jowersjc

I am currently using my back porch, which is not enclosed, as a workshop. My wife and I are renting from my parents right now, therefore, I am not going to add to a house that isn't mine. So here goes.

Size of area: About 10' wide and 40' long, give or take two or three feet on the length.

This back porch actually serves as a visiting/bar-b-queing/welding/woodworking/playground area. Before i start on the tools, i will explain. A round iron table, four chairs, two bbq pits (one propane, one charcoal), two fish fry setups, and several ice chests. I have managed to put up a pvc material picket fence around the porch to keep the dogs out and my 2 year old daughter in.

As far as tools go I have built a workbench and installed an open air basic shelf below the bench-top. At this point i have cut a whole in the top of my workbench, made a router table insert, built a router-table style fence and am able to use the main workbench as a routing station. If i want to use it for assembly, i just take out the screws and remove the fence, lower the router bit and am good to go.

The workbench also has holes drilled in either end to mount my small bench-top drill press and bandsaw when needed.

I have a Craftsman 10" tablesaw which I like as far as size and portability, i wish i had gone with a different name brand but that's another story...

Opposite the workbench (up against the brick wall of the house) i have a separate workbench with peg boarded front sides, and an open ended storage rack for lumber.

The runners for the future ceiling are currently being used as a clamp rack, you'd be surprized how well Bessey bar clamps hang when positioned just right...

Anything else i get i do my best to buy power hand tools that come with a case.

I could definitely keep going for a while but I feel that I have said too much already.

Thanks for hearing me out!

- James

Hi, I see that this post is nearly four years old now but i'm going to try anyway..

I've recently gotten myself interested in woodworking. Well, I say i got myself into it but the best way to explain it is that i come from a family of carpenters... I only wish i were this age before my Grandfather passed away, instead of being 10 and not very interested in His hobbies.

Long post short, I am trying to decide on how to get started learning how to turn wood into various parts. I have researched tools, machinery, and basically anything I can get my hands on to learn as much as possible before making a purchase but I feel sure that (as with the tablesaw), you will only begin learning once you get a lathe to work with - Trial and error, etc.

I've looked into the Jet Mini-Lathe, I've also looked into buying a hand drill and setting it up in a fixture to be used as a lathe but i am not sure if in the long run i will be wasting my time.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

- James