Wood Working Put on Hold?

Greg Brimer

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I am new at wood working and have started getting tools to begin the long journey to become even half way good at it. I was going to put my work shop on our screened in back porch after putting up walls but we have decided to sell our house and I can't even get started now. No place for wood working at the new place but I do have a 12 x 18 shed that I bought 2 years ago from some local Amish and I can get it moved. I was wondering if it could used for starting out if I ran electrical to it. If so I will have to figure out what to do with the mowers, weed eater, chain saw and other outside tools.
 
A shed the size you have will work fine. It just takes planning and realistic expectations. Don't think that you're going to house industrial machines, and strongly consider learning hand tools. My shop occupies a 10 x12 space in my garage, and I can make pretty much anything. Matthew Teague did a great article in FWW some years ago about his shop in a small garage. If you can't find it I'll send you the PDF.

Here's the link: http://www.finewoodworking.com/Workshop/WorkshopArticle.aspx?id=29505
 
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Greg,

There are lots of ideal situations, but most of us make do with what we have. I started on a front porch with hand tools. Then I had a screened porch with a single power outlet, which was an extension cord run to the kitchen. Now I have a 12 x 24 garage, which started with a single light bulb, controlled from the laundry room, as the only electricity.

Get that shed moved, and get started. One never knows where destiny will lead!

Best,

Bill
 
Welcome Greg, I see you are at the fork in the path we have all been at, even though we may have never have seen it. On the right is the wide well paved road of working with machines. It is the road well traveled On the left is a barely discernible path that is heavily overgrown and looks like it is seldom traveled. They both eventually reach the same destination, but one relies on acquiring hand and eye skills and the other on machines and jigs. The road less traveled does not require much room and can be practiced with very little money.

I took the wide well paved road at first, because I did not really see that other path. But I was troubled because I began to feel I was only as good as the machine I owned. I always felt as if somehow I was a fraud, by not trusting that I could teach my hand and eye to do what I was relying on a machine to do for me. Slowly I realized that the other path existed and I found a way over to it. I still use machines, but not to do the skillful exacting aspects of woodworking, only the tedious crude parts. I now feel less like an operator and more like a craftsman.

The space that I need to do woodworking, has gotten smaller and smaller. I only suggest that you look what you are defining as woodworking. If you are defining it as working with large sheets of plywood and big shiny machinery, then yes you will need to find another home for those outside tools. Besides, shouldn't outside tools stay outside?:)
 
Thanks for the replies. I'm planning on just working on small stuff. I really want to start making jigs LOL. I think for a while I will just have me a table saw, router and hand tools to start out. I can even take some stuff to work and use out industrial band saws, lathes and other stuff. We don't use the band saws anymore because we have water jet now.
 
Greg,
my shop at my house in NY is 12x20. It is a bit cozy at times in terms of square footage, but you can certainly make sawdust in a 10x18 shop. Drag that shed over to the new shop, string some extension cords (short term) or run a sub panel (long term) out there and get to having fun again in your shop!
 
Welcome aboard Greg. My shop is in a one car garage that measures all of 13' x 18'. There is a post of my layout in the Shop Tours section. Just starting out with a table saw, router and hand tools, you'll be in good shape. I think the key for me was to try to come up with a reasonable layout that left me some floor space to work and to make pretty much everything mobile. so far it's worked out pretty well. Enjoy your time you get in the shop!
 
I worked in a 10 x 16 for many years.Work bench across the 10 ft side, drill press and band saw mounted on it. Router table, cabinet saw with extensions,& sander and the planner was parked on that 16 ft wall, other wall was shelves with air compressor under them and a 6" craftsman joiner and a full sized drill press on the other 16 ft wall. Everything was mounted on wheels. The other 10 ft was all door. Worked fairly well..didn't have far to go to any one tool, and trying to work on wife's quilt rack was almost impossible. When we moved, I upgraded to a 40 x 40 shop, lots of distance between tools, but only limited by my skills now!!
'
 
Update time. We are going to look at a house tomorrow that has a one car garage and a big back yard. Will find out if the gates for the fence will open up big enough for my shed.
 
Update time. We are going to look at a house tomorrow that has a one car garage and a big back yard. Will find out if the gates for the fence will open up big enough for my shed.

The shed will work just fine, I have a 12x16 and I have just about all I need, table saw, band saw, router table, drill press, small drum sander, small jointer, Ridgid sander, a planer and the hand tools to go with them.
You do have to work a little different then when you have a really big shop. I have made a 6 foot cabinet for a bathroom, a 4 foot blanket chest and a few other large items.
You really have to lay things out right and plan it, you will need some mobile bases it makes thing much easier.
Here is a few image from a few years ago of my little shop there have been a few things added.

Start here and in the upper right corner click next for 6 images, this is the whole shop. The good think about a small shop is you don't have to walk a lot.
http://www.pbase.com/wlhuber/image/111944699
 
I will have to figure out what to do with the mowers, weed eater, chain saw and other outside tools.

use the kids room. explain to them sacrifices have to be made so daddy can woodwork.

on a serious note.......Im sorry I didnt force my son to take my old shed. I sold it, but it was worth alot more for him to have it to store his lawn stuff etc.
He also didnt have a way to get it into the yard, and we decided if he took it, wed just take out a fence post and take down the fence them replant the post. Might be an easy solution for you also.
IF you keep everything on wheels, you could easily work in a 12x18 space. Maybe get some outdoor plywood and attach a tiny area to store your lawn stuff.
 
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Good news. We found a house and will be moving this weekend. It has a garage that I can use for woodworking. Maybe I can start doing something in a couple of weeks after getting set up.
 
Congrats on the new house, and extra congrats on finding one with shop space. :thumb: We'll be looking forward to seeing some photos. :photographer:
 
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