This is the front wall of my workshop. A white cedar worktop
is mounted at the base of each window to take full advantage of the
natural light.
This is the briar table. I stock the table with 50 to 60 blocks. The top of every plateaux block is cleaned with the sandblaster,
then the sides are sanded down. Taking an hour to clean a dozen blocks at a time greatly reduces the future frustration of searching
for a specific block to make a specific shape. Every block on this table is clean and ready to examine. The computer is on a home
wireless network so I can send and receive messages from the shop, and listen to audio books!
This 12" sander is mounted on a wheeled cage and lives under the briar table. When I am ready to use it I wheel it out into the room
and connect it to a shop vac. It is used for cleaning the briar and to perfectly square a block before aligning it in a chuck. The
briar in this cage has yet to be cleaned before being placed on the briar table.
My shop is very small, and I have room for only one lathe. I use two chucks, one for turning blocks and another for turning stems. I
don’t mind having one lathe to share two tasks, as changing from one chuck to another takes less than two minutes. This Myford lathe
has a 7 inch swing, 1 inch spindle bore, and 27 inch bed. It has a reversing switch and a quick release lever for disengaging the spindle
drive belt while the motor is still running. The quick release tool post makes changing the cutting tools a time saving pleasure.
This is the sanding station. Both ¾ horsepower motors run at 1400 rpm. The gray motor runs clockwise and the black motor runs
counterclockwise. A keyless chuck is mounted on each spindle, allowing a quick change between 2, 3 and 5 inch sanding pads.
he large U-shaped dust collector box is fitted with a divider to help direct the air intake under the running motor. Next to
the sanding station is a Tormek slow wet grinder, used to keep lathe tooling and carving tools razor sharp.
This is the dust extractor motor. It moves 1000 cubic meters of air
per hour. It is almost overkill for the single task of serving
the sanding station, but well worth it. Very little dust escapes
from this unit. I have to open the shop door when using it during
the heating season, at it reverses the draw on the wood-burning
stove! The air is pumped out side into a dust collector.
The buffing station is of my own design. All four buffers run at the
same time, powered by a 1 horsepower, 1425-rpm motor. A V-belt
wraps around a central pulley and has a tension adjusting mechanism
behind the housing.
This little tray holds everything needed for the lathe. Before I made
this, I would occasionally waste an entire hour looking for a
drill bit or chuck key I had laid down somewhere.
The oak bench along the back wall is comprised of the sanding station,
the sharpening station and the buffing station. The shelves consist
of giant rolls of sanding cloth, tobacco jars, and row upon row
of storage bins. The bins are filled with everything imaginable,
from acrylic to zebrawood. The chin-up straps in the upper left
hand corner of the photo is for keeping my joints and back limber
after long sessions of chin-against- sternum sanding.
This shot blaster has quickly become the pride and joy of my
workshop. It is a sit-down model, originally designed for long
periods of use blasting granite or slate signs.
The hose and nozzle inside the cabinet is permanently mounted to allow
hands free operation. One end of a copper wire is attached to
the steel mesh, and the other end around my wrist to prevent shocks
from static build up.
Two quarts of media can be stored in the small pressure pot below the
blasting chamber. In takes about one quart of media to blast a pipe.
I use two different medias on every pipe. I call this process phase-one
and phase-two. After blasting with one media, I quickly empty the
pot and reload with the second media. The black rectangle footplate
in front of the pot is the trigger that allows compressed air into
the line. The machine is capable of blasting up to 150psi, but blasting
a pipe only requires 30 to 40psi.
Twin 3 horsepower piston motors on top of an 80-liter receiver power
the blasting unit. The primary motor usually keeps up with the blaster
during the short-burst, phase-one blasting. Both motors run together
during the longer, continuous second-phase blasting. The compressor
lives in an out building because of its large size, but more importantly,
it keeps the shop quiet.
The workbench is my favorite spot in the shop, and
where I spend the most time. It is flooded with natural light, plus
it has two halogen overhead spot lamps for gray days. All the drawing,
carving, filing, hand sanding, staining, stamping and more are done
here.
The multi-fuel stove is the most important piece of equipment in the
shop. It does a great job in removing the moisture out of the air,
keeping the tools free from oxidation and the stone walls warm.
A fire crackles away most every day throughout the year, except
during the short Cornish summer. The stove adds life, warmth and
ambience to the workshop. Without it, I would not be able to make
a pipe!
Thank you for visiting my workshop. –Paul Hubartt
