Shop Space: Five Readers Share Their Workspaces
These personalized workspaces were designed to fit the unique needs and projects of their makers.
In this collection of five workshop profiles from Fine Homebuilding readers, we take a look at how different makers have shaped their spaces. From compact garages to spacious basements, each shop is a unique solution to the ownerÍs needs, whether it’s for better air quality, more space, or flexibility in their projects.
Bandwidth for a Bandsaw
By day, John Petsche works at a local hospital as the director of respiratory therapy, so clean air is a priority in his shop. In addition to employing dust control at his tools, he runs a homemade air filter that uses a common blower motor and a combination of HVAC and HEPA filters to capture particles.
Petsche says the system circulates the shop air through the filters about a dozen times per hour. His shop is on the smaller side—a single-car garage, measuring just 12-ft. by 24-ft.—but with some creative solutions, it gives him the space he needs.
Petsche started with a cabinet saw but soon downsized to a more compact DeWalt job-site saw. As time went on, however, he became increasingly interested in reducing noise and airborne dust, and he has since moved to a bandsaw in place of a tablesaw.
In addition to making his working environment quieter and cleaner, he has also gained back shop space. The bandsaw and his 12-in. planer, Festool track saw, miter saw, and collection of routers allow him to work around any project without missing his old tablesaw.
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Photos courtesy of the shop owner.
Carpenter’s ShopWith the last name of Carpenter, it seems like destiny that Caleb Carpenter would end up in carpentry. Although his family has a large contracting business, Carpenter struck out on his own a few years ago with his own company, Rad Woodworks (@rad_woodwork), located near Albany, N.Y. Until about a year ago, Carpenter was building furniture in the parking lot of his apartment complex, so his new oversized two-car-garage setup is a giant step up. It’s a good spot to work on the custom furniture and built-ins he makes. Of course, like most contractors, Carpenter does a little bit of everything, from millwork and custom closets to roofing, so the workshop is meant to be versatile. While the shop is a work in progress, Carpenter is sure of one thing—the importance of using quality tools that will last a long time. If you’re starting a new business, buying such tools can seem to consume a huge chunk of your budget, but it will be worth it in the long run.
 Photos courtesy of the shop owner. |
Spacious and Versatile Workspace
Bob Medved has been a woodworker for more than 25 years, and although he doesn’t make a living from it, he works every day in his shop. He had the opportunity to design his dream shop a couple years ago when he and his wife had a new house built.
The entire basement is his domain—shop, lumber storage, and office space. Medved took lessons from his previous basement shops and applied them here, including maintaining plenty of ceiling height and running two air-filtration systems simultaneously to keep the air clean.
He recently finished a dining table from black walnut harvested on his property. And he’s now upgrading his shop by adding a bathroom to his office, including building the vanity himself.
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Photos courtesy of the shop owner.
Dream Shop for a DentistGregory Karr’s passion for woodworking and construction began when he built his first pieces of furniture just before college. After retiring from a long career as a dentist, Karr is still working in his shop and has even considered a second career as a cabinetmaker. He built all the trim and cabinets for his custom-built home. His basement shop, around 1000 sq. ft., is constantly evolving. In the shop’s current iteration, all the large machines are set so that their tops are at the exact same height. This minimizes interference while Karr is working with longer boards and larger panels.    Photos courtesy of the shop owner. |
Storage Drives the Design
A lawyer by trade, Richard Caldwell uses his Michigan basement shop as a place to pursue his woodworking and cabinetmaking hobby—and to build things for his home. He’s currently in the middle of an extensive Greene & Greene–inspired remodeling project, installing a mahogany board-and-batten wall system throughout the first floor of his home. He’s had the shop space for about six years, and although the shop isn’t large—about 10 ft. wide by 28 ft. long—it’s enough for his needs.
Photos courtesy of the shop owner.
— Curated by Jennifer Morris; FHB and Threads editorial assistant.
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- Making a Garage Workshop More Efficient
- Talking Shop
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Bandsaw and Its Base: The center of Petsche’s workshop is the Harvey Ambassador C14 bandsaw. It was a large investment, but its versatility makes it well worth the expense. The bandsaw sits on top of a custom-welded metal base on fixed and swivel casters. The base allows a higher working height and provides additional stability.
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Miter-Saw Modifications: The miter-saw station has Gary Katz–inspired miter-saw wings mounted on leftover DeWalt brackets, allowing them to be easily calibrated to the saw table and removed if needed. The extension-wing support was adapted from a leftover outfeed roller stand.
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Router-Ready Workbench: A second bench doubles as a tool cabinet, with an open-cabinet design and a butcher-block top that allows space for a shop stool and router table. The router is mounted directly to the top and has dust collection above and below, as well as a removable fence. It also has a metal vise on the left-hand side attached with threaded handles, which are removable if the entire top space is needed.
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Double-Filter Defense: A 12-in. DeWalt planer sits atop a custom-made, mobile air filter that Petsche made using a 110V blower motor. The design has doubled-up filters on two opposing sides. The expensive HEPA-rated filters are on the inside, with the cheaper store-bought furnace filters on the outside in order to extend the life of the inside filters. For larger machines, such as the planer, bandsaw, miter saw, and router table, Petsche uses the Oneida Dust Cobra.
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Tablesaw Transformation: The Powermatic tablesaw had a black extension table attached when Carpenter bought it, but he added in the JessEm router lift. He also built a large outfeed table that gives additional support when he’s using the tablesaw. As well as providing a nice worktable, the outfeed support has bench holes in it for clamping down material for planing and sanding.
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Multifunction Table for Multitasking: A Festool MFT table makes for quick, easy, and repeatable crosscuts or angle cuts utilizing a Festool track saw. The table doubles as a worktable.
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Smart Storage Solutions: Carpenter fit as many racks as possible on the walls for material storage. The shallow shelves reach to the ceiling, so they fit a lot but don’t encroach on the space. The other shelving is built to fit compact Festool and Tanos Systainer toolboxes.
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Table Tackles It All: Because the outfeed table also acts as his main worktable, Medved built it with a T-Track system for holding clamps, jigs, and other accessories. The table sits on a heavy-duty motorcycle lift that Medved no longer used; the hydraulic lift lowers all the way to the ground, making it easy to lift and lower heavy items on and off the table.
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Because the lift is height-adjustable, he can place it at the perfect working height for any project. The lift also has wheels that can be used by raising the lift supports, allowing it to be moved throughout the shop when needed.
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Cart for Cutoffs: Medved built this cart for his sheet goods and cutoffs. It consolidates all those loose pieces into one movable cart.
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Clever Cleat for Caulk: Medved got the idea for his caulk storage from a tip that appeared in Fine Homebuilding some time ago. It’s simply a wire shelving rack on a cleat that allows the caulking tubes to rest against it with the tips sticking through the bottom.
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High-Power Setup: Most of the equipment in the shop is made up of larger three-phase power tools, and Karr runs a 20-hp converter for power. Dust collection is provided by a large Delta with dual Oneida filters stored in the same closet as the compressor and 20-hp phase converter. Overhead dust filters are all on the same switched circuit.
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Slot-In Storage: The wall system is made of T-slot panels with aluminum inserts.
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There are lengths of Unistrut between them that have custom steel clamp hangers welded and powder coated.
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Space-Saving Lumber Storage: Because his is a relatively small shop, Caldwell needed to make the most of the limited space. One solution was shallow shelves at one end of the shop that are designed to hold lumber. These shelves keep the lumber organized and out of the way but still easily accessible.
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Transparent Tool Cabinet: Caldwell made these tool cabinets after studying cabinetmaking at the Inside Passage School of Fine Cabinetmaking in British Columbia. There he was introduced to Japanese tools and began incorporating them in his workflow. The glass doors keep the tools visible but prevent the cabinets from filling with sawdust. The beveled glass is quite thick in the middle, making the doors fairly impact resistant. In six years of daily use, they have yet to break.
