2 hours ago, Gunny said:

Interesting.  Seems like a very nice guy. Has sent me a couple of messages.

That's cool Gunny! 

Need a GPS to find your way around, need chips to know what is in inventory, but really a fantastic place to be.  If I was his neighbor, I wouldn't have to go to Lowe's or the hardware store.  He could just open for business and I would purchase.  Too far over my head, but I love the table.  That is one quality and beautiful table.  A few pillows and a nice place to sleep when the wife wants me out of the house.  John, it's just too much for the average person.  It is fine for someone who is running a business like him.  

21 minutes ago, FlGatorwood said:

John, it's just too much for the average person.

Ya, it would be for the average woodworker, it would be for me too, but man it's fun to look at!

Actually he doesn't do his business out of the hobby shop you see, that is strictly his fun space, that is a work that spans 20 years, he didn't build it in a year, it took two decades. He has another part of that same building that houses his office, garage, and his business/construction tools and such for his day job.

To each his own.  I'm am envious that he had the money, space, time and energy to pull something like that off.  Not my cup of tea.  He is not alone.  There are man cave repair shops out there decked out with Snap-on's best tool boxes and tools and a car lift that are only used to change oil.  If that shop is the result of his work then he is a woodworker and a good one at that.  He is happy with it.  I see years of work to get a shop to look that nice.  We don't know the whole story, he may have made millions at a young age and had a lot of spare time.

I have had several acquaintances, one had such a love for tools but I never saw anything he had made.  The other was so enamored developing every detail of his shop that he, too rarely made anything.  Another recently moved to a retirement home and due to health had two friends spend many weeks clearing out his old shop.  They found 87 hammers with no duplicates.

I say that I have a shop to make things, I don't make things to have a shop.

14 minutes ago, HandyDan said:

To each his own.  I'm am envious that he had the money, space, time and energy to pull something like that off.  Not my cup of tea.  He is not alone.  There are man cave repair shops out there decked out with Snap-on's best tool boxes and tools and a car lift that are only used to change oil.  If that shop is the result of his work then he is a woodworker and a good one at that.  He is happy with it.  I see years of work to get a shop to look that nice.  We don't know the whole story, he may have made millions at a young age and had a lot of spare time.

I'm very happy for the man, Dan. 

And once again for those who question, beautiful projects ARE made in that shop!

The cleanliness is not necessarily an indicator of how much the shop is used. In our heyday we ran a shop of about 2500 sg ft and we were going full bore. We pretty much trashed the place every day. People ask me what I miss most about having that shop and always the same answer. His name was Robert but his nickname was Duck. He was a highs school kid and then ultimately a college kid who arrived every day at 1730. He would spend about three hours cleaning the place up and putting all the tools back in their place. We would arrive the next morning and do it all over again. About once a month he would come in on a Sat and do what we called the “ Bill Murray” which was open up the bay door and take a leaf blower and blow all the residual dust out. Loved that kid. 
Paul

7 hours ago, Gunny said:

That is a work of art!  

Gunny, i didn’t build that! Wish my work was that beautiful. Also I think I have more sawdust on my floors than he does. If I won a woodworking magazine contest, and that shop was the prize, I wouldn’t turn it down. I look at this like a beautiful muscle car. It has the beauty AND performance. You could send a day polishing it up, or making something. 

4 minutes ago, Artie said:

Gunny, i didn’t build that! Wish my work was that beautiful. Also I think I have more sawdust on my floors than he does. If I won a woodworking magazine contest, and that shop was the prize, I wouldn’t turn it down. I look at this like a beautiful muscle car. It has the beauty AND performance. You could send a day polishing it up, or making something. 

Exactly!!

 

Now his shop is 20 years of work.  On average I do 4-6 shop projects a year as well as a host of regular projects.  If he followed similar path or maybe did 8-10 for the shop over 20 years this is a fantastic result.  Granted it is not typical of most woodworkers shops, but like you mentioned beauty and performance.  

 

Would love to meet the guy and just sit and listen to how this all came together.  What really gets me is how many drawers he has, and NO LABELS.  I have maybe 15% of the drawers he has and I have to label it all.

Hey, no matter how you cut it and how they come there are not enough woodworkers in the world !

Paul

55 minutes ago, Masonsailor said:

Hey, no matter how you cut it and how they come there are not enough woodworkers in the world !

Paul

Sad but true.  It takes time and cannot be done behind a desk or a phone. 

1 hour ago, Gunny said:

Sad but true.  It takes time and cannot be done behind a desk or a phone. 

My son at age 40 has now realized that our talents, knowledge and skills is dissappearing.  Now, he wants to learn.  We have a project that we will start next week of rebuilding 2 park benches.  He will get to use the table saw to bevel the edges of the boards, then the belt sander to smooth out the cuts and put an arch on top of the boards.  So, he is going to get started.  His son loves doing this so they can work together when I'm gone and maybe teach someone else.  Glad to see this come to be.  

2 minutes ago, FlGatorwood said:

My son at age 40 has now realized that our talents, knowledge and skills is dissappearing.  Now, he wants to learn.  We have a project that we will start next week of rebuilding 2 park benches.  He will get to use the table saw to bevel the edges of the boards, then the belt sander to smooth out the cuts and put an arch on top of the boards.  So, he is going to get started.  His son loves doing this so they can work together when I'm gone and maybe teach someone else.  Glad to see this come to be.  

Awesome, very awesome, and congratulations.

There are times when I go into my shop with no intention of doing anything.  I just enjoy being there, reconnecting with my "center".  It wouldn't surprise me if this gentleman did the same thing on occasion.

my workbench is 36x96, sheet of 3/4" plywood is the top.  i'm not afraid to drill into it, run a chisel into it, draw on it, spill on it.  it reminds me of Maloof's work bench:  much loved sheet of plywood.

my shop this afternoon.  no, i did not clean it up for the photoshoot.  i opened the front door, turned on the lights, and snapped this pic.  suits me just fine.

as far as the original video above, he refers to a longer, 1 hour version, and he noticed many were not watching the entire hour's worth of video.

 

free hint:  brevity is the soul of wit. 

 

while you may think your fantastic shop is worthy of an hour of video, people are busy, some have very slow download speeds (like me), so having to sit thru an hour's of material to get to the "good stuff" at the end is not a reasonable request.  and as he proved, he could cut that down to about 2 minutes of actual content after the intro.

 

so, overall, nice shop.  looks like a talented guy, good for him.

On 9/15/2020 at 6:41 AM, PostalTom said:

There are times when I go into my shop with no intention of doing anything.  I just enjoy being there, reconnecting with my "center".  It wouldn't surprise me if this gentleman did the same thing on occasion.

Amen to that Tom! Words of wisdom my friend.

3 hours ago, DAB said:

my shop this afternoon.  no, i did not clean it up for the photoshoot.

I am with you on that.  Mine this evening as I walked in, but before my cat supervisors showed up.

 

 

 

Well since we are showing our shops here is mine in disaster mode after working in it all day. Usually I try to pick up the next morning before starting work again. Then again sometimes not 😎

Paul