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Where do you do your thing?


Bill Hudson

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I a always curious what kind of work space people have. I have moved from a spacious shop to a sunroom and a corner of our garage.

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My annex in the garage. I now have a scroll saw, drill press and band saw on the bench to the right.

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Where do you do your miniatures?

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Good question Bill, I thought just yesterday that it would be great to see where everyone works. You sure have managed to put a lot in your available space, nice to see where you work.

At first I worked in our garage...a nightmare, in summer it is a sauna and in winter a freezer, so when my youngest daughter moved out two years ago...it only took me a week to move into her bedroom, the orange walls is her only legacy :-)

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This is the overall view of the room from the door. The desk is made of solid teak, I found it at a pawn shop for only $150, it is rock solid, if you bump it...only you get hurt.

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When you walk into the room you find my scroll saw and table saw on a Victorian chest of drawers, some of my wood is stored in there, I didn't want to hurt the top of the chest, so we put a piece of left over kitchen top on it, with sponge in between, the kitchen top is fastened to the wall as well. Since I spend a big part of my day in here, I wanted nice furniture, the shelves are about two hundred years old, are made from South African yellowwood and was made in a specific area of the Cape province.

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On the straight side of the desk I have my lathe and drill press, I try and keep each tool's accessories next to the tool, so the narrow shelf has all the lathe stuff and the plastic storage container all the bits and pieces for the drill press, my dremel hangs on the wall just behind.

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The U-shaped part of the desk where all carving, fitting together and gluing finds place, I love this space, everything is within arm's reach.

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Just behind my swivel chair is a bookcase, a lot of my tools get stored here and again are within easy reach, just need to turn the chair a bit...and as you can see, I love pretty boxes and tins for storage.

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And last but not least, my two faithful workshop companions in the only unused corner of the room, it is getting cold now, normally one of them lies under the table.

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A whole bedroom, lucky Elga, that beat working in the garage. How do you collect the dust from the saws? Orange walls should cheer you up in the winter.

Thanks for sharing your space.

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That's a cool topic Bill! I'm always curious too as to the workspaces of others. Sometimes you can get really great idea's from it. Ill go look from som pics, must have then somewhere?

 

I like how you have two separate spaces; one for the power tools (and dust that comes with them) and one dedicated to the actual build of things. It's nice that that way things stay tidy and clean. 

 

Your space is well layed out Elga. I noticed it's a bit oddly shaped but with the desk in the middle you've managed to create a lot of work space. 

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I've found a few old pictures. The workshop is at the back of the garden, doubling up as bike garage, pantry etc. It's separated from the main house overlooking the garden and I've managed to set up about a quarter of it.  Nice and cool in summer but, regardless the tiny heaters, almost freezing in winter time. And i mean like 2-4ºC. Yuk!

 

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I usually sit in front of the window, with storage & tools all around. I used to do a lot of bookbinding too, so i have all sorts of paper and board still, hence the large drawer cabinet.
 

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My main power tools are stored away and only taken out when in use. Only these are up permanent, cos they get used a lot ever since I got them. I never been more pleased with any, cos they are fantastic!

 

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And there you have it. Unfortunately I'm getting divorced and moving out once I've found myself another place. I'm taking advantage of the situation by looking for new spot where I can set up my workshop indoors so it'll be properly heated. Although it's a daunting thought to take up this shop, I'm pleased with the opportunity to create a new set up that will be more pleasurable to work in.

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Great topic, I see two things I don't have in my workshop that I need someday....... Elga's got warm dogs, I miss my little lap/shop dog who pretty much stayed under my workbench for 16 years as I worked. And Debora has a view into the garden, I don't have a window out into my garden... Which is a good thing because it is a mess, still has lots of pretty flowers.... And weeds.

I have always dreamed of a shop with a water view!......

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Debora,

 

I see you shop at Ikea! I have a bunch of those wood drawers...unfortunately they have cheapened them up over the last few years...

 

Paul

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Welcome to Miracle Chicken Miniatures/Urns


This is as is right now, I tidied nothing.


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This first shot is looking east. I am currently working on an urn. I have an auxiliary table set up, it is a cheap sawhorse/workmate thingy with my sink cut-out on it :) Instant table! It's behind my chair. And behind that, I love the "rescued from a pizza shop" shelf for my power tools.


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This shot is looking west. This is where the home made thickness sander lives. Right behind it, is my pride and joy, a 1937 Walker Turner scroll saw. Right in the middle of the shot you can see a 1950's Craftsman scroll saw. These two do the grunt work.


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These shots are first, my main work table and the second one is a continuation to my left.


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This shot is looking south east. Behind the band saw is a shelf just for my sanders and sandpaper. 


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This is my big gray table. It houses so many tools, my little Dremel sander rescued from the trash, my home made router table, my awesome 1940's band saw with re-saw fence and blade installed, (I made the jig hanging below it for milling boards from logs.) The far left you see a little Jarmac saw and a nice old '70's Dremel rotary tool in a drill press. I love having dedicated tools. I am NOT one to keep switching :) I have a rotary tool dedicated in an '80's drill press, and one in another home-made router table. And of course the one that is dedicated to just cutting metal. In the foreground you can see the little thicknesser I built from the Scale Cabinetmaker plans. 


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This is the other side of the gray table. It shows my new Craftsman scroll saw (for delicate work) and my clamps. The stands are pool stick holders from the bar. I waste nothing, junk is your friend!


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This is my lathe and my sharpening station.


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This is in the north west corner, my doll carving station.


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On the other side of the basement is my wood room. (It was where the chickens lived but have nobody any more so...it's a wood room! I have different types of wood stacked together. And some logs drying.


And this concludes the tour---


 


 


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Ooh,Thank you for all your pictures Linda! What a great place!!! It's so nice to see where you 'do your thing' and to see how you've set up all your awesome tools. I love you make so many of them yourself, cos all it takes is some imagination and DIY and you can make anything you want. I'm a bit envious though you have enough space to leave so many dedicated tools ready to go. That really helps to speed up your production time.  But then again, i know a fellow miniaturist that work from a small closet. Open the door and the workbench folds out, and off she goes too... :)

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To me it seems like a normal amount of tools and machines, I believe you can't have too many. In my shop there seems to be a weakness for drill presses, I have 7 of them.... And then there are lathes......

Thanks for sharing your shop pictures.

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My weakness is lathes...I had at one time 8 of them...not all working. I'm down to 6 now, and may sell another one. I just love lathe work!

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image_zps8ee26a6e.jpegMy workshop used to be our dinning room.T.V., view, grandmothers sideboard. Never have an oriental carpet in your workshop, I spend a lot of time on my hands and knees looking for dropped parts there.

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my dogs HEATED bed in the corner

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In the basement big boy tools

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Sharpening station

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Elizabeth, I remember when you were working on the beautiful old dinning room table…. I see you've upgraded to the more useful and less delicate generic work table.  I'm hoping the green I see out your windows is current.  You've had far too much white in your views these past months.

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  • 3 months later...

These workshop pics are so wonderful and inspiring.  It's so funny though, I have nothing like that...I just sit on the sofa and knit, surrounded by a few boxes of thread and a few sets of needles.  

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What an interesting post, Thanks for starting it Bill.

I just took some photos of my workshop, no tidying allowed :ph34r: . Lots of projects ongoing, my workshops like my brain, busy, overflowing, kaos but just about every thing is in it's place when I need it

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The first picture is my computer work area, behind that is a large format art printer and 3d printer. The printer isn't good enough to do what I want but it is focing me to learn how to draw in 3D cad. behind that is my workshop entertainment center, :D  It plays lot of musicals to keep me going, Sound of Music "Now Showing". A great set of filing draws and old wardrobes for storage of materials etc.

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Picture 2. A Bigature on top of the base for another 1/12th Craftsman House, to the right more storage and my library. To the rear, part of my garden railway that runs through the side of the shop.

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Picture 3. A contrasty photo from the doorway, to the left more tools. I have full size and miniature tools as I built film props as well as mini's but moving more toward mini's. At the front is a 16 ft long work bench, cluttered with work at the moment. The first 6ft is a piece of plate glass which is just fabulous as it is perfectly flat to build structures on.

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And lastly to the right of the entrance is the laser cutter, plan printer, bandsaw etc. Lots of material floating around for cutting at present. About once a month I have a clean and sort out. ;)

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I have the use of the shop at work whenever I want

 

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My studio at home is only for sculpture, I don't see moving in woodworking machines and the like, at least as long as I can use everything at work.

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  • 1 year later...

This morning I had a special little visitor while working on some chairs...I was so engrossed in what I was doing that it took me about a minute to realize that he was right outside in my Japanese maple tree. Wish I could have him permanently for a workshop companion :-)

http://youtu.be/modY14hFHjw

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I never saw this post before, but I'm glad I found it now.   Wow!   I have workshop envy!   Can I come move in with some of you?  I'd be glad to live in your workshops ....   :-)

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Fantastic workshops! I wish I had that much space. Nearly impossible in Moscow though. I had a couple of tables in my previous apartment, so when we decided to find a new place I was hoping for a separate room. And we found one, 4 square meters, hehe :) But my small room has a window, which is fantastic. The space was carefully designed so that not a single inch would be wasted. I had to plan the layout of my equipment - every tool has its place now, on the other hand, finding place for a new mill, for example, is a problem ( though I'd be happy to get rid of my Proxxon router and get a Sherline mill). 

 

Here is my workshop. Cabinets were custom built to store all the tools, veneer and textile that I have. 

 

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My table has two sources light, a table lamp that can be moved closer to a scrollsaw or a mill, and this funny LED arc, I saw similar 'lamp' on a ship modeling forum and thought it would be great to make a similar one. 

 

24892671245_509498d459_z.jpgedited7 by Victoria, on Flickr

 

24265799343_7ebbe37765_b.jpgedited3 by Victoria, on Flickr

 

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