Hello all, I have been looking on this forum since I bought a house and a big property a few years ago. I have gotten a ton of great information from the site and find myself visiting almost daily.
I bought a short sale home with a 2000sf unfinished basement and 600sf garage. Turns out the house was in surprisingly bad shape so I added a ton of tooling (much of it learned about on forums) as I decided what to DIY. All of the crises are tended to now so I have been doing more things that actually qualify as "improvement". I also ended up with a ton of outdoor property maintenance equipment and I have learned to modify, repair, and keep it all in top shape.
I do a fair bit of metalworking and woodworking in my spare time, both to keep our living space functional and working on fun projects. I have a few vintage tools and a bunch of newer ones and I always like learning to do more with what I have. My first piece of CNC equipment is on the way (A "Maslow" wood sheet router) and I look forward to learning to tinker with that.
We are considering adding a large outbuilding on our property to store mowers/accessories/things taking up space in the garage. I am not sure I would turn it into a shop, but I would like a place to put any massive equipment purchases. I really enjoy working in my 67 degree year round dry basement, but I am not comfortable having some super heavy things moved down those frame stairs. I dream of getting my hands on a full-sized Bridgeport mill or monster old lathe and I have passed up cheap examples of both worrying about where I would put them.
While I not require any tools professionally, I do not like equipment to be limiting factor in my ability so as I have gotten more ambitious the collection grows and keeps getting nicer. I credit this forum with giving me the courage to do things like spend $50/per on sets of Knipex pliers wrenches and the like (which I now wish I had done a decade ago!) and upgrade to nice cordless tools (currently using Dewalt "20v" and Flexvolt tools, the trimmer and grinder make me smile every time I use them). I also particularly enjoy the woodworking thread and have been inspired to rescue a couple planers and learn how to use a card scraper instead of sanding. Finally, the hot deals section has cost me quite a bit but I have made out like a bandit time and again picking up things that I could not justify at full price. I started using the site as a guide going through the local home depot with my then newborn and I have learned about every clearance rack and hidey hole as we walk the store and see the sights.
I have noticed some unhappiness towards people that lurk but never post so I figured I would admit I was here and try to chime in once in awhile when I have something constructive to stay. Thanks for all of the great information!
I bought a short sale home with a 2000sf unfinished basement and 600sf garage. Turns out the house was in surprisingly bad shape so I added a ton of tooling (much of it learned about on forums) as I decided what to DIY. All of the crises are tended to now so I have been doing more things that actually qualify as "improvement". I also ended up with a ton of outdoor property maintenance equipment and I have learned to modify, repair, and keep it all in top shape.
I do a fair bit of metalworking and woodworking in my spare time, both to keep our living space functional and working on fun projects. I have a few vintage tools and a bunch of newer ones and I always like learning to do more with what I have. My first piece of CNC equipment is on the way (A "Maslow" wood sheet router) and I look forward to learning to tinker with that.
We are considering adding a large outbuilding on our property to store mowers/accessories/things taking up space in the garage. I am not sure I would turn it into a shop, but I would like a place to put any massive equipment purchases. I really enjoy working in my 67 degree year round dry basement, but I am not comfortable having some super heavy things moved down those frame stairs. I dream of getting my hands on a full-sized Bridgeport mill or monster old lathe and I have passed up cheap examples of both worrying about where I would put them.
While I not require any tools professionally, I do not like equipment to be limiting factor in my ability so as I have gotten more ambitious the collection grows and keeps getting nicer. I credit this forum with giving me the courage to do things like spend $50/per on sets of Knipex pliers wrenches and the like (which I now wish I had done a decade ago!) and upgrade to nice cordless tools (currently using Dewalt "20v" and Flexvolt tools, the trimmer and grinder make me smile every time I use them). I also particularly enjoy the woodworking thread and have been inspired to rescue a couple planers and learn how to use a card scraper instead of sanding. Finally, the hot deals section has cost me quite a bit but I have made out like a bandit time and again picking up things that I could not justify at full price. I started using the site as a guide going through the local home depot with my then newborn and I have learned about every clearance rack and hidey hole as we walk the store and see the sights.
I have noticed some unhappiness towards people that lurk but never post so I figured I would admit I was here and try to chime in once in awhile when I have something constructive to stay. Thanks for all of the great information!