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Scappoose, Oregon, 29 Aug 2008—It's more than I ever had before.

After we moved from California I wanted to start woodworking in earnest, but the house lot is too small for a separate building. The only option was the garage, nominally a two-car, but if we put the Ford Escort in with the SUV, there wouldn't be room for anything else, not even the Gorilla racks.

So, the Escort stays out at the curb and the SUV goes in and out a lot.

The garage ceiling starts at about 8 1/2 feet in height at the door and decreases toward the back to less than 7 feet, reduced drastically by the HVAC duct. Behind the furnace is a small storage room, (paints and BLO mainly), so that cuts into the shop depth. Of the garage floor area I have about 13' by 18' available for actual work, once the car is removed.

Still, I have a very usable shop with plenty of storage and all the tools I need to apply my woodcraft.

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A Roll-away Solution

Looking from the garage entry into the house toward garage door. The whole right side of the garage (from the street) holds all the tools. I have to move the car outside and roll the tools into the center of the floor to do any work. It adds a few steps any time I need to use a saw or planer, but what the hey, no job to go to anymore so I've got the time. Details of stands and tables.

The household central vacuum system is located in this corner, so there's some wall space gone. About four feet above the sander is the bottom of the HVAC duct, which spans practically the whole back of the garage. That white router table got sold pretty fast, which made more room to move ME around.

More on the new router table here if you're interested.

Left side of the garage, showing furnace & water heater, trash bins, and my lumber cart with Gorilla racks behind. Doesn't leave room for much else unless I put the bins outside in the rain.

Left front of garage showing knockdown worktable legs, a paint/glue/assembly foldup table I've had for 15 years, and some very old hardware boxes. On the floor behind the foldup are two HD buckets with cutoffs. I just can't bring myself to toss cutoffs, and sometimes it pays off.

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My Philosophy

I've got more than a lot of woodworkers, not as much as some. You make do with what you have. I don't feel any need to apologize for the pieces I've turned out so far with this roll-out, portable workshop setup. The pleasure is in what these tools can put out.

Thanks for looking, and I hope you enjoyed your visit.