I won’t spend a lot of time on this phase of my shop’s evolution.  I’ll just use it as a point of reference because I really want to get on to shop improvements and reorganization that will optimize the space available for my small shop.

Between Phase I and Phase II, I replaced my original Ryobi Portable TS with a Delta Contractors TS and T2 fence, added a Grizzly Belt/Disk Sander, built a cabinet to set my BT drill press on, a bench top carving bench to use in my summer Wood Carving for Furniture class and a couple of other jigs.  This really made the shop cramped.

A couple of years ago, when our kids were too old to want to go camping with us anymore, we were able to sell the tent trailer that was taking up half of the garage space.  This allowed me to expand my shop area to about 10’x20’.  At first, it seemed roomy enough.  In fact, there was enough room for me to start building a double-sink vanity for our master bathroom as a project for an Intro to Face Frame Cabinet Making class at Cerritos College.  That vanity is now taking up most of what had been free space.

Below are a few pictures of the shop at that stage.  Due to health issues, the shop has remained unchanged until recently.  But, that’s a subject for many posts to come.

Here are two photos taken of my allotted shop space at the beginning of the vanity build.

Here's the same shop toward the end of building the vanity.  Kind of like an elephant in the shop.

If anyone has any suggestions or ideas for maximizing small shops, I’m anxious to hear them.

Have a great and creative day,

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While working on my new web site, I thought I would share a little background about my shop to create a reference point and track my progress.

When I started woodworking, I had a 15-year old utility work bench that was probably 45” high and a DeWalt DW706 Compound Miter Saw that I had used to put some crown moulding in our house and a DeWalt cordless drill.  I had some miscellaneous hand tools too that I acquired from years of being our in-house handyman.

This wasn’t much to start with but I was determined to learn woodworking and to create and build fine wooden furniture and accessories with my own hands.  This is still my goal.  It’s just taking a lot longer than I expected; too many distractions but, I digress.

The first thing I did was clear a space in my double-car garage.  It was about 9’X9’ including shelves taking up 2’ along one wall so only about 7’X9’ of work space.  I then brought in the workbench and cut it down to 35” high.  Now throw in a Ryobi portable table saw, Delta BS220LS Band Saw, Delta GR250 Variable-speed Grinder, Delta DP200 bench top drill press, Delta 22-580 13”, 2-speed Finish Planer, a little WorkMate bench, other miscellaneous hand tools and, some lumber and sheet goods and workspace becomes un-usable for anything but very small projects.

Do I like Delta tools?  These products have proven to be a good investment for my limited budget and small shop space.  But, more on the tools at another time.

As you can see from the pictures that wasn’t much space for organization.  I almost forgot; and a Delta 50-446 Dust Collector.  The LOML doesn’t like sawdust in the house and this DC helped out a lot.

Normally, I’m very organized.  With a lack of any real wall space, I couldn’t put up any cabinets and the existing shelves were already full so our tent trailer quickly became the de facto shop storage area.
I don’t recommend working in these conditions.  It’s frustrating and it’s time consuming to clear a safe work area each time you start a new operation.  I managed with it though and I was able to create some reasonably nice pieces under those conditions.

During this time I took a couple of woodworking classes at Cerritos College.  It’s a great place to learn woodworking if you live in the Los Angles metro area.  I took Introduction to Woodworking with Tony Fortner and Woodcarving with Cliff Trimble.  Here are the projects I completed in those classes.  More on the Cerritos woodworking program at another time too.

Well, that’s what I started with.  Phase II is coming up.

Have a great day,

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Welcome to Pixels & Sawdust. The site is undergoing major reconstruction.  Over the next few days and weeks, I will be updating, enhancing and generally tweaking the site in an effort to create and entertaining and informative resource for my fellow woodworkers.

Please feel free to leave a comment about the site or send me a email via the Contact page.

Have a great day,