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This is the 2003 shop that I built after many years of struggling in the tiny, wet basement of our 1783 home in NJ. It is 24'x24' with a stick built attic that makes an excellent finishing kiln for the raw lumber that I favor, most from cherry and maple trees on our property. I built 9' ceilings for handling sheet-goods easily. The workshop is an addition to the original carriage house on the property and incorporates some of the original into the shop space.



In addition to the entry door there are two 8x8 rolling doors on the infeed and outfeed sides of the tablesaw and jointer, giving me lots of flexibility for long stock. I built insulated panels for the rolling door on the north wall and finished them to match the other walls. I had designed a trap-door in the wall at the end of the cabinets housing the radial arm and miter box, but have never had a need for it.

The bench, lathe and sander are from the estate of a man who mentored and inspired me in the early days of woodworking. In fact, many of my tools are from dear and fondly remembered friends and relatives. Though I do not use them exclusively, I have a great affection for hand-tools - particularly vintage tools that are often superior to their modern counterparts.



Abundant natural light is provided by windows that, providentially, my church was replacing at the time I was building the shop. The trade off in wall space is well worth it to me; I built all of the cabinets for tool and material storage. I am particularly happy with the sliding shelves that multiply the use of the lower cabinets.


Before pouring the slab for the floor, I incorporated a center channel to run dust collection and power supply. I installed an auxiliary port in the duct work to run portable tools like the planer in addition to the jointer and tablesaw. I also incorporated ductwork into the cabinets housing the radial arm and miter box.


The mortiser and planer live on a sturdy rolling former-computer table that is terrifically handy. A twin of this table lives under the tablesaw extension. There is a router table incorporated into the tablesaw extension.


Sheet goods are stored in a vertical rack and long stock on wall mounted racks.

Most of my work is cabinetry and furniture, though I did manage to build a boat with some re-arrangement.



One recent addition that I love is a wash up sink. There is no plumbing to the shop so this was a challenge. In the end I used a 5-gallon reservoir under the sink with a pressure activated pump and gravity drain.