small carving shop.

Brandon Yuchasz

Brandon Yuchasz

Well-known member
Morning Duckboats,

My family and I moved about two years ago and I finally just got a floor poured in the barn / garage and will be insulating it and putting heat in over the winter. Its going to serve as a multi purpose building with all my wood working, welding, and general garage items in it. Surprisingly my wife was shocked to hear there would not be room in it for her truck. Although when I don't have the benches pulled out into the middle for a project I suspect there will be room for it. I just don't want to commit to that yet!

Its been a long two years for me with very few bird carved or painted and I plan to change that very soon. The garage will work for a while as a carving area but I tend to start and stop carving quickly and leave my tools and chips laying where they are. Its just a fact of my work and family life right now if I want to carve I may only have 30 minutes to work on it. From the moment we bought this house and property I have had in my mind that I would fix up and use the and old boat house / shed for my carving shack. Its going to need a lot of work but cabin fever gets mighty bad up her come about April so I can see myself starting on it in early spring and getting it all fixed up. I do plan to take part down and rebuild it so I can make it a little bigger but I cant get to much larger because of the fact that its to close to the neighbors property line already. I can only add to the side that is not facing them. Ill be posting pictures of the project when I get started but for now I wanted to ask the group and those of you that have smaller carving shops and area's how big are they and what have you found that helps make use of that small space?

Please share the dimensions of your shops and any pictures of tips you might have.

Keep in mind I don't power carve so the center of my shop will have the bench / horse ( minds not a horse) bolted down to the floor and I tend to work in circles around it.
 
Thanks Bob. I had been thinking the power tools would all stay up in the big shop. But now I am considering the band saw and drill press in the carving shop. Its a small drill press so a larger unit in the big shop would be easy to justify.

I do wonder how often I would miss having the band saw in the big shop....
Something to think on.

I'm also limited to one 20 amp circuit in the small shop.
 
Good morning, Brandon~

Here are things I really enjoy about my shop. Mine is a combination boatbuilding/woodworking/carving shop - at 20 x 40 (with a full-size loft and an attached 10x20 shed along the north wall). So, I am limiting my comments to the east end of my shop - where I carve.

1. A place to store everything - so I can put things where I can find them when I do clean up. Paints and patterns are in an old file cabinet. Machine tools store beneath my carving bench. Bandsaw and benchtop drill press are handy.

2. Benches at different heights. My carving bench - with a couple of vises and where I stand to use the draw knife and orbital sander - is 34 inches high. My assembly bench - where I sit to paint - is 30 inches off the floor.

3. Good lighting. I have a total of 26 "cans" in the ceiling (on 2 circuits) - but also have a clamp light I use to focus especially strong light on my work. I have been upgrading the can light bulbs from CFLs to LEDs (daylight range). I also have generous windows on 3 walls (N, E, S) at this end of the shop.

4. Wood Stove. If you have the room, you cannot beat a wood stove. Not only do I burn my scraps, but I also heat my branding iron in it. It's also very useful to "cook" epoxy, spar varnish, etc.

5. Wood Floor. My shop is built on a concrete "Alaskan Slab" - but I laid down vapor barrier, 2x4 sleepers, foam board insulation between the sleepers, and 2x12 6/4 pine shiplap floorboards - screwed down. With or without the stove cooking along, my shop has never put a chill down my back. (Walls have 6 inches of 'glass insulation, ceiling 12 inches.

6. Ceiling Rack . I hang in process decoys to dry or cure - and they are out of the way.

7. Radio. I listen to NPR all day long - we have a great local station - but NO PHONE, NO TV....

8. Ample Supplies - I have a holder for paper towels (and a box full of new rolls), a bag of rags, cans full of mixing sticks, a drawer full of throwaway brushes, all the necessary solvents - and try to never run short.


What I do not have enough of is shelf space. I always used to carve one or 2 birds at a time. Now that I am re-habbing rigs, a set of long shelves would be handy - but I no longer have sufficient wall space.

Hope this helps - and have fun putting it all together!

SJS
 
I've got open rafters and trusses so I can stick stuff up high. I have a bunch of wood I haven't been able to cut up or work with for years. I'll try to post pics if I can find em. After you see what I have done in the past or present with the areas I have or have used you'll feel good about whatever you end up with I'm sure...
 
Here's my old carving dungeon. Was 10' x 12'. Bench, bandsaw and shelves pretty much. Had a freebie fridge/freezer where I could keep birds I'd killed so they didn't take up space in the household fridge. No sump-pump at that house so moisture was an issue after heavy rains. Wouldn't recommend that or the mold that accompanied it...

DSC_6231copy.jpg


DSC_6232copy.jpg


DSC_6233copy.jpg


DSC_6234copy.jpg


DSC_6230copy.jpg

 
Thanks for the replies everyone. 10 x 12 is about what I will have to work with. The larger building would be the area for any large wood working or boat building projects. This smaller one is strictly a carving place. I don't really think I would paint in that building I have always painted in the house but maybe I would want to start doing it out in the shop.

It will have a small wood stove. Doubt it will take much to keep it warm at that size though.
 
I have always painted in the house but maybe I would want to start doing it out in the shop.
Click to expand...

Unless you truck your paints back and forth from the house you may not like it with oil paint. Tends to be too soupy in the summer for me and too stiff in the winter. I finally stopped painting in the shop and just made a dedicated space inside the house.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top