my first shop and lathe
john lucas
OK it's not my absolute first. I rented a house with a garage that had gravel floor and no door. I built a workbench that folded up and locked against the wall. My small collection of tools, a router, jig saw, and several hand tools all hung on the wall and were safely locked away when the bench was folded. that was my first shop. This one was second. I'm kind of guessing but it had to be 1980 plus or minus a year. It was in the back bedroom of a 2 bedroom apartment. I told all the neighbors if I ever made nose that bothered them to call and I would stop. Shortly after this photo was taken I purchased the new Shopsmith planer. Man what a noise maker. Still I never had a complaint from a neighbor. I had rigged up wooden supports to go around the small table so I could rip a piece of plywood to size by myself. I'm not a fan of the shopsmith when compared to quality tooling which I have today. However I did an awful lot of work back then. It deserves the honor of getting me into turning which of course is my love today. In my opinion the lathe is the worst part of this machine but nonetheless i made a lot of segmented bowls and clocks on that machine. When you compare this setup to my current shop which is which is 24 X 30 plus a seperate 23X10 room for parts, paints, and smaller dry wood storage there is certainly a huge difference. Not to mention that I have pretty much high quality stand alone machines now instead of this all in one machine. OH and I"m still using the small bench grinder in the lower right of that shelf. I purchased that from Sears about 1976 and still use it frequently. It's in my metal working area and has a course wheel for rough grinding and a Green wheel for sharpening carbide. That was the grinder I used for many many years to sharpen my lathe tools. 3450RPM and vibrates. It's a miracle I ever got a sharp tool.
