New Workhop, Things to Consider

[klr650Teach]

Hello All,

I'm moving into an old building that will be my new workshop space. I'll be building a workbench and shave horse for the shop. Are there any features for archery that could be incorporated into the design of these two shop appliances? Perhaps a longer bed on the shave horse for building trad bows? Or maybe a specialty vice for the bench? Or perhaps simply mounting the vice in a specific location to make life easier when building bows and arrows?

Any input will be appreciated. Tnx

[Roy from Pa]

Make the table solid. I used carpenter wood glue everyplace wood met wood and then ran long wood screws into the joints.
Put 3/4" plywood on the top, glued and screwed down.
Then anchor the bench to the floor with lead anchors and 2" angle iron brackets.
Mount a vice on a corner, makes it easier to work both sides on the bow.
Pad the vice jaws with heavy leather or rubber.
Cover the table with heavy paper to keep the plywood clean, "of glue".



Mount a vice in the center of the room, then you can work the whole way around the bow.

[EwokArcher]

I'd do a freestanding stave voice or a large leather padded standard vice. I used pony clamps on my work bench for building self bows for a long time and it was effective but I always wanted to be able to work both sides. I'd fabricate one of those large square opening stave clamps on a free standing pole if I was still doing self bows. I built a shave horse late in my selfbow career but it honestly didnt get much use I was so used to clamping to a bench. I know they are great for a lot of people though.

[Roy from Pa]

Don't forget good ventilation and dust collection system, and good lighting.

[skeaterbait]

Feel free to build one in my back yard. Together we can work out the kinks to ensure your shop is perfect 

[Surfifty]

I would use MDF for the top.  Counter sink and mount the top to the bench with screws.  MDF is smooth and you won’t raise a splinter as you would with a plywood top.  I wouldn’t glue it down just in case you have to remove it.  I would also try to wire outlets to the sides of the bench for power tools, it beats using extension cords.  Mount LED tube lights over the bench and above your machines.  You might also want to use a clamp light for task lighting.  I would also try to design a tool trough, attached to the bench,to place your tools between tasks.  Tools on a bench can get knocked into and cause damage to your stock or damage to the tool if it gets knocked off of the bench.  One last thing is locate the bench so that you can walk and work around all four sides.

[C. Johnson]

I would recommend doubling the amount of overhead light you think you need.  IMHO, there is no such thing as too much light.  Use LED bulbs/tubes if you can get them in your area.  They don't use much electricity and they run cool.

Second, buy the biggest, most powerful dust collection system you can afford.  No matter how much you spend, you (and your lungs) will be happy you did.

Finally, if you're adding power, wire as many 20amp outlets as you can fit.  Consult an electrician for help doing this safely.

[Eric Krewson]

Yep, LED lights, I changed mine over recently.

Make your workbench twice as big and twice as heavy as you think you will need. I do all my drawknifing on mine and it is so heavy it won't walk across the floor.

Here is my big heavy workbench as well as a small table I made just for glue-ups, BBO and the like. I have a heavy curtain rod running just under the table to hold all my 30+ C clamps.



Another shot of my glue-up table;

 

[Flem]

Don't forget storage. Build more shelves and racks than you think you might need. If not your shop will look like mine, with every horizontal surface piled with crap.

[Crooked Stic]

Go to a junk yard and get an old large truck brake drum to mount your vice on with a pole. Then you can move it where ever.

[Roy from Pa]

Don't forget a beer fridge:)

[klr650Teach]

Ha ha, you guys are awesome!  Beer fridge? Seems we are all alike lol.

Well so far my plans are to build a split top Roubo style bench for general woodworking that will have a wood leg vice and a tail vice for mounting materials between bench dogs for planing etc. The bench will be somewhere between 20-24 inches deep from front to back and somewhere between 6-8 feet long. I've not quite determined overall dimensions yet for the bench but initially I too wanted it in the middle of the floor so as to be able to use it from all sides. The top will either be laminated 2x4's or 2x6's and will weigh a few hundred pounds just for the top, then the legs and framework will also be heavy with 4x6 or 6x6 legs and 2x6's for the spreaders. I'll build some storage under the bench as well for tools making it even heavier. It won't be moving anywhere under any task. The bench top will be planed flat and true. No MDF or plywood. With the completed bench in the middle of the room I should have 4 feet or so on each side of free space and a lot more than that off the ends. My shop looks similar in size as Roy from PA's photo of his.

For machinery I have a Shopsmith with 4'' planer, bandsaw and scrollsaw attachments as well as the Shopsmith dust collector. I'm not really a power tool guy and prefer slower more meditative pace the hand tools give. But in a pinch the Shopsmith does pretty much all I require power wise.

As I started with an empty space with stone and mortar walls I had duplex receptacles installed on each wall and every 4 feet apart. That should provide me with enough power outlets and they are all steel conduit enclosed for safety.

For light as many have suggested, I already had LED tube lights installed for lighting at night and for daytime use when I had the new roof put on I had them install a full length skylight that runs down the middle of the shop from one end to the other. The LED's are great if I am right underneath them but I find as I get to the ends of the shop where I do machinery tasks such as grinding or turning on the lathe that there are areas that are a little on the dim side. I'll ad a couple more 4 foot fixtures in those areas. I like the idea of clamp on lights that I could just set up wherever I needed temporary additional lighting for doing dovetail work or perhaps scraping and final tillering processes, that could be real handy.

Why the centrally mounted vice? Yes I understand being able to get to all sides of the stave but if I have vices on the sides/ends of the bench......could I simply not just flip the stave end for end?

[klr650Teach]

Keep those suggestions coming guys, they are all great ideas. I'm thinking a bigger beer fridge! LOL

[Roy from Pa]

I'll be down to visit so yer gonna need that bigger beer fridge..

 

[Ringbill]

I also prefer to use hand tools and built my bench with laminated 2x4's for the bench top. 3 2x4's laminated for the legs. The benchtop is 29" x 72" and it does not move no matter what I am doing. The leg vice is still half way completed after 2 years. for some reason there is always something else to do than finish it. I do have a pattern makers vice which is great. Being able to adjust for a taper and flip it up comes in handy. I also carve decoys so it seems that most of what I do isn't square. If you are going to use 2x4's let them sit for a month or 2 in your shop to completely dry before gluing everything up. Kiln Dried 2x4's are typically dried to 20% moisture or something like that so they will shrink a bit. About a month after I built my bench I noticed that the legs we no longer parallel. The benchtop shrunk about 1/4" and I had to redo the stretchers and the bottom shelf.

[klr650Teach]

I'll be down to visit so yer gonna need that bigger beer fridge..

 

   

[klr650Teach]

I also prefer to use hand tools and built my bench with laminated 2x4's for the bench top. 3 2x4's laminated for the legs. The benchtop is 29" x 72" and it does not move no matter what I am doing. The leg vice is still half way completed after 2 years. for some reason there is always something else to do than finish it. I do have a pattern makers vice which is great. Being able to adjust for a taper and flip it up comes in handy. I also carve decoys so it seems that most of what I do isn't square. If you are going to use 2x4's let them sit for a month or 2 in your shop to completely dry before gluing everything up. Kiln Dried 2x4's are typically dried to 20% moisture or something like that so they will shrink a bit. About a month after I built my bench I noticed that the legs we no longer parallel. The benchtop shrunk about 1/4" and I had to redo the stretchers and the bottom shelf.

Sorry to hear after all that work you put in that you had those problems with shrinkage. I think my problems here are going to be with humidity. Already I'm having great difficulty keeping my tools rust free. Back where we used to live in the Okanagan Valley the humidity was fairly constant of 30 - 40% year round. Down here in Mexico it can vary by as much as 40% depending on the time of year. So this is giving me some concern but it rarely drops below 60%. My beer fridge is going to be working overtime when Roy shows up  . That vice is just nuts. I've never seen one before. It looks super versatile. I'm sure the price tag is also just nuts! grin

[klr650Teach]

I'd do a freestanding stave voice or a large leather padded standard vice. I used pony clamps on my work bench for building self bows for a long time and it was effective but I always wanted to be able to work both sides. I'd fabricate one of those large square opening stave clamps on a free standing pole if I was still doing self bows. I built a shave horse late in my selfbow career but it honestly didnt get much use I was so used to clamping to a bench. I know they are great for a lot of people though.

EwokArcher for longer material to be shaved, shaped or otherwise worked on......I find the English syle a P.I.T.A. to work with as you have to withdraw the entire piece just to take it in and out of the clamping jaws. Whereas the dumbhead style allows you to place your material in and out of the clamping dumbhead from the side in and out. This saves a WHOLE lot of extra wasted movement and you won't need as much clearance in front or behind you for turning the piece end for end. The English style I think work and hold just as well as the dumbhead for shorter pieces but for the longer stuff the dumbhead is easier to work with.

An English style can easily be modified to accept a dumbhead for longer material. Cheers

[fujimo]

excellent points above by all-
tons of experience collected there.
 i will only add, and harp on about my favourite topic......
dust collection!!
please, if you can afford it, DONT buy those bag dust collectors- spend the money and get the best you can buy.
remember any solids ANY solids you breathe in, stay in your lungs, your lungs cant process the solids- thats what leads to emphysema etc.
many of those dust collectors claim a high-efficiency rate- but those are done in labs- everything perfectly clean, and with a short straight run of suction pipe.

a dust collectors inflow can only match the outflow- so if your filters or bags are dirty and effected by normal use- your suction is reduced, unless of course you are going to clean the bag and filters every 15 minutes

get a good cyclonic particle extractor that works between the impeller and the dust source.
those ones in a bucket- work well- and are better than nothing( i also use one that works in a std. 44gal drum)
but they are not as efficient as a proper cone shaped cyclone

this is the very best cyclonic dust extractor on the market,
http://www.clearvuecyclones.com/
they sell all the parts in a modular or complete package.
there are even plans if you want to build your own cyclone, or impeller - the whole deal.
you can buy kits to build your own, or start from scratch with just the plans, or build some parts, and buy some parts.
 and they have a range of sizes from a shop vac size to their maxi size( which i have in my shop) with 8" mainline , and 6" drop lines.



please, as mentioned above, for your own safety( as mentioned above) please get the very best system.
beg, borrow or steal the money, the expense amortized over every day you spend in your dust free shop will just be pennies per day.

coz, if you are anything like the rest of us, once this bug bites, even if you dont have anything to make or build, you will find yourself just standing around and looking at things in your shop

i know i do, i come to my senses, and find myself in my shop many times.

put a nice comfy old sofa or lazy boy chair in there( maybe within arms reach of the medicinal fridge) - great place to relax while yer waiting for glue to dry

[klr650Teach]

Fujimo, I double up on my air filtration. I have my Shopsmith dust collector, and anytime I am running machinery creating dust I also wear a North brand face mask with dual filters. I'm happy with the combo. The Shopsmith on it's own takes the lions share out but when the light is just right you can see the unfiltered particles floating in the air. The face mask looks after the rest. I should also mention that I have excellent cross blowing air through the shop. Here in Mexico the weather is always warm so the windows and door can be open all year around. Bonus. Thanks for the link, I'll look further into building a unit in part or full.