I was simply surfing today and came across your channel. As a former long distance backpacker (AT 1998) I enjoyed hearing your comments on what backpackers told you about using blue tape. I didn't do that exact exercise, but over 10 years I changed almost every item in my pack, as well as my pack to reduce weight and improve efficiency. The Boy Scouts benefitted from my obsession. Your philosophy of life with your neighbors and your partner was nice to hear and certainly bears learning from.
Thank you for the thoughtful video. I work in an apartment and started out taking too much inspiration from people with large workshops. I find it inspiring to have everything fit in a neat box or cabinet.
Great tips! I do woodworking in a tiny room of my apartment, thanks to my wife, that kindly give me the opportunity to use it. But yes, is difficult to be organized in such a small space, I keep playing Tetris with my tools, and no space for jigs, still I manage to make violins and guitars.
My woodworking area is 10 feet long by 4 feet deep. I have a 4x8 sheet of peg board where I hand things. Planes go on shelf under the bench. Everything I need easily fits in this space. Sure, I dream of a 1000 square foot shop but I don't need it.
I actually just moved out of this space into a house so sadly I can't show what it looked like lol it was really just a regular balcony that was maybe 8x12
Excellent tips! I really need to look at all my tools, I definitely have some I can donate or sell. Oh also....that appears to be peppermint tea...I thought we were buttermint tea drinking buddies? I feel cheated sir! haha
The first 5 minutes he talks about backpacking and hamburgers but really only says you can't have too many tools if you're going to be working in a small space lol I don't know if the video got better after that because I'm not willing to waste any more time with it.
@@Lemongrasspicker Not "random" "targeted" is the term. I have had several comments to your site that have been totally ignored. Hell, this one took a WEEK for you to respond to.
I couldn’t sell my hand tools, so I got rid of the house and got a larger one. Still couldn’t stop collecting tools, so I got rid of the house and got another one. Still couldn’t get rid of my tools, so I got rid of the children. Still collecting tools so got rid of the house again and got one with a garage. Converted garage....still collecting tools....next stop bigger workshop.
I like your very practical approach - love watching woodworking videos but some shops are very intimating and it’s too easy to say “I can’t get started until I have this great shop”
The one thing I can add is don't forget about vertical spaces. I can fit a lot of tools or wood close to the ceiling. It my not be easy to get down but especially wood is sometimes really cheap and can save u a ton of money if u can find a place to store it
I'm sorry for the late response. For a small space a small air filter is really ideal. You can use a fan to circulate things but it doesn't capture the dust very well. When I recorded this video I worked outside so dust was never an issue inside. WEN makes a smallish filter you could check out.
I messaged you a month or so ago and couldn’t get my kanna to work. Today I got a wood shaving at 5 microns, that’s thinner than a human blood cell! I’ve been watching alot of Japanese masters but I feel you deserve the credit for pushing me in the right direction. Have a lovely weekend.
Hey woodworking friends, You can give your neighbors a small gift for being patient and kind towards you and the noise you make. Cutting boards, small dovetail boxes, etc.
Another good video, like your approach and philosophy. Just recently realized I'm going down the tool acquisition and wood collecting " rabbit holes"., in a small apt. (400 sq. ft) Time to sell some tools and get busy working wood. Thanks
Any thoughts on using wood finishes in a small indoor space, mainly due to its toxic nature? Btw great video, thank you for these tips. I am hoping to get into small scale woodworking with manual tools.
Sorry for the late reply. Shellac is the least toxic and easiest to apply finish. If you buy good alcohol like everclear and not use the homeless despot variety it'll be even less fume heavy. Highly recommend learning how to use it as it's a great finish no matter what you use it on.
1 month seems on the extreme side, but as long as it works for you. The tape is a great advice. I use to do everything in an apartment, for about 5 yrs, everything fit inside a bag that I can carry.
It is a bit extreme, but sometimes if you have a very limited space it just works better. You could always use the toolbox as a piece of furniture like a coffee table when it's not in use.
Just bought the Lost Art Press book Ingenious Mechanicks. In it The benches are at knee height and you sit on them to woodwork. They were used for over 1000 years. What I find exciting about this is that it's possible to have a workbench in a small space that can serve double duty as a bench to sit on at the dinner table or a bench to sit on and tie your shoes in a hallway. Worth checking out.
Could you comment on your preparation of wood? I have found that even if I buy pre-dimentioned wood, it still has a bit of cupping that needs planed out. I am having trouble getting it perfect for joinery. The 3/4" boards thin down a good bit, look awkward and are not so easy to get parallel. How do you approach this without a large bench and using oversized rough wood? Perhaps home center wood is the initial problem I take on. Perhaps my lack of experience is the other.
Wood cannot ever be perfectly flat. If you let the wood acclimate to the environment in which it will be used it'll be much more stable on the final product. I usually let it sit for 3-4 weeks before use. Most of the time it's just cutting it to correct the imperfect warps etc...
You should have asked why the typo, because that was so much worse. Honestly, I didn't think it was hostile, so I'm sorry it came out that way. I think it was you, or mayb another wood worker who said that most of the time he used only one size chisel, so for newbies, just buy the best "one" chisel you are going to use. Sets are cheaper, but if you never, every use all the chisel in your set, why spend money one them? At the time, personally, I felt that need to spend all this money on all this equipment. Often, people tell you things, and don't realize how true it is. That made me think. I read this book about survivial in the wilderness. The book said when you are lost, and trying to make it back to civilization, never carve wooden spoons, and forks. He said, spoons and forks are nice, but once you reach that point, you have given up on trying to escape. Every effort, and every thought should be on escaping. He said during the age of sailing ships, men would lost on island. Almost without exception, if the men were on the island long enough, they didn't want to leave. They accepted their life on the island. This was such a common problem, they even had a way of dealing with it. They got the castaways drunk, then load them on the ship. I found this to be true with wood workers. Wood worker have to survive, which isn't easy. Many wood workers have these fantastic shops, and they keep working on them. These wood workers make their shops bigger, and better. This keeps up until it seem like all they do is work on there shop. They have hundreds of tools, which they don't use, and they seem to get bored with actually making furniture. I'm sorry if I insulted you, it was not my intent. I have to break that thought pattern, which is, "I need to buy more tools." Go check out other people's channels. Many of them seem to be about improving their shop. It's always bigger, and more expensive equipment.
No offense taken, I've checked out a few other people's channels. And yes they do seem to just have a metric ton of tools. Not knocking that if that's what works for them, truth is most of us can't have a shop like that since we just don't have the space.
