Just thought I'd post some images of the ol shop before 2016 closes out. This way next year I can look back and compare it a year later. You never know what may happen. Nothing lasts forever, except this forum community!

From our shop to yours, Happy New Year's folks!

No fair cleaning up before the pictures. Your gonna make the rest of us look bad 

All the best in the new year, John.

12 minutes ago, lew said:

No fair cleaning up before the pictures. Your gonna make the rest of us look bad 

And I know where you can get some nice shavings to spread around and make that clean shop look more acceptable! Free... just pay the shipping!

John

 

14 minutes ago, lew said:

No fair cleaning up before the pictures.

I did just that Lew! It's turned out to be somewhat of a tradition the past few years, I clean up the ol shop New Years Eve. It just happens to end up that way. By New Years Eve I am ready to crawl into a hole, and just be quiet with the world, the year behind me, and I am done with the Holiday bustle. My hole is our shop, and while there I find myself just walking around and moving things around, then it ends up being a full clean up. And that is what happened today! I know, no fair, but I swear I did not mean it.

1 minute ago, HARO50 said:

All the best in the new year, John.

And I know where you can get some nice shavings to spread around and make that clean shop look more acceptable! Free... just pay the shipping!

John

 

I bet you have a wonderful idea where I can get some shavings Haro! I do have my dust bags full, I could dump em and be done with it, should of done it before I took the pictures.

31 minutes ago, lew said:

No fair cleaning up before the pictures. Your gonna make the rest of us look bad 

it's staged....

or borrowed...

18 minutes ago, HARO50 said:

Free... just pay the

ummmmmmmmmmmmmmm.....

John....

John...

that is a very fine shop....

way to go dude...

1 minute ago, Stick486 said:

ummmmmmmmmmmmmmm.....

John....

8 minutes ago, Stick486 said:

John...

that is a very fine shop....

way to go dude...

Thanks Stick, it just kind of happened. Over the years things just are, actually the shop has not changed in 10 years, still the same machinery, but for the Laguna Lathe, that was a gift from some awesome wounded warriors about 4 years ago showing appreciation for some work we did for them. Everything else is what it is. My shop has gotten much quieter the last couple years though, I have gravitated to more hand tools and sometimes a few of those machines are idle for a month or more. But it is a comfy shop, I do like it, it works. The one thing I do need to do is create more wall shelving, for my tools, I need to get them up and out of the main workbench cabinet and accessible when I need them.

 

This ol shop has made ends meet more than a few times, and it's helped pay tuition for college and other necessities. Thanks for the comments Stick, honestly I never really saw it as a nice shop, until you mentioned it, and ya, I guess it really is isn't it?

Yup. It really is!

John

Nice shop John. You know a clean shop is a sign of a sick mind, you are way beyond help. My shop is so cluttered you have to be a pole vaulter to get from one tool to another.

 

Happy new year everyone

 

Preston

25 minutes ago, John Morris said:

My shop has gotten much quieter the last couple years though, I have gravitated to more hand tools

here it was gravitate back to...

Very nice little piece of heaven

@John Morris,

You are a lucky man.

I am curious, how do you get the car in there? I made a passing statement about leaving the car outside and boy did I get the stink eye.

I like the front and back overhead doors. I bet it is nice getting things in and out and a cross breeze. 

 

1 hour ago, ACR_SCOUT said:

You are a lucky man.

I appreciate that ACR, you know we are our own worse critics when it comes to our work and shops sometimes. This is the first time I believe I have posted images like this of our shop, and in doing so I have received many compliments from you all. And this has made me realize, ya, we did put together a decent shop.

It occupies a standard two car garage, and I know, the guy with the one car garage shop is saying, man that's a huge shop! And I see some of you with those new buildings you put up in your back yards that are 1200 sqft and I am saying, man, that's a huge shop!

 

The car, well, ya, when we first moved in I told my wife I'd put everything on casters that I bring into the shop over time, she was able to park her truck in the garage for the first two weeks we lived here, then it was all over. But, since I have had my shop I have used it mainly for a second income, my wife is a stay at home hard working mom, we are a single income family (me) since we have been married, when I build something in that shop, rarely is it on a whim, nor as a gift or for a family member to give, it's for income. We have three items in our home built by me, a chest, a rocker, and a wall shelf. I have my day job, I have my shop for wages as well, I have a well fed family and well clothed, and my wife does not complain about her truck in the driveway. She has a nice life and she is not complaining, we are truly blessed we were able to do it this way. I truly wish I had the time to build more items for family and friends, but it just has not worked out that way, I know when I retire, I'll have the time, I hope!

 

EDIT: I had to edit this post, because I frequently forget about, or discount our efforts in volunteerism, we use our shop frequently for valuable volunteer work for our troops, don't know why I misplaced that in my brain while writing this, as seen here at

Thanks ACR for the compliments, and yes, I am a lucky man, I appreciate you pointing that out, sometimes we need to be reminded of that.

13 hours ago, Stick486 said:

here it was gravitate back to...

True Stick, not to say your old, but the older generation of woodworkers did start out with non power, then had to move to power to make it faster on demand, than as you circle back in life, you are making it back to non power, getting back to your roots, is that the way I am supposed to read that?

I am such a buffoon, been looking for a couple push sticks I misplaced for months, I just saw them in my second to the last picture hanging up above the table saw, right where I put them!

13 hours ago, steamshovel said:

Nice shop John. You know a clean shop is a sign of a sick mind, you are way beyond help. My shop is so cluttered you have to be a pole vaulter to get from one tool to another.

 

Happy new year everyone

 

Preston

Happy New Year Preston, it is true, a sick mind indeed!

It's an older habit of mine, it is clean mostly, not that clean but things are typically put away at the end of the day, and the floor is swept and the shop is air blown as well. I worked in a production shop for about 8 years, every night the shop was cleaned and everything put back for the next day, it's an old habit of mine, just can't break it! But, I do have my moments where I just walk off and leave it as is when I'm tired. In those images the shop looks exceptionally clean, I was cleaning all day yesterday, a deep clean I do a couple times a year.

Thanks Preston

13 hours ago, John Morris said:

but for the Laguna Lathe, that was a gift from some awesome wounded warriors about 4 years ago showing appreciation for some work we did for them.

Best sentence in this entire thread IMHO. No doubt one of your most prized tools....yet another example of how our military men & women find ways to continue giving back to the country & people they love.

 

As for the shop pictures...enjoyed them thoroughly...better than picking up the latest edition any Woodworking magazine...the story's to go along with the pictures....Priceless...It's quite apparent the work and job you have in the shop is neither...it's a passion...Like Henry Ford is quoted as saying "Find a job you enjoy, and you'll never work a day in your life." Think you've find that meaning and balance there 'grasshopper.'

 

14 minutes ago, John Morris said:

I am such a buffoon, been looking for a couple push sticks I misplaced for months, I just saw them in my second to the last picture hanging up above the table saw, right where I put them!

...at least you remembered you couldn't find them when you saw the pictures...

 

Edit add: or BTW Blessings to you and family in this New Year!

Edited January 1, 20179 yr by Grandpadave52