Mise en Place
Been quiet on the western front, so for those of you who visit the site and have wondered where Old Man Odd Pegs has been, I’ve been in the garage, rebuilding the shop.
Odd Pegs HQ, as it were, is in the detached garage. And by “detached garage” I mean “ancient ass steel frame shed that’s probably older than your oldest relative - and in worse condition.” It’s rusted out in spots at the bottom, I had to tapcon the back end to the concrete, and it fell victim to my son’s bow a handful of years back. It’s very dramatic when the sunlight peeps through the arrow holes that pepper the backside.
A young Davis participates in a totally legit load bearing test in 2012
About 12 years ago I got tired of not being able to store anything on the walls so I bolted 2x3s to the frame and build out rudimentary shelves. It worked out well enough until Odd Pegs Woodworking became an actual thing and I expanded my tool collection to include a planer, a drill press, a bandsaw, and a dust collector that wasn’t my lungs. Even though everything that wasn’t a woodworking tool or a bicycle was moved elsewhere, there was still far too much maneuvering to get at what I needed to use, and it started to bother me like an itch I couldn’t scratch.
Plus, I wanted to upgrade the table router from the “this is okay but no wait, it’s not” portable unit to something that I could use without getting irritated.
Oh, and the existing joists were looking awful bowed. Storing things above my head was eventually going to be expensively disastrous.
Out with the old!
So this past February, I ripped out the shelving and built new 2x4 walls to affix to the frame. The dust collector is out of the way, the planer is more accessible, the drill press is no longer tucked away like a bill you don’t want to pay, and the brand new fancy pants router table has its very own spot. Wood storage has increased (and I haven’t even put in the joists!) and best of all, the vague sense of dissatisfaction is gone.
I still have work to do - in addition to hanging the joists, I need to build a cabinet for the router table (found a stack of gumwood that’ll do just nicely). But I’m heading into spring feeling good about the work I’ve done and the work I’m going to do.
In the meantime, enjoy the pics below of the new configuration.
