Tour of Frank Pellow’s shop as it was in early 2005

Frank Pellow

Member
Messages
2,332
Location
Toronto, Ontario, CANADA
(part 1 of 2)


Why an old shop tour?

Before the end of 2006, I will put together a tour of my shop as it is currently set up. In the meantime, I offer this old tour. It shows the shop just after I finished building it and populating it with machinery.

Introduction:

My workshop (called Shed 2) was the first major project after my retirement in early 2003 and I am relying upon it to serve as the home base for most my projects for at least the next twenty five years. I designed and built the shop almost entirely by myself, and it was very satisfying project. I only hope that some of my future projects will be as rewording.

The shop fits well into my city suburban lot, leaving room for a good sized vegetable/herb garden, decks, patios, flowers, shrubs, and even some grass. The building blends into the neighborhood, and I liked the roof and colour scheme so much that, in the autumn of 2005, I re-shingled and re-painted the house to match the shingles and paint on the shop.

One constraint was that the wall close to our neighbour’s house had to be low and could have no windows. The restriction was turned into a feature by having a large roof overhand protecting storage racks on the 40 foot wall (33 foot workshop and 7 foot adjacent garden storage shed).

The interior space of the shop is 431 square feet which sounds like a lot to non-woodworking folks, but when you have to fit a lot of benches, machines, supplies, and tools into that space, it fills up quickly. The main way to combat this is to make almost everything in the shop mobile. The building’s outline makes the best possible use of the limited space and, furthermore it fits our odd-shaped lot well. The shape of the shop is what I call a “squat T” having a squarish middle section with wings protruding to either side at the top.

The middle area is approximately 16 feet by 16 feet with a cathedral ceiling that peeks at 10 feet. This section, coupled with the double doors at the front, provides sufficient space for the manipulation and processing of sheet goods and lumber.

The “quiet” wing contains, a wood stove, some easy chairs, a chalk board, and a drafting table. It feels quite different than the rest of the shop and is a great place to relax. My grandchildren and I particularly like reading stories here in front of a roaring fire.

The remaining wing contains benches, parts storage bins/drawers, and hand tool storage.

The shop was designed so that two people can work together on projects. Mobility and distinct work areas are the keys to this. I want my shop to be a place where friends and relatives feel welcome and I very much enjoy working with others. As a child, I was always welcome in the workshops of my Dad, my Granddad, two of my Uncles, and one of my Aunts. Together, they instilled a love of woodworking in me that I, in turn, passed on to my two daughters, and now am starting to pass on to my grandchildren. From some of the photos of the shop interior, you can see that little children have already been contributing art to the walls. Several joint projects with friends, children, and grandchildren are in the planning stage and three are currently underway.

I have had a work shop or access to someone else’s workshop forever. The first one I could call my own was a distributed shop occupying the closet, storage locker, and balcony in the apartment we rented after Margaret and I were married in 1966. Since then, we have moved many times and lived in three different countries. Each of our homes has always had some sort of shop. All these shops had good aspects and bad, but the worst thing was always inadequate tools and lack of good organization. The later meant that, even when I had the right tool or part, I often could not find it. Finally, I have the shop of my dreams, with all the tools that I need (well there is always something new that I want but that is not the same as “need”) and, even better than that, everything has a home and I know where everything is!

So, with a good layout, good tools, good organization, and good friends and relatives to share it, my woodworking shop is perfect for me. May I continue to have the good health to enjoy the shop for many years to come!

Site Plan:

Below is the site plan of our lot as it appears in the building permit for my shop. I subsequently got permission to expand the shop with a wing to the north-west (the top left in the diagram), but the shop building remains in the spot that it occupies in the original diagram.

1 Site Plan -merged.jpg

Exterior:

Here are a couple of pictures of the exterior from different perspectives:

Shop exterior from Kristel's window -small.JPG 2004-12-23 After a snow storm -2 -small.JPG

And here we are using ramps to bring the table saw into the shop through the double doors:

2005-03-03 Frank pulling the table saw up the ramp -small.JPG

Shop Name:

It’s name is Shed 2. I carved this sign that hangs over the single door:

Shed 2 sign in place -3 -small.JPG

That begs the question: Where is Shed 1? Shed 1 (also called The Shed):

The Shed original sign.JPG

is located at Pellow’s Camp about 1000 kilometres north west of Shed 2. Shed 1 is a combined workshop, bunkie, and storehouse that I built about 15 years ago. Here are a couple of photos:

The south side of the shed at Pellow's Camp -small.JPG The shed is a real mess so I am sleeping in it -1 small.JPG
 
(part 2 of 2)


Shop Layout Plan:

Shop Layout May 2005 -small.jpg

Shop Electrical Plan:

ELECTRICAL DIAGRAM -OCT 2004.jpg

Interior Tour:

First, here is a collage showing most of the machinery in the shop:

machine collage.jpg

They are (starting at the top left and proceeding clockwise) ACM Star 400 bandsaw, Excalibur EX30 scroll saw, Delta X5 DJ20 8" jointer, General 650 table saw, Delta X5 15" planer, Delta X5 16.5" variable speed drill press, me.

The following two pictures are taken from up high just inside the single door.

The first picture is looking towards the north east and shows the planer on the left side, the Oneida dust collector on the top right and part of the table saw on the right.

2005-03-05 View showing the planer and rest of other side of shop -small.JPG

The second is looking towards the north west and shows the rest of the machines in the shop.

2005-03-05 View showing all the machines except the planer -small.JPG

Observe that the positions of the jointer and bandsaw are reversed from their locations in the diagram. I moved the two machines shortly after the picture was taken.

The artwork on the doors and walls was created by my (then) four year old granddaughter Isla.

At the far north end of the ship is the planning, contemplation, and goofing-off alcove featuring a wood stove:

Frank with first fire -3 -small.JPG

Next is a close up of the chalk board and the sheet goods storage rack:

closet wall, sheet goods storage, chalk board -2 -small.JPG

Next is a photo of the middle section of the west wall:

2005-03-05 The middle segment of the west wall -small.JPG

Featured here are my pegboard and my collection of Festool power tools.

I didn’t used to like pegboard and was not planning to use any of it in my shop. Then, I discovered Talon pegboard hooks (see: http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx?c=2&p=50353&cat=1,43326,43327)
and I really liked them. I liked them so much that I installed a 24 foot by 2 foot run along the west wall.

I discovered Festool just before I started to build the shop and put their guided circular saw to very good use during the construction. I would now never even consider cutting sheet goods any other way. Along the line, I also purchased many other Festool items including a vacuum, three sanders, a drill, a jig saw, a router, and the multifunction table that appears in the left foreground.

The next picture is taken from just beside the chalkboard, looking towards the two south walls.

2005-03-05 The two south walls -small.JPG

As well as an extension of the house alarm system into the shop, the shop windows of are protected by bars:

Bars for windows in shop -small.JPG

A few Facts about the Shop:

Location: A separate building very close to the house

Interior Space: 431 square feet

Height: Cathedral ceiling 10 feet at peek, 8 feet at on side, 6.5 feet at other side

Floor Material: Two layers of plywood painted grey

Interior Wall Material: 6 mm Virola plywood painted white

Ceiling Material: 6 mm Virola plywood painted white

Insulation: Roxul Flexibatt (rock wool) R21.5 in floor, walls, and ceiling

Exterior Walls: Rough sawn pine board and batten stained grey.

Roofing: Asphalt shingles -blue

Electricity: 100 amp service

Lighting: Three skylights, eleven four foot double T-8 C-50 fluorescent lights, and three incandescent lights.

Water: none

Heating: Propane space heater and woodstove

Air Conditioning: none
 
How clean is my shop?

Folks looking at the above pictures might think that my shop is too clean.

Well to head off any commnets to that effect, it's now too dirty and messy. Attached is a picture taken two days ago.

My messy shop in early November -small.JPG
 
Frank,

Thanks for the update on your shop. I hadn't really seen it 'populated' since it was built. Looks like the space is serving you well. ;)

And from the looks of that white stuff on the roof, I'll bet that wood stove serves you just as well! :D

Thanks for posting...
- Marty -
 
Cool Shop

Hey Frank. I don't know about your claim to have a messy shop. That last pic you posted clearly shows that much of the floor is actually visible. That's pretty close to 'neat and tidy' in my book:D :D .

Thanks for the tip on the talon pegboard hooks, gotta try some.

BTW, how does the variable speed drill press work for you? I had heard that they need a lot of maintenance, but would love for that to be wrong!!

Thanks for sharing the pics!
 
...
BTW, how does the variable speed drill press work for you? I had heard that they need a lot of maintenance, but would love for that to be wrong!!
...
All I have done so far is to oil it from time to time. But, I have not used my drill press enough to really tell if there might be a maintenance problem. Jesse, what have you heard and where can I read about the problems that others are having?
 
Last edited:
Delta VS drill

Hey Frank,
I started a thread about VS drills in Wood Central on 21 September, 2004. Going back and reading it, the comments weren't that bad. Someone had a broken pulley that delta replaced, some complained about the need to lube the belts and cycle thru different speeds occasionaly. Another thread had some complaints about noise at high speeds. But generally, owners seemed pleased with the tool. I guess I was predisposed to think there would be problems.

If you want to read the thread, its at www.woodcentral.com Go to archives and search for messages posted on 21 Sept 2004 by Jesse.
 
Great tour, Frank. Nice use of the available space, and a good collection of quality tools. I couldn't help but notice this...

Got Wax.JPG

Looks like you're set for the next couple centuries. :D

- Vaughn
 
Very nice!

Frank,

Wonderful job on the shop!! :) It's nice to also have a place to kick back and put your feet up. That will come in handy when you are stuck on a project and just need to break away from it for a bit.

I know you will enjoy your shop for many years to come!!

Congrats!

Denise
 
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