a long day's work, it also neutralizes the mess I'm going to make.


The tool chest is place in the corner of the garage. It has predrilled holes running the length of it for adjustability. I figured I should design the storage system with plenty of room to grow since there are plenty I still have to learn and plenty of bad habit I have to un-learn.


If I want to be organized then I better make things easy to put away, the magnetic strip for my handsaws should help. They're in easy reach, in theory should be easy to put away as well. There are lesser used saws in the chest.


The next step is to install a couple rows of French cleats so that I can hand things without having to drill new holes and find studs.

Click to expand...

Thuan said:

The Bench

My plan today was to build a workbench for the new workshop. I had the day to myself and wanted to get the thing built before I had to start dinner. This is actually a lofty goal since I had no idea what I was building. I didn't plan much, I stopped by Agent Orange on the way home from work yesterday and asked them to rip a sheet of MDF to 23-1/2 " wide. Got some 2×3 pine to along with that, total price, $28. The rest of the materials were things I had saved from my old shop, a couple of 4×4 redwoods and some 1×3 poplars.

I did know the bench would be built permanently onto the wall, it would have a way to clamp wood for planning and cutting dovetails and tenons. That was it. My last work bench was an IKEA stepstool I had purchased for $9.99. It's design would inspire my new workbench by having a multipurpose slot on the top.

So I went to work. Now, I'm not good at taking pictures of the procedures since it slows down my creative process. But this is the final product. Six hours of work and about $60 worth of materials. I hope it works. The slot is designed for my Japanese saw, it cuts on the pull stroke, so I use the downward force to hold down the wood. This notch gives me clearance as I like to kneel and cut on the down stroke.

The front slots is for clamps, there's plenty of holes so it offers plenty of flexibility. I have more ideas on jigs and attachment for my bench, but that will have to wait for later.
The top is held down my gravity and wood dowels, hammered in and cut flushed. This lets me flip the top and change it should it wears.

After dinner, I continued working on the shop and found a used for an old bamboo ladder. I had a left over cherry door form one of my kitchen client, I used it on the white bookshelf even though it didn't fit. It thought it looks better with it. Next step is to make wall cabinets from the old shelving the last owner left behind.

Click to expand...

Thuan said:

The Bench

My plan today was to build a workbench for the new workshop. I had the day to myself and wanted to get the thing built before I had to start dinner. This is actually a lofty goal since I had no idea what I was building. I didn't plan much, I stopped by Agent Orange on the way home from work yesterday and asked them to rip a sheet of MDF to 23-1/2 " wide. Got some 2×3 pine to along with that, total price, $28. The rest of the materials were things I had saved from my old shop, a couple of 4×4 redwoods and some 1×3 poplars.

I did know the bench would be built permanently onto the wall, it would have a way to clamp wood for planning and cutting dovetails and tenons. That was it. My last work bench was an IKEA stepstool I had purchased for $9.99. It's design would inspire my new workbench by having a multipurpose slot on the top.

So I went to work. Now, I'm not good at taking pictures of the procedures since it slows down my creative process. But this is the final product. Six hours of work and about $60 worth of materials. I hope it works. The slot is designed for my Japanese saw, it cuts on the pull stroke, so I use the downward force to hold down the wood. This notch gives me clearance as I like to kneel and cut on the down stroke.

The front slots is for clamps, there's plenty of holes so it offers plenty of flexibility. I have more ideas on jigs and attachment for my bench, but that will have to wait for later.
The top is held down my gravity and wood dowels, hammered in and cut flushed. This lets me flip the top and change it should it wears.

After dinner, I continued working on the shop and found a used for an old bamboo ladder. I had a left over cherry door form one of my kitchen client, I used it on the white bookshelf even though it didn't fit. It thought it looks better with it. Next step is to make wall cabinets from the old shelving the last owner left behind.

Click to expand...

Thuan said:

The Bench

My plan today was to build a workbench for the new workshop. I had the day to myself and wanted to get the thing built before I had to start dinner. This is actually a lofty goal since I had no idea what I was building. I didn't plan much, I stopped by Agent Orange on the way home from work yesterday and asked them to rip a sheet of MDF to 23-1/2 " wide. Got some 2×3 pine to along with that, total price, $28. The rest of the materials were things I had saved from my old shop, a couple of 4×4 redwoods and some 1×3 poplars.

I did know the bench would be built permanently onto the wall, it would have a way to clamp wood for planning and cutting dovetails and tenons. That was it. My last work bench was an IKEA stepstool I had purchased for $9.99. It's design would inspire my new workbench by having a multipurpose slot on the top.

So I went to work. Now, I'm not good at taking pictures of the procedures since it slows down my creative process. But this is the final product. Six hours of work and about $60 worth of materials. I hope it works. The slot is designed for my Japanese saw, it cuts on the pull stroke, so I use the downward force to hold down the wood. This notch gives me clearance as I like to kneel and cut on the down stroke.

The front slots is for clamps, there's plenty of holes so it offers plenty of flexibility. I have more ideas on jigs and attachment for my bench, but that will have to wait for later.
The top is held down my gravity and wood dowels, hammered in and cut flushed. This lets me flip the top and change it should it wears.

After dinner, I continued working on the shop and found a used for an old bamboo ladder. I had a left over cherry door form one of my kitchen client, I used it on the white bookshelf even though it didn't fit. It thought it looks better with it. Next step is to make wall cabinets from the old shelving the last owner left behind.

Click to expand...

Thuan said:

The Bench

My plan today was to build a workbench for the new workshop. I had the day to myself and wanted to get the thing built before I had to start dinner. This is actually a lofty goal since I had no idea what I was building. I didn't plan much, I stopped by Agent Orange on the way home from work yesterday and asked them to rip a sheet of MDF to 23-1/2 " wide. Got some 2×3 pine to along with that, total price, $28. The rest of the materials were things I had saved from my old shop, a couple of 4×4 redwoods and some 1×3 poplars.

I did know the bench would be built permanently onto the wall, it would have a way to clamp wood for planning and cutting dovetails and tenons. That was it. My last work bench was an IKEA stepstool I had purchased for $9.99. It's design would inspire my new workbench by having a multipurpose slot on the top.

So I went to work. Now, I'm not good at taking pictures of the procedures since it slows down my creative process. But this is the final product. Six hours of work and about $60 worth of materials. I hope it works. The slot is designed for my Japanese saw, it cuts on the pull stroke, so I use the downward force to hold down the wood. This notch gives me clearance as I like to kneel and cut on the down stroke.

The front slots is for clamps, there's plenty of holes so it offers plenty of flexibility. I have more ideas on jigs and attachment for my bench, but that will have to wait for later.
The top is held down my gravity and wood dowels, hammered in and cut flushed. This lets me flip the top and change it should it wears.

After dinner, I continued working on the shop and found a used for an old bamboo ladder. I had a left over cherry door form one of my kitchen client, I used it on the white bookshelf even though it didn't fit. It thought it looks better with it. Next step is to make wall cabinets from the old shelving the last owner left behind.

Click to expand...

Thuan said:

The Bench

My plan today was to build a workbench for the new workshop. I had the day to myself and wanted to get the thing built before I had to start dinner. This is actually a lofty goal since I had no idea what I was building. I didn't plan much, I stopped by Agent Orange on the way home from work yesterday and asked them to rip a sheet of MDF to 23-1/2 " wide. Got some 2×3 pine to along with that, total price, $28. The rest of the materials were things I had saved from my old shop, a couple of 4×4 redwoods and some 1×3 poplars.

I did know the bench would be built permanently onto the wall, it would have a way to clamp wood for planning and cutting dovetails and tenons. That was it. My last work bench was an IKEA stepstool I had purchased for $9.99. It's design would inspire my new workbench by having a multipurpose slot on the top.

So I went to work. Now, I'm not good at taking pictures of the procedures since it slows down my creative process. But this is the final product. Six hours of work and about $60 worth of materials. I hope it works. The slot is designed for my Japanese saw, it cuts on the pull stroke, so I use the downward force to hold down the wood. This notch gives me clearance as I like to kneel and cut on the down stroke.

The front slots is for clamps, there's plenty of holes so it offers plenty of flexibility. I have more ideas on jigs and attachment for my bench, but that will have to wait for later.
The top is held down my gravity and wood dowels, hammered in and cut flushed. This lets me flip the top and change it should it wears.

After dinner, I continued working on the shop and found a used for an old bamboo ladder. I had a left over cherry door form one of my kitchen client, I used it on the white bookshelf even though it didn't fit. It thought it looks better with it. Next step is to make wall cabinets from the old shelving the last owner left behind.

Click to expand...

Thuan said:

The Bench

My plan today was to build a workbench for the new workshop. I had the day to myself and wanted to get the thing built before I had to start dinner. This is actually a lofty goal since I had no idea what I was building. I didn't plan much, I stopped by Agent Orange on the way home from work yesterday and asked them to rip a sheet of MDF to 23-1/2 " wide. Got some 2×3 pine to along with that, total price, $28. The rest of the materials were things I had saved from my old shop, a couple of 4×4 redwoods and some 1×3 poplars.

I did know the bench would be built permanently onto the wall, it would have a way to clamp wood for planning and cutting dovetails and tenons. That was it. My last work bench was an IKEA stepstool I had purchased for $9.99. It's design would inspire my new workbench by having a multipurpose slot on the top.

So I went to work. Now, I'm not good at taking pictures of the procedures since it slows down my creative process. But this is the final product. Six hours of work and about $60 worth of materials. I hope it works. The slot is designed for my Japanese saw, it cuts on the pull stroke, so I use the downward force to hold down the wood. This notch gives me clearance as I like to kneel and cut on the down stroke.

The front slots is for clamps, there's plenty of holes so it offers plenty of flexibility. I have more ideas on jigs and attachment for my bench, but that will have to wait for later.
The top is held down my gravity and wood dowels, hammered in and cut flushed. This lets me flip the top and change it should it wears.

After dinner, I continued working on the shop and found a used for an old bamboo ladder. I had a left over cherry door form one of my kitchen client, I used it on the white bookshelf even though it didn't fit. It thought it looks better with it. Next step is to make wall cabinets from the old shelving the last owner left behind.

Click to expand...

Thuan said:

The Bench

My plan today was to build a workbench for the new workshop. I had the day to myself and wanted to get the thing built before I had to start dinner. This is actually a lofty goal since I had no idea what I was building. I didn't plan much, I stopped by Agent Orange on the way home from work yesterday and asked them to rip a sheet of MDF to 23-1/2 " wide. Got some 2×3 pine to along with that, total price, $28. The rest of the materials were things I had saved from my old shop, a couple of 4×4 redwoods and some 1×3 poplars.

I did know the bench would be built permanently onto the wall, it would have a way to clamp wood for planning and cutting dovetails and tenons. That was it. My last work bench was an IKEA stepstool I had purchased for $9.99. It's design would inspire my new workbench by having a multipurpose slot on the top.

So I went to work. Now, I'm not good at taking pictures of the procedures since it slows down my creative process. But this is the final product. Six hours of work and about $60 worth of materials. I hope it works. The slot is designed for my Japanese saw, it cuts on the pull stroke, so I use the downward force to hold down the wood. This notch gives me clearance as I like to kneel and cut on the down stroke.

The front slots is for clamps, there's plenty of holes so it offers plenty of flexibility. I have more ideas on jigs and attachment for my bench, but that will have to wait for later.
The top is held down my gravity and wood dowels, hammered in and cut flushed. This lets me flip the top and change it should it wears.

After dinner, I continued working on the shop and found a used for an old bamboo ladder. I had a left over cherry door form one of my kitchen client, I used it on the white bookshelf even though it didn't fit. It thought it looks better with it. Next step is to make wall cabinets from the old shelving the last owner left behind.

Click to expand...

Thuan said:

The Bench

My plan today was to build a workbench for the new workshop. I had the day to myself and wanted to get the thing built before I had to start dinner. This is actually a lofty goal since I had no idea what I was building. I didn't plan much, I stopped by Agent Orange on the way home from work yesterday and asked them to rip a sheet of MDF to 23-1/2 " wide. Got some 2×3 pine to along with that, total price, $28. The rest of the materials were things I had saved from my old shop, a couple of 4×4 redwoods and some 1×3 poplars.

I did know the bench would be built permanently onto the wall, it would have a way to clamp wood for planning and cutting dovetails and tenons. That was it. My last work bench was an IKEA stepstool I had purchased for $9.99. It's design would inspire my new workbench by having a multipurpose slot on the top.

So I went to work. Now, I'm not good at taking pictures of the procedures since it slows down my creative process. But this is the final product. Six hours of work and about $60 worth of materials. I hope it works. The slot is designed for my Japanese saw, it cuts on the pull stroke, so I use the downward force to hold down the wood. This notch gives me clearance as I like to kneel and cut on the down stroke.

The front slots is for clamps, there's plenty of holes so it offers plenty of flexibility. I have more ideas on jigs and attachment for my bench, but that will have to wait for later.
The top is held down my gravity and wood dowels, hammered in and cut flushed. This lets me flip the top and change it should it wears.

After dinner, I continued working on the shop and found a used for an old bamboo ladder. I had a left over cherry door form one of my kitchen client, I used it on the white bookshelf even though it didn't fit. It thought it looks better with it. Next step is to make wall cabinets from the old shelving the last owner left behind.

Click to expand...

Thuan said:

The Bench

My plan today was to build a workbench for the new workshop. I had the day to myself and wanted to get the thing built before I had to start dinner. This is actually a lofty goal since I had no idea what I was building. I didn't plan much, I stopped by Agent Orange on the way home from work yesterday and asked them to rip a sheet of MDF to 23-1/2 " wide. Got some 2×3 pine to along with that, total price, $28. The rest of the materials were things I had saved from my old shop, a couple of 4×4 redwoods and some 1×3 poplars.

I did know the bench would be built permanently onto the wall, it would have a way to clamp wood for planning and cutting dovetails and tenons. That was it. My last work bench was an IKEA stepstool I had purchased for $9.99. It's design would inspire my new workbench by having a multipurpose slot on the top.

So I went to work. Now, I'm not good at taking pictures of the procedures since it slows down my creative process. But this is the final product. Six hours of work and about $60 worth of materials. I hope it works. The slot is designed for my Japanese saw, it cuts on the pull stroke, so I use the downward force to hold down the wood. This notch gives me clearance as I like to kneel and cut on the down stroke.

The front slots is for clamps, there's plenty of holes so it offers plenty of flexibility. I have more ideas on jigs and attachment for my bench, but that will have to wait for later.
The top is held down my gravity and wood dowels, hammered in and cut flushed. This lets me flip the top and change it should it wears.

After dinner, I continued working on the shop and found a used for an old bamboo ladder. I had a left over cherry door form one of my kitchen client, I used it on the white bookshelf even though it didn't fit. It thought it looks better with it. Next step is to make wall cabinets from the old shelving the last owner left behind.

Click to expand...

Thuan said:

The Bench

My plan today was to build a workbench for the new workshop. I had the day to myself and wanted to get the thing built before I had to start dinner. This is actually a lofty goal since I had no idea what I was building. I didn't plan much, I stopped by Agent Orange on the way home from work yesterday and asked them to rip a sheet of MDF to 23-1/2 " wide. Got some 2×3 pine to along with that, total price, $28. The rest of the materials were things I had saved from my old shop, a couple of 4×4 redwoods and some 1×3 poplars.

I did know the bench would be built permanently onto the wall, it would have a way to clamp wood for planning and cutting dovetails and tenons. That was it. My last work bench was an IKEA stepstool I had purchased for $9.99. It's design would inspire my new workbench by having a multipurpose slot on the top.

So I went to work. Now, I'm not good at taking pictures of the procedures since it slows down my creative process. But this is the final product. Six hours of work and about $60 worth of materials. I hope it works. The slot is designed for my Japanese saw, it cuts on the pull stroke, so I use the downward force to hold down the wood. This notch gives me clearance as I like to kneel and cut on the down stroke.

The front slots is for clamps, there's plenty of holes so it offers plenty of flexibility. I have more ideas on jigs and attachment for my bench, but that will have to wait for later.
The top is held down my gravity and wood dowels, hammered in and cut flushed. This lets me flip the top and change it should it wears.

After dinner, I continued working on the shop and found a used for an old bamboo ladder. I had a left over cherry door form one of my kitchen client, I used it on the white bookshelf even though it didn't fit. It thought it looks better with it. Next step is to make wall cabinets from the old shelving the last owner left behind.

Click to expand...

Thuan said:

The Bench

My plan today was to build a workbench for the new workshop. I had the day to myself and wanted to get the thing built before I had to start dinner. This is actually a lofty goal since I had no idea what I was building. I didn't plan much, I stopped by Agent Orange on the way home from work yesterday and asked them to rip a sheet of MDF to 23-1/2 " wide. Got some 2×3 pine to along with that, total price, $28. The rest of the materials were things I had saved from my old shop, a couple of 4×4 redwoods and some 1×3 poplars.

I did know the bench would be built permanently onto the wall, it would have a way to clamp wood for planning and cutting dovetails and tenons. That was it. My last work bench was an IKEA stepstool I had purchased for $9.99. It's design would inspire my new workbench by having a multipurpose slot on the top.

So I went to work. Now, I'm not good at taking pictures of the procedures since it slows down my creative process. But this is the final product. Six hours of work and about $60 worth of materials. I hope it works. The slot is designed for my Japanese saw, it cuts on the pull stroke, so I use the downward force to hold down the wood. This notch gives me clearance as I like to kneel and cut on the down stroke.

The front slots is for clamps, there's plenty of holes so it offers plenty of flexibility. I have more ideas on jigs and attachment for my bench, but that will have to wait for later.
The top is held down my gravity and wood dowels, hammered in and cut flushed. This lets me flip the top and change it should it wears.

After dinner, I continued working on the shop and found a used for an old bamboo ladder. I had a left over cherry door form one of my kitchen client, I used it on the white bookshelf even though it didn't fit. It thought it looks better with it. Next step is to make wall cabinets from the old shelving the last owner left behind.

Click to expand...