Since catching the stove virus my collection has steadily grown. I've got stoves still in unopened boxes from all over the world for want of a place to fettle them. Which finally got me off my dead ass and forced me to clean out my garage and build a proper stove workshop. I just finished it today. Here's the before photo. Can you spot my vise and drill press? Here are the photos of my newly minted shop. Notice the stove storage area above the lights which wraps around three walls. The vise is mounted to a 1/4 inch (6.35 mm) steel plate for heavy banging. The bench is 16 feet along one wall and 12 along the other. Storage area for tools, fuel, etc. The stairs go to an attic storage area and can be raised or lower by a pulley system as needed. The workbench top is 1 1/8" plywood sealed with 2 coats of penetrating epoxy sealer then painted with 4 coats of 2 part Polyurathane boat paint (Interlux Perfection. Tomorrow is move in day.
Congratulations! Great job. Love the way you'll get good light from the window. Made the mistake of showing this to my wife - "exactly what I had in mind." Guess I'm committed now. Norm
Geeves - Oh yea, it will be a mess in no time. That's why I took the photos before moving all the stuff back in. I rented a 12 foot roll off storage container to hold the contents while I built the workshop. Giving me 3 weeks is generous. Dave Gibson - You've got that right about cleaning out being the hardest part. I threw out some of the stuff but the rest I put into boxes to be sorted out later. Now I have to do the sorting. Deciding is the hardest part for me. I tend to keep everything to avoid having to make a decision which is how I ended up with such a mess in the first place.
Ive just acquired a whole lot of recycled unistrut to sort out my garage/workshop but I have house projects and 4wd projects ahead of that. The last 3 stove acquisitions are still sitting unloved on the bench where they were put 2 months ago
What a great job you've done Ben , well done . You will now have to put up more shelves above the benches & in the attic because you will soon fill up what you have already in no time Stu.
Brilliant workshop Ben I really like the work bench the size and the way you have coated the surface. I wish I had a garage or shed that size to have a work shop like yours well done
Ben, you really should paint the wall areas behind the workbench white - it will help your ageing eyes later on in life... Don't ask me how I know that - I've been building a small dedicated workshop myself and white walls makes a huge difference: The Build
Ben this is exciting! I'm happy to see how your shop space develops w/o suggestion because you're awesome dude. That said stovies must be safety 1st so I will comment from safety view point. With wood everywhere, where and how testing is done you would be mindful of that. In Southern CA testing outside is more convenient that it is for other members. Aside from wood everywhere (flame retardant spray?), all fire travels straight up, taking another day to put in dry wall ceiling (or some barrier) may be a consideration. A fellow member has shared w/us how fire found the roof area above his collection (If it's an attached garage a barrier between garage and main structure too). Rethink fuel storage. Lastly for me, going from a few small stoves (gas fuel tanks), to accepting it became much larger, the collective fuel is bigger concern than it was w/the few. Your shop looks "off the charts" great! I seem to just be building shelves more than anything. I'm moving from one work space (attached to house), to another (detached) and have a 3rd (shed) for storage. 2 work spaces, both are a mess w/backlog akin to log jam, my stove jams. Oh I'll get round to it. thx omc
Nice job Ben. But, the nice won't last long. Soon it will be too small. Then unorganized. Then ..... Yes, my walls are white, so I think that a great idea, too. Ken in NC
That's going to be a really nice place to hang out and stay busy! Love the work you did on that bench top! sam
That is SWEET! If I ever get to clean my little fettle pit...I would post a pic or 2 of it....but not till the members no longer remember yours...lol
Wow, nice job Ben. Workshop envy! How about a section of workbench covered with something flame-indifferent and good looking like copper sheet? I second OleManColeman's thoughts on some sheetrock in the live testing area to protect from flame spread. Send more photos when its messy again so that we dont feel so bad...
Ben, As many have said, great job! Just an awesome place for your stoves, to fettle, to display, to enjoy... Jim
