After about ten years, 37 dusty woodworking magazines, eight books, and lots of fantasies, I finally have a workshop. For a long time, I have been intrigued with woodworking. Like most attractions, it’s hard to explain. Perhaps it’s the manual aspect, working with my hands, from which there’s a certain indefinable pleasure. Certainly the craftsmanship of a well-contstructed item exhibits a strength and beauty of its own. And wood itself is a pleasure-the grain, the color, the way it works. Now I need to become a student again, starting at the beginning as a novice who knows next to nothing about the hobby but is willing to learn and be patient in the learning.

And here is my classroom. I converted a 24 x 26 ft irregularly shaped garage into a pretty spacious woodshop like so . One of my main considerations was adequate lighting-and there is lots, with 42 and 105 watt CFL bulbs laid out in a alternating grid on the ceiling .
Each size of light has its own circuit so that I can turn on one size only or both at once for maximum light output. I also wanted plenty of electricity capacity including 220 volt outlets for possible future energy needful machines like a big jointer or central dust collection system. I had an electrical subpanel installed for that purpose . The top part of the walls is drywall and the bottom is exterior grade beadboard sheeting. To allow safe use of the vertical studs I made sure the electrical runs were only in the bottom half of the walls so I can nail or screw into the studs without risk of electrocution.

And so the adventure begins.

Tags: workshop, design