Help Me Design My Dream Selfbow Shop

[John Scifres]

Morning old friends.  Bowmaking season is upon me and I am spending the first part renovating my garage.  I have a workable shop now but I am completely renovating my garage so it is a blank slate.

I have half the 2-car garage so it's 10'x20'.  The only thing that has to be in there other than a bench and tools is my chest freezer which actually serves as a nice horizontal work space when needed.  All wood storage is already in the attic so that is not a factor in the shop.

I have a bandsaw on casters and a rolling tool cart that serves as space for my grinder, drill press, sander, and router table as needed. The long wall will also have my tiller tree on it.

Show me your shops and anything you do that is creative or cool or just something you love about it. I'd love to hear about your dust collection methods.  I am pondering a unit in my attic. Right now I just use a shop-vac. The garage is insulated but not conditioned.  Some form of spray-booth is also a desire.  It will have to be takedown as I don't spray a lot.  I looked at a lot of older threads but many pics are missing.  Thanks.

[TimBo]

I would enjoy seeing some photos as well - complete "down to the studs" garage renovation/reorganizing is on my list for summer.  Mine needs to have insulation added at that point too, so it's nice that you have that done already.  I drew up a floor plan and cut out little bits of paper for things like the workbench, bandsaw, shelves, etc.  and moved them around until I was happy with the layout. 

[willie]

I try to avoid making dust in the shop. casters on the dustmakers allow me to roll the tools outside, preferably when these a breeze.  a nice apron to roll the tools outside is a good addition if you do not have one

one of these 
https://i5.walmartimages.com/asr/2ac7e10f-d3f6-4aff-bb7f-dc3b4eeead93_1.2dbb3c1ff7fc97c0c18284024cab55fa.jpeg?odnWidth=1000&odnHeight=1000&odnBg=ffffff

stood up behind one of these
https://i5.walmartimages.com/asr/41b195fc-cbbf-4312-bd05-30da122cc0d1_1.d9673780ece7784314860710ef7dec8f.jpeg

works well inside

[osage outlaw]

 This is how I store staves in my shop.   It pivots on the front right corner.  It rolls back under the bench and out of the way.  You can see my arrow shaft storage rack peeking out from the left side of the bench.  I utilize 100% of the space under there. 

[osage outlaw]

I built my own air cleaner from a squirrel cage blower and a frame for an air filter.  I don't have a picture of that one on  me.  It mounts to the ceiling in my shop.     Most of my tools are on bases with casters.  I roll them back out of the way when I'm not using them.  I like to roll my bandsaw out of the garage and shut the door when I use it.   I blow it off with a leaf blower and keep all the sawdust out of my garage.   I do the same with the belt sander.  It keeps the mess outside. 

[Eric Krewson]

Shop; A big heavy work bench that won't move when you ae doing heavy drawknifing is a must. The 6" jointer is on the left but not in the picture.

I think a dust collector hooked to every piece of equipment is nice to have. I put mine in the adjacent room because it was so loud.

The table in front of the band saw is a layout and glue-up table for bamboo backed bows.

The wall air-conditioned heats and cools.

[Kidder]

I’m in the same position as you - building out my shop. I’m 6 months in and closing in on the finish line. I knew I wanted to have a general woodworking shop in addition to the bowyery aspect. My space was 11’ x 38’ roughly. I had both 230v and 115v put in on the one wall and 115v everywhere else. It’s heated and cooled via a mini split. My large tools are all on one wall except my jointer and miter saw so I have to drag my dust cord to the jointer as I don’t have a strong enough collector to go over the top to it. I have two dust systems - one piped in to each machine with blast valves and then an air filter, which I would highly highly recommend. I custom built my cabinets from plywood and made sure I’ve got adjustable shelves and plenty of drawers. I haven’t completely settle on a countertop surface yet, my criteria being itll have to be strong enough to hold ky vise and cleans up decent. A friend that is a cabinet maker recommended plywood with melamine over top so I will probably follow that advice (unless someone has a better suggestion. Here are some pictures.

[Selfbowman]

Eric my shop is not clean and neat like yours . Still trying to get it organized. Cedar siding not in yet. But here is some pics.

[Selfbowman]

Vice pit

[Selfbowman]

Heat bench

[Selfbowman]

Arrow station

[Selfbowman]

Band saw and belt sander also tiller board.

[Selfbowman]

I think it’s going to be called three oaks.🤠 nothing compares to Twin oaks though!!!

[organic_archer]

Here's my setup, with some works-in-progress laid out. We run bowmaking classes throughout the year so that's why there are three Stave Presses in the open area.

My main workstation has an antique vise placed close to a heavy workbench that's anchored into the studs in the wall. I like to clamp the bow in the vise and rest the extended limb on the bench's block for stability. Moving the vise to its own stand was a big plus. Having it attached directly to the workbench just seemed to beat things to pieces from all the pulling. The main bench also has a shelf under it for the rasps and saws that get used daily. The other shelves are for storing things like glues, leather, hides, jigs, and misc tools unrelated to bowmaking.

There's not usually a mountain of staves on the floor, but it's cutting season right now. I'll have these all debarked and in storage before our first class in late January. I prefer the floor space to be as open as possible, so my OCD is itching with all these staves strewn about . I just picked up the 1990 Delta band saw for a fun winter restoration project. It's in great condition overall but needs a complete overhaul.

[ssrhythm]

Man.  Y’all sure do have some purdy staves!