Space Saving Tips for a Small Shop

 

  Adam Collins is a young wood worker that has created a short video showing how he manages in his very small shop.  My first shop was 10 by 15, huge in comparison with Adam's space.

   I am recommending this video for three reasons:

  1.  He doesn't really say anything new, but he is reminding us of things that we forget when our budgets swell and our shops grow larger.

  2. We 'gray beards'  should listen to younger wood workers when they share their ideas.  If we don't listen to them, there is little incentive for them to listen to us, and so good ideas can get lost through "generational deafness".  I know that age often brings wisdom, I have also learned that creativity  is not age dependent, so listening is good, though not always easy.

 3. These young wood workers are the future.  It is to them that our tools will pass, they should be encouraged.   Should my Grandchildren have no interest in my tools, I dearly hope that there is some young man or woman that will have an interest and put my tools to work.  Every time I go into a road house restaurant and see the walls decorated with tools it makes me very sad.  




  

Space Saving Tips

  Here is a cool storage solution for a busy shop.

  Ever though mine is a wood working shop, I do have a selection of screw drivers, wretches and sockets.  This link is to a tool box that I have talked about before, but also a good place to start on your space saving/shop organizing quest.

cheers,

Yea for Penguins !

Dutch Tool Chest

Dutch Tool Chest Video

   I don't know if it is hero worship or if I am a stalker.  Once again here is a video from Christ Schwarz, the production quality of his videos is very high, and I like the music he picks too.

  And of course I think the tool chest is great.

 The Cabinetmakers Tool Chest

     This is the link to another really good tool chest, and a producer of great videos and great projects. (and great music, do these things go hand in hand?)

The Anarchist's Tool Chest

      

                                                                                 Last summer I bought a copy of Christopher Schwarz's book the Anarchist's Tool Chest.  Last August in fact, and I read it in three days.  Since that time I have been trying to write a clever and worthy review of this book, filled with pithy quotes and trenchant examples, clearly that is not going to happen.  So here is a not so clever but just as sincere a review of Mr. Schwarz's book.

   Christopher Schwarz is a very fine writer with a flowing conversational prose and an excellent sense of organization and style.  The information imparted is done so clearly and with objectivity.  There are many tips and ideas within the book and I have to think even the most experienced wood worker would benefit from Mr. Schwarz's insights.

   For me the real heart of the book was the author's dedication to superior quality work and what impressed me the most was his sympathy with the professional woodworking class.  I felt he placed the blame for poor quality work clearly at the feet the of consumer who demands cheap products and labour and thereby forcing production quality down.  I agree with Mr. Schwarz, wood workers would rather do fine work in real wood but they have to make a living and compete with products made from sheet stock and sold to people that don't know or care. So crafts people are unable to do their best work because they are limited by time and costs.


  If craftsmanship is to survive this down turn in consumer taste then the amateur and hobby woodworker is the one that is going to have to build for the love of the work and hope that in time their efforts will be understood and recognized.

  Having read "The Anarchist's Tool Chest" I have changed my approach in the work shop in some ways as well.  I do not use sheet stock to build any longer.  I use face frame construction to build things like book case and doors now.  It takes longer but result is much better, both more attractive and just as sturdy.