Timothy Wilmots

[Ryan]

This guy's shop is absolutely amazing... The above video is just an example. To really get a feel for the joint, take the time to watch two or three of his productions. It's worth the time - even if you aren't a woodworking type of guy...


To read the rest of this blog entry from The Garage Journal, click here.

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[ambenz]

Very organized, innovative, kept clean and orderly.
The owner is disciplined.... cleaning out the vacuums every night, restocking dowels, biscuits, and sharpening tools.
It takes dedication and the jobs / income to upkeep and have a faculty like that.
Everyones dream shop, I know if I had the space, I'd want a woodworking shop just like that!
Working from home making a product line of cabinets is a great way to earn a living.
Cool digs! Thanks for sharing!

 

[Ryan]

It takes dedication and the jobs / income to upkeep and have a faculty like that.

My thoughts exactly. Dedication. And the customer base to support that fastidious commitment to organization.

I bet his work is spendy... and probably worth it.

 

[Orionrising]

cabinetry must be verry profitable and valuable in europe, just that tablesaw is probably 10-15k...

 

[tab2]

His channel is a great watch. His shop building series is worth the time to take a look at.

He has a LOT of money in tools!

 

[johnnyradiant]

It's a ton of money in systainers let alone the contents.

 

[C_F]

That's a great looking shop, thanks for the link!

 

[shelteredV]

It's much easier to keep organized if you work by yourself as long as you have that built in organizational aptitude. Sweet shop though.

 

[CJM8515]

sweet shop, Im sure the costs are just nuts for the average folks. I suppose it took many hours of planning to come up with such a good system too.

 

[Bob Hall]

His channel is great, I've been watching for sometime now.

 

[Augus7us]

That is a killer wood shop. Certainly takes dedication, but if you watch some of his other videos you can tell he put a great deal of effort into his workflow and house keeping routine. For example he heats his shop with his sawdust. Free heat and excellent waste management system.

Does anyone know the price difference, if any, for Festool stuff here vs in Europe? Wondering if they are cheaper over there being a German company.

-Clint

 

[Musicinabottle]

I'm now ashamed of my shop!

 

[Iron-Iceberg]

Really like the peg holes in the front of his bench so that he can work on pieces vertically.
Will be using that for sure.

 

[Major Ramifications]

Just think how much he could get done if his workspace was organized.

It looks like he bought a house and converted it into a workshop with a keen eye for organization and an almost unlimited budget. Very nice.


I didn't see him measure anything. I guess a lot of the more tedious stuff was edited out, but I also guess that he does as little measuring as possible. Whereas I spend so much time measuring and marking only to still have things come out only so-so much of the time.

 

[Huxley]

The temperature in there would have to be 50F if I was wearing that hearing protection / headphones all day.

 

[Ryan]

I didn't see him measure anything.

I've noticed this with all of his videos. He rarely measures anything... And I think that's because he creates fastidious plans with detailed parts lists before he begins. He then takes his raw material to really high end tools with really accurate fences... If you have all that, you really don't need to measure anything.

 

[LegacyIndustrial]

Be careful boys...your OCD will make you a slave to Festools and you will live a peaceful and organized life!! Better to throw your tools into a Home Depot bucket and remain unhinged.

 

[swharris]

Impressive no doubt.

Still, that is a full-time job/business/production shop. Only someone with unlimited resources of money and TIME might do something like this. Do you think he gets up at 4:30 am to drive 45 miles to do his 8 hours and then drive home another 1.5 hrs to do chores and cook for the family and then go out to the shop to make some sawdust like many here do? lol. Doubt it. That is the typical hobby shopist I'd bet.

Still, impressive no doubt.

 

[Huxley]

OK, I have watched several more videos now. The jointer that becomes a planer is my favorite piece of equipment so far.

 

[rvieceli]

In addition to being a nice guy and a great woodworker, Tim's main focus is making workbenches for goldsmiths. CHeck out his website as well.

https://benchworks.be/en/

 

[jeffg]

any idea what he used for his air system? It looked so easy to install in the shop build videos.

 

[TurtleValley]

any idea what he used for his air system? It looked so easy to install in the shop build videos.

looks like a shop vac. He has the Festool one. Looks like it lives below the sanding bench.

Wow what a homemade shop! Lots of good ideas there.

 

[Stuart in MN]

In addition to being a nice guy and a great woodworker, Tim's main focus is making workbenches for goldsmiths. CHeck out his website as well.

https://benchworks.be/en/

That's pretty cool - I never thought about it but I suppose that goldsmiths and watchmakers do have special requirements for workbenches. Selling to that market probably helps pay for the fabulous workshop space, too.

 

[K13]

In addition to being a nice guy and a great woodworker, Tim's main focus is making workbenches for goldsmiths. CHeck out his website as well.

https://benchworks.be/en/

I wondered what the mortise hole in the front edge of the bench was for now it makes perfect sense.

 

[Jim'bo]

It looks like he bought a house and converted it into a workshop with a keen eye for organization and an almost unlimited budget.

Not quite .

This is the best pic I could quickly find about how it all started (which was in his farming parents' hayshed):

He bought the shed from them, as I understood.

 

[jeffg]

looks like a shop vac. He has the Festool one. Looks like it lives below the sanding bench.

Wow what a homemade shop! Lots of good ideas there.

Sorry, I meant the compressed air lines. It looks like some sort of grey plastic.

 

[Stuart in MN]

I'm not a goldsmith or a watchmaker, but i'd love to have one of his workbenches. I probably wouldn't use it, I'd just put it in the living room where I could look at it. They are things of beauty.

 

[Bench Works]

Timothy here,

rvieceli linked me to this forum so I thought I'd stop by and comment.

I started out working on the family farm here in Belgium, then began woodworking as a hobby in my 20's, took some lessons and things got so out of hand that I started a business, and here I am.
I started out doing pretty much any work that came by before falling into the goldsmith workbench niche by chance, it's a very small niche but the advantage is that it's nice work.

Since I basically live in my shop, I figured I might as well make that time enjoyable with a nice space and good tools. I hate frustrations so my current shop and work flow is pretty much the result of me finding solutions for all the past frustrations I came across while working.

Perhaps you hadn't seen my latest shop innovation:

I actually browsed this forum quite a bit last year, I'm planning on setting up a proper garage workshop in the space next to my woodworking shop, where I keep my truck, forklift and some farming equipment. I'm still on the fence about getting steel cabinets or building all myself. With wooden cabinets it's not easy to keep them in good shape, especially when working on heavy and dirty equipment.

 

[paddy1]

I wonder what the benches were for, too tall for a desk.

 

[Radix2]

Timothy here,

rvieceli linked me to this forum so I thought I'd stop by and comment.

I started out working on the family farm here in Belgium, then began woodworking as a hobby in my 20's, took some lessons and things got so out of hand that I started a business, and here I am.
I started out doing pretty much any work that came by before falling into the goldsmith workbench niche by chance, it's a very small niche but the advantage is that it's nice work.

Since I basically live in my shop, I figured I might as well make that time enjoyable with a nice space and good tools. I hate frustrations so my current shop and work flow is pretty much the result of me finding solutions for all the past frustrations I came across while working.

Perhaps you hadn't seen my latest shop innovation:

I actually browsed this forum quite a bit last year, I'm planning on setting up a proper garage workshop in the space next to my woodworking shop, where I keep my truck, forklift and some farming equipment. I'm still on the fence about getting steel cabinets or building all myself. With wooden cabinets it's not easy to keep them in good shape, especially when working on heavy and dirty equipment.

Welcome Tim!

Thank you for sharing your work. It is always a battle to decide on spending time on the work vs the workshop - so your ideas about benches, workflow and such are interesting to many. It looks as though you have refined our shop not only to do your repetitive jobs, but also to do a variety of other things in the future.

 

[alambkal]

Jaw dropping stuff in these videos. But it almost smells like he's backed by that company. Maybe not, but even in professional shops you see different brands of things. Not seeing too many here.....could be I'm jealous too!

 

[Stuart in MN]

Welcome to the Garage Jounal, Timothy! Your workbenches are works of art, and your shop is pretty nice too. I'm curious about how goldsmiths use these benches, do you have any photographs that show them in use?

 

[NUTTSGT]

Timothy, Yes, welcome to GJ. Becareful, as you might find that you spend some decent time on this board.

One question I'd like to pose you you. Even though you have a good dust collection system, I would think you'll still get some saw dust around the shop. Your floor looks to be a nice smooth wood floor with a decent polish on it, does it ever get slick or slippery ?


BTW, the OP of this thread, Ryan, is the forum owner. I sent him a PM to let him know you signed up and visited his thread.

 

[jd_1138]

Thanks for sharing this craftsman's shop, Ryan.

It's hyper organized. Looks like it may have been a house at some point? Gotta love those dovetail joints. That desk will become an heirloom and last a long time. Quality.

He even has the Festool radio, I think.

 

[James-W]

Super nice shop! Some of the equipment he has must have cost a fortune, but apparently they are tools he needs in his business.

 

[Orionrising]

time is money. Multithousand dollar tablesaw is no different then a mill or cnc or plasma table if it pencils out.

 

[Toomanytools?]

How many watch makers and Gold Smiths need new benches? Seems like a small market , though in Europe maybe more watches being worn than the USA. Nice shop, great tools, touch of OCD? I'm a Finish carpenter/cabinet/furniture builder so a little OCD seems common in this field.

 

[ambenz]

Hello Tim and Welcome to the GJ!
Cool digs dude!
Love the shop and nice tools...really respecting your dedication to organization!

 

[Bench Works]

As for some questions I read,

- my air pressure system is from "Girpi" it's made from PVC, just cut and glue together. It was really easy to install and when I built this new shop I was able to salvage almost everything from the previous, just had to buy a few connectors.

- Indeed I don't often measure, only to check once in a while if I'm still on course, my panel saw has a cross cut table with a fence that allows me to cut parts accurately without having to mark anything. I have a Kapex miter saw but rarely use it, the panel saw just does it better.

- These workbenches are a very small niche indeed, I have a steady demand but probably couldn't hire someone (and don't want to either) I'm covering Western Europe, the furthest I had to send some was to Moscow. It helps having many specialized schools and the diamonds capital nearby though. I do get some demands from the US but the shipping costs usually end that.

- I bought my tools gradually whenever I made enough profit, I started with used or cheap DIY tools and working in a cold windy barn. Then switched to Bosch mostly each time I saved enough, until I discovered Festool. For some of theirs you can't really work without (vacs or the domino) So I got a few used ones reluctantly (price wise) and discovered just how much more practical it was to work with removable cords and standardized containers. My shop was tiny and with Bosch I had cords and giant useless cases everywhere. it was just very frustrating to work that way.
So I gradually switched again to Festool.
If other brands would understand the benefit of the cords and systainers (they gradually do) then I would certainly consider them, even though I want to support innovation and reading "made in China" on my last Bosch tools, and pretty much all other brands makes me want to stay loyal.

Sneak peak première of what I added to the shop last month, band saw out feed table with scrap bin and cut off storage.

 

[Huxley]

"Bench Works Junior Member"

I guess everyone has to pay their dues.