During the pandemic I used the extra time to convert part of my one-car garage into a workshop to start exploring woodworking and building things.
Living in the UK means I have a small amount of space. Barely enough even for a car. So when the pandemic hit, I took that space and started transforming it into a place where I could explore my hobby of woodworking.
One sunny afternoon we popped down to the local big box store and bought some materials. I really had no plan at this point. I’d seen a couple of YouTube videos and had some ideas. Sometimes the freedom of not having a plan means there is no rush, no ‘doing things wrong’, and it’s much more relaxing and satisfying.
Pretty happy with how the bench turned out. If we were to do it again I wouldn’t have made the central section openable. While it gave more storage, there are always things on top and so it becomes very awkward to actually get things out.
I needed drawers. I’ve got lots of small tools and fixings and having them on display makes the space feel cluttered. I’ve never made drawers before and I learned a lot in the process.
It was at this point I thought that I needed more of a plan for the whole space because I wanted it to be aesthetically pleasing as well as functional. This is where my foray into 3D modelling started, using SketchUp.
I bought a decent contractor table saw and proceeded to build a little cart for it to store accessories as well as give me a little support on the out-feed side.
Dust collection is important and I was gifted a shop vaccuum cleaning which I set up with some dust collection pipes and blast gates to ensure a good level of suction from all of my tools.
