The Very First Shop Tour

What follows is a video showing where my shop currently stands as of the date of this post.


When I first got started, around February of 2014, all I really had in the way of woodworking tools was a cheap miter saw (that has since bit the dust), a circular saw, a screw gun, and a hammer. I had all those because we had purchased a repo house in 2008, and stuff needed done, and this is what I had purchased as the need for them had come up.


Since I had decided that this was a hobby I was interested in and wanted to learn, I slowly started buying new tools. A router at first, then some hand saws and hand planes, and I eventually got around to building an actual workbench with a vise.


I decided at the beginning of 2015 that these tools just weren't getting the job done, as there were things I wanted to do but couldn't really do them very well with what I had, so I set about saving my money and purchasing some new equipment.


I found a bandsaw on sale at my local home center, so I bought it. A month later, a contractors saw was on sale, so I got it, too. Another month went by and a jointer and a planer came up for sale. Followed the next month by a spindle sander and a benchtop drill press. Naturally, I spent a lot of money on all this, but since they were on sale (and I took advantage of some rebates, too), I saved quite a bit of money buying stuff that I would eventually purchase anyway.


Of course, in the future I'd like to update and get a bigger table saw, because the contractors saw has its limitations. The main reason I bought it (besides it being on sale) was the fact that I could get it down to the shop and, if need be, could get it back out again. If I had purchased a full-size cast iron saw, I would have had a lot of problems getting it down to the basement shop, and no hope of ever getting it back out again. Plus, the contractos saw is on a collapsing stand, with wheels, so if I need room it's not a problem to wheel it out of the way or even fold it down and set it against the wall.


I do have plans to build a real router table (I like the one I bought, but it, too, has limitations) and some kind of bench along the wall that can hold the jointer and planer and make that space, and those tools, more efficient. Right now, it's not a huge deal that one is often in the way of the other, because I can wheel one out of the way if need be, but I'd like to get my shop situated where everything has a better workflow to it.


Anyway, please watch the video and tell me what you think. And, of course, please subscribe to my You Tube channel and join me over on Facebook.