The wife and I are empty nesters now that the daughter is off at college in Kennesaw, GA. As it turns out we can live in the North, GA mountains, still pay in state tuitions and remain about the same distance for the daughter to drive home. We have decided on a downsizing move. Part of my wish list for a new home, of course, is space for a shop. I have tons of space in our current home but it is mostly below ground lacking natural light, which I hope to remedy. I may finish/renovate parts of a new house & other buildings myself, which may mean I will need to retain the ability to cut stock lumber & sheet goods rapidly.
I am working towards an increasingly hand tools shop with a few select electron powered tools. I am eliminating the table saw, which I have not used for years. I am also thinking about getting rid of the big band saw and maybe the smaller one too. I like a few select Festool, electron powered, "hand tools" I have. I plan to keep a Festool track saw and Festool table, which I hope to adapt for: cutting stock lumber, long rip cuts, cutting sheet goods. I plan to keep my Festool Carvex saw which would allow me to make plunge cuts and cut long curves rapidly. I also plan to keep a Festool drill to speed up jobs requiring a large number of screws or drilled holes. My little Festool vac should keep the electron powered saws from kicking up too much dust. I am thinking I may reduce my plane, hand saw, hand drill collection as well, especially now that I know which ones I like using. I am trying to get my reduced tool set organized in Festool type containers that will be easy to move and preserve my ability to work in different locations.
Any ideas about shop size, design etc. are appreciated. I am excited by the idea of keeping all my tools organized in specific mobile containers. If I could reclaim all the time I have wasted trying to find tools scattered through multiple large areas! I have a small compact work bench which will move fairly easy. I plan to use a second Adjust A Bench base to build a mobile, height adjustable bench that I can move around the new shop as an out-feed table and bench. I'm kinda glad I had physical issues which prevented me from making this bench with the vises I had planned as my bench requirements in the new shop may be different. I had been tooling up to make cabinets for a larger home and business using sheet goods. Now I am hoping to only use sheet goods for building construction. Base cabinets are easy to buy cheap these days and I would rather spend my time making chairs and nicer, smaller, hard wood furniture.
There are a couple large devises I do not currently have that I will want at the new location. I want a small kiln for drying green wood parts. I also want a steam box fro bending wood. I am thinking these devices could reside in a garage, covered porch etc saving shop space. If there was a covered porch outside the shop it would be a great place for the wood steaming & drying devices and various other mobile devices like a shave horse, setting up to rip long boards or sheet goods...
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