Here's My Workshop!
Pat Lemley
Salisbury, MD
Click on any picture to see a larger version.
I retired in 1995 from a 30 year career that was mostly spent in insurance management. My wife had been wanting me to redo our kitchen and make new cabinets. My workshop was in the basement of the house and dust control was a big problem, so it was decided that I should build a workshop to work in and also to get me out of the house.
I started by purchasing plans from a lumber yard ($6) for a 24' X 32' 2 car garage (now the size and location of my shop). I made modifications to the plans (moved the garage doors to 1 on each side of the building, and removed some center posts that would get in the road, added dormers and a porch for looks, etc..) and I started digging the footer in April of 1996.
I built 95% of the shop myself and below are the pictures of the building process and progress:
I had some help from family and friends and completed the shop in December of 1996. I did end up paying to have the siding put on the shop.
I had moved the garage doors to sides of the building to take advantage of the breezes that we get on a regular basis. It has worked out very well.
On the 2nd floor I have my dust collector in an enclosed room as well as storage for lumber, etc. The dust collector room is vented to the 1st floor to make sure heat and air conditioning is not lost when using the dust collector.
I joined a local woodworking club, Mason Dixon Woodworkers, and co-chair the workshop committee. We use my shop occasionally for our workshops & it works out great. The executive committee also meets in my shop every other month. The guys like to get in all of the sawdust, it makes it feel more like a woodworking meeting!
My hobby keeps me busy 9:00 to 4:30 most every day and my wife loves it. I'm out of her hair and she gets other material benefits.
Below are some of the projects that I have made in my shop. I give my son and daughter, both married with children, coupons for Christmas that are good for projects. The projects shown below are mostly ones that I've done for them:
|
|
Sherry's Kitchen Island
|
|
|
Bedroom Set
|
|
|
Cherry Drop Leaf Table
|
|
|
Celtic Rolling Pin
|
|
|
Carousel
|
If you have any questions you can email Pat at
dplemley@gmail.com
.
Want to see more shops? Check out our
Shops Gallery
, featuring many of the
shops that we have featured in previous editions of Wood News.
Would you like for your shop to appear in this column? We invite you to
SEND US PHOTOS
of your woodworking shop along with captions and a brief history
and description of your woodworking. (Email photos at 800x600 resolution.) Receive a $50 store credit redeemable towards merchandise if we show your shop in a future issue.
