Welcome to my garage. I really started getting into woodworking and DIY
back in 2006, soon after I was married. My initial tools were a new Ridgid
table saw and an old Delta drill press I found on Craigslist. It has come
a long way since then. (click on any photo to see a larger version).
The total garage size is about 22′ by 22′. There is one 6′ x 8′ section
that is used for regular household storage, the rest is my shop. Since I
live in Arizona and don’t have an air conditioner in the garage, the main
door stays open most of the time I am out there. This allows me to use the
driveway as a work area for all of my welding and my larger woodworking
projects as well as increased airflow.
On the left you can see my Grizzly Dust Collector, an
Amerex 2.5 Gallon Water Fire Extinguisher,
a Delta DJ-20 Jointer. On the right side is a bench I built with three of
my vises – a cheap Colombian, a nice Wilton bullet, and a Ridgid 27 Bench Yoke Vise,
and my Ridgid 16 Gallong Wet/Dry Vac.
This vac was one of my early purchases and it has been great.
Here is my welding table and Delta Unisaw. Originally, the storage cabinet
that is under the welding table was under the table saw extension and I had
a foldable outfeed table for the Unisaw.
After a few years, I decided I didn’t need the full 52″ rail capacity, so I
cut it down and moved the cabinet to where it is now.
I built the welding table specifically to straddle the storage cabinet. It
is a piece of 1/8″ hot rolled steel, sitting on some 2″x3″ 1/8″ rectangular
tubing. The middle of the welding table is supported with some 2″ x 1/4″
flat bar welded in as ribs.
In the background is my Jet 6×48/12″ disc/belt sander, my Steel City
Oscillating Spindle Sander, and some shelving containing some grinders,
buffers, and my pneumatic nailers and stapler. There is also a metal
bolt bin that I use to store miscellaneous odds and ends. My air
compressor sits on the floor below. It is a 30 gallon, 5hp RolAir unit that
will put out 17cfm at 175psi. I looked for quite a while for a high
performance compressor that would fit in approximately the same space as
my previous 20 gallon portable. It was also a Craigslist find and so far
it has met all my expectations.
The rest of the west wall contains more cabinets I have built over
the years. The outer door of each of these was made with pegboard
allowing quick access to some more commonly used tools. The first
cabinet stores my woodworking planes, chisels, and good hand saws.
The middle cabinet has two double sided pegboard doors and a shelf
behind. It holds paint brushes, glues, and various speciality tools.
The third pegboad cabinet has miscellaneous tools.
Below the cabinets, I have my chargers for my Milwaukee M18 and M12
tools, as well as two Festool chargers for my (so far) only non-Milwaukee
cordless tools. I have three sets of metal parts cabinets. The first
two are stacked and contain all sorts of stuff – fasteners, shop supplies,
and tools. The grey metal cabinet is one of the few I purchased new. I
use it to store several lengths of 1/4-20 fasteners, several sizes of
SPAX wood screws, and other commonly used fasteners. I buy them in bulk
whenever possible to save money.1
The floor cabinets store supplies and tools. The brown cabinet is
the only wood cabinet in the shop that I didn’t make. I found it at
Goodwill for $20 and couldn’t pass it up. All of my drawered cabinets
where build from Baltic Birch plywood using a Kreg Pocket Hole jig
for the joinery. I followed the process descriped in Tom Clark’s
excellant book,
Practical Shop Cabinets.
Moving along to the northwest corner of the shop, we come to my primary
woodworking area. For a workbench, I use a Festool MFT.
I have my more commonly use woodworking tools located around this table,
each in their own Systainer. These include:
CXS Compact Drill Set |
TS 75 EQ Track Saw |
RO 150 Rotex Sander |
ETS 150/3 Finish Sander |
Other Systainers contain my collection of Milwaukee M12 tools, MFT accessories,
Kreg clamps and bits, and setup blocks
Beyond the MFT is another cabinet I built for storing some of my less
commonly used woodworking tools, a lazy susan style cabinet holding another
grinder, a Powermatic PM701 Mortiser,
a Kreg Foreman,
a hand tapper, several routers, and most of my paint.
The red Craftsman toolbox contains most of my mechanic type tools –
sockets, wrenches, files, screwdrivers, tap and die sets, and the like.
Above that is a pantry style slide-out-shelving cabinet. It stores
stains, lubricants, and other such items that would otherwise be hard
to find on the back of a deep shelf.
The sorttainer stack contains mostly shop supplies and small or
specialty tools. The bottom sorttainer in the stack holds all of my
hand sharpening supplies – water stones, jigs, and diamond plates of
varous courseness. Behind that is my clamp cabinet. It is two levels
deep. The right ‘door’ hold my Jet Parallel clamps. Each bracket holds
four clamps. The left ‘door’ is lined with french cleats holding
most of my commonly used F-clamps. Opening these two doors reveals
the interior, also lined with french cleats. In here is where I keep
bar clamps, C-Clamps, and specialty clamps of all types. I have over 250
clamps stored in a 6′ x 4′ x 1′ deep section of wall.
This is the endcap of my heavy shelving unit. It is directly behind
my MFT, putting it right in the middle of my work area. I use this
space to store my most commonly used tools.
The upper left side holds my personal protective gear – faceguard, ear
muffs, safety glasses – and my belt sheath tools – usually a Knipex Mini Pliers Set
but sometimes just a pair of slip-joint pliers. Below that are some of my
layout tools and a thread gauge.
On the right side, I keep various spray bottles across the top,
followed by a magnetic bar with quickpoint knives and other tools.
Below that are tape measures, marking devices, and spare blades. Next
is a holder for 1/4″ impact bits (for the M18 impact driver next to them)
and a set of my most commonly used screwdrivers (Phillips, Square, Torx,
and straight). Bottoming out the row are some pliers and cutters, with a
3/8″ imact socket set on the floor beneath.
This is the south side of my heavy shelving. In order to make the large
shelves more user friendly, I built a plywood grid designed to hold 15
quart plastic tubs. I have these labeled with their contents.
Above tbat is a piee of 4″ pipe cut into sections holding various sizes
of threaded rod. On top, buried beneath a bunch of shop supplies is my
seldom used Dewalt DW788 Scroll Saw and more tubs of shop supplies.
On the corner of the rack is another 4″ pipe containing some dowells,
brazing rod, and my Starrett 36″ hook rule.
Here we wrap up with the north wall. We start off with my router table,
a Jess-Em table with a 3 1/2 HP Porter-Cable router. Below the table
are two drawers containing router bits. Hidden behind the router table
is a Delta thickness planer. To the right is my drill press and a
cabinet containing various drill bits and drilling accessories. Next
to that are my two bandsaws. The Delta is a standard 14″ saw in which
I keep a small blade (usually 1/8″) for making tight radius cuts. The
Rikon is dedicated to straight cuts and resawing.
On the wall behind is are some tilt out storage bins, a shelf
holding my old Stanley miter saws, and a selection of hardwood lumber.
The bench in the corner is made from some scrap 2×6’s I planed down
and face glued into a 2 1/2″ thick top that is about 42″x20″. Below it
I keep some Husky cantilever storage boxes containing fasteners and
other supplies.
1. For example, for 1″ #8 SPAX screws, in a box of 30, the
cost each is $0.067. If you buy a box of 1000, the cost each is $0.025!
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