woodworking in a city - is it possible?

[AgGEM]

I work in my condo garage which has it's similarities to your problem.
But this guy seems to have a small but cool looking city shop:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZHPg22TYS4

Interesting review of the Veritas Plow Plane too.
Ag

[Kansas City Fireslayer]

Cian,

The only tools your sweet shop is missing is a recliner, a fridge, and a bed. I think a small room off to the side of your shop would be all I needed if I still lived a bachelor life. I'd also need a smoker out back too.

[Bibliophile 13]

Yes.

I started working wood with hand tools in the kitchen of a single-wide trailer. Now I've moved up to a full-scale joiner's bench in the dining room, with a couple power tools (band saw, drill press, grinder) in an attached shed.

So yes, working wood in a small space is definitely possible, especially if you're willing to adjust your methods to your space. For me, that has meant two things:

1. Doing a lot of hand-tool work and limiting the number of floor-space-hogging machines I have. Select your machines carefully, and use them to their full capacity. Learn to cut your joinery by hand, and leave the donkey work of dimensioning stock to a couple of machines.

2. Not stockpiling a lot of materials. Well, I try. But my storage space for lumber is pretty limited, so I've had to say "no" to even free materials at times. And I have to be okay with that.

[clockman]

heres a blog for apt woodworking.
link

[Cian]

Kansas City Fireslayer said:

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The only tools your sweet shop is missing is a recliner, a fridge, and a bed. I think a small room off to the side of your shop would be all I needed if I still lived a bachelor life. I'd also need a smoker out back too.

---

You have the right idea. Nearly all of that is actually coming into the rec room right outside that side door, complete with a motorized movie screen and projector. I'll send pics when it's done.

[overland]

I'm in the same situation, in Chicago. Shared shop space seems hard to find. It's possible, but it's not cheap. We have neither a proper basement nor a garage, so I've put a woodworking bench in our family room. I use hand tools there. I'm also working on enlarging a small outdoor shed to fit a bandsaw that I would pull out for use. And I bought an oak slab that I keep under a tarp in our tiny backyard that I use occasionally and hope to fit with a vise. Time will tell whether an outdoor bench can be useful. None of these solutions are ideal, but woodworking does seem possible, especially if your spouse is indulgent. Well, not especially. That's pretty much essential.
Steve is way ahead of us here and I would pay close attention to what he says. Even with my limited experience, it makes a lot of sense to me.

[Admiral]

I guess it all depends on what type of work you do, and how you do it, that will dictate how much space you need. If you've got a lot of big iron power tools, obviously you need more space. If you exclusively use hand tools, not so much. Personally, I run a blended shop, but have been leaning more and more to hand tools over the last 20 years, to the point of thinking about selling my tablesaw, but am not so much into hand tools that I would sell my planer and jointer and prepare stock all by hand, although I have and continue to do so for small projects. So we need a bit more information to really comment.

But presuming you are not totally hand tool, you might have to compromise in terms of floor space availability for a blended shop. Thoughts include perhaps a combination machine (planer/jointer) might be the ticket, and a band saw to replace a stationary tablesaw, with maybe a benchtop table saw if you feel you really need one. Benchtop drill press. Lunchbox planers work very well, although very noisy, and you can do without a big iron jointer if you face joint one side by hand. If you use handtools, a scaled down bench (6' long max) saves space too.

I would think that with mobile bases, you could fit all the above in a 10x12 space, the size of a bedroom, and I've often wished I had my shop within the house proper, although I'm not complaining about my (walkout) basement shop at all, its wonderful and I have plenty of room.

So if you can't find the basement space you clearly want, don't want to surrender a garage bay AND have a supportive and understanding spouse, taking over one bedroom might be an idea.

My only other thought is that if you can find a house with a bit of a backyard, they are now marketing yard sheds as home offices, insulated, with power, phone, internet and lights. Not that expensive, 12x16 for $5k, but its "instant shop" and is not an eyesore. Just a thought, here's a link:

http://www.mysheds.com/home-offices.asp

This place also sells single car garages, which are even cheaper, but you have to put in your own power, etc. Zoning and building codes might be an issue, but its an option if you have the space on the lot somewhere.

[jgrogan]

thanks or all the thoughts. As you can tell I am getting a bit discouraged about finding my woodworking space. Woodworking in a city is possible, just different from what I have now (it is always hard to go backwards)

I have a fair bit of iron (and even sold my 25" drum sander because I did not think there would be room and I did not use it that much) and have a great shop. I might just become on of those guys who cuts down the rails on the unisaw

thanks again

[handi]

When we were first married, we lived in a 2 bedroom apartment. I used one room for my "shop".

Obviously, traditional power tools are out in that case, but there are plenty of things you can do. Making veneer medallions for inlay comes to mind. Small boxes and such made primarily with hand tools can be done as well. A small lathe makes little noise, so turning projects are in play as well.

Carving is another form of woodworking that is quiet, takes little space and the mess is easy to clean up with a broom.

I also like the idea of finding a local "make" space as well. Where there is a will....

Ralph

[PaulJohnstone]

jgrogan said:

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thanks or all the thoughts. As you can tell I am getting a bit discouraged about finding my woodworking space. Woodworking in a city is possible, just different from what I have now (it is always hard to go backwards)

I have a fair bit of iron (and even sold my 25" drum sander because I did not think there would be room and I did not use it that much) and have a great shop. I might just become on of those guys who cuts down the rails on the unisaw

thanks again

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Our first house had no garage or basement.
I had a portable table saw, a mitre saw, a few other tools in the hall closet. When it was nice outside, I could set things up and do some crude woodworking.
But you hit the nail on the head there.. "It's hard to go backwards".
If you are used to having nice tools, it might be hard to have the hobby be enjoyable.
I think you need to evaluate the stuff you want to build in retirement and how much you like the hobby. If you really like the hobby, I'd move to the suburbs instead of the city and get the basement. I mean, driving into the city for restaurants or whatever (instead of walking) is a small price to pay if it allows you to keep a hobby you love.
I bet you spend more time in the shop than you do driving to the city.