Minor Dungeon Renovation/Rethink

Stuart Ablett

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Tokyo Japan
Well it has been almost a year since I became very busy with the carpentry business compared to working at the liquor shop, certainly the Cirque du Soleil contracts helped, but I also got other work like the Studio build etc. Now after a year of really struggling in my rather cramped workshop, the Dungeon, I have decided to take a good hard look at what I am doing now and how I need to arrange things. The basic layout is fundamentally the same, with the exception of the sheetgoods storage. I had a storage area in the Dungeon, but now with the closing in of the parking area on the first floor, I have a better place up there to store the sheet goods, so I am removing the old sheetgoods storage box down in the Dungeon.

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an old picture of the old sheetgoods storage box

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New pics, just before I ripped it out.

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GONE!

I have to tell you, I'm sitting here just savouring the free space in my workshop :D

The potential to do something with that space.... :thumb:

What I'm going to do is put my sharpening station there, I have found that it is a real time waster to have to stop work, put stuff away, set up my sharpening stuff, and then sharpen tools. What I end up doing is working with a not as sharp as it should be tool for longer than I should, then I set my sharpening stuff up and sharpen EVERYTHING in the workshop, this is not a good way to do things. I will be able to build another cabinet for above the sharpening station as well. I'm also going to build a new cabinet under the drill press for all the screws I got a while ago.

The next thing I did was I reduced the amount of scrap wood in my workshop, I have thrown out a total of 14 largish bags so far, maybe it will end up around 20 total, that is a LOT of stuff from my workshop. I'm just simply NOT going to keep scraps around, that was fine when I was doing this as a hobby, but now as a business I spend way too much time moving stuff around and tripping over stuff that I just don't need. If I need a new piece of wood for a job, I'll buy one.

Lots of cleaning up, lots of dust, but in the end this will be so much better.

Wish me luck!
 
I know it is still a mess, boy is there a lot of clean up yet, but I am making progress, and getting some hard won floor space back :thumb:

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This will do for my sharpening station for now,but eventually :rolleyes: I want to make something that has a basin, or pond on top, that has a water tank and a pump of some kind with a filter, even a warmer in the winter time :p

Cheers!
 
This is exactly what I needed to jolt me back from the grind of daily life, a project thread by Stu! Looking forward to it as always, but especially because it touches on a need we have in common, the sharpening station enigma.
 
That's a fair chunk of space alright. I've had "reduce the shorts" on my to be done list for a while, I'm down about 25% but a lot of what's left is exotics I can't bring myself to toss, so I've been trying to use them up for projects.
. I'm sure you know how well that goes :rolleyes:

How far around is it from the upstairs storage? I could move a bunch of stuff out to the carport, but have been kind of hesitant to lose the ability to dig through stuff at will right where I am.

On the sharpening side I've had a similar problem, partially I've solved it by keeping a spyderco fine ceramic stone and a small leather strop at the bench which can both be used dry. It doesn't work for heavy time ups, but having it right where I'm working saves a bit of time and forces me to see it while working do I'm less tempted to skimp on sharpening. Will certainly be interested to see how your layout ends up.
 
That's a fair chunk of space alright. I've had "reduce the shorts" on my to be done list for a while, I'm down about 25% but a lot of what's left is exotics I can't bring myself to toss, so I've been trying to use them up for projects.
. I'm sure you know how well that goes :rolleyes:

yeah I found stuff that I put on a shelf in the fall of 2001.... :eek: it has just been sitting there taking up space and collecting dust, so it all went into the garbage.

How far around is it from the upstairs storage? I could move a bunch of stuff out to the carport, but have been kind of hesitant to lose the ability to dig through stuff at will right where I am.
It is right upstairs next to the hatch for the Dungeon, I have two stacks of vertical storage of sheet goods, one stack is ONLY full sheets, the other stack is a mix of partial sheets and rough hard wood boards. Close enough that I can get to it by just climbing up my stairs.

On the sharpening side I've had a similar problem, partially I've solved it by keeping a spyderco fine ceramic stone and a small leather strop at the bench which can both be used dry. It doesn't work for heavy time ups, but having it right where I'm working saves a bit of time and forces me to see it while working do I'm less tempted to skimp on sharpening. Will certainly be interested to see how your layout ends up.

Yeah I have a good diamond stone that I keep handy, but I really want something more, in the video that Ted linked to in my other post about building a Dedicated Sharpening Station, that is very much what I want to build.

Cheers!
 
More stuff.

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The shelf there above the chop saw, that used to be FULL of shorts and partial sheets of this and that, it was a MESS and it got picked through and the good stuff kept. If you look on the very right side of the shelf, you can see a very small selection of wood that I did keep.

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Another area of discontent.
I have changed my mind a bit on this area, I was just going to clean it up, but now I've decided that I'll put the spindle sander on the shelf in the previous picture and I'll move a bunch of the cased tools, Rotary Hammer Drill, Reciprocating Saw, etc to this space, they are cased up so they won't mind the dust that falls from the workbench. I'll be able to put the WoodRat up on the shelf when I'm done with it.

Then there is a shelf I put up a LONG time ago above the SawStop, it had just junk on it, really, what was I thinking? :huh:
Two, yes TWO busted halogen work lights to name a few things....
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I put a new thick shelf up there and I'll be getting some more of these black and purple boxes, the shelf will fit seven in total.
This space will be for stuff I use, but not often, or extra stock, stuff like screws and or tape, as well as other stuff as needed.

Lastly, the area under the drill press, not very well utilized I think.

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See the stack of organizers on the small cart? I'd like to build a new cabinet under the drill press that I can put each of those organizers on a pull out flat shelf, I have a bunch of full extension slides from a cabinet we used to have in the liquor shop, they are heavy duty and long, so they should work. One more thing off the floor in my workshop, and it will give me easy access to the screws etc in those boxes.

yeah I'm tired just thinking about all the work yet to do, but this is really needed, I wasted so much time last year just getting by and tripping over too much stuff, that time wasted really hurt my production.

This year looks busy already, I'll find out soon, but I could be booked into the end of May soon, the same company that I built the Studio for last year, their business has expanded (they blame me :rofl:, as the studio is so good they rent it out almost daily), they have taken the 5th floor in their building, and they want the whole thing renovated, another studio, a conference room etc. Two phases, should keep me busy for a while.

Cheers!
 
A great recovering of space Stu. Even though my sharpening is pretty easy to setup at the sink, i am more and more temped to give up some tool or activity station exchange for sharpening items to be even more convenient. I always get ideas from others so roll-on brother.
 
Man you're on a roll! :thumb:

I can see the advantages of W. Ng's setup... In practice I have almost that much space dedicated to a somewhat less useful setup...

I've been slowly talking myself out of loving the water stones due to the hassle of the water situation. I think they can still make a lot of sense in a shop that is in daily used because the maintenance overhead of the pond is less/time spent in the shop. They do cut so wonderfully fast though that its hard, the spyderco is a close second but its still second (and the edge isn't quite as nice as off of the 13k sigma II).

Your stack of blue bins is interesting... I like that design.
 
I can see the advantages of W. Ng's setup... In practice I have almost that much space dedicated to a somewhat less useful setup...

I have contemplated his setup for quite awhile, but my main concern has been how I would transition to working on a board only "secured" at each end. I like the solid surface of my current setup and the ability to locate the stone holder to any position and to arrange my body into any position.

His setup looks much more secure than others that work off some plastic pond. Still despite my concerns, I have drawn up plans of a sharpening station similar to Ng's. I am not sure which way to go.

I've been slowly talking myself out of loving the water stones due to the hassle of the water situation.

I have oil stones and they work OK, but if I truly want a really sharp plane blade quickly, water stones are my preference. I have mostly A2, and I find the oil stones take much longer with this steel. I also like the feel of steel on water stones better.

I have been down in the shop this morning and took these pictures of my current setup while sharpening a block plane blade.

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My sequencing is yellow (1000), purple (5000), green (8000). As you can see, very little water is needed during the sharpening. It is washing off the stones and diamond plate that creates the mess. I do that in that blue bucket. This is where a sink or pond would be really nice. I really should do something about raising that bucket. I have some ideas about a new sharpening station, so I am looking forward with interest on Stu's threads.

That is a granite surface plate on top of that cabinet. Very solid surface!
 
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