# Instruments and Equipment > Builders and Repair >  Shop Pictures

## dstretch

I just got done looking at the post of shop pics from awhile back. I would like to see if there is any new photos of shops. I find it interesting to see how other builders set up thier creative space. 

I hope to see lots of pictures

Thanks

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## bluegrassplayer

Untill I either move out or convince my dad to build a workshop, this is what I have to work with.

(I don't know if you can see it or not, but I did a little bit of distressing to my tuners)

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## Stephen Perry

http://www.giannaviolins.com/workshop.html

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## dstretch

There has got to be more shops out there. Only two of you want to share pics?

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## amowry

It's not a very good photo, but here's half of the shop. It was the selling point for me when my wife and I bought our house last year. 350 square feet, and skylights! Above ground! How could I be so lucky?

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## dstretch

Andrew 

Your assistant looks bored.  Anyways nice picture, is that a buffing wheel on your drill press?

I have looked at your website, very professional. I hope that someday I can attain your level of excellence.

Thanks 
Danny

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## amowry

Thanks Danny. Yes, pretty much the only excitement Sophie gets is when the cat comes through his door from the house and she tries to grab on his way to the food bowl. Other than that it's pretty much just battling me for the best spot on the mat in front of the bench. I use that buffing wheel for ebony parts and nuts, mostly.

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## Gibson A5

Ok, here is a picture of about half the shop. I don't have a camera lens wide enough for the whole shop to be in from where I have to take the picture. It's not as cramped as it looks.
Bill

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## stevem

Andrew, PM me if you need the names of any good exorcists for your dog.

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## dstretch

Is that all?

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## ellisppi

I was gonna clean up first but...

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## ellisppi

more

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## ellisppi

and another

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## Dale Ludewig

In the second picture, back in the corner- Looks to be a kind of roaster/ crockpot thing. It that lunch cooking?

The CNC's a little bigger than by shopbot &lt;g&gt;. What's the tan unit (3rd picture) over to the right?

Thanks Tom.

I'll try to get some shots of my place up in the next day or so.

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## Burner

Ah space. Something I don't have. My "shop"also functions as a bike "shop" and domestic "shop". I was fortunate to find a rest room door made of solid 40 year old mahogany - Enough blocks for several million mandos. People have remarked how windy it is in the rest room these days.

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## thistle3585

Dale, thats his widebelt sander(notice the green infeed/outfeed conveyor on it). The hose coming out the top runs to his dust collection unit that must sit behind the CNC. Is that right?

Also, whats the mallet for? Machine or user?

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## Jim Hilburn

Here's My hi-tech woodchip containment system. It's about 80% effective. Since my shop is really just another room in the house,keeping up with the dust is more important than if I had a real shop.
 It only looks that way while I'm roughing out plates. After that, I take out the cardboard and dis-assemble the Terrco so I have that bench to work on or at least clutter up with other stuff.
 Tom, I wish I had one of those machines you can tell to make you a top while you go to lunch.

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## Dale Ludewig

Thistle- you're right, or at least it would seem so. I didn't notice the belt before. Not that "wide" but I'm sure that's what it is. Unless everything else is so "big" .......

Happy St. Patty's Day to all.

Dale:D

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## P Josey

It's not a big space, 11' x 20', but it's a good space. Too small to let it get too messy.

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## P Josey

Another

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## P Josey

I'm going 360 degrees.

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## P Josey

Last one. Everything against the wall until needed... including the copy carver hidden in the corner.

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## ellisppi

The mallet I use for tap tuning plates (and seating fingerboards on the locating pins when vacuuming)The sander is that little 18" Grizzly

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## Steve Hinde

This is the hubby hole. Where hubby goes for mando therapy. Sawdust generators are in the garage shop with the spray booth. Rear corner of the basement with the freezer(doubles as a work bench)kitty litter and food bowl,(in case I get hungry or spill something) space under the steps for wood storage and fixture storage. Separated from the storage room by a layer of cardboard boxes stapled to the studs. Trying to keep any dust away from the moths and mice.

Steve Hinde
Hinde Custom Instruments

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## Dave Cohen

Here are some photos of my shop. I didn't have time to clean up, but then, I never have time to clean up.

First, a view of the bench room.

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## Dave Cohen

...And another of the bench room.

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## Dave Cohen

...one more.

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## Dave Cohen

...one of two shots of the machine room.

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## Dave Cohen

and one more.

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## arbarnhart

OK, my turn I guess. My shop is in the garage, but I share it with a car and kids stuff. So I get half of one bay and some cabinets along the wall in front of the car. the car was out of the garage when I took these so I would have room to stand back. Sometimes I back it out just to make it less claustrophobic. Anyway, the main place I work is at the bench, with the bandsaw and scroll saw as primary tools. The linoleum is a scrap laid down in just that area, but it helps make it seem like a real floor and sweeps up easy.



Here are the cabinets along the other wall:



The belt sander, grinder and drill press are on the cabinet tops and in the tall cabinet on the top shelf you might can see a router and circular saw. I have a precision rail guide for those - they are mounted on special plates for it - to do very accurate work on the bench. One of the drawers is filled to the brim with clamps. That's a mini fridge between the tall cabinet and the shorter ones.

Now I have shown you everything but...



actually it isn't the kitchen sink, it is the garage sink. That is an important part of the shop - a sink that it is okay to trash!

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## Dale Ludewig

Well, I'll try to add some shots. This is my shop. Sort of. Not all of it. It's 4,000 sq. ft. But, please remember that I also do cabinet and furniture work for about 50% of my income at this point. (You don't want to see it all under 30" of water).

Shot 1:

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## Dale Ludewig

Hmm. 'Nother try: More Shop-

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## Dale Ludewig

Another of the general work area:

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## Dale Ludewig

Part of the sanding room:

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## Dale Ludewig

More sanding Room:

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## Dale Ludewig

Just a couple more:

The Shop Bot:

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Oh man, these pics really show me how far I have to go! Right now 2 bench's, a trip to HD & Lowes today to pickup some goodies (small hand tools like files clamps, chisels, etc) tomorrow I plan on a trip back to HD for a small bandsaw, belt sander, and drill press, and maybe some wood to make another bench! oh yea, better get that shop vac to..... 

I'm lucky and have a 1600 sq ft =/- basement to play and have fun with one catch ---the wife wants me to work on finishing part of the basement between learning mandolin building ---gawd I hope I don't run out of time before I get to the basemnet finishing :wink: :wink: 

Right now I am just starting to build from kit form (Roger and Stew Mac).....Wow you pros and all that big time equip! But hey I'm just starting and a hobbist at that.

Thanks everyone for sharing some great ideas! Hopefully I will be getting some basic 101 pics posted of my work area.
~x (shayne)

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## Dale Ludewig

Don't go too fast on accumulating all this machinery. It's taken me 30 years to get it all. Many tools are not shown in the pictures- they're in cabinets, drawers, and such. There's several threads here that talk about what you really need to start out and get a good beginning. I'm sure in all the shop pictures that probably some of the most important tools weren't shown in the pictures- the hand tools, the measuring tools, the small power tools. Maybe a thread could be started that didn't show pictures, but listed what tools a builder had and which of those they valued most. Some of what you see in my shop photos have nothing to do with building instruments. But they're there and so they show up in the photos. You know, you don't need a line boring machine for boring holes for moveable shelves to build a mandolin. You also don't need a European hinge boring machine. &lt;g&gt; The call was for shop photos.

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Dale,

Excellent information and a point I had completly missed! I tell ya what, I will start a thread on just what you suggested as to not hijack this one --how does that sound?

~x (shayne)

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## Stephanie Reiser

Shane, I agree with Dale whole-heartedly re: acquiring machinery: do it slowly. And here is a suggestion - consider cruising the pages of your local publication that sells used items. Most locales have these, or the For Sale portion of the newspaper. I just purchased a wonderfully large 15 amp. tablesaw for a fraction of what H-D or Lowes would sell for new. I always try to get used tools, though having said that, most luthier-specific tools I always buy brand new.

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## Ken

Half of an unheated, closed in car port, I've had better, but this will do for now. The table top band saw is sitting on top of my table saw, and I have my grandfather's drill press lurking in the back, that's it for stationary tools.

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## oldwave maker

Woulda posted earlier but it took me a week to get it this 'clean'. 12" adobe walls with 2" exterior styrofoam under plaster act as 20 tons of thermal mass to avoid temp swings. to the left out of pic is 7x12 solar greenhouse to heat the space, 7x10 spraybooth with exploding fan, all dust and chipmaking machinery is outside under 12x36 tin roof with only a west side wall, so I shred wood outdoors yearround, working in direct light of warming low winter sun. Used to curse the wind when I was farming, now I just smile and say 'its a good day to make sawdust'!

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## Jim Roberts

Bill:

Where do you hide the bottle of single malt? That photo would make a challenging jig-saw puzzle!

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## sledge

Gee Bill, with all those pieces in the works and considering how many you have produced so far, you are going to out produce Stradivari.

sledge

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## Lex Luthier

Here's my shop. I probably have the smallest dedicated workshop at 10.5 x 5.5. I used to have it in a wonderful 12 x 15 room with a huge window and a couple of larger pieces of machinery, but I wanted to save the money it cost to occupy that room. This is just a storage room in my house. It's really tight and this is the best shot I could get. There is a drillpress just outside the shot on the left.

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## Larry Simonson

I did an IV kit last spring and lamented my not having a spindle sander and a band saw, two items mentioned in other threads as being very useful. I'm just starting a 2 pointer from scratch and since I got "she who must be obeyed's" china cabinet done, I treated myself today to a table top Grizzly oscillating spindle sander and a Craftsman 10" band saw. I used them both tonight to finish up the mould; they worked like a charm. Life is good!

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## Keith Newell

I designed my work area to get the most machines, most flexibility and ease of use. Everything is laid out in a square and I can move around the outside of it or inside of it. This also means I can roll my dust collector to any of the machines.
 This is a picture of bench space.
Keith

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## Keith Newell

A picture of the..."Chamber"
Keith

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## Keith Newell

The beast that lives in the "Chamber".
 Keith

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## Keith Newell

The business end of the beast.
 Keith

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## Keith Newell

The rest of the stuff.
 Keith

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## Keith Newell

The lifesaver. Much more enjoyable out in the shop with this keeping it toasty warm.
 Keith

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## Keith Newell

You can see the residue of me doing my nails on the belt. 
 Keith

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## ftlstrings

Isn't is amazing how much we can do with so little space? Many congrats to you all for convincing your spouses to let you work you magic. Hopefully in the next day or three I will be able to post a pic or two of my own workspace, which at the moment is dedicated to woodwork of a non-lutherie fashion, thanks to some pregnant friends of mine.

~M~

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## ftlstrings

Also, Dale, if you grow tired of your CNC machine and your quite nice table saw set-up, lemme know, cause I know a certain me who would take it off of your hands, at no charge to you, really quickly.

 

~M~

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## Stephanie Reiser

> You can see the residue of me doing my nails on the belt. 
>  #Keith


I do my nails when I trot down to the hardware store for sandpaper and such. I give myself a manicure on their key-duplicating machine. It both trims and buffs.

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## Stephanie Reiser

My shop (I prefer to refer to it as a "studio" for some odd reason). Rather spartan by most standards. I am taking the photos from where the machinery is located. It isn't very pretty there, and the tools are not of an impressive sort. So they are left out of the photo. On the right is the bench area, and on the left is a smaller bench for rim bending and cutting, with a vise. I have alot of work to do yet in the studio, insulating and such, and more painting, but it is coming along.

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## Stephanie Reiser

a look at the left-hand side where the smaller bench and vise are located.

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## tree

I bet the natural light through the big window over the bench is a real bonus. #If I ever build a shop . . .

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## Troy Harris

I share a shop with luthier Steve Selin. Its a two story shop with the varnish room on the main floor and workspace upstairs. Large north facing windows provide good natural light

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## Yonkle

Here's my humble little fort. Nice place to get away from the wife...  I mean.. nice place to build mandos. Yeah Yeah! This is when it was new, now it's a pig pen like the rest of them.But aren't they fun to have?

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## mando-picker

Tom and Steve  I'm drooling for all of those tops and backs:p

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## Darryl Wolfe

I have the same heater Keith

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## markishandsome

I must have taken this picture when I had just set up shop, it hasn't been this clean since. This was my first workbench that wasn't a porch railing or dining room table. Its an old desk propped up on an overturned bookshelf, both of which i found in the street. The nifty old record player doesn't work, but has a nice plate glass top for sharpening and flattening tasks. I store wood where the records would go. No matter how many lamps i bring down to the basement, it never seems well lit enough. If i need to use any power tools other than my dremel (not pictured) i get on the bus and go down to the art school. It's not much, but it's home.

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## Doug Edwards

I'm stoked.  Started on Tuesday, maybe through on Friday.

http://hillcountrystringworks.com/shop.html

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## Bill Snyder

Looks like the job superintendent is there keeping an eye on things.  :Smile:

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## Magnus Geijer

I spent a year or so getting my shop set up in the basement, which is a walkout with windows, about 1000 square feet. The moment I was done, we had a baby, who sleeps just above the band saw. Of course, her sleepy time is my primary wood butchery time. So now I've got at 60 square foot spot in the corner of the garage instead. Note the high-tech anti dust system.

/Magnus

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## JeffD

> I'm going 360 degrees.



One of the clever features of that workspace is the absence of a door. Keeps you at it.    :Grin:

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## Big Joe

Here is a link to our shop.  The video is on another post, but this will give you an idea of our shop.  We have a few photos on our website as well.  Our shop is pretty good sized.  We have 2600 square feet.  Amazing though, we find we could always use more  :Smile:  .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skF6rCJctJ4

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## Doug Edwards

I've heard it said, "You can never have too many clamps or too large a shop".  The clamps are much easier to get though.

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## Arnt

Double post

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## Arnt

I renovated my shop last year.  I spent some time planning and drafting the shop layout, in an effort to keep what I like about the old shop and combine it with some new ideas.

One of the things I did was to move all the heavy stationary machines into one room and make one room a dedicated bench room.  I also spent some time making some new benches, including a large central work station with different vises and holders on each corner.  There are other benches and work stations along the walls, as well as storage areas, a dedicated space for the dust collector and so on.  

So far I'm quite happy with it, it is both cleaner and more efficient than the before, but I could use some more room...

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## nhanduti

Hallo mandolin friends,

How can I post an image here? :Grin:

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## crazymandolinist

That hanging toolbox in the third photo is beautiful! I may do something just like that! Great idea!

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## fishtownmike

Thank god I'm not the only one with a well clutered totally over packed shop. I'll have to take a pic later and post it.

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## labraid

We bought our first house in April. It's a century home, built around 1910 or so; record-keeping in the then-young steel town doesn't seem to have been a priority. The fourth floor walk-up attic was a big selling point for us anyway: I have a nice view through 100-year-old glass, to Victoria Rd and all the folks out for Sunday walks. It's the biggest space I've ever had to work in. This is only the West-facing room where I do all my cutting etc. No tool room as I only have bandsaw and drill press. All-in-all about 800 sq ft. In the East room is a cozy wood'n'more storage area. The finishing area is a part of that, but not much to see, just a sturdy old table and some icons on the wall my grandfather left behind. The rooms have a door between them, that was another good thing. She was nearly ready to go. Built the shelves to match the rest of the two-toned house -- downstairs, the massive 7" turned stair posts and handrails are all a deep rose/walnut, the ballusters white for example. (All the original ToC light fixtures were still in place, for goodness sake!) The then-mayor of Sydney lived here in the 60's, when steel town was booming...

Anyway, here's my little nook, after a bit of Fall cleaning last weekend.

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## Mario Proulx

Brian, a more perfect place to do the work you do could not exist! Take out the drill press and fluorescent lighting, place a few lanterns about, a glue pot on the radiator, and it could be a turn of the century workshop!

Me, I'd be lost in there <lol>

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## JeffD

> Anyway, here's my little nook, after a bit of Fall cleaning last weekend.


What a comfortable space!

I could sit there for hours drinking coffee watching you work. 

That is my calling actually, to sit around drinking coffee watching others work. I am quite good at it.  :Grin:  :Coffee:

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## JEStanek

Jeff, that's my ideal job too.  I'll add that I can add lively conversation or just shut up when the situation calls for it.  That's why I get paid the big bucks!

Jamie

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## nhanduti

Hallo mandolin friends,

1,47 m x 1,85 m - that can be the smallest in the word!  :Smile:  but it is my workspace, where I can make my instruments and have hours of pleasure and satisfaction. And I love it!

 :Mandosmiley: 

Paulo.

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## sprucetop1

Here's mine...these taken a year or so back, and there seems to be a lot more junk in there now.....pics. are the main bench area under a NE facing window....some of my collection of planes...both these pics.in the same room circa  10 x 12 ft area....and the "machine tool dept." out in the shed.....

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## JeffD

> I'll add that I can add lively conversation or just shut up when the situation calls for it.


I would probably do better if I had that skill. Look, over five thousand posts in three years - shutting up is just not a core competancy.

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## Doug Edwards

Getting close.  I'm starting to move into the new shop/studio.

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## JEStanek

> I would probably do better if I had that skill. Look, over five thousand posts in three years - shutting up is just not a core competancy.



You should see all the posts I didn't post  :Wink:  ...  Shutting up is possible.

Jamie

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## PaulD

> I renovated my shop last year.  I spent some time planning and drafting the shop layout, in an effort to keep what I like about the old shop and combine it with some new ideas.


Arnt, I love the shop layout, the tool cabinet, and your selection/collection of tools. My shop keeps edging closer to being workable, then backsliding into disarray. Actually it's workable but I'm still stumbling around clutter so I won't post a pic of the shop, but here's some of the tool wall. The cabinet is slowly being made a comfortable home for the tools I want in there and your box has given me a couple ideas for improvement on mine. 

pd

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## D18dave

Well, after working mostly in the house and at a buddies shop I finally built a work bench this weekend.  Need to mount the vises but here she is before she gets all cluttered...   

...Also built a thickness gauge last week out of scrap.

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## Darryl Wolfe

I posted a thread a year or so ago when I was moving things from the garage to my new "shop".  I still do some final work in the garage and the shop has turned into her little "house" in the back yard.

I do not always have a bar set up in the garage, it was the only decent picture I had   :Laughing: 

Those are the chairs I tend to use as a background for most photos I post though

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## Jim Hilburn

This is my main work area. There are ears and fingerboard binding going on.

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## crazymandolinist

> ...Also built a thickness gauge last week out of scrap.


Where can I find the dial for one of those?

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## robinphil

OK, Y'all have me hooked-- There are WAY too many things I have stored in my shop.  I just added a 8 x 22 section (first picture) that I thought would alleviate some of the storage issues-  Judge for yourselves. An empty space begs to be filled. 
As yu can see, I have three benches-- Two of which are covered with stuff & the one behind the TS that I currently am working from.  The $3 drafting stool I scored from Goodwill helps a lot.  Phil
PS don't gig me for the uncovered romex. I'll cover it as $ permits-  I'm really careful around the wires-- (don't try this at home where you must get inspected)

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## robinphil

> Where can I find the dial for one of those?


  I got one from Harbor freight or such about 6 years ago.  It was cheap, but works well--Phil
Try here http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...Itemnumber=623  dang, they went up $2

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## crazymandolinist

Wow thanks. Now I don't have to fork over hundred to get a proper one.

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## bennyb

Ye Olde thickness caliper thread.  Lots of pictures.

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## D18dave

> Where can I find the dial for one of those?


Harbor Freight

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## Doug Edwards

Get the digital one for your caliper, easier to read.

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## Ed Goist

_(Glad to bump this thread...looking forward to seeing fresh submissions)_

The workshop of Urs Langenbacher in Füssen, Deutschland.

Why do the workshops of German luthiers always look cleaner than most operating rooms?

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## Mike Snyder

Wow. Heavy snow load, or does he park cement trucks on the roof?

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## Stephen Perry

Current layout.  Don't know if it will show, doing all kinds of interesting work in between phone calls:

http://www.fiddlehangout.com/topic/20495

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## Lefty Luthier

Here is a good portion of my shop.

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## devonmandoman

Been working on getting this workshop up and running for a couple of years.
Sudden collapse of employer certainly spurs you on.....
I'll get a picture of the view the other way when it looks less like a car crash!

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## Steve Hinde

With my boys off to college and out in the world, I took over the basement and expanded my shop out of the little room. Now I have a main area, a dust room and a finishing room. Never enough space it seems. I welcome the natural light at the work bench. Still a few things to work on, but coming along between repairs and new builds. Working on a spray booth for the finishing room to go on that open wall. Plus some hangers and shelves for instruments in the finish stages.

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hank, 

Mark Wilson, 

Marty Jacobson

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## Dale Ludewig

Very tidy!

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