OK, Time to Confess!


thewoodwhisperer

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Tell the world what things you purchased, that you could have built if you really wanted to. Don't be ashamed. :)

By definition, if you're at the point where you have to purchase an item for the shop instead of building it, you could not have built it if you really wanted to, because otherwise it would have been built by now.

So don't worry about the guilt. :)

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By definition, if you're at the point where you have to purchase an item for the shop instead of building it, you could not have built it if you really wanted to, because otherwise it would have been built by now.

So don't worry about the guilt. :)

Wilbur, I can't disagree more! Time is a commodity that some don't have much of due to other commitments. If purchasing a few things fills the void so be it. Also, if it is cheaper to purchase and of similar quality to what you would have made, then why not, other than vanity?

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A little different than wood, but my wire welder was always either in my way or not where I need it to be when I needed to weld something. Problem is, it's heavy to move. Rather than buy a $259 cart, I built one. It helps me be more organized and ANYTHING I need in the metal fabrication area is in one place...and ain't this where we come to show off our wares? Oh....my helper is "Swiffer"....shop cabinets...I'm building some....more time than money besides like one said before, I can't stand to pay for what I could build.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Those are pretty slick, that's an option due some serious contemplation. Too bad Lee Valley doesn't offer one with internal dividers for hardware.

I'm pretty sure you could pretty quickly come up with a custom insert using thin stock and notching half way through.

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What gives a shop that cool factor/ahh/ya look? This is something I have been pondering setting up my shop.

I like the wooden tool boxes. Grizzly sells them and I imagine others also. Yes you could build them, but it would take some time.

They are sort of like a mechanics tool box but made of wood (veneer/and such) and look great.

http://www.grizzly.com/catalog/2011/Main/271

These little guys are on sale:

http://www.grizzly.com/products/8-Drawer-Storage-Cabinet/H7994

They are nice looking on the outside (if you like wood) and functional. They are not made to the highes spec but you expect that at this price point.

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  • 1 month later...

me? too cheap/poor to buy :( but i love to scrounge! We tore out the cabinets from a grandmother flat (no, we didn't turf her out, she had passed away) and have used different portions around the place. Medicine cabinet for the barn, (bad idea, particle board and the barn is a moist environment, but hey, the pigs don't complain!) and a somewhere cabinet for the shop. As in "Dad where does this thingy go?" "Just put it somewhere" :lol:

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I get surplus cabinets from the local hospital... just call their facilities management dept. Lab cabinets are insanely expensive new and are very nice and well made, for some reason they just throw these things out every few years.

good to know i love the fact that i might be able to get something for free. keep good ideas like that coming

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I did build my shop cabinets as I needed the carcass construction practice. However I bought both of my lumber racks (the Triton ones) when they were on sale, as well as the wall hanging clamp racks from Rockler. While time isn't money for me in the shop, I read some magazine article by some dude that had a little worksheet on when it was worth buying versus building and those items definitely came down on the buy side :).

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I've got a bunch of inexpensive rollaways around the shop, as well as some freebie chests of drawers and wooden desks. I see shop funiture as function over form.

All of us have some sort of time limitation. Soooo... We can choose to spend the time where it really counts, like our personal bench and projects that will leave the shop, or we can build the shop itself.

No one will think less of you for not building everything in the shop! :)

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  • 2 weeks later...

So, I'm reading this thread, and I'm unable to figure out how you can build some of these things for cheaper than you can buy them without going completely bargain basement on materials. Once you factor in time, I can't begin to imagine how it can be cheaper. And if you live anywhere near an IKEA, building your own seems torturous. Now, take that with a grain of salt, because I am basing this on price and not quality.

I'm just starting out, and as a matter of fact, I spent the whole day building shop stuff. However, all of it was "custom need" stuff (stand for my lathe tools, pegboard, etc).

Now, with all of this said, I like to build my own shop furniture when I can because I am rookie and I need the practice of building. For me, it is better to learn on a cruddy shop furniture than to wreck hundreds of dollars worth of hardwood.

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