Popular Woodworking 2002-06 № 128, страница 24

American Woodshops

A visit to Scott Phillips' brand new 'American Woodshop' shows that any size shop faces the same challenges and rewards.

When I first designed and outfitted "The American Woodshop" in 1970, I thought I'd have everything set up perfectly within a year. It's now 32 years later, and I think I might be close to getting my "dream shop" the way I want it.

Most shops are clever adaptations of existing space. They're usually packed with wood and tools, and there's never enough

room for everything - especially wood. Five years ago, I started looking for a new wood-shop, in part to make producing my public television series easier to shoot. Many people would say that it's easier to buy or fix up an existing space. I can't argue with that logic because they would be right. But I decided that to get everything the way I wanted it, I'd have to start from scratch.

Zoning issues ruled out most locations. I finally found two acres that were zoned for business but were in a rural setting. It's in the city limits (we shoot my show in Piqua, Ohio) so I still get all the city services.

The first step was to sketch out what I thought I needed (my dream shop looked great on a napkin), then to double the size. Expect to spend about $30 to $40 per square foot if your shop is built on a concrete slab with a traditional footer. Next I enlisted the help of the Upper Valley Joint Vocational School in developing a design for the building. The students and teachers added a lot to the shop project, providing invaluable plan designs and drawings.

The construction is stick-built with a concrete pad footprint of 32' x 92'. The roof is metal with a 9/12 pitch and 10'-high ceilings inside. If you're doing math in your head, that gives me a 2,944 square-foot shop, but it all isn't available for building projects.

I partitioned the 12' x 32' built-on porch for those necessary moments to stop and ponder my plans, and the front part of the building includes an office, project gallery, rest-room and utility room. That brings the main woodshop room down to 64' x 32' - only 2,048 square feet. But it's still a luxury with plenty of room for everything I do.

My machines are set up for both 110- and 220-volt power. To keep everything running, I selected a 110/208 three-phase SquareD

22 Popular Woodworking June 2002