Inside The Shop

Welcome to the shop! I currently operate out of my ~500 sq. ft garage in Eau Claire, WI. It's heated and insulated so I can work comfortably year round.

Here I've got a computer workstation that controls the Shapeoko XXL CNC as well as the jTech laser attachment. The CNC is great for creating patterns for my products, and I use the laser engraver quite a bit for making personalized items and custom products for businesses. Above it I've got lumber racks to store around 100bd. ft of long boards.

While I have a decent amount of space, I like the flexibility of mobile tools - so most of what I own is on a mobile base. I use the wall for misc. lumber storage (mostly scraps sitting on the ground), and for my Grizzly dust collector. This is also where my drum sander and bandsaw sit most of the time. My DeWalt planer with helical head sits below the window when I'm not using it.

I do a lot of small lathe projects, so the mini lathe is perfect for me. It sits next to a bank of cabinets I built over a weekend and coated with some gray-blue milk paint. I use the walls for a lot of patterns and misc. tool storage, and in the corner is the TV that is pretty much only on during football season. Otherwise I'm listening to music or podcasts in the shop.

Against the back wall is where I have my belt sander, spindle sander, and drill press. The two sets of floor-standing cabinets on the right were built by my grandfather, and are probably the most sturdy and well built pieces of furniture I own. They were in his shop for years, and I had the privilege of being able to relocate them to my shop when my grandparents sold their house a couple years back.

Another look at the back wall from a different angle. Check out that nice of lacewood from Bell Forest Products!

Here's what is essentially the heart of my shop. I spend most of my time sitting at the assembly/outfeed table - usually sanding or applying finish. The Wen bench grinder has a sanding drum attachment for shaping, and a buffing wheel for getting a nice sheen on my products. There's also a Harbor Freight small belt sander that has been going strong for 5 years, even though I use it almost daily for hours on end.

If you're interested in a more detailed run down of the tools in my shop, here you go:

Arbortech Ball Gouge
Arbortech Turbo Plane
Bosch Sander
Delta 36-725 Table Saw
DeWalt Angle Grinder
DeWalt Drill
DeWalt DW 735 Planer
DeWalt Router
Excelsior Mini Lathe
FastCap 2P-10 Super Glue Adhesive
FastCap Glu-Bot Glue Bottle
Festool CT-SYS Dust Collector
Festool Domino Joiner DF 500
Festool Pro 5 LTD Sander
Grizzly 14" Bandsaw
Grizzly G0860 - 1-1/2 HP Portable Cyclone Dust Collector
Harbor Freight Belt Sander
Jet 6" Jointer
Johnson Paste Wax
King Arthur Tools Guinevere Sanding System
King Arthur Tools Merlin
Klingspor Right Angle Drill
Micro-Jig Grr-Ripper
Mora wood carving knife
Rockler Carbide Tipped Lathe Tools
Rockler Lathe
Skil Belt Sander
Stanley Sweetheart Chisel Set
Supermax 16-32 Drum Sander
Titebond 3 Wood Glue
Totalboat Epoxy Resin
WEN 4286 8-Inch Slow Speed Bench Grinder
WEN Drill Press
WEN Spindle Sander