Roger's workshop build and tour

[RogerS]

Once upon a time (in 2002) there was an empty corner on our property.





and we decided to have built a three-port oak-framed garage. The work was outsourced to the local Cowboy Builder (although we were unaware of this at the time and he was, eventually, kicked off the project. Anyone living locally to us in Malvern or Ledbury are welcome to PM me for his name so you can avoid him).

Lot of groundwork. Even more mud. Even more spoil to be 'lost'.





I think he got most enjoyment out of actual oak framing and you can see the four very large heavy-duty oak trusses in the photo.

Gradually the building took shape



Roof on.





But we always planned to seal up two of the ports for a gym and so insulation was put into the ceiling and walls and fancy lights put up. I also ran two separate ring-mains round the walls - one intended to be used for heaters on a central thermostat and time-switch.



and planned for a door through to what would become a lock-up. Few extra goodies also 'hidden' under the floor from this room to elsewhere



Some things Colin, the Cowboy Builder, did were good



But he took his eye off the ball when making his measurements



or remembering to fit the pegs



And I discovered later on that the two central trusses are not tied in to the main wall beams at all !

The guys he subbed the brickwork out to need to practice a bit more (preferably not on my buildings)



So we finally ended up with a sealed area (with double-glazed units) roughly 6m x 6m that would become the gym, a small lock up at the back of the remaining open plan port.

Then I started laying oak floorboards indoors. And that's when it all started !

To be continued ......

 

[TrimTheKing]

Ooooooh, intriguing…

Cheers
Mark

 

[Robert]

To be continued ......

Now you've got us hooked... when?

 

[Rod]

I realise the brickwork is really only infill but did you seal the gaps between it and the oak or is that not "done" in this type of construction?

That slope - is that where your water flooding problems emanated from?

Rod

 

[RogerS]

I realise the brickwork is really only infill but did you seal the gaps between it and the oak or is that not "done" in this type of construction?

That slope - is that where your water flooding problems emanated from?

Rod

Yes, I did seal some of the gaps with framing sealant. Not sure if that was right or wrong, TBH.

The slope you refer to is the one with the yellow annotation lines? If so then yes we did use to have water flooding problems there but now sorted with a v large pipe!

We also had run-off problems on the drive further down the hill but now fixed with my two large drains. As an aside, the drive/track is very pot-holey and ever one to want to save money thought I might try the stone that was put in yet another (the very first!) drainage ditch and water run-off catchment. However, when I investigated further discovered that the stone was totally blocked with clay which goes to prove my opinion that French drains are a waste of time. Open ditches every time.

Instalment two of the tour shortly.

 

[Rod]

Yes FDs have a limited lifespan even when encased in geotextiles designed to block small particle ingress. But often the safer option alongside highways, though those with stone fill completely to the top can be a dangerous hazard to vehicles running off into them! The spec used to call for a top layer of rubber chippings.

Rod

 

[Pinch]

I love green oak buildings

 

[RogerS]

Soon after starting the floorboards, I realised that my B&Q circular saw wasn't going to cut it. ..no pun intended..and that I needed something to rip some of the boards down. So I bought an early model of this Ryobi table saw

And a Ryobi router table for running some skirting through…that was fun. Taught me that a large router table is essential. Those roller supports never really work very well in my experience.

Somewhere along the line I decided I needed a pillar drill and so, knowing no better, bought a Clarke pillar drill. Oh boy, was that a mistake. As soon as the quill was lowered, the slop was truly dreadful. And, of course, I needed something to cut the ends off the floorboards and bought a DeWalt DW707 SCMS.





The sharp-eyed among you will, of course, spotted other goodies in the background but they came later. Many of the photo's are not, unfortunately, 'Of-the-day'.

But where to put them? Where to do all that sawing? Only one place really. :eusa-think: SWMBO was working away from home a lot, I can always find another place for them….

Then I discovered a woodworking forum called UKW and experienced an epiphany. All those exotic tools. I was sure that I needed a planer. I could convince myself of the need. And, naturally, a thicknesser as separates were what the pundits were recommending.

An Axminster 6" planer and a Delta thicknesser followed in quick succession. And, naturally, I had to have a bandsaw and bought the baby Axminster AWSBS….a cracker of a little bandsaw and still in daily use.





Chronologically I see that we are in 2004. An extract from a post I made on UKW shows that quality control was not very good then!

Ryobi table saw - arrived with minor damage to the fence track

Ryobi router table and router - returned for replacement as the router clamp stopped locking the router in its' position after a short while

Axminster CT150 - guard missing plus useless manual

Delta thicknesser - wrong legs supplied.

Most of the machines were all on mobile stands. I'd also started frequenting Pugh's auctions and like a junkie could never resist buying more and more timber. The big pile behind the planer attests to my addiction.

A couple of windows needed making so that meant I needed a morticer !! Bought the low-cost one from Axminster….a truly horrible machine, hold-downs never worked, lousy chisels…sold a long time ago. But while I had it, formed a useful member of machines all mounted together to save space.



And my little history trail threw up this thread from UKW in 2004 when I was after some advice to make some elm architraves to match some existing ones. I see that DaveL was giving his usual excellent advice. Aragorn was also incredibly helpful…no longer posts, sadly.

http://www.ukworkshop.co.uk/forums/post ... tml#p27194

Among the things I was making then was this bookcase for LOML and I used the advice given in the architrave thread to make the mouldings at the top of the bookcase.



to match this original piece



And in 2005, according to this thread http://www.ukworkshop.co.uk/forums/post ... tml#p40984 I was thinking about making a utility cupboard ….mmmmm…only just getting round to it now. I see that Andy featured in this thread !! And I see that about this time, I was thinking about getting a WoodRat which some of you may have spotted in the background of some of the photos.

And as a raincheck, out of all the stuff mentioned, the only original machines I still have are the Axminster bandsaw (regular use) and the Delta thicknesser (used very rarely and so perhaps ought to think about selling it).

To be continued ...

 

[DaveL]

So have you used the crayons to full advantage?

 

[RogerS]

That is very cryptic, Dave!

 

[AndyP]

And in 2005, according to this thread http://www.ukworkshop.co.uk/forums/post ... tml#p40984 I was thinking about making a utility cupboard ….mmmmm…only just getting round to it now. I see that Andy featured in this thread !! .....

Chris Knight (was waterhead37 back then ) also contributed. It is a shame he is no longer around. Very nice guy and lived just up the road from me. I am pretty sure he was one of the original mods on WH1 too.

 

[RogerS]

About this time IIRC I was refurbishing a couple of flats. I needed to build some bespoke kitchen cupboard carcasses and so that gave me the excuse to buy the Festool TS55 and a couple of rails. I still didn't have a workbench to my name and bought, on a whim a secondhand Festool MFT table. I had visions of using my DeWalt DW625 router on Festool sliders for getting nice crisp edges on Contiboard or cutting grooves in MDF and so went and bought all the adapters. Said adapters still inside their plastic packaging and never used. More money than sense me. But not now.



I decided to convert it to a router table. Fitted angle iron underneath the table top to support the weight of the router (a Triton) and stop any bowing. I also bought that ludicrous Incra Twin-Linear as I was still anally fixated on micron accuracy and thought having the Incra WAS A GOOD THING. Actually I don't use any of its features. I ought to sell it.



I'd love to say that I was making furniture at this time but sadly no. In fact I am hard pressed to say exactly what I was using the workshop for. Probably not much as I was working in London for much of the time and so only home at the weekends.

Underneath the MFT I re-used some kitchen drawers from one of the flats and it's full of router cutters...ranging from some pretty grotty early cheapie Trend ones to more recent decent cutters from Wealden. Lots of them. But never the one that you want.

Just to the left of this picture was my first cyclone - a ClearVue cyclone powered by a small wet/dry vacuum.


Another view of the infamous cyclone - the infamous imploding one



I also seem to have slipped in a larger table saw. This is a DeWalt and comes with even more add-on side tables to suit large sheet work like this



but since I (a) try and avoid sheet work and (b) my workshop isn't large enough they aren't fitted. The crazy thing is that around this time I still had everything on mobile bases or used any mobility aids fitted such as the excellent one fitted to the table saw. As a result I was reticent to fit the outfeed table to it as being anally retentive and thinking I needed to keep it mobile. As a consequence every time I cut something of any length I was fussing with those horrible roller support stands from Screwfix. This was a really stupid idea.

Even that huge Basato was on a mobile base. Boy, did it rock when running.

Now the sharp eyed among you will have spotted a large machine at the back of the last photo. Indeed it was. I chanced upon a large Kity spindle moulder, power feed and Scheppach Basato 5 humungously huge bandsaw for £600 on eBay which I snapped up.

I love getting stuff on a pallet.


Came complete with a tenoning table and rail. And power feed. Not the world's best but not bad.



And the Basato 5 which I hated and sold



And a remarkably empty workshop





....TBC

 

[kirkpoore1]

Is that a Delta 22-560 thicknesser? I had one of those--a great little machine. I wore it out sending 12" oak planks through it. The cutterhead keyway wallowed out. Make sure you keep the cutterhead pulley tightened or that will happen.

Kirk

 

[RogerS]

Yes it is. TBH I've not fired it up for several months now. It does have the advantage of being able to thickness shorter lengths of stock. Like you I found that it, not surprisingly, struggled with larger items and as I found myself planing up wider and heavier stock (mainly joinery work) I decided that the time had come for a larger P/T.

I spent a long time looking at various machines. Spent a morning down at Tewkesbury Saw looking at Scheppach, Rojek, Robland (IIRC) and Sedgwick. One of my bugbears especially with heavier stock was flimsy fences. I found that all the ones I tried - bar one - had a really floppy fence that would flex as soon as you looked at it. The one machine that was rock solid was the Sedgwick MB which new is just under £5k. I don't have three-phase and even though the overhead wires and pole were very close to my workshop, the cost was still too high. So I cast around for a secondhand one on FleaBay. Found one but was over bid. On a flyer, I emailed the seller and said that if the original deal fell through then I'd be happy to buy it. It did, I bought it and it arrived on two pallets.





Dead chuffed with it. Needed a 16A feed and fortunately for me as I'd run in that second ring for heaters I cannibalised that to provide me with the dedicated 16A supply. Lifting the infeed and outfeed tables by myself was an absolute pain but worth it. There is nothing more satisfying then whacking down a massive chunk of oak and the P/T not even blinking.

I replaced the original knives with the Barke Turnblade system which works very well. Once you've set up the carrier then that's it. No more faffing about resetting every time you replace the blades as they are throwaways. http://www.barke.de/web-content/eng/sysbarkeEN.html

I'd still not got a bench. I had the ideas for one based on Landis's book and even bought the threaded rods etc but then when sadly TrevTheTurner passed away, I bought his bench and Hegner lathe. I still have the bench and you can also see another shot of the small ClearVue Cyclone. Underneath the bench I started to use for storage of odd lengths of wood.



Things were starting to stabilise and once I had the Sedgwick up and running I realised that there was no way I was going to put that on a mobile base and so I decided to fix it in place and also the table saw. That way i could (finally) fit the proper outfeed table to the saw and once I'd done that wished I had done it years earlier.



More joinery work meant the need for a better morticer as well.

I'd also improved things around the SCMS..that Stop from Axminster is quite a useful bit of kit for getting consistent lengths easily.


and as I'd not used the Woodrat for months and months the area beneath it got kitted out to provide storage and better support for the wood being cut on the SCMS.



Christ, I am untidy.



I do make the occasional things...



I also bought a secondhand Jet drum sander which turned out to be invaluable when faced with thicknessing obstreperous wood with gnarly grain.



Had a few problems with it such as the woodruff key shearing but generally speaking very very very pleased with it.

Another general shot - lots of boxes of window seals and tracks. The rectangular box is the first of my air recirculating filters - homemade obviously - fed from a timer to overrun when I leave the workshop. And more timber and short pieces.



Thanks for looking....tbc

 

[Hudson Carpentry]

The stop block on the scms is the same I use. Its the best addition to my radial arm. Saves no end of time and makes everything accurate.

 

[AndyP]

That's some view you have.

It is nice to see the evolution of your workshop, the machines you started with and why they were upgraded.

And don't worry about the untidiness. I am sure others will disagree but "where there is work there is no order".

 

[RogerS]

The view has long gone and replaced by hedging which was part of the initial agreement with Planning. Winter is OK as the leaves have gone and TBH the view can be a distraction as can the light.

 

[Rod]

A lot tidier than mine! [emoji3]

Rod

 

[AndyP]

Would be a shame if that hedge died and had to be pulled up and replaced with something slow growing.

 

[RogerS]

Would be a shame if that hedge died and had to be pulled up and replaced with something slow growing.

Don't even go there! It's maple, hornbeam and hedge (dog?) rose - planted by LOML.