SHOP IN THE ROUND

A unique shop that has no corners to collect dust.

SHOP OWNER: Thomas S. Stockton

LOCATION: Montgonery Creek, CA

My shop is a little unique because it is round. The outside of the structure started off its life in Orinda California as a water tank for a large water district. The building itself is built like a pole barn and the redwood on the outside is really just a skin and is not structural at all. The outside staves are 2.5" thick vertical grain redwood. When I moved here, the building was just a shell and my wife and I put in all the doors and windows along with finishing out the interior. The living quarters are located upstairs. This shot shows the entrance to the house.

This is the main entrance to the shop; the streamers are to keep the woodpeckers from eating it.

There is also a set of double doors.

Plywood storage is located to the left side.

Power tools are clustered around the center of the shop (except for the tablesaw). This layout is very efficient when milling out stock, since all the main tools are just a couple of steps from each other. This arrangement also makes it real easy to run ducting for the dust collector.

Another shot of the machine area.

My router table is a pretty quick and simple design thats made up of three particle board boxes bolted together. The fence is based on the American Woodworker magazine router table. The top is two pieces of plywood glued together and some plastic laminate that was lying around.

The router is mounted to a piece of " phenolic I found at a scrap dealer. I also used it for the fence.

A number of years ago I purchased a sliding panel saw. I bought it at the time because I was doing a lot more cabinet type jobs and it is real nice for dealing with sheet goods. The past four or five years I've been able to concentrate on building furniture and still find it extremely useful, making it a good investment.

To the left of the saw is lumber storage. This consists of 1" diameter black pipe, set in holes in the 6 x 6 uprights, and one set in a flange attached to a 2 x 6 that is screwed to two studs. It is a pretty inexpensive and sturdy setup.

I originally built my own dust collector, using Wood Magazines plans. While it worked well, I modified it after finding Bill Pentz's Website and it made a huge difference.

My shop is fairly small at about 900 square feet so I find the need to maximize space. To this end, some things get stored on pulleys. Both my veneer storage and press are in the ceiling. I just lower it when I need it.

This is my bench area. I built the large bench using Scott Landis' Workbench book and the small one is a Costco special.