500 sq foot everything shop rennovation

so I use my shop for a little bit of everything. from building hot rods/customs, fabrication, maintenance, woodworking, peace and quiet, etc. you name it, I probably do it in here. (within reason...)

anyway, for years ive needed to do something about it. space was not being utilized properly, couldn't find things due to disorganization, no way to get organization, dim, dirty, etc. just really an unpleasant hole in the ground.

when I started collecting and restoring vintage power tools to hopefully get back into woodworking, it really became apparent that something needed to be done. so I spent the last year assessing my needs/wants, and looking for ideas. ive got a general plan now.

anyway, here's a before picture or seven.

from outside: dimensions are 27 wide, 17.5 deep, 14 foot ceilings)


right side wall:





back wall:



left wall:





front wall:


so, pretty bad, right? well, even if you don't think so, I think it is. I want it much, much better.

so I started in this week. step one was starting to get everything out of the right bay so I could enlarge the hole to the crawl space. see, the crawl is almost six foot tall, and I store a lot of parts and stuff up there. but the hole, and the way I've been accessing it, just aren't safe. after my father had a ladder accident that damn near killed him a few weeks ago, safety is job #1.

anyway, here's where we started this morning.




I rented an electric jackhammer and concrete saw to enlarge the hole. and no, that wall is not load bearing.



I also got an AC vent added to the ductwork. still need to make a rod to turn it off and on without having to get out the 8 foot ladder.


next up is moving more stuff out of the way, scrapping the old workbench, and pressure washing the floor.


reason being, I scored 550sq foot of Armstrong VCT and 5 gallons of adhesive for $120. the blue lines in it are almost a dead ringer for the 50's craftsman blue/gray on my table saw and lathe.



after the floor is done, ill get my load of galvalume and do the ceiling on this side, install more outlets, and start building all the cabinetry/workbenches. then, on to the other side!

at the moment, with tool rentals and the floor, budget spent is $190 (I keep running budget tallies on most of my projects. this one will be rounded to the nearest whole dollar throughout)

Subscribed

Also subscribed

Hopefully your subscriptions will be worth the cost of admission.

Should be some pretty neat stuff going on once the floor and ceiling are done.

got my pressure washing done on 2/3 of the shop. have a little concrete patching to do before starting the floor due to some chunks being knocked out where I dropped things. but everything is moved over to the left side and its cleaned.



here is a picture of the old workbench. its been sufficient for everything ive thrown at it, but I can build something much better. the old bench should be leaving this week. that will free up some space. behind it is the old bench that has been living in my shed for the last couple of years. it may leave as well. but right now its my workbench for the renovation.


I also picked up a new air compressor. it will be living in the crawlspace I just opened up, and plumbed into the shop. big enough to do all I need it to.


ive got the shop drying out now. should start the VCT installation in the next couple of days. im getting excited.

budget:
previous total: 190

this update:
vct adhesive and trowl: 32
floor rooler rental: 12
garage door threshold: 40
nachos and cheese for the help: free!!

new total: 274

so, busy weekend. laid most of the shop worth of tile Friday. when I had purchased my tile, I had gotten a four gallon bucket of adhesive and a couple of trowels with it. score!!

reading the directions on the bucket, it called for a specific trowel. that I didn't have. ok, ill go get one. continuing reading upon return from Lowes to find out that the adhesive is only good for one year from date of manufacture. which was 2012. well, ****. back in the truck.

so I got two gallons of the henry adhesive and a trowel. also rented a 120lb floor roller from my rental guy. hes getting to know me on a first name basis right now....

got off work Friday about noon. blew/swept/vacuumed the floor one more time, and started spreading adhesive. you don't realize just how flawed the floor really is until you start seeing slight imperfections fill with adhesive. I though it was good and flat, but nope. not really.


anyway, took about an hour to spread glue, and it turned clear in about another hour. during the dry time, I threw a stack of tiles out in the sun to warm up and get limber.


I started at my chalklines for square. somehow I got crooked within the first couple, and proceeded to stay crooked. cant tell looking at it, and it doesn't bother me, so im not going to worry about it. did the pyramid style to the best of my ability.


got to this point, and started to roll it to make sure we had everything stuck down good.


about this time, my helper arrived home. all three foot, 55lbs of her six year old self. she wanted to run the roller. so I let her.


then she wanted to learn how to lay the tile. she actually did a bit better than me. momma took pictures of us working to send to her grandparents.



finished up the day on Friday with cutting all the little pieces at the sides and cutting in at the garage door. found for the really complex shapes at the garage door that the band saw was my best friend.


tools look good on the new floor:


also got some threshold molding for the door openings.


the last thing I did, Sunday after church, was to tear down my old workbench. I built it about 10 years ago when I needed a bench. used some shipping crates, leftover OSB and 2X6. it has been a damn tank. but ugly and a poor use of space. so I removed my vice, and scavenged the 2X6 for reuse.


next is stripping, sealing, and waxing the floors, as well as deciding id I want to do the rubber baseboard molding. I also need to get my tin for the ceiling, and figure out the best way to do it with the nicest fit and finish, as lowest pain in the **** factor.

so this is what my ceiling looks like now:





goal is neat, clean, reflective, and CHEAP. the tin quote, just for the 500 sqft of tin, was 270. that doesn't include anything else id need to get it up there.

I also have 4 4 bulb recessed/dropped ceiling light fixtures, and the 7 2 bulb four footers for lights. so, ideas? I cant get past tin or drywall or dropped ceilings. got to be a better/cheaper option. I also want to keep it pretty close to the current ceiling, so I don't lose much space. granted, I need a step ladder to get to the top shelves on one cabinet already, so maybe loosing some space wont be such a bad thing.

I don't know. so please, help me out here.

I just realized that this is in the general forum. Can I get it moved to the gallery forum? Or do build threads not belong there?

Looks good, did you put an angle iron in to hold up the last course of blocks where you opened up that hole to the crawl space?

Not yet. Not a load bearing wall, and the opening never had a header or lintel before. I do plan on adding some support so it doesn't fall on my head.

dcmus said:

Subscribed

Click to expand...

tpole said:

Also subscribed

Click to expand...

Am I missing out seeing something by not saying I am subscribing?
Could never figure why to do this

One thing I noticed. Will you please post some details on your table saw? It appears you added hinges to the extensions and what about the mount mount out back? Did you turn it into a cabinet saw?

zkling said:

One thing I noticed. Will you please post some details on your table saw? It appears you added hinges to the extensions and what about the mount mount out back? Did you turn it into a cabinet saw?

Click to expand...

sure thing! whole thread about that saw here:
http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=289359

previous budget: 274

money spent:
50 at home depot for zep floor stripper, sealer, wax, and rayon mops.
3 for test piece of molding
20 for utility sink from yard sale

total: 347

so I spent the last week stripping, sealing, and waxing the floor. looks fantastic!! and makes the workspace so much brighter.


I also decided on doing the baseboard molding. will go the whole way down all the walls.



up next, I placed the tools and base cabinets where they are destined to go. two purposes were served by this. first, they are now out of my shed, and I can again get in there. second, it gives my motivation and a mental picture of what im going for here. I cant really see things in my head clearly enough to suit me, but once I get a baseline I can fill it out if that makes sense.
anyway, there's some changes to make to these cabinets to get where I want to be, but that is to be expected when you get stuff for free. to the left, by the table saw, you see an opening with some scrap doors laying there. that space will turn into four drawers. the false drawer fronts you see immediately to thr right will become drawers. the single door that is laying there will turn to drawers. to the end, by the sink, you will see an angled in section. that will be straightened out and turned into drawers. then, 1.5 inch thick top will be installed, the sink recessed into the top, and new doors/drawer fronts made for the whole shebang. im excited about this.


that's it for now. next is making a door to storage, and then starting on the ceiling and upper wall cabinets. and lighting. and electrical. and....

Looks a lot better than when I saw it. lol Still think that radial arm saw would look better on my floor. Nah not really. At least not yet.

that radial arm is one of my favorite tools. not going anywhere. its currently doing duty doing all my deck railings. probably be doing all the dadoes for my cabinets as well.

if I ever decide to let it go, ill let you know. but it may be kind of hard, as ill probably be dead by then.

I love my old tools.

Looking good!

thanks!! im really pleased with how its turning out

previous budget: 347
money spent:
53 at home depot for a bunch of 2x6, 2x4, and 1/2 ply cull lumber
44 at habitat for humanity restore
42 at home depot for 4 sheets of white coated hardboard, and 3 more 2x4 out of the cull rack

total: 486

first, when we left off, I was kind of clean and neatly getting things laid out. that didn't last long, as I also undertook a deck repair job at the same time im renovating the garage. all y'all probably know by now that im not all that bright....

anyway, in the late evenings and early mornings when its cool, this is what im doing.





this job is taking away from the garage time, but my wife and daughter are happy that im fixing it all, so its all good.

in the garage, I started framing out the opening to cold storage, and built a door.


I built the door out of a piece of 1/2 inch pressure treated plywood that would have been better served to be used for the bow of a boat, and 2x6 lumber that could have done a good job as the hull. but it was cheap from the home depot cull lumber cart, so I couldn't refuse. this picture of the ply is AFTER it was clamped to a straightish board.


and a picture of the rest of the cull lumber score


I then proceeded to frame out the bent ply with bent and mitered 2x6. the two pieces of 2x4 are for spacers. I have a picture that was given to my by a church I was doing some restoration work on. its from the late 30's, done in an artistic/comic book style. came framed. so im mounting it to the door for the display. still have to repaint the frame of the picture before mounting, but have to wait for a day where my hands don't shake.



after this, I built the face frame for the door out of more hull-like 2x6, with some 1/2 ply screwed to the back to keep the same depth. grabbed my can of zinser primer, and my can of latex semigloss exterior paint. the primer was still good. so was the paint, though it was so old that the lip to the can ripped free from its rusty moorings with the lid. dammit. primed and painted all the pieces.


after these dried, I got to teach my daughter about how to setup and operate a drill press. no pictures of her doing so, though, as momma was out and about. she drilled all the countersinking holes for the main rails for the door, and I placed them and secured them with tapcons. I want to find some sort of chrome plug to fill all the 9/16 holes, or something. want a clean, late 40's-mid 50's industrial look. don't know just what im going to use yet, and am open to suggestions.

the door is hung on three vintage stanly brass hinges that I reclaimed from the same church I got the art from. still have a handful of these left for when I decide I need them. just seemed fitting to use these hinges along side the artwork. I still need to finish the upper and lower rails, and then I can clean up again and start in on the ceiling.



speaking of ceiling, this is what I got today. 1/8 hardboard, coated in a slick and shiny white coating. these will go up on a 24x24 grid, and ill use the 50's style 1 inch wide, 1/2 thick molding to cover the screws. lot of old houses down here are done with that kind of ceiling molding, and I like it.


lastly, this is my supply score from habitat. 40 stainless steel drawer/door handles, a handful of receptacles, and a pair of complete door knobs for the door I just built.

Really cool stuff, can't wait to see more.

previous total 486

money spent:
48 at Lowes for 2x4x10 (10)
52 at home depot for more ceiling and cull lumber
15 to a helper

total: 601

so I've been working on the ceiling. the primary purpose of this is to increase light reflectivity, as well as reduce/eliminate the dust and **** falling out of the ceiling. side benefit should be reduction of noise and fumes transmitted upstairs.

this job has been kicking my *** soundly. all except for 2 hours to hang sheets, I've been doing it by myself. drilled all my 2x4 to countersink screws deep enough to hit the studs with good penetration, and divided the whole ceiling up into a 2x2 grid. im on the home stretch now.

before:

during:



this morning



have the ability to put up one more full sheet, then its onto partials and complex shapes to clear ductwork/etc. then putting all my lights and garage door tracks back up.

im so looking forward to having this behind me. I miss furniture. that's easy to make. don't see how guys do this all by themselves on a larger scale.

been thinking about all the projects this place has seen over the years. I haven't done a great job of documenting all, or even most, of them. but for your enjoyment, ill post the links to the ones I can find.

http://www.pro-touring.com/threads/71755-70-duster-updating-and-a-no-dough-pro-touring-makeover

https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/f...ula-400-project-where-does-that-/59258/page1/

http://forums.neons.org/viewtopic.php?f=51&t=394021

http://www.s10forum.com/forum/f30/project-drivabeater-352595/

https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/f...beater-20-64-el-camino-this-time/60101/page1/

http://www.gmfullsize.com/forum/showthread.php?t=218935

http://www.toyotanation.com/forum/1...1996-1997-2001/406530-project-spec-camry.html

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=289359

there were tons more, but these are the threads I could find.

When you lift your cars to work on them do they ever pass the plane of the horizontal garage door rails? If not, and you can anchor it right, that's a prime spot for a lightweight storage loft. I'm going to be putting one above mine in my garage to hold things like folding beach chairs and boogie boards on one side and some wood stock on the other

previous total: 601

money spent: 17 (11 1x6x6 fence boards)
12 (harbor freight lamp extension cords)
42 (lowes t12 bulbs contractor pack)
15 (screws)
20 (ikea spun aluminum light)

new total: 707

so when we last left off, I was hanging ceiling panels. I still am. im sick of it. this is a job that I almost regret undertaking for the benefits im seeing to money and time spent ratio. theres a light at the end of the tunnel, however, and I know ill be happy I did it in the long run. just right now, im discouraged about how its turning out, how long its taking, and ow much its costing. and im only doing half at the moment.

anyway, I wont bore you with more pictures of studs and sheets. it looks pretty much the same as before, just with more done.

I will, however, bore you with the jorney of improving light.

I have a problem, yopu see, of not that great of vision. im night blind. shadows and flashing lights cause a number on me, which is why im always on a quest for better lighting. wether that is in the cars, or the shop, or the house, it doesn't matter. I need more light. ideally, id have so much light everywhere id always need to wear sunglasses.

anyway, a month or two ago, I traded hawk my 50's craftsman shaper for three four bulb dropped ceiling light fixtures. they all had good ballasts, and bulbs in them. the bulbs were a dingy yellow color, which wasn't ideal, but the swap was. previously, I had 7 various two tube, four foot fluorescent fixtures above the work bay in a semi-haphazard arrangement. not ideal, but a far cry better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick. the floor, ceiling, and soon to be freshly re-white-washed walls are all aimed at improving light, reducing shadows, and making it a more inviting space. these fixtures were to play a central role in this, as according to my reconing, putting these three fixtures down the center of the bay with 4 of the four footers around the perimeter should make the work bay as bright as a operating room.

anyway, heres a craigslist worthy picture of what hawk swapped me.



theyre right at 4 inches deep, and make for a dropped ceiling grid with 2x4 tiles. which means that a 1x4 wont create a nice flush mounting box. they'll still be about 1/2 proud of the frame. dammit.

so the next size up is 1x6. I don't know if you've priced 1x6 lumber lately, but it has gone up in price considerably since I quit doing woodworking 4 years ago. to get enough lkumber to make my 3 boxes would have been in the neighborhood of 40 bucks. too much. so I looked at plywood. neighborhood of 30 bucks. getting better....

my lowes lumber guy (who knows that I like doing things the hardest, most convoluted, and cheapest way possible) offered me the 1x6x6 fence boards. supposedly they are 3/4 thick. rough cut and pressure treated. and 1.55 each. so I bough 11 of them.

brought them home, and started thingking. I wanted to paint these to make them look nicer from the ground. painted rough cut typically looks like ****. so I needed to smooth them. couldn't find my block plane, so I got stupid.

broke out my benchtop planer and skip planed them down to a true 1/2 thick, as that was apparently the minimum thickness that they were cut to. the most dimensionally inaccurate cutting ive ever dealt with.....

anyway, a word of caution: DONT PLANE PRESSURE TREATED LUMBER INDOORS!!!!!! even with a shop vac hooked up. I have been out for the last day and a half with a severe sinus infection that's teetering on pneumonia that the dr believes is due to this stupidity. I know better than to do this. and yet, in my efforts to be the president of the city state of cheapass, I ignored it. don't. this **** *****.

anyway, before planning:


after planning:


and the 80's tastic Ryobi noisemonger that did me in:


so then, using my 58 AMF dewalt radial arm, I cut them up and created some boxes.


test fit one of the fixtures:


primed and painted:



I also (no pictures) shot some leftover gloss white rustoleum on the edges of the fixture to brighten them up and cover up the spots/scratches/rust.

got the central one hung, and then swapped in some brighter bulbs. with only these three lights over the bay, it is already as bright as it was before. I cant wait till I get all of the lights in, and the whitewashing done. should be ridiculously bright at that point.




lastly, I hung an ikea spun aluminum 50's style light over the toolbox. I have to get the proper bulb for it, and another to go at the opposite end of the shop over the drill press/grinder area, but I like the looks. brings back memories of my grandfathers shop (he was an aircraft mechanic in ww2 and afterwards. his shop was only lit by lights similar to these). finally starting to get the late 40's-early 60's industrial vibe im hoping for. originally, I bought this for over the kitchen island, but the fife didn't like it. so its in the shop now, and its nifty.



oh, also hung the first art piece that we talked about earlier. wife talked me out of painting the frame. she said it would look out of place against the yellowed and stained art. so I humored her, and am glad I did. just looks right.

SouperGrover said:

When you lift your cars to work on them do they ever pass the plane of the horizontal garage door rails? If not, and you can anchor it right, that's a prime spot for a lightweight storage loft. I'm going to be putting one above mine in my garage to hold things like folding beach chairs and boogie boards on one side and some wood stock on the other

Click to expand...

I had planned on some above door lofts, but have to think hard before implementation. at some point im hoping to find a mid rise scissors lift, and will run into clearance issues. but then again, I may never actually get a lift.....


at the very least, the other bay will get a decent sized loft, and this bay will get a shelf for speaker/decorations/etc.

dusterbd13 said:

previous total: 601


I have a problem, yopu see, of not that great of vision. im night blind. shadows and flashing lights cause a number on me, which is why im always on a quest for better lighting. wether that is in the cars, or the shop, or the house, it doesn't matter. I need more light. ideally, id have so much light everywhere id always need to wear sunglasses.

Click to expand...

I have this problem as well. What about good station specific lighting? Somehow attached to the device? Move it around somehow? I have to figure out how I'm going to do this as well on my build. Now your thread DEFINITELY has my attention!

plans are rolling around in my head for task lighting, bench lighting, tool lighting, and general lighting. wont know what works until I get there. but at the moment, im seriously considering adding a few strips of LED lights to the floor for under car lighting. drop lights ****.

also, im going to have a terrible time finding vintage looking task lighting. been looking, and finding nothing that will match the old tools and cars.

Great job on the ECLB resto, love these old trucks! Your shop is coming along nicely too, keep it up!

the eclb was a great truck. sold it when I found the 64 elky. last I heard, guy that bought it was still daily drivin it with his three kids up in Raleigh. if it had been a shortbed, I may have kept it. was too wide and long to fit in my shop or on dads lift, so all work was done outside, in the gravel. it sucked.

You done me proud on those light boxes, but yeah don't plane PT inside. lol we all forget something sometime. Had to put the shaper on hold for a time. Went to open my shop the other door and as I pushed it open the whole frame and door fell in. The one section of the shop walls that I have not replaced has now moved up to the top. (After I replace the water pump and thermostat on my S-10.) No you can still not have the rims. lol

And yep the ceiling looks a lot better now that the wiring is not visible.

dusterbd13 said:

also, im going to have a terrible time finding vintage looking task lighting. been looking, and finding nothing that will match the old tools and cars.

Click to expand...

How are your metal fabrication skills? I would think someone with a little talent (not me for sure!) could fab up some sort of vintage looking light shroud

i aint spent any money on the shop for this update. I did, however, schore a few partial sheets of 3/4 OSB. yay!!

finally got all the lights up over the work bay, and only two small sections of ceiling left to finsh. I am so sick of that damn ceiling. those parts will wait for a while. maybe a long while. maybe forever.

also need to paint my I-beam yet.





also finally installed my garage door threshold.


got the majority of the deck railings done.


and then I cleaned up the shop, laid some sheet goods over the cabinetry, and mocked up work bench height/depth with the biggest car I won to really get a feel for it. im in love with how this is turning out. now I just need to find some money so I can work on the workbench/cabinets.






truck pictures were taken before the rest of the lights, and the floor needed mopped. but I already have more usable light than ever before, and proceeded to add two more four foot/two bulb fixtures, as well as two more four bulb fixtures. its incredibly well lit on that side now.

Michael

previous budget: 707

80 for sheet goods (sheet 3/4 osb, 2 sheets tempered hardboard, 1 sheet 5/8 b/c ply) and 5 1x4x8

new total: 787



this go round finds us doing cabinetry and workbench. finally. working on the floor and sawhorses while tripping over stuff *****.

anyway, started with this as my general idea:


goal was to turn the big hole in the left most base cabinet into drawers, make the two false drawers functional drawers, remove the right most angled cabinet entirely, and build a base cabinet for the sink with drawers and rag storage, while using underneath for drain pans/buckets/etc.

I started on Friday night after selling some leftover chevelle parts to fund the supplies.

first, I needed to start at the back wall. the old dewalt radial arm slots into the corner. right up against the cinderblock. the block texture was acting like a cheese grater on the edge of my table, so I had to address it. to that end, I used part of a longbed over the rail bedliner that I cut up years ago, laminated to a 1x4 and tapconned to the wall.




made one for the other side to protect the base cabinet to radial arm saw cabinet interface. also made two more for the hole where the table saw fits.




these work really well. works well, and the saws just bounce off instead of digging in or getting damaged.

so I then took my end 4 drawer stack and placed it exactly where I wanted it, leveled it back to front and side to side. it was at this point I realized the overall height was an inch shorter than the other cabinets. so I made a spacer ring from scrap, and screwed and glued it to the top of the stack. problem solved.

now, on to the hole that will become drawers. first, cut a piece of 3/4 ply from my pile to fit as a whole side. drilled countersunk holes for 1 1/4 screws, as well as pocket holes for a piece of face frame. glued and screwed it into place. then, ripped a 1x4 down into a 2 inch and 1 1/4 pair of strips. use the 1 1/4 as the edge of my face frame to dress out that corner. glued and pocket screwed into place, and that end was done.



I then patched a really ugly hole in the back of the cabinet from where the plumbing went through with a scrap of ceiling. while doing this, the back fell off. turns out the backs were only held on with a couple of staples. so I used a bunch of 3/4 screws and glue. aint coming off now. the patch is ugly, but functional. its just to keep dirt and such out.



leveled the cabinet, tapconned it to the wall. aint moving. ever.
placed a 28 inch wide, 8 foot long piece of osb over top, and screwed it down every 8 inches. front and back, as well as along all the vertical walls of every cabinet. its solid. next step will be creating the worksurface. but OSB was the underlayment.

next cabinet in the row was the one with the funky angled end. the end had to go away, and the sawzall and hammer made quick work of it. used a plunge cut attachment on the multitool to cut the bottom of the cabinet flush with the new side, and my router with a flush cut bit to trim the face frame to size. should have used the circular saw, as it would have been quicker and just as easy.




there was no back to this one, so I used a piece of tempered hard board and made one.


next was the sink cabinet. this cabinet will not really support any significant weight, and the workbench surrounding it wont see much abuse, so it doesn't need to be overkill strong. im also broke, so materials cost is significant at this point. I used a piece of 3/4 osb flooring my dad gave me for the base, ripped some used 2x6 down to 5 inches tall for the toe kick area, and two pieces of 5/8 ply for the sides. piece of hardboard for the back, and the two interior walls were bore 3/4 osb. all screwed and glued. had to cut a hole for the drain for the sink, and sized the interior walls to where it would be a friction fit when the sink is dropped in. left the front of the toe kick open for somewhere to slide my drip pans for storage.






need to build a face frame for the final cabinet, as well as install a reinforcement rail for the front of the sink. will also add some screws for more secure attachment of the sink to base, as I just don't trust a 1/16 lip and friction fit in this application. the cabinet will also get painted inside and out to better protect it from water.

that's it for today.

previous total: 787

money spent: 13 for plumbing supplies
31 for MDF

new total: 831

when I updated last week, I had roughed in the sink cabinet. I didn't take a lot of pictures of finishing the cabinet, but I ripped some of the furring strips to two inch wide sections, assembled with glue and pocket screws, and then glued and pocked screwed the face frame to the carcass. proceeded to seal the whole thing with Zinsser coverstain primer, and topcoat the section under the sink with gloss white. pushed it into place, and them moved the middle cabinet in. leveled the cabinets, tapconned them to the wall, and away we go!!

I also laid down the rest of my first layer of countertop, which was 3/4 OSB underlayment. its already very solid at this point, but I still have more to go.



next, I wanted some sort of backsplash on the bench. my dad has one that's about 4 inches from the wall, where he stores spray cans of chemicals, fluids, etc that he uses on a regular basis. I really like that feature of his bench, and wanted to replicate it. to do so, I looked at what I had around. I found that I had never used/gotten rid of the lintels I removed when I installed the garage doors after buying the house. the wall where the doors are originally contained a French door and a window. we added garage doors about 4 hours after closing on the house. that was my first shop renovation I ever performed, creating the shop.

anyway, the lintels are 3/8 thick 4x4 steel angle iron. serious and profound overkill for a backsplash, but if I **** it up against the wall, and attach it to the OSB surface, it will provide a serious surface for beating against when necessary.

so I cleaned and painted them the craftsman blue/gray that I used on my table saw restorations. still had 3/4 of a can left, and its glossy and durable.





I had some concerns about how to cut this stuff to length, as I have never had much success cutting square with a saws all or 4 inch grinder. I found a 10 inch metal chop saw blade in my radial arm saw cabinet (got no idea why/where I got it) and tossed it in my miter saw. it worked. but now I have to thoroughly disassemble and clean my miter saw, as its all full of grit and shavings.



anyway, got that mounted up, and went to Lowes to get the next layer of my workbench top, which is 3/4 MDF. nice, flat, dense surface.

glued and screwed it down to the OSB.






then moved on to plumbing. its SOOOO nice to have a sink again. the drain wasn't too bad, but it took a few trips to Lowes to get all the right pieces. don't do plumbing enough to estimate properly the first go round.


after this, I removed all the doors and drawers, wiped the face frames and parts with lacquer thinner, scuffed with a scotchbrite pad, and primed with Zinsser.



then began to topcoat. my best friend has worked for ICI deluxe paints for the last decade or so. he regularly has a shelf of mistint paint that is for sale cheap. I had him match the craftsman blue/gray I used on the saws, and bought a gallon for a couple of dollars. this was before I started keeping tabs of the costs, so I have no idea how to add it, as I don't remember what I spent on it.

anyway, this stuff didn't start getting good until the third coat. but it looks great now!




so the next steps are to fill the holes in the cabinets. part of them will be filled with drawers, some just need doors made. eventually all the doors will match, but right now they wont. my dad has given me a pile of drawer slides, some used, some new. but free is free, so ill use them. may have to get creative, though.

also coming up is final sizing of the workbench top, the sacrificial hardboard layer, and beginning to finally put **** away.




now, I need some advice. I have to remount my faucet to the wall. with the new sink arrangement, I need to space it out about 2 inches for water to hit the middle of the sink. what ideas other than a 2x6 do yall have? I would like something simple, attractive, and durable.

weekly update time:

didn't spend no money, so budget remains the same.

first up, I started by finishing the majority of the workbench top. pretty much, just around the sink. still have to create the final edge, and install the sacrificial layer.

then I got to the fun stuff. first up was building the shelf in the cabinet for fluids.
used 3/4 OSB chunk and some 1.5 strips of 3/4 pine left over from making face frames. then, loaded the cabinet. this cabinet already had shelf pin holes drilled throughout, and I had some leftover shelf pins from something at some point. it was more amazing that I actually found them than having them.




working my way down, I used the shelf that was included with the cabinets for the next cabinet with shelf pin holes. loaded that with my specialty tools that are in cases. (pulley puller, mastercool, dremel, etc.) no pictures. use your imagination.

after that, I decided to tackle the conversion of false drawer fronts to actual drawers. I was asked to make some detailed posts about this, so here goes to the best of my ability.

first, remove the false drawer fronts. sit them aside for later. you'll need them. mine were held in with a couple of crappy brackets and screws. I saved the screws, tossed the brackets.


you are now left with a pair of rectangular holes in your face frame. grab the tape measure. measure length, width, and height. subtract 1 inch from all these measurements. you now have the outside dimensions of your drawers.

I wont go into building drawers in detail, plenty of guys have explained this a lot better than me. basically, its a dado'd slot to fit a bottom in four pieces of wood that are then joined together. I used scrap hardboard for the bottoms, and leftover cull ply from my storage door for the sides. I also cut the dado on my AMF dewalt radial arm. that was scary, but cool at the same time. it did really well, but needs a better fence before I try it again. held it all together with pocket screws and glue.

heres the completed drawers.



after this, its time to get the slides mounted. now, they make a plastic bracket that slides over the end of the slide and screws to the back of the cabinet. would have been 20 bucks for the pair for this pair of drawers. I aint got 20 bucks right now, so plan b.

plan b was to make a spacer/riser block. the distance between the slides at the face frame was 2 inches. so the spacer/riser needed to be 2 inches thick, and hang down 7 inches to give me a level drawer slide. made it from a scrap of 1/2 ply and scrap 2x6. pocket screwed to the workbench top, and of course, glued. I then installed the slides.






I then loaded up the drawers. one is air tools, the other is flashlights and fastener-ing stuff (staple gun, pop rivets, push pins, zip ties, etc)



I later eyeballed the original false drawer fronts and installed them, making the drawers look like they started there. and that's how you turn false drawer fronts into real drawers!

up next was continuing to use up materials I had on hand, and make homes for things.

first was my jack stands. they've always lived underfoot, under bench, etc. generally messy and in the way, but an absolute necessity in my shop. I had a plan.

1.5 wide chunks of furring strips, screwed and glued to 3/4 OSB, installed in a cabinet. on drawer slides.



added a leftover door on leftover hinges that came with my free cabinets. hated it and ripped it off pretty quickly.

somewhere in here, I started installing hardware. you all remember the drawer pulls I got from habitat. also hanging out in my shop was some nifty vintage hardware. scored this stuff from a warehouse clean out sale with a bunch of other ****. there was a box with a mortising attachment and a dial-a-dado blade (new in package from the 70's!) in a kitty litter pan full of stuff. asked how much, and guy said $5 for the whole pan. I bought it. in the pan was three boxes of brand new hinges, and a couple of sheets of door pulls. near as I can tell from the artwork, this stuff is mid 50's to early 60's vintage. which is perfect for this shop. I may need to source more of the door pulls though.
anyway, nifty vintage stuff:




and nifty vintage stuff installed:


continuing down the row, I made storage for my rags next to the sink. some scrap pine and hardboard. hung a door that just happened to be the perfect size.



next was making storage for my welder. full extension slides, 3/4 OSB, and you guessed it, screws and glue.



I got froggy yesterday and decided that I was going to make doors for all the cabinets that were missing theirs. took those nifty vintage hinges, and a leftover 1/2 sheet of 5/8 ply. first, I cut the door planks to 3/4 bigger in width and height, then put my dial-a-dado in my table saw. discovered that my throat plate would not clear the dado, and that due to my 50's craftsman saw, a new throat plate will be very difficult to create. so I did something stupid and dangerous. cut without a throat plate. DO NOT DO THIS!!!

I secured some scrap to my fence, and set the dado for 3/8 wide and deep, cutting a rabbit the whole circumference of the door panel.




the rabbits allow the door to be inset into the frame for dust control, as well as the hinges fitting properly. they look really, really good.



my daughter came down, and asked if there was anything she could do to help other than clean. so I put her to priming. she got the table saw cubby primed, and the doors all primed. and herself. and spots on the floor, and....



that's all for today.

Michael

dusterbd13 said:

my daughter came down, and asked if there was anything she could do to help other than clean. so I put her to priming. she got the table saw cubby primed, and the doors all primed. and herself. and spots on the floor, and....



that's all for today.

Michael

Click to expand...

I have a helper like that Of course, she likes to "clean" anything that isn't a mess she made. And by clean I mean make more of a mess for me to deal with. But we are blessed to have them want to be around us still.

AMEN. I am truly blessed to have her. I could ask for nothing greater. She's the reason I get up and go to a job I hate, look forward to coming home, and try to take care of myself.

so, a rare twice in one week update!!

money spent: $8 on screws and a dowel from home depot.

new total:839

so, we have some storms coming today/tomorrow. last time this happened, I had 4 trees fall on the house and truck. this time, I at least wanted to protect the truck. kinda like it these days.....

I couldn't get the thing in the shop, the shop was wrecked, and I still had some stuff to finish. and organization that needed to be done.

first, I mounted my faucet. finally. I couldn't come up with a better plan that a 2x6, so I used one. tapconned it to the wall after painting it white. screwed the faucet to it, and done.
I also used a leftover ford C4 billet shift lever from locar for my towel hook. I think that's a pretty sweet repurpose of spare **** taking up space.



you'll notice wood plugs in the tapcon holes. I couldn't find anything I liked that was cheap and the right size to plug the countersink holes in here and the frame to the door to cold storage. the cheap/easy button was making my own solid plugs. bought a chunk of 5/8 dowel rod bored the 9/16 holes out to 5/8, cut little pieces on the band saw, and pounded them in with a wooden mallet. need to put a topcoat on everything yet, and they will disappear.



then on to finishing my workbench. primed and painted the new doors, put a white topcoat on the table saw hole, and added all my hardware. had to buy some screws for the drawer pulls. the ones in the box were too short.

I also got the sacrificial layer put on. just tempered hardboard. I cut to general size, and ran my router down the edge. I do have to find a way to trim around the sink better. absolutely FUBAR around the sink. its really horrible, and will need replaced. but then again, its a sacrificial layer, so its not all that important....

anyway, suggestions on how to do this easily and accurately?





then on to cleaning, organizing, and scrapping. I tried the frosted covers that came with my four bulb fixtures. cut light output dramatically. now in the scrap pile outside the door.


drug my great grandfather tarasi's bench vise out of the pile of **** its been living under since I started this project. got greasy, dusty, and nasty. hit it with Castrol superclean and a stiff bristle brush. I thought the think was black or grey. this is the color it came back. it will live on in unrestored glory, though the non-moving part of the vise is missing the pipe jaws. anyone know if/where I can get a set? its a wilton torco that's been in the family since the mid 50's.



hung one of the four foot fluorescents from the decade old temporary wall cabinets above the workbench. they were temporary a decade ago, and temporary now. need to save some money to build their replacements, but rest assured that they are mostly going away. they came out of the laundry room when I renovated it after moving in. the center open part came from the same church as the art and hinges.



a whole lot of sweeping and organizing later, as well as filling up two trash cans with debris, I was able to pull the truck in. I guess now is the time to get it fixed, finally.

before the "completed for the time being" shots, ill let you know why im stopping here for a while. I have found that I have run out of my thoughts concerning the renovation, other than vague generalities. there's more space in what I've already built that's not being utilized, but I don't know what to put there. there plenty of things that need to find a home. floor needs finished. ceiling needs finished. air needs plumbed. but I need to work out of what I've done for a little while to see what I still need, and what is working/not working. its already radically different than any version ever before, and I need to get used to it. finishing the floor and ceiling wont impact anything else, nor will re-whitewashing the walls. but past that, im not sure what I want/need other than the planned cabinets on the work bay side that I've been doing.

it feels so weird to walk into this shop now. so different from the hole I started with this spring. its a good feeling, so ill bask in it for a little while whilst I figure out where to go from here.

so, the completed for now shots!! (the piles of stuff on the new bench are all the parts for the truck. I figured the best home for them is on the truck, so....)





and the next challenge after the truck: