Workshop space

 the workshop

My current workshop is an extended room which forms part of our cottage on the edge of the peak district national park. The main part of the workshop is about 3.6m square with benches on 3 sides and a row of fire places on the 4th side which house some of my larger power tools when not in use. To the rear of the main area is a storage are with some heavy duty racking holding hardware and tools which I use infrequently and my wood rack.

 There has never been an issue with working space, larger pieces of timber can be run diagonally if I need to work on anything over 2.5m, but the majority of my work in the past has been small pieces, bowls, cutting boards, house signs etc.

Recently I seem to be picking up larger jobs. Several square metres of replacement flooring which needs machining, a set of 8foot square garage doors and several orders for cabinets of varying sizes. It was a set of cabinets for under stair storage which has caused a problem.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Under stairs storage

A young couple who are long standing family friends asked if I could make some cabinets to give them additional storage in their home. The property is part of a fairly new development on the outskirts of a village. A small entrance hall at the bottom of the stairs, gives access to the sitting room and the clients felt that the area under the stairs could be put to better use.

The design involved a tall cupboard with extending rail in the top to store coats, then a low cabinet one half with doors, the other half with open shelving. On top of this lower section I added a small half depth shelving unit to utilise more of the under stair space.

The tall cabinet was very difficult to handle in the available workshop space so I made it as a knock down unit using dowels and cam locks. The lower unit was made as a separate piece, as was the plinth for the run of cabinets.

2 car loads of timber went down the road to the south side of Derby where I spent several hours assembling the components. Much to my relief it all fit together and all involved seemed happy with the end result.