1901 Carriage House workshop

[jweier111]

It's about time to get a build thread going I suppose. About two years ago we bought an old Craftsman style 4 square out of forclosure. We're in the historic district of our town, and most of the older houses in the area either have small barns in their backyards or garages that we're converted from former carriage sheds. Ours is the later, an irregularly framed 2 stall that frankly has seen much better days.

Still my dad's dad supported his family by working for years out of a single stall garage doing welding (as well as running a farm and a salvage yard on their property). So I'm not complaining, just saying that this building is going to be replaced in 2 years. Or at least that's the plan for now. So here's where we started

Move in day April of 2012:

Aftermath of a "few" early projects on the house, and a few new-to-me tools:

I took a couple days off of work after we completed the first round of house renovations (see our blog for that story over at http://prairiestreetcraftsman.blogspot.com/2012_04_01_archive.html )

Here's what it looked like at 8AM on that Thursday.

And 8PM the next day:

So the next order of business that summer was to get some more electricity to the garage. At the time I got everything organized and put in place we only had a single 12-2 line buried by the previous owner (and not even buried rated cable) and a single 20amp circuit feeding the garage. So we rented a trencher...and we dug...

and dug some more...

Now most rational human beings, when they go to rent a trencher and are told "Well we have two of them, one has a blown motor, and the other doesn't have steering" would say maybe "well I'll come back later" or "I'll check somewhere else". What kind of weird nut case says "Ah, give me the one with no steering and I'll make it work"? This guy.

Yeah, I look half dead...and I felt like it too. the trench wasn't anywhere near a straight line. But we got a 60 amp circuit run to the garage sub panel through a conduit It will be replaced when we build our new garage, but for now it's been more than enough for what I do. So that was the first batch of battles. With more surprises to come.

 

[jweier111]

The next spring we discovered that the smaller area that is about 3" lower than the main garage floor fills with water when the snow melts. Fun. Oh then about the same time we got water in the basement too:

1500lbs of sandbags later...the garage became an after thought. We spent all last summer working on landscaping to keep the water out of the basement. And I'm happy to report it was a smashing success (dry as a bone this spring).

The garage on the other hand was actually worse this winter, and that was when my soon-to-be wife decided we're going to build a new garage...eventually. We've been playing the long game on this property for a bit now. A 5 year plan for the house, and now a 2 year plan for the garage. That give us time to do some needed upgrades to the house and build a little equity. In the mean time I've re-focused my attention on getting the current garage usable this spring. I'm trying my best not to get too heavily invested in it. But If we've got to use it for 2 more years, then some projects I've held off on need to get finished (electrical, water mitigation, floor crack repairs etc). I use our garage almost exclusively as a workshop, it doesn't do much good to be exiled from it during winter in Wisconsin (um nearly 2/3rds of the year). So right now I'm working on getting it re-organized for use this summer. Then in a couple months I'm going to start working on the exterior to keep the water out. Not going whole hog on a re-build, as it's only got to last two years. And I've actually had to slow down a little on the projects the last two weeks after being hospitalized of a blood clot. Funny thing is I've spent more time in my garage since then I did all winter (work can be good medicine if it's something you love) But here's where I've gotten so far in the last couple weeks:

Picked up a used Craftsman bench and another tool box off Craigslist, build new small power tool storage shelf above, and pulled new electrical circuits (not hooked in yet):

Added some organization to my table saw:

Built a new wall hanging tool box for my vintage hand tools:

Finished up restoring three old tools and got them ready for use:

And upgraded my shop's tunage too:

So that's where everything is right now. I'll be adding more projects here as they happen. This week I've got some electrical to do, and more stuff to move from our basement back to the garage. Stay tuned!

 

[jweier111]

Oh, and I'm getting married next Saturday...

 

[captain14]

Glad to see your garage and the projects done inside.

Cruise through some of the other builds and see what the before and after garages looked like. What are some of the issues with the current garage?

 

[BMcC]

Are you on the Old Woodworking Machines forum? Your recently restored machines look
familiar. Congrats on getting married, too.

 

[captain14]

Can you post some more shots of your vintage tool cabinet? I have some that could use a
home too. Of a plan of some sort.

Congratulations for next Saturday for getting married.

 

[jweier111]

BMcC, yes I am on OWM and Vintage Machinery. I collect and restore primarily old Craftsman tools made by King Seeley, Parks, and Emerson from between the late 40's and early 60's. Though most of my stuff is rebuilt to be used heavily, and occasionally modernized (like my 10" table saw). I've been following RedLeader's build thread bowdown since I started collecting, but it's only been recently that my garage has been at the point where I felt comfortable sharing.

I'm going to try and get a post up with some pictures of the (many) structural issues with the garage soon. Though with the wedding coming up it might take a little bit. I know the question of planing to re-build vs repair is going to come up. We're decidedly on board with replacing the garage, but for now it's what I have to work with for the next couple years.

I'll try and get a few more shots of the tool cabinet up here. Really I didn't use a plan to build it though. I drew some inspiration from this box and a few others

http://www.finewoodworking.com//item/14877/hanging-tool-cabinet

My grandfather taught me to make cabinets old school (meaning minimal use of a tape measure). So most of the work was figuring out how big to build the casket to fit the tools and assembling the basic shell. From there it was mostly just a mater of starting with the tools that needed the least support and custom cutting the blocks on the band saw and adding more tools as I went. Maybe not the most efficient, way to do it but it seemed to work out OK.

I just started building the shop air filter last night (20" box fan and furnace filters), and am hoping to have the cyclone dust collector I built over the winter up and running before the end of the month.

 

[jweier111]

Picked up some more raw materials yesterday.

The UW swap shop had a couple things I was looking for to organize some smaller parts and tools. Also picked up some old lamps to modify for use with a couple of the tools (drill press for example). I was really excited about the old metal library index cabinet.

Looks like someone had already been using it for parts organization. There were 6 sections along with pull out flat areas. I was able to ****** up two of the last sections after someone claimed the others. I swapped parts on the stools to get one with wheels and a decent seat. The little roll around file cabinet is getting used for all my impact sockets and air tools. I'm going to put heavier duty casters on it, and possibly a place for my jack stands.

Also found this little guy on Craigslist for $10!

Been hunting for one of these for a while. It's cool that it came with the manual.

Hoping to have some time next week to work on a couple projects. We decided to incorporate one of my grandfather's old 8" Sargent C-clamps into our wedding ceremony (long story). So I spent most of last night at the grinder with a wire wheel.

 

[captain14]

Thanks I have seen that cabinet in Fine Woodworking before

 

[volleyball]

Very nice and congrats on the wedding.
Have you checked to see if you could replace the garage with a new one? Historic regulations, zoning issues with setback and such.
Maybe building a new one with the character of an old one will suffice.

 

[jweier111]

We're "in" the historic district, but our house isn't designated "Historic" (just old). There are really no restrictions outside of basic code and city ordinances so that should't be an issue.

 

[jweier111]

Well look what just landed on my bench....12" Craftsman 103.0103.

Not sure if I'm going to use this motor or try and track down another one.

I have some time to decide though. There are three other projects to finish first. The Craftsman jointer is still in progress. Beyond that finishing the shops electrical and getting the dust collector up and running is at top of the list right now (you can see the cyclone sitting in waiting in one of the pics). I dont want to be climbing through the attic in July . Still, this saw is going to need some major work.

 

[volleyball]

You will need to build a retro style garage for all those old craftsmans. And a garage that looks period with the house is a plus.
I personally am not into old tools. I just have them because they have been in the family a long time. The oldest craftsman may be a shiny circular saw.

 

[jweier111]

So we took a break from the garage and other projects for the wedding. Great day had by all. Honestly after 6 years with a woman willing to park her car outside during Wisconsin winters so I can have my shop, I'm happy now to be able to call her my wife. No honeymoon for us though. Two days later she was back out in the garden and me in the garage.

Possibly one of my favorite wedding presents:

I was given the Snap-on base cabinet 7 years ago by one of my cousin's. He keep the top box at that time for his tools. He retired last year and started downsizing. When he asked what we'd like as a wedding gift I asked if he was still looking to give up the Snap-on KR58 top box some time soon. And so a week later it was in the back of my truck.

I managed to figure out how to get the drawers out thanks to a couple threads here on GJ, and started in with the wire wheel. I'm considering doing a soda bath on the drawers.

I also ran across the vintage Williams 1/2" drive kit a couple days later. There's a few missing pieces I need to track down yet. Got the additional electrical circuits finished up too. At the time I was on the fence about installing a welding circuit now or waiting till later. But a couple things all happened in rapid succession that made the decision for me. First I traded off a vintage Craftsman 8" table saw for a large pile of rough cut oak and Douglas Fir. That trip made it clear to my wife and I just how inadequate our little 900lb utility trailer was for what we're doing. At the same time we don't have need of or the space for something larger than 4x8. Really we were after something with more weight capacity and ground clearance...but cheap (Fast, Cheap or Good...pick 2).

I found an old David Bradley trailer by Sears and Roebuck from 1957 (I chose Cheap+Good!). The axle, hubs and wheels had already been replaced by the previous owner. It's ugly as sin for now but it's got potential and I'll make some time. It doesn't hurt that it fits in with all the vintage tools in the garage either. The tongue is pretty badly damaged, and needs to be replaced. So I picked up a small pile of steel too.

The guy sold me enough steel to completely rebuild the sub-frame from scratch with much stronger steel tube stock. The only thing I hadn't thought about was that my little MIG welder wasn't going to cut it for this project

SO...that's where this comes in. It's a 180 amp Airco (made by Miller) welder from the early 60's. I have to run in the 50 amp circuit tomorrow night. The guy I bought it off of let me test it. It laid down an excellent flat bead with good penetration in ½ stock using a 7014AC rod. Included brand new cables, though the power cord could stand to be replaced.

Other than a few bruised ribs I have to wait for to heal up (I took a tumble while loading the steel, which your apparently really NOT supposed to do when taking Warfarin for a blood clot)...we're pretty well set to finish some of the projects on the docket.

There's some more info on the trailer project over on our blog along with some more of my crappy CAD renderings of the first draft of the sub-frame design (it has been heavily modified since, though my CAD skills are nothing to write home about). I'm hoping to run the designs by my dad and a few of my uncles before I start cutting or welding anything together. Gramps built over 100 farm wagons with his sons over the years (at least 4 are still in use by my family). Almost all of them have built at least one trailer if not more themselves since. So this is a bit of a tradition in our family. Thus far I have $200 ******* in Craigslist purchases for the trailer, steel, and welder. Not too bad I think.

Hopefully next week I'll have some time to re-focus on the dust collector. Lots of irons in the fire. Must be summer in Wisconsin!

 

[jweier111]

Time to dust this off a little I guess. Projects got a little delayed due to some illness related issues. Had a blood clot in my liver back in April that sent me to the hospital. Over the summer I started having issues with my back. That finally got to the point where I couldn't take it, went to see the doc and am now planning for spinal fusion surgery in November of my L5 vertebra to my sacrum. Fun. So this thread is going to probably have a bit of my basement mixed into it soon, as we're planning to build a mini-shop down there for over the winter months while my back heals. I did make some progress on the band saw the last few weeks though...

I have a new upper guide, wheel covers, and a motor on it's way. The plan was to bring the band saw, and my drill press down to the basement. But then this "followed me home" today...

In the next couple weeks we're going to have some friends help us rearrange the tools so we can at least fit our car in the garage over winter. We also have to get the materials up off the floor. Again one of the reasons we're planning to rebuild is the amount of water that migrates under the walls, and up through the floor during late winter. Some of the tools may get moved into a storage unit until spring just to be on the safe side. Seriously I had to chisel that Snap on box out of 4" of ice last February before dragging it into the house till spring.

If the weather warms up I may have some more pics to post this week as we try finishing up a few projects.

 

[bj383ss]

Cool build. I dig all the vintage machinery. I wish stuff like that would follow me home! Bandsaw came out looking good! Even with all the obstacles you faced you still have made really good progress. Look forward to seeing your basement setup.

Plus one on the wife who leaves her car outside. Even way back when my garage could fit cars in it my wife's still sat outside and both of mine where inside.

Bret