Scott French Posted January 29, 2012 Report Share Posted January 29, 2012 Do these type of threads get deleted? I looked around and couldn't find a rule against them... I also couldn't find any threads along these lines newer than 2005 when I used the search tool. Nothing fancy, just post a pic of your main working area. In the past I would usually just find the flattest/cleanest surface in the shop when I needed to do something. When I moved a while back I actually took the time to convert one of my big tables into a "real" bench with tools on the wall and some kind of attempt at organization. I was also having a lot of back pain so I wanted to be able to work higher up. Here's what I ended up with: If you check out the full version on Flickr you can see a lot of comment highlights I've added for various pieces. Most of it is self explanatory but I got carried away with the little commenting tool. Let's see yours! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
verhoevenc Posted January 29, 2012 Report Share Posted January 29, 2012 I'm currently in transition. I still do a lot of work at a friend's since I moved up here. However, I did buy my first home and luckily the previous owner worked wood so there was a bench, shelves, etc. Only real change I've made is I'm starting to semi-perm-wall off the heater so dust doesn't circulate the house. It's VERY small... so this will be the hand tools room mostly. I have a barn out back that I'll be putting the real tools into once I have time off and can go down to SC and move the rest of my things north. Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted January 29, 2012 Report Share Posted January 29, 2012 Do these type of threads get deleted? No..there have been a few here and there,but most of us(speaking of myself)work on a picnic table in the yard. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
demonx Posted January 29, 2012 Report Share Posted January 29, 2012 For most of the light work I use the side of my panel saw with cardboard layed over the top. I often use the other side for things too as its very solid. This is what it looks like when I'm not using it as a bench, its about 3m wide with the saw in the middle: For most of the chiseling, routing, fretting etc I use the side of my thicknesser as its a 450kg solid piece of machinery and the table on it is heavy steel = very solid! I have a timber workbench which is about 2m x 2.5m bit it's got so much crap on it I only use the vice at the edge. Theres a slot in the middle to make clamp points easy as well as wiping wood shavings etc off. Paint mixing bench: Sanding bench: The Marlin Bench: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MiKro Posted January 29, 2012 Report Share Posted January 29, 2012 I can't find my workbenches? Too much crap in the way. Somewhere in the mess is the camera? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dpm99 Posted January 30, 2012 Report Share Posted January 30, 2012 I mostly just have places to hold my crap. I keep the big tools in a section of the garage, but there's no room for a workbench in there. That will change in time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mattia Posted January 31, 2012 Report Share Posted January 31, 2012 Scott, I approve of your guitars, your bench, your bikes and your choice of camera and glass (still really want that 85L some day...)! My old shop, indoor area: Outdoor shop with tools. Bit cluttered in this shot, but nowhere near the worst it's been. Honestly I do a lot of work outdoors on a workmate. Just moving house now, new outdoor shop is a little bigger, indoor shop is going to be one of the bedrooms I'm not using, mostly 'clean' operations/acoustic building there though: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott French Posted February 1, 2012 Author Report Share Posted February 1, 2012 Scott, I approve of your guitars, your bench, your bikes and your choice of camera and glass (still really want that 85L some day...)! Thanks! I approve of that 85L too. I wish I had one, we've only rented it a few times on special occasions. Hopefully again this summer for Yosemite. I had the 50L for a while but couldn't rationalize having something so expensive sit around a lot of time. I traded down to the 1.4 and haven't looked back. If the 50L was as good as the 85L it would be a different story but it just isn't. The 85 1.2 is magic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mattia Posted February 1, 2012 Report Share Posted February 1, 2012 Scott, I approve of your guitars, your bench, your bikes and your choice of camera and glass (still really want that 85L some day...)! Thanks! I approve of that 85L too. I wish I had one, we've only rented it a few times on special occasions. Hopefully again this summer for Yosemite. I had the 50L for a while but couldn't rationalize having something so expensive sit around a lot of time. I traded down to the 1.4 and haven't looked back. If the 50L was as good as the 85L it would be a different story but it just isn't. The 85 1.2 is magic. See, that seems reasonable I'm bad with the camera gear; can't seem to part with stuff! Feel particularly 'guilty' about the 70-200/2.8L IS that only gets used maybe once a year, but is so incredibly useful at those times that I can't really bear to part with it. Have a pretty full range of L zooms (mostly the F4 stuff) that are absurdly versatile, great quality, and particularly useful for travel - 24-105L and 100-400L is tough to beat for range and quality when backpacking. I'm photography crazed enough I think that's a reasonable amount of weight to carry Where I get into 'trouble' is that I'm really more of a primes shooter, way more interesting creatively a lot of the time and most of my absolute favorite portrait shots from situations where I have zooms and primes will be from the primes - I absolutely love 35mm and 50mm focal lengths, and the 135L is my new favorite outdoors candid glass; if the 85L is better than that I'll have a tough time resisting if I ever try it. I also like shooting old manual focus adapted glass, generally with AF confirm chips, because they're great fun to use, great quality, and really incredibly tiny, making a 5D seem almost reasonable. So small you can always carry one around; having LiveView does help sometimes though. My 'primes stable' currently includes the following: 28: Leica Elmarit 28/2.8 (waiting for adapter) 35s: 35/1.4L (fantastic glass), Contax/Zeiss 35/2.8 (great landscape lens stopped down, not as good as the canon at 2.8, but less than half the size) 50s: 50/1.8 (need to sell), Sigma's 50/1.4 (my copy focuses fine and is really, really nice), an old Contax/Zeiss Planar 50/1.4 (not the sharpest wide open, but really great microcontrast/look) and now a Leica R Summicron 50/2.0 (waiting for adapter to arrive), 2 Pentax 50mm lenses (I think a 50/1.8 and a 55/2.0, waiting for adapters...they were only 20 bucks for the pair at a thrift store) 135: 135L (magic for portraits), Yashica 135/2.8 (nothing special, came free with the two Zeiss lenses) Then there's a fisheye and a Sigma macro I got for not too much. Mostly I need to cut back on the old primes. Although I would like a Zeiss 85, maybe some more wide angles... I tend to shoot intensely but sporadically. Mostly on vacation or during (family) events, as I'm a landscape/candid people shots kind of guy. I got into the DSLR game with a 300D (the original digital Rebel) right when it came out after getting bitten by the photography bug with a compact digicam while interning in South Africa. Stayed with that for 5 years, slowly buying glass, got a 5D mark II a few months after release and never looked back! Combination of guitar building and photography hobbies not a terribly effective combo in terms of building a savings account, though.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnny Foreigner Posted February 4, 2012 Report Share Posted February 4, 2012 Scott, I approve of your guitars, your bench, your bikes and your choice of camera and glass (still really want that 85L some day...)! Thanks! I approve of that 85L too. I wish I had one, we've only rented it a few times on special occasions. Hopefully again this summer for Yosemite. I had the 50L for a while but couldn't rationalize having something so expensive sit around a lot of time. I traded down to the 1.4 and haven't looked back. If the 50L was as good as the 85L it would be a different story but it just isn't. The 85 1.2 is magic. The 85 f/1.2L is beautiful, if ridiculously big. We just got it recently for our wedding films because venues insist on turning the house lights way down low during speeches. Shooting wide open on that lens is insane - it sees more than your own eyes see. the 35 1.4L is also gorgeous. trying to decide whether to buy that or the 24 1.4L next. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnny Foreigner Posted February 4, 2012 Report Share Posted February 4, 2012 I'm really more of a primes shooter We only shoot with primes for our video work. We need the extra speed and it forces us to think about where we need to be to get each shot. Zooms make you lazy. 135L is my new favorite outdoors candid glass; if the 85L is better than that I'll have a tough time resisting if I ever try it. I've only used the 135 once. I wouldn't say *better* than the 85. But on a par, if you're not concerned about the half stop of speed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott French Posted February 5, 2012 Author Report Share Posted February 5, 2012 Mattia, that's a lot of gear. I would avoid trying the 85L as it's pretty hard to resist, especially if you have the money/habit of buying so many lenses. I am pretty simple/old school in my tastes. I like the 5D and 98% of the time I shot with a 50mm. I haven't found a lens longer than 85mm that I was comfortable on so really 35mm-85mm is my comfort zone. My wife and I don't even own any zooms. As far as old manual focus lenses go the only thing I tried is the Helios 40-2 85mm f/1.5. Very heavy duty lens and pretty fast but the image quality wide open doesn't stand up to the modern lenses. I ended up selling that too. My short list is getting the 35L and 85L and hopefully an improved 50L if Canon ever offers one. Beyond that I would love to get a 5D-II, very jealous of you guys for the video, better ISO performance, larger screen, and live view. Other than that I'm happy with the original 5D for now, my wife's camera does video when we need it and I intend to use my current camera until it falls apart. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott French Posted February 5, 2012 Author Report Share Posted February 5, 2012 The 85 f/1.2L is beautiful, if ridiculously big. We just got it recently for our wedding films because venues insist on turning the house lights way down low during speeches. Shooting wide open on that lens is insane - it sees more than your own eyes see. the 35 1.4L is also gorgeous. trying to decide whether to buy that or the 24 1.4L next. The 85L really is an amazing thing... it's huge, heavy, slow to focus and very expensive. It really only does one thing but it does it so well you can forget about all of the other limitations. It's pretty hard to go wrong with any of the current L primes. It seems like the 50 is only one with a bit of tarnish on it's reputation. I would love the 35L as it can mimic a 50 on my wife's crop camera and offers something a bit wider than the standard on the full frame. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnny Foreigner Posted February 5, 2012 Report Share Posted February 5, 2012 Beyond that I would love to get a 5D-II, very jealous of you guys for the video The 5DmkII turned the world of video on its head. We have 2 and ***love*** them. Now I need to find me the $15k for one of these: http://www.red.com/store/scarlet/product/scarlet-x-al-canon-mount-package Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattharris75 Posted June 24, 2012 Report Share Posted June 24, 2012 Raising this thread from the dead... We just finished building out the shop area of our new house. It's a 3rd car garage stall. The ceiling is 12 feet, and the shelves go all the way up to 10. 18" deep shelves on the bottom, and 30" deep on top. Finished with 2 coats of minwax polyshades. To the left you can see the 7' long laminated maple butcher block work bench. We also ran power to the front of the bench, and mounted a 4' fluorescent light fixture over the bench area, which has a switch on the back wall. I'm also thinking of doing some pegboard or something similar along the back wall of the work bench. Haven't decided for sure yet. Facing the bench/shelves, on your left is the tool box, the belt/disk sander combo, and the oscillating spindle sander. On your right is the bandsaw and drill press. Beyond all the stationary tools are a pair of home depot/lowes generic storage shelves, one on each side of the stall. I haven't had a chance to figure out exactly where everything is going to go yet, but I'll probably store the router table and thickness sander underneath the bench. I won't really be able to get out there until early August to start organizing it, since I am recovering from hernia surgery and won't be able to lift more than 15 pounds until then. Bummer... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted June 26, 2012 Report Share Posted June 26, 2012 I don't have a workbench. I just push the keyboard to one side to create space, which also serves to relocate other junk on the be...desk. Sucks to not have dedicated workspace. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
killemall8 Posted June 29, 2012 Report Share Posted June 29, 2012 (edited) I have 3 workbenches, 2 of which are more shelves than anything. These are the only two pics i have off hand. Edited June 29, 2012 by killemall8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Levi79 Posted June 29, 2012 Report Share Posted June 29, 2012 This reminds me I should really get a decent workbench before moving forward with my next build. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
demonx Posted July 24, 2012 Report Share Posted July 24, 2012 Today I recieved this old hardwood workbench. Rock solid. Heavy. Doesnt move! Just what I've needed for so long. Came with two old solid vices, one on each corner. I'm very happy! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted July 24, 2012 Report Share Posted July 24, 2012 A few holes and bench dogs fitted and you're laughing! It seriously needs a resurfacing though - school workshop bench? I look forward to the time when I can have a bench that won't move despite my best efforts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
demonx Posted July 24, 2012 Report Share Posted July 24, 2012 Yeah, ex school bench, however I got it from a clearance place that sells bulk lots. I'm not going to re top it as I like the rustic look! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted July 24, 2012 Report Share Posted July 24, 2012 Just a concern that it might house all kinds of crap dug into the surface that might ding up workpieces. School benches go through a lot of that ;-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
demonx Posted July 24, 2012 Report Share Posted July 24, 2012 Just a concern that it might house all kinds of crap dug into the surface that might ding up workpieces. School benches go through a lot of that ;-) I sit my guitars on carpet underlay - I have about a dozen mats laying around my workshop and the guitars are always seated on one of them, so it's not an issue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted July 24, 2012 Report Share Posted July 24, 2012 Ah, I'm more of the type that prefers to work wood on wood so to speak. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maull Posted July 26, 2012 Report Share Posted July 26, 2012 It is a totally unorganized abomination at the moment but here it is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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