Retiring and losing my shop

[Roger Marty]

I am retiring after 35 years of Middle School Tech ED/Industrial Arts teaching. I will therefore lose access to my shop. I have a lot of portable power tools, but no real shop at home other than my garage which is packed to the gills. I was wondering if anybody ever made an arrangement with another serious woodworker who allowed buy in to their shop. This could mean a monthly payment toward electric etc. Also it could mean finding someone with space, but not the cash to buy some machinery which I could help with.

To my knowledge there are no woodworking clubs here. There is a woodworking school that offers open shop time in Philadelphia that has 3 month membership plans that I could get into during the winter months. Spring/Summer/Fall I could probably find enough other stuff to keep me busy working on my house and cottage etc.

Not looking for a specific place right now............more kind of looking for some discussion about arrangements others in a similar situation may have made.

Thanks, Ron

Indeed look for maker spaces in your area. My city has a maker space with a full metal-working and wood-working shop with monthly membership. Welders. SawStop cabinet saw. Bandsaw. Planer/jointer. Etc.

[Jon Nuckles]

The Chicago Park District has a number of woodworking shops that you can access for a VERY reasonable fee. Maybe there is a similar program in Philadelphia? In Chicago, the space, type of equipment and to some extent the the nature of the woodworking going on will vary from shop to shop. I used a park district shop for a number of years and generally enjoyed it. Limited operating hours, waiting for machines and having to set up and clean up at every session were the drawbacks. I imagine some of those issues would also apply to makerspaces, but I have no personal experience.
When I got more serious about my woodworking, I looked around for my own space without much success. Then I happened upon a posting on the old "Knots" forum on the Fine Woodworking site by a guy seeking a person to share a woodworking space in Chicago. The posting was 6 months old, but I responded anyway, mainly hoping the poster would have some tips about how he found his space that might help me find my own. Turns out he had found a person to share the space, but the person didn't have enough time to take advantage of it and had just decided to leave. I was able to move in and we shared the space for several years. It was a good situation with two honest and responsible people and no worries about missing tools or unpaid rent. He has since moved and I have taken over the space. I still like my space, but my rent is twice as high because it is no longer split between two, and I don't have a person to bounce ideas off of or an extra hand for big glue ups. I'd consider trying to find someone to share my space, but the landlord prefers artists to woodworkers and will no longer allow me to share with another woodworker.
If you can find a good person to share space with, I recommend it. I see the occasional Craigslist post of woodworkers looking for others to share their space. Good luck with your search and congratulations on your retirement.

[Chris Hachet]

I am retiring after 35 years of Middle School Tech ED/Industrial Arts teaching. I will therefore lose access to my shop. I have a lot of portable power tools, but no real shop at home other than my garage which is packed to the gills. I was wondering if anybody ever made an arrangement with another serious woodworker who allowed buy in to their shop. This could mean a monthly payment toward electric etc. Also it could mean finding someone with space, but not the cash to buy some machinery which I could help with.

To my knowledge there are no woodworking clubs here. There is a woodworking school that offers open shop time in Philadelphia that has 3 month membership plans that I could get into during the winter months. Spring/Summer/Fall I could probably find enough other stuff to keep me busy working on my house and cottage etc.

Not looking for a specific place right now............more kind of looking for some discussion about arrangements others in a similar situation may have made.

Thanks, Ron

I have such an arrangement with another woodworker and it works very well.

[Wade Lippman]

Around here several high schools have "courses" that let you use their shops for a reasonable fee. Some people take them for years.
Of course, this was 15 years ago; maybe they have all dropped shop by now.

[Rick Hubbard]

I am retiring after 35 years of Middle School Tech ED/Industrial Arts teaching. I will therefore lose access to my shop. I have a lot of portable power tools, but no real shop at home other than my garage which is packed to the gills. I was wondering if anybody ever made an arrangement with another serious woodworker who allowed buy in to their shop. This could mean a monthly payment toward electric etc. Also it could mean finding someone with space, but not the cash to buy some machinery which I could help with.

To my knowledge there are no woodworking clubs here. There is a woodworking school that offers open shop time in Philadelphia that has 3 month membership plans that I could get into during the winter months. Spring/Summer/Fall I could probably find enough other stuff to keep me busy working on my house and cottage etc.

Not looking for a specific place right now............more kind of looking for some discussion about arrangements others in a similar situation may have made.

Thanks, Ron

I went through a somewhat similar situation a few years ago when I retired and moved to Virginia from Maine. I rented a small shop but it was in an inconvenient location and way too small (plus a drain on the pocket book). I was about to sell off the whole shop, lock, stock and barrel, when I heard about a Makerspace that had just opened up in the town where I lived. I wound up donating everything to them (and there was a LOT) in exchange for 24x7 access to the facility. Best decision I ever made.

Rick

[John Terefenko]

How about renting one of those storage lockers??

[John T Barker]

I am retiring after 35 years of Middle School Tech ED/Industrial Arts teaching. I will therefore lose access to my shop. I have a lot of portable power tools, but no real shop at home other than my garage which is packed to the gills. I was wondering if anybody ever made an arrangement with another serious woodworker who allowed buy in to their shop. This could mean a monthly payment toward electric etc. Also it could mean finding someone with space, but not the cash to buy some machinery which I could help with.

To my knowledge there are no woodworking clubs here. There is a woodworking school that offers open shop time in Philadelphia that has 3 month membership plans that I could get into during the winter months. Spring/Summer/Fall I could probably find enough other stuff to keep me busy working on my house and cottage etc.

Not looking for a specific place right now............more kind of looking for some discussion about arrangements others in a similar situation may have made.

Thanks, Ron

If there is no reason for you to stay completely retired why don't you apply for a job at the Manayunk woodshop...can't remember the name of the place. The owner puts an add on craigslist for instructor or shop manager every six months or so. The money isn't great but complete use of the shop makes it an okay deal if you sell what you make.

I have a pretty good set up renting space in a barn in Wayne so if you could find something like that you'd do all right. I'm fearing that my landlord is going to turn my space into a play area for his kids in a year or so and I'll be looking too. I'm not anxious to look before I have to though...procrastination is my middle name.

I'd also try to hit up all the forums and online clubs and see what you find. Yellow pages are not a bad idea as you may find a guy that has gone pro that might want to share space. Along the same lines going to a major woodworking/craft show and asking around couldn't hurt.
Some of the pros in the area teach (I used to work with Chuck Bender and I think he still teaches) and they might look for a person to help out in exchange for shop use.

Good luck.

[Ronald Blue]

I didn't look to deeply into this but on the surface it appears to be what you are looking for. Here is the link but it's not live. Just copy and paste.

philadelphiawoodworks.com/

[Kurt Kintner]

When I retired in 2009, my shop was in our 30x30 garage... I didn't like having to
put everything away at the end of the day, so I could bring the cars in ....
So, I bought a 16x24 shed from Graceland Portable Buildings for $6900....
They brought it in, set and leveled it, as part of the deal .... This has been ideal for me...
Might be something to look into, if you have the room...

[Jim Becker]

I didn't look to deeply into this but on the surface it appears to be what you are looking for. Here is the link but it's not live. Just copy and paste.

philadelphiawoodworks.com/

That's actually not such a bad location for the OP as he's on "that side" of the city. I wasn't aware of this facility...it looks nice.