The smallest shop you've seen..

[Bob Crosley]

I'm getting the urge again to get into woodworking. But since my wife has turned the garage into a "teen cave," I don't see an easy way to do shop work out there.

So I was actually toying with the idea of building a shed. I could easily fit a 12x12 building on my city lot, and if it's 12x12, it's considered a shed, and that eliminates a lot of hassles.

Anyone successfully fit a reasonably sell stocked shop into a 12x12 space? My goal is furniture work / case work. Not a lot of small carving or lathe work that can be done in a smaller space.

If you have put a shop into 12x12, I'd love to see pics.

[pelligrini]

Wow, 12x12! that would be an upgrade for me. I'm currently working out of a 10x12 shop/shed. I added a 5x12 portion to the side for wood storage. Pappy has a similar setup.

The big thing is mobility. I don't know what I'd do without my 21829. Most all of my power tool cutting gets done in front. Planer on a flip top cabinet, router table built in the end of the saw table. Short jointer on wheels. Drill press on wheels too.

I'll see if I can get some pics up soon.

[dbhost]

There are several here doing just that. I am in a 2 car garage, but with everything else crammed in there, I am currently in about 10x10 not including my DC setup. It is TIGHT, but I can work, when I take the junk off the table saw, or band saw, or... well you get the idea...

I am aiming for a 12x16 shed myself, and am figuring on having to have everything mobile, and rolling the table saw etc... out to work with bigger pieces, or get with the cutting guides and circular saw outside to work with sheet goods.

My Shed Thread has some interesting ideas tossed about in it...

The guys that have done this that I know of are Pelligrini, Pappy, LarryL, DonHo, and a few others...

DonHo's Shed has some good ideas for storage in small spaces.

Pappys Playpen is another good one to look at.

Hopefully you won't be too badly height limited and can have a loft. Think vertical if you can...

[pelligrini]

Here's a few recent shots and some older ones. The open spaces get filled at the end of a session.

[Bob Crosley]

Certainly didn't mean to sound like I was insulting anyone's shop. Sorry if I offended.

Pelligrini, I'm seriously jealous. There's something about a dedicated space that I'd take any day over a shared space.

Seriously, I'd kill for that shop. I'm also amazed that wood storage area is only 5x10. Seems a lot bigger, but I'm guessing that's just because it's so well organized. I'll check out those other threads you suggested.

Seriously, I'd love to see more pics from everyone. I could look at shop pics all day long.

[atgcpaul]

I've got a lot of respect for you small shop guys. My shop is a dedicated
24x16 two car garage. It's in such disarray that it feels smaller than 12x12.

[crokett]

My first 'shop' was the balcony of my apartment. My second was a 10x12 shed at my first house. The largest thing I built in it was a platform bed that I helped my brother make. We did the assembly and finishing outside though. I also built a crib in that shop. You can work in a space that is that small, it just takes a lot of time to move tools around.

[LarryG]

If you can put your hands on a copy of "The Workshop Book" by Scott Landis, it features two shops that might interest you. The first is owned by a fellow in Arizona and is housed in a 10' x 10' prefab metal shed, with most of the work taking place on an adjacent covered patio. (IINM, this same shop was featured in one of the "America's Best Home Workshops" magazines from WOOD.) The second belongs to an enterprising fellow whose shop goes wherever he goes, since it is housed in an old bookmobile-type van.

Both shops are an absolute marvel of a-place-for-everything thinking; both feature all manner of clever ways to deal with limited space, make things do double-duty, etc. Well worth studying, if you can find a copy of the book at your local library or bookstore.

[cabinetman]

My first shop was the floor of a 2nd bedroom in an apartment. Very limited use of power tools. My second shop I had to share. It was 8'x20'. It was almost so bad that you had to go outside to turn around. No option to work outside. Learning how to work in a confined area doesn't come easy. Sheet goods were cut up with a circular saw, and when a table saw made its way into the space, it got moved according to the size of the cuts.
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[dbhost]

I am not sure if posting these links here violates anything. (Mods, Sam etc... please feel free to yank this post if I am going over any lines here. I am just trying to help this fellow out here...)

There is a longrunning thread over at Woodworkingtalk.com that is basically a shop showcase. Show Us Your Shop. Not a lot of shed shops there, but a couple.

One thing that will help you on these forums, there are a LOT of good posts here, at WWT, at SawmillCreek etc... talking about using a shed for a workshop. But they are kind of buried in old posts... Most forums have a Search function. If you are lucky they have an advanced search where you can limit it to a specific sub forum like Shop Setup and Layout etc... Search for keywords like Shed, workshop, small etc...

Mind you, there are guys with shops bigger than my house that think they are cramped in their workspace... I guess some folks just take up more space...

[jackellis]

Being organized helps (I'm not). Having wall space really helps. I currently have a roughly 20x16 space inside our garage but almost no wall space for cabinets. Machines are crammed together in the middle. Many of my tools are lying on flat surfaces that take up valuable space because there's no where else to put them.

Wall space will be solved...soon. Organization - perhaps never.