A collection of shop photos

I realized recently that I have never done a post of just shop photos, where you can see the layout of the various work spaces throughout the buildings on the property. We have been working on it all since 1998 and its grown over time to accommodate a lot of flexible spaces. There is also a stand up attic over the shop that accommodates lumber and veneer up to 12 long and a concrete floor crawlspace with wheelchairs for mobility, where the boiler, air compressor and additional lumber, pattern and jig storage live. Stuff expands to fill it all of course, and we dream about a better/bigger metal shop, but not this week for sure ... maybe sometime though ... Click the photos to enlarge them and enjoy your tour ...
Summer view
Winter view with the finish room on the right
Side porch with a Safety Speed Cut panel saw, lumber and ply storage shed with the blower at the far end, and a separate, free standing shed for sawdust ...
Summer porch use ...typically on Friday afternoons
The interior of the 16 x 22 finish room ... the tv cabinets (scroll down on that post) are still lurking under the big green drop cloth
standing on a stool, looking from east to west ... note dueling table saws with foot operated off switches, nested placement of jointer and planer, and dust collection under the strip oak, radiant heated floor.
looking from east to south showing the sanders (on wheels and the 16 of counters and drawers at workspace one.
radial and chop saw for rough and finish cuts on the same fence system
looking toward workspace #4, on wheels, 42 x 60 with the lathe tools on the back side, and at the outfeed of the sander with a light for defect spotting. The gray table in the foreground has a removable top over a router table on wheels.
workspace two, also on wheels, (behind the headboard), 43 x 84, with a pattern vise, sink and additional 8 bench with a vise.
workspace #1, 44 x 96 x 30 high with power on the four corners, also on wheels. Actually, everything that can be is on wheels.
workspace #3, where I work when Im in the shop.
The cnc upstairs ... best place to see what we do with this is at this link here ... And, if youre wondering how we got all 1400 pounds and 11 feet of it to the second floor here are some photos of that operation .... unbelievable in hindsight ....
workspace upstairs with mortiser, drill press, sander and bandsaw, adjacent to the cnc so Trevor can do two jobs at once.
library in a small hallchoice between the cnc and the office
my main workspace with computer, phone, fax, scanner, printer and music
southeast end of the office with another computer for Will or Sam to do their CAD drawings and email
a small collection of models in the bathroom
my board of finish samples and hardware for clients when they come ..this photo also works as an email to clients out of the area ...
looking out the office window and door to the pond
with the ducks recently back in town....
The metal shop is at the house, attached to the end of the garage ... More photos here
Looking into the shop with the double doors open ..
I hope to soon add plan view drawings of the shop for my own records but Ill have to do them first ... The woodshop was planned as a workshop, but built as a 3 bedroom two bath house where we lived for two years while we were waiting to sell our former house in Arlington ... I have some good pictures of the shop as a house that Ill post later too ... All for now ... If you made it all the choice to here, you might also enjoy these photos HERE showing how we got our 1400 pound cnc machine installed on the second floor. (Through the second story window)

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The Biggest Table Yet For us 9 x 26

I just cut and pasted the info from the previous post below rather than rewrite the whole introduction ... Click the pictures to enlarge them ...
Well, so far, for a refreshing change, its been a pretty busy month ... Last week, we finished what I thought at the time was a pretty big claro walnut slab table, 3 x 10. Turns out, its not so big. Well be able to put four of them, with chairs, on one of the tables we are designing and building with my neighbor, Steve Holman of Holman Studios ... The first of two tables in this commission is getting under choice below and will be 26 x 9. Then we have another slightly smaller one to build that will be only 8 x 20. Steves shop is just down the road from ours and we often collaborate on projects like these tables and like this project we did last year.
Heres the cad drawing ... The top is divided into seven sections with a 2" cherry border on the outside edges, around a 24" band of black granite, with veneered curly maple center sections. There will be a bunch of flip up power and data ports in the center sections. As you can see from the drawing, there will be some engineering involved to support the cantilevered stone. The base will break down into about 10 separate boxes for shipping and assembly on site. Weve opted to use 1.5" x 2.5" rectangular steel tubing with 1/4" walls to support the granite. Wed probably prefer to use something taller, like 4", but than we get into a bump your knees issue. We wouldnt want that, for sure. Anychoice, weve done a couple of tests and we think it will be ok. Well know more when we get the actual steel from Melansons next week. We cant cut the steep angles easily with either of our saws.
The steel has to be cut on a 67.5 degree angle like the timberstrand in the temporary working base above that we set up in the drivechoice ... Its hard to see, but the lengths of the steel pieces follow the curve of the table top. Thats the base for half of the table you see above ...
Trevor and Sam sitting at the end section ... you can see about half of the 44.5" wide second section in this photo too ... Its seven feet across the narrow end where they are sitting and curves out to 9 in the middle ...
Here weve assembled two of the middle sections on the table saws to check Trevors routing for the Norse connectors and some plywood butterflies well use to level the surfaces of the table where they butt together ...
There are a lot of operations to get this thing into shape ... Plus, only one section is less then 8 so we have to index the pieces, cut one end, and then shift them 18" to cut the other end on the cnc. That, actually, worked really slick.
Heres the view of the boys from the halfchoice point ... The raised sections are templates for the granite cutter ... This is the drawing for the second table in the commission, a somewhat smaller 8 x 20, 5 piece table ... same deal, different dimensions ...

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