Woodwork/Model making workshop. Scale 1:1

[Charter33]

A big thank you for all the 'likes' and advice I've received.

Summer has final arrived with the local weather producing temperatures in line with those expected in June. The opening porthole, together with the single opening roof light, and now with the insulation in place, have produced a very comfortable working environment. There's definitely a light and airy feel to the place, especially in the end that will be dedicated to model making. Getting there slowly..... the end is in sight now

 

Edited June 22, 2024 by Charter33
Typo....

[Charter33]

I decided to go ahead with my original plan and used the pieces of cladding I had already prepared to trial the idea on the far end wall.

'Loose tongues' keep the ends of the boards level where joints don't line up with the timber frames. The width of the cladding strips vary between runs, and the run that follows the line of the sockets is only temporarily tacked in place so that it can be removed to permit the installation of the ring main cable.

I'm focusing on the ceiling next and am currently converting those scaffold boards used as shuttering for the concrete base. 

Thinking of possibly giving the internal cladding a 'limed' or whitewash effect finish that makes a feature of the wood grain. This will then be coated with satin or matt varnish. We'll see...

Cheers,

Graham.

[bobandlucy]

You are quite the builder! Love the shop, and glimpses of your yard.

 

bob

 

[Charter33]

Thanks for that Bob.

Some more progress. The salvaged scaffoldboards yielded enough usable cladding for about a third of the ceiling, and scavenged wood, including a section of heavy duty fencing, enabled the ceiling to be completed. Because of the unusual geometry of the workshop with its tapering width the shaping of each piece of cladding was not staight forward. The ends were never 'square', but at least the 2 - 3 degree angle was pretty consistent throughout. Added to this some pieces needed shaping around the ends to match the profile of the additional bracing on the corners of the roof beams.

Defects from the sawing etc. were sanded away, and the side corners bevelled with a block plane.

The pile of timber bottom left is now about to be converted to the cladding for the walls. Took the opportunity to overhaul the dust extractor with new filters and added the optional cloth filter. It's doing a sterling job. Wish I had a thicknesser.......it would certainly speed things up a bit!

Cheers,

Graham

 

[AJohnson]

Wow, that is looking really good Graham!   Almost looks like you are inside an upturned boat!

[Charter33]

Thanks Andrew - a nautical influence was always in the plan 😁

[Charter33]

Just finished the task of fitting the internal cladding.

I'm very pleased with the result and have made the decision to ignore the Admiral's suggestion to paint the walls and to stick with sealing it all with clear matt varnish to enhance the appearance of the timber. Although a time consuming task the savings made were considerable. Using recycled wood the total cost for covering all the walls and ceiling was a little over £25 for 2 kg of galvanized nails, spotted at a reduced price in a local builders merchant, and two packs of sanding discs for my rotary sander. Next job is fitting the pine skirting boards before varnishing can begin.

As can be seen in the photos the I've also completed the the 'first fix" for the electrics. Once the sockets and switches are in place the electrician will complete the power supply connections and test it all.

Not much longer before the pleasurable task of actually fitting out the workshop and finally moving in can happen 😆

Good to see the neighbours taking a keen interest the to project too......

Cheers,

Graham

[Javlin]

I like the looks of the cladding glad you went in that direction over my thought of sheet rock.I did a lot of outlet(s) like you have just a little higher but I have tall standing equipment and sometimes you just do not want to bend over.

[Canute]

Really like the ceiling treatment. And the wood looks great to me. 👍

[thibaultron]

The siding looks great, don';t hide it under paint! By the way say "Hi" to your neighbor for me!

[Charter33]

Thanks for those comments....

The sockets are a little over 1 M from the deck, Javlin, with the intention of having them all comfortably above the top of the various work benches and the wood turning lathe. These days bending down isn't the issue, it's getting back up that's the problem! 😄

Bit of a break today to tackle more mundane household repairs plus the annual flu jab..... bit of a surprise to find it was being administered by a retired nurse who I taught about 40 plus years ago  - small world....

Will pass your greetings on, Ron, when that cat next takes advantage of the top of the fence behind the porthole.

Planning to start celebrating the beauty of all that wood grain tomorrow with the first of three coats of varnish.

Cheers,

Graham

 

 

[Javlin]

45 minutes ago, Charter33 said:

Planning to start celebrating the beauty of all that wood grain tomorrow with the first of three coats of varnish.

Unfortunately for me Graham I have not done any wood work this year 

Edited October 29, 2024 by Javlin

[Altduck]

I Like what you've done with lots of outlets and above the bench. 

You can never have too many places to plug things in.

 

All i n all, a marvelous workspace!

[Charter33]

Three good coats of matt varnish have now been applied. Before intalling the light switch and wall sockets it was time to complete the porthole. 

It's held securely place with four 20 mm dia. coach bolts that pass through the wall frames and are hidden on the outside by the cladding. The remaining ten holes in the flange need 'dummy' bolts for washers and domed nuts.

First task was to drill 3/4" dia. holes through the mounting holes into the cladding and underlying timber framing. I converted some short softwood offcuts into dowelling using a rotary plane....

.....and after adding a taper with a second, smaller, plane the domed nuts were twisted on and the dowels cut to length......

A wipe of PVA and these were tapped into place with a soft faced mallet.

Last task now is adjusting the aluminium that lines the recess. The thickness of the cladding has left a small gap and the whole thing needs the addition of some weather proof sealant. Persistant heavy rain, plus a bit of sleet, made this impossible today but the forcast is dry for the next three days so I hope to have this completed by the weekend.

Electrical work next......after a bit of a tidy up!

I'll be moving in soon 😁

Cheers,

Graham

 

[Jorge_Goncalves]

Superb!! 😍

[Charter33]

All those little finishing adjustments are now completed to the porthole and I've also installed the sockets and light switch.

Still waiting for the electrician to make the final connections to the power supply.

I am now about to start fitting the workshop out with benches, storage and tools including my wood lathe.

One final task first though.....

Eighteen months after I retired from teaching Design Technology my department technician decided to move on. On his last day he made me copies of the room signage for the two workshops in which I spent the majority of my career. M16, the M refering to the original Main block built back in the mid 50's, a woodwork shop, was also the base for the twice weekly evening adult education courses I ran for over 15 years. M17 was my favourite workshop and my prefered teaching room. It boasted metal turning lathes, a universal milling machine, bandsaw etc. These two rooms were either side of the well equiped Materials Preparation room which included the large bench saw and a planer thicknesser. Happy days!

These room signs now adorn the end walls.

Time to start moving in....

Cheers,

Graham

[Charter33]

The first piece of equipment to be installed is my woodwork bench. It's had a very chequered history as I will explain.

When I retired from teaching, this Emir cabinet makers bench came with me. I had saved it from a skip in the early 2000s when the department I was responsible for was being refurbished. This involved six workshops being gutted, extended and modernised. This would take the best part of a year. Resources were stored around the school in shipping containers, and much of my personal equipment went into one of the boiler houses. Seemed a good idea at the time......

Unfortunately the gas supply to the boilers was upgraded over the summer recess. They left the trench dug for the new pipes open for weeks, and a very severe summer downpour flooded the room to a depth of about 12".

I had to disassemble the bench to get it home in my car. Judging from the black crayon date mark on the underside of the top this bench joined the school five years before I joined as newly qualified teacher of 'Metalwork and Technical Drawing'.

The pieces, as carried through the house and into the workshop. If you look at the end pieces on the right the tide mark from the flood is still visible.

Shame my Hobbymat MD65 was stored inside it at the time of the deluge....

Another problem that arose when taking the frame apart for transport, possibly related to the flood, was the snapping of two of the barrel nuts that hold the cross rails to the legs. Zinc based alloy casting cracked in half. It was a bit of a long shot bearing in mind the age of the bench, but I emailed the manufacturer and explained my predicament. At the time I was five days from retirement, liberating the bench my final task. The following day a package arrived, a note wishing me a happy retirement, and a set of barrel nuts with their compliments. Now that's customer care worthy of note!

One of my colleagues had decided to do away with the well at the back of the bench-top at some time and infilled it with a piece of OSB board. My first task was to reinstate this feature. A piece of beech faced ply did the job although although a bit of modification was required fitting metric thickness sheet into an imperial bench.

There was enough of the ply left to make a removable cover for the well.

While in more recent storage some of the component parts of the top had moved a bit and had to be re-glued and clamped

The bench has had a hard life and has the scars to prove it. I have started cleaning up the wood prior to applying an oil based finish to the top. The rest will be sealed with satin varnish. 

I'll also be replacing the vice cheeks, a task that will hopefully be made easier soon, as long as Santa has listened to a barrage of subtle and not so subtle hints..... and I have tried to be a good boy this year - honest😆🤞...watch this space...

The bench and I have a long history together, and our journey can now continue.

Seasons Greetings to one and all

Cheers,

Graham 

[king derelict]

Happy Christmas Graham. This is a fascinating log and you do great work. This will be a wonderful place to work 

Alan

[Charter33]

With the bench now finished the next task is the installation of my biggest piece of equipment. My wood turning lathe came into my life back when I was also running woodwork based evening Adult Education classes. The school had a couple of wood lathes which were so popular we had an informal rule that access was restricted to alternating weeks, with a second project being worked on in parallel. I received a letter from a friend of one of the course members offering her late husband's lathe, at a very reasonable price, that would certainly reduce the pressure on the existing equipment. Unfortunately the senior staff rejected my request for the funding. The lathe was too good to pass, and with the Admiral's consent, I scraped enough together to buy it myself. It graced my school workshop for the majority of my career, retiring when I did.

When I collected the machine the previous owner's wife mentioned that her husband had been a pilot in the Battle of Britain and then went on the become chief test pilot for BEA. He was the Captain of the first ever fully automatic commercial airline flight landing. I found this story on-line:

https://bbm.org.uk/airmen/Poole.htm

A fascinating bit of history, and I do wonder if they would get away with not telling the paying passengers until after the event these days!

The lathe came with a piece of branch from a Madagascan ebony tree, allegedly smuggled back in the cockpit of a Trident. I still have some of it in my material stash. There was also a half turned bowl mounted on the chuck and my first job once the lathe was set up at school was to hollow it out and finish it. Once completed I presented it to her.

When originally purchased the lathe came with plans for a sand filled timber stand. While renovating it I added two layers of wood to raise the spindle height to a better height for me and my creeking back.

Time stored in a damp garage had left some surface rust in places but elbow grease, oil and wire brushes soon restored it to it's former glory. 

It runs as smoothly as ever, but will need bolting down to the floor before I can use it in anger.

Attention can now turn to tool storage, and benching out the model making area. Happy days!

Cheers,

Graham

[Javlin]

On 1/22/2025 at 5:38 PM, Charter33 said:

When originally purchased the lathe came with plans for a sand filled timber stand

What was the purpose of the sand?I have never used a lathe and have thought maybe one day.🤨

[Egilman]

3 hours ago, Javlin said:

What was the purpose of the sand?I have never used a lathe and have thought maybe one day.🤨

Hold down weight and vibration damping...

[Charter33]

You've explained the purpose and benifits of the sand very succinctly Egilman. The legs are also hollow and sand filled. When wood is initially mounted it can run a bit eccentricly and cause vibrations until shaping begins. This is also why the lathe needs securing to the floor.

Wood turning is very satisfying. Often you go in with a general idea of what you want to achieve and then the wood grain takes over and leads you, especially when turning bowls. I also turn legs and spindles for Windsor chairs, components for wooden toys, and various other items. Hours of fun to be had, Javlin. Have a go if you get the chance. A word of warning though, it can be addictive....😄

Cheers,

Graham.