My First Shop


The old shop was fun. It was back in the bachelor days of my life. I had recently purchased some land and found a free trailer (mobile home, manufactured home, redneck mansion). It was free so long as I paid to move it. After moving it to the land and setting it up I quickly realized it was too far gone to fix up as a decent living space. I removed the destroyed paneling and most of the insulation and turned it into a dedicated work space. Looking back, It’s amazing how quick you can accumulate tools.

Starting from the right I had hardware bin storage on the wall above where I parked my table saw.IMAG0105

This was an old 80’s model (I think) Delta contractors saw. It was strong enough and accurate enough for everything I threw at it but still had plenty of room for improvement. The mobile base I made for it was rather odd to use. It consisted of two sections of galvanized pipe that pressed two boards into the floor. These boards had casters mounted underneath.original-mobile-base

Next to the saw was my radial arm drill press. Of all the tools I have ever owned this is the one I miss the most. It had a tilting radial head that was so convenient to use. I liked the idea of tilting the head rather than the table. The drill press stand also held a lot of goodies to roll around the shop.

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To the left of the drill press was my first workbench. I went overboard when I built this. It was too tall, too deep, and too long. My shop was way too small for this bench. It had a piece of 3/4″ plywood with a replaceable 1/4″ hardboard layer on top. I made shelves on the right 2/3 of the bench with an open space to store my shopvac or trash bin. Whatever was needed at the time.

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To the left of the bench is where I parked my miter saw station. This was a really crude setup but it worked well. This is also my first dresser turned miter saw station. I have since made this setup a few times. I had large casters on the bottom that I found somewhere. It was great until I had to clean the dust out from behind. Notice the tarp in the background. There was no window in there since day one. I actually lived in the other end of this trailer for 3 years. It was more like glorified camping. I enjoyed it :)

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I hope you enjoyed this post as much as I have. Looking back on these pictures brings back some good memories.