Narrow hand tool shop

[Oskar Sedell]

A suggestion regarding the clamp storage. Since you mentioned your a tall guy, store the clamps horizontally across the ceiling, lengthwise to the room. Two sheets of plywood with full length spacers between will let you slide the bars of the clamps into the slots leaving the heads out. Picture it looking at the end like this IIIIIIIIIII with the bars of the clamps in the spaces. If you mount it lower than the ceiling you would have a shelf above for some storage. With LED tube lights being as thin as an inch and a half you could attach a couple fixtures to the bottom of the clamp rack and not have shadows below. It won't work with short clamps or those with big heads but Bessey K-body types or pipe clamps will. In your tight space you can't rule out the ceiling for storage.

Peter thanks for the idea! Your right, the ceiling should not be ruled out for storing tools or wood. So far I've managed without a lot of clamps, but that might change as I move to bigger builds.

[Oskar Sedell]

Agree with Prashun: Access all around to your bench is to me, Important....One of my best moves in my shop..

Jerry, thanks for your comment. I'd love to put my bench in the middle of a room, but as I wrote to Prashun, I assume that putting it along a wall makes better use of this narrow space. As the bench is built I'll try to put it in the middle and see how it works.

[Oskar Sedell]

My shop is 15ft x 5ft -- just a little longer than yours. I have had no problem working on any projects using just hand tools over the past year. My Nicholson bench is 7ft long x 23in wide and it's positioned against one of the long walls. The door to the shop is facing part of the workbench, so it makes the space feel a little bigger. What's nice is that the doorway is wider than a standard door. That lets me move workpieces and materials in and out of the shop easier. My dust collection system is in the adjacent basement room and connected via a hose piped through the wall.

Jason. Great to hear a report from an equally narrow shop. Ever felt that the space in front of the bench was too constrained? Do you have separate benches for sharpening and joinery? How do you use the extra 8' along the wall (at the end/ends of the bench)? If you have pictures from your shop I'd be interested to see your layout and storage solutions!

As my work is with handtools I don't plan on any dust collection system.

[steven c newman]

If you could see the floor plan of my shop..it would look like the letter "F"
At the top of the letter would this area
stair view.JPG
I can touch both sides with my elbows..
Looking down the side of the letter..
dresser.JPG
I routinely bump the washing machine while working at the end of the bench....dresser is tool storage
As for the short "leg" of the letter
work zone.JPG
EVERYTHING is within an arm's reach Bench?
IMAG0055.jpg
5' long, have added a rack to hold chisels ad other ready use tools
Benchtop storage.jpg
The bench with the mitre box is now sitting behind this area.
IF you were to straighten this into a single line....might be a narrow shop..

[James Pallas]

Hello Oskar, I'm a little late to this party but have some things to share. I have 24 inch anti fatigue mats on both sides of my bench and very rarely step off of them. I think in your shop I would be tempted to put a second bench across the end of the shop about 24" deep for an assembly space. Your idea of a 20" bench or even a little less is fine. You need to keep it as a working area. There is nothing more miserable then trying to assemble a chair or something on your bench and then having to move everything to make a new part. Or. Even worse is having to go to an entirely different room to get a mark on a part.
Jim

[Oskar Sedell]

thank you Steven

[Oskar Sedell]

Hello Oskar, I'm a little late to this party but have some things to share. I have 24 inch anti fatigue mats on both sides of my bench and very rarely step off of them. I think in your shop I would be tempted to put a second bench across the end of the shop about 24" deep for an assembly space. Your idea of a 20" bench or even a little less is fine. You need to keep it as a working area. There is nothing more miserable then trying to assemble a chair or something on your bench and then having to move everything to make a new part. Or. Even worse is having to go to an entirely different room to get a mark on a part.
Jim

Hi James, not too late at all. I really enjoy all suggestions so far. Good observation about your mats, another piece of evidence that the room in front of my bench will be enough. Having an assembly space is a good point, and under such a table there would be lots of room for drawers, cabinets or shelves. But maybe I'll make a pair of horses for this need, that can be moved out of the way and double as extensions of the bench when needed.

[Andrey Kharitonkin]

My working area is similar to yours. I measured it and me, my arms and elbows and feet, and my bench fit in slightly less than 5'. It works alright for dimensioning stock using hand tools. And hopefully, you can also chop in the cellar without fear of annoying neighbors (I can't).

My bench is not attached to the wall. It stands about 8" away from the wall. Firstly because I use shooting board across my bench. And secondly because I sometimes cross plane wide (like 1') boards. Hand planes should not bang into the wall during these operations. Thirdly, I use Nobex mitre saw and it has to fit and work across my bench.

My bench is 22.6" wide and 63" long with twin screw end vise and no front wise yet. But it has aprons and a lot of holes for holdfasts. I plan to add front leg vise but it might be also less convenient to use in such narrow room. The good thing about leg vise is that it is usually quite easy to remove sticking out parts (jaw with screw and pin board) when needed. End vise is also used for holding parts for sawing, like tenons or dovetails, while I stand at the end of the bench. Workbench doesn't have tool well.

I usually dry-fit and assemble ready parts in another room.

Storage room better be heated and dry... otherwise, I wouldn't keep there lumber or parts for any time. That's why I occupied third room in my apartment and not storage room in cellar - it has the same temperature/humidity like all other rooms and my cellar is wet and cold.

[Pat Barry]

The room is 5 ft by 11 ft. That includes a doorway. Half of 5 ft is 30 inches. IMO You should keep your bench 65 inches or less by about 24 inches wide. Anything more would be inappropriate for this space and you would not be able to work. There is simply no need for an 8 ft bench in an 11 ft room. You could barely build an 8 ft bench in an 11 ft room.

[Jason Baker IX]

I've never felt constrained by the space in front of my bench. The original workshop bench built by a previous homeowner is at the end (short side) of the room. I'm planning to remove that soon because it just collects dust. I have a Moxon vise that mounts to my workbench if I need to work on dovetails. My sharpening station is a tray which lays inside of one section of a laundry sink in the adjacent basement room. One of the shop walls is covered in pegboard and I'm removing that as well since most of my tools have migrated to a Dutch tool chest. The wall facing the bench is not finished and I took advantage of this by building in lots of shelves. You would be surprised how much stuff is stored on this wall. What you don't see behind me in this photo is 30 clamps in a wall-mounted rack and a lunchbox planer on a cart.
IMG_20170721_202242.jpg

[Oskar Sedell]

The room is 5 ft by 11 ft. That includes a doorway. Half of 5 ft is 30 inches. IMO You should keep your bench 65 inches or less by about 24 inches wide. Anything more would be inappropriate for this space and you would not be able to work. There is simply no need for an 8 ft bench in an 11 ft room. You could barely build an 8 ft bench in an 11 ft room.

Thanks for joining in Pat. Can you elaborate on why I won't be able to work with a bench longer than 65'' ? Also, I agree that it would be hard to build the bench in this room, but I plan to build it elsewhere. At least the top. Possibly cutting/fine tuning the joinery of the base in my shop.

[Oskar Sedell]

My working area is similar to yours. I measured it and me, my arms and elbows and feet, and my bench fit in slightly less than 5'. It works alright for dimensioning stock using hand tools. And hopefully, you can also chop in the cellar without fear of annoying neighbors (I can't).

My bench is not attached to the wall. It stands about 8" away from the wall. Firstly because I use shooting board across my bench. And secondly because I sometimes cross plane wide (like 1') boards. Hand planes should not bang into the wall during these operations. Thirdly, I use Nobex mitre saw and it has to fit and work across my bench.

My bench is 22.6" wide and 63" long with twin screw end vise and no front wise yet. But it has aprons and a lot of holes for holdfasts. I plan to add front leg vise but it might be also less convenient to use in such narrow room. The good thing about leg vise is that it is usually quite easy to remove sticking out parts (jaw with screw and pin board) when needed. End vise is also used for holding parts for sawing, like tenons or dovetails, while I stand at the end of the bench. Workbench doesn't have tool well.

I usually dry-fit and assemble ready parts in another room.

Storage room better be heated and dry... otherwise, I wouldn't keep there lumber or parts for any time. That's why I occupied third room in my apartment and not storage room in cellar - it has the same temperature/humidity like all other rooms and my cellar is wet and cold.

Thank you Andrey! I think and hope that chopping and other loud activities will work. This I have to clear this with the neighbours before doing anything else. Did you post pictures of your shop on SMC somewhere? I'd be interested to see your workspace!

Regarding wood storage, this I have to check as well and invest in a dehumidifier if needed. I don't think the cellar is too moist.

[Oskar Sedell]

I've never felt constrained by the space in front of my bench. The original workshop bench built by a previous homeowner is at the end (short side) of the room. I'm planning to remove that soon because it just collects dust. I have a Moxon vise that mounts to my workbench if I need to work on dovetails. My sharpening station is a tray which lays inside of one section of a laundry sink in the adjacent basement room. One of the shop walls is covered in pegboard and I'm removing that as well since most of my tools have migrated to a Dutch tool chest. The wall facing the bench is not finished and I took advantage of this by building in lots of shelves. You would be surprised how much stuff is stored on this wall. What you don't see behind me in this photo is 30 clamps in a wall-mounted rack and a lunchbox planer on a cart.

Thanks a lot Jason! Looks like you managed a lot with your small shop, and still have some free space.

[Pat Barry]

I find that there are times when it is better to work at the ends of the bench, not just the front. I figure you need about 2 1/2 feet, minimum, at each end or side you expect to work at.

What type of projects do you intend for your shop? Certainly making boxes of various types, carving work, small furniture pieces, etc. Why do you feel you need an 8 ft bench?

Will you have an end vise? Are you going to break down larger boards (more than maybe 7 ft) somewhere else? I have a 5ft by 2ft bench, it could easily have been bigger, but I don't recall ever feeling like it was too short / small. On the other hand, open floor space, that I could really use.

[Brian Holcombe]

My biggest complaint with my current bench is that I made it too short (6'). When I build another (provided some spare time at some future unknown point) it will be 8' long and 22" wide.

You might consider using a planing beam and heavy saw horses rather than a bench. You can knock the assembly down and move it out of the way if you need the space temporarily. A bench can be moved as well, but not as easily, especially so in the current trend of 6" thick bench tops.