11/3/2009
Last updated
The building thus far!
My new workshop is finally ready to be used at the start of July 2008. It is a timber garage measuring 11x5m. The building itself sits on oak pillars cut from trees cleared in preparing the site. My workshop floor is the natural clay found when the site was levelled; I figured that since clay had been good enough for workshop floors for hundreds of thousands of years, then it would be good enough for me! To keep the rain from washing in (and cut out the draft), the space between the base of the workshop and the clay floor is gradually being filled with reclaimed roofing slates backed by more clay. I’ve put in plenty of clear roofing panels to make as much use of natural lighting as possible, it’s easier to work with natural lights as well as being more energy efficient.
My workshop is also off the grid power wise. My primary source of power is from the sun, via the 4 solar panels on the roof. Each of the panels is producing 80w of power and trickle charging a bank of batteries housed behind the building. For times when the sun doesn’t shine I have a back up generator. The generator was also chosen with renewable energy in mind, it’s a Lister ST2 engine driving a Brush 7Kva generator. This means that I can run it on bio-diesel or straight vegetable oil once I sort out a pre-heater. So far I have been able to get all of the power that I need from the sun, but I’m sure the genny will come into it’s own in the depths of winter.
Doors double as blackboards. a picture is worth a thousand words, especially when teaching!
the lister as it arrived. I'll replace this picture in due course.
Inside the workshop is of course where I do my stuff! It is continually being upgraded as the money becomes available to replace and renew equipment that has perished during the winter storage. Below are just some of the main features!
My main workbench is made from a 3" slab of oak, bolted to the wall and to 8" diameter oak posts set in the ground. Like the building supports, the oak came form trees felled only yards away. The walls of my workshop are lined with FSC certified hardwood ply to help with insulation and to stop me from accidentally throwing a hammer through the wall!
Above the bench are built-in cupboards. I made these to save me from banging my head on normal cupboards and shelves, they also take up less valuable space.
To the left you can see my pillar drill and drawers full of bits used in making handles for various tools and knives.
My most often used tools are stored next to the workbench. To the far right I have my files from tiny needle files to 16” bastard and mill files. In previous workshops these have been hung up above the bench, but they always rusted quickly (making them blunt); hopefully their replacements won’t suffer the same fate. Left of the files are wrenches, spanners (not shown), screwdriver, small hammers and cutters; all the things that I need to be able to get at when one hand is holding onto something already!
In the left hand cupboard are my hand saws (all sharpened to do particular jobs), hacksaws and spare blades. I prefer to use old fashioned saws where pssble as they seem to work better and are certainly much more pleasant in the hand!
To the far left are my clamps, ranging from 1” G-clamps up to 3’ bar clamps. I’ve also got small clamps, vices and jigs that I have made up for specific jobs.
Virtually all of the turned handles that I use are made by me on this lathe. I also turn out any other wooden treen as the need arises, though normally it is only for my own use.
The cabinet to the left of the lathe has my marking and measuring tools in it and the turning tools are below that (a door will be added soon!). I keep my sheets of abrasives in the small chest by the lathe too. As I don’t like grinding and I don’t have a flash belt grinder, I tend to use a lot of hand abrasives! The cupboard underneath is home to lathe chucks and various grinding and polishing wheels for the bench grinder. My small angle grinder and safety gear lives on the shelf in the corner where it is near to hand.
my humble bench grinder. I've had this cheap grinder for over a decade and it is still going strong! IIt's only 6" diameter and about 350w, but it does what I need (one advantage of less power and smaller wheels is that it is less dangerous).
I don't use the grinder much, but I do use it for removing loose scale (wire wheel) and for the small amount of buffing that I do.
This bandsaw saves a great deal of time and labour cutting wood. It also means that I can start off with a plank of my favourite native hardwood and end up with a pile of evenly sized scales. One day I would like to upgrade to a larger machine that actually runs true, but this does what I need.
Here it is, my main forge! It’s a bottom blast forge of my own design and build. I’ve been using this one since my first forge collapsed in a pile or rubble and dust back in 2005. The forge is currently lined with firebricks, but now that I’m not moving anywhere again I will cast a more durable base in place. The air is provided by a 1hp extractor fan housed in a box on the front of the workshop (that way it keeps bad air out of the motor and makes for a less noisy workshop).
The only anvil in the shot is my blade smithing stump. It has very nice sharp and square edges that help me to forge so closely to finished dimensions. I also have a couple of more conventional anvils but they haven’t been planted yet. The support for the anvil is a 16” diameter oak stump, sunk 2 feet into the ground: I’m not having my anvils dancing around the floor anymore!
Shiny new anvil! Although most of the tools that I make can be made soley on my rectangular stump anvil, sometimes the bick and hardy hole are useful to have. After buying several dissapointing second hand anvils (too small or too knackered), I bit the bullet and bought a brand new one!
As it was the last in the shop, they gave me the stand for free. Being a short arse, the stand is far too tall for me; so I have used it to support my swage block. A swage block is a very useful tool for making gouges, adze and the like.
My flypress, a Norton number 6. This beast weighs nearly half a tonne and will allow me to make a wider range of tools than I have made to date. I will be using it to bend large bars, fullering and drawing down stock, punch and drift eyes for handles, cut stock... The limitations of this tool are really only set by my imagination and the tooling that I make for it!
