Ol' guy with garage workshop.


donbutler

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My name is Don Butler and I am a wood addict. I admit it. Sometimes I buy wood just cuz it looks good and never make anything out of it. (I'm so ashamed.)

 

I have a fair weather shop. That means it gets very cold around here and I can't afford to turn on the ceiling furnace. So work only when the weather is fair.

 

My wife has been very supportive of my habit. She agrees with practically everything I bought for the shop. (Snicker)

I started in working wood by necessity. We bought a 200 year old house and it's very needy. So I started off with a Shopsmith and the shop gradually increased in size and number of tools. You know how that goes, right?

 

Eventually we had a garage built onto the house and in it the shop shares with the family car which has overnight parking privileges. That, of course, means that most everything has wheels so it can be rolled into the corners at night. That includes any project too big to stack on top of the tablesaw.

 

Because of the aforementioned conditions, I have no workbench, as such. I designed a torsion box top and legs with stretchers that attach with bed rail connectors, the result of which is a sturdy but light work table that will dismantle and stack up against a wall in very little space.

 

I'm a tool junkie.  Here's a partial list off the top of my head: Craftsman Professional table saw, band saw, miter saw, scrollsaw, V  sander, Legacy Ornamental Mill, CarveWright machine, planer and the ShopSmith I started with. Add to that a pile of hand tools, powered and manual and many clamps of all sorts plus all kinds of measuring devices and you have a thumbnail sketch of my shop. I don't have an inventory of tools but when I had to re-floor the shop I couldn't believe how long it took to empty the area and putting it back was even worse.

 

That's just to mention my woodworking. I have other habits.

Being old (no foolin'), I have had many interests. Before I retired (what a joke) I was a techno geek, industrial electrician, control panel builder and general ne'er-do-well. I have studied and practiced fine arts of almost every sort, have worked at photography as an amateur and a professional, and I am a partner in my wife's business. I take care of her computer issues and tend the store when she's out. In my youth, quite a few decades ago, I worked as an automobile mechanic and a merchant seaman.

A checkered career, one might say.

 

I hope to be informed and amused by this forum and perhaps contribute a thing or two.

 

Very truly yours,

 

Don "Dances with Wood" Butler

 

 

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  • 11 months later...

Hey Don...Welcome....You want to see a small shop....Check out mine on the shop tours.   What I wanted you to see is the work bench.....It's cheap, and small, but it has 4 drawers and an end vise, .... got it from Harbor Freight for $139.00...... It's useful as all hell!   Check it out..... Most of their stuff is junky, but that's really helpful!

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