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Episode 7 SHOW NOTES Setting Up A Small Shop

Everyday Woodworking Podcast Ep 7 

SHOW NOTES 

Setting Up A Small Shop 

 

Welcome 

Hey everyone. I’m Ricky Fitzpatrick with Everyday Woodworking, your Podcast Home for tips, tricks and information on how to make the most of your woodworking time and money, every day. 

Well welcome back to the show. We are getting into what I thought would be a one-episode subject, but as I researched it, I saw really fast that this was going to need to be a whole new series. 

So let’s just call this #1 in our new series on Setting Up A Small Shop. 

 

Before we get going though, I want to hit a couple of things. 

One, I have to tell you guys about my Harbor Freight update. 

You know how we talked about using Harbor Freight for buying your bargain power tools? Well I’ve been on the hunt for a benchtop planer, and I had been thinking on the Bauer model at HF. 

I had been on the fence for a while, but they texted me about a 20% Off sale for Inside Track Members. I’m sure you know that because you all signed up for the IT Club after hearing me suggest it, right??? 

Anyway, the 20% off got me a go-ahead from my wife, so we went to our local HF to grab the planer. 

As fate would have it though, they were out of stock.

When I told the manager, she gave me a handwritten note, honoring the 20% Sale for us until she got the planer back in stock. Now is that customer service, or what?! 

Just another reason for me to love HF. They have never disappointed me, in years of buying from them. Definitely the Chick-fil-A of tool companies! 

 

Also, if you’ve watched or listened to us before, you know that I never record a show without having a cup of coffee in my hand. 

I try to give a shout out to some our favorite people by using a coffee mug with their company logo or favorite saying on it. 

Today I’m sipping my coffee from a mug from the folks at Cables & Kits. 

Craig and Christin Haynie and their girls are close friends of our family, and our families worship together at Corner-Stone Church. They also happen to own Cables & Kits. Their story is amazing, and the Haynies are pretty awesome, themselves. 

Folks who have known us for a while may remember Craig’s character for one of our church programs…Yazeem and his Used Camel Emporium. LOL! (Prices SO LOW! You’ll slap yo’ mama!) 

Cables & Kits specializes in Network Infrastructure Technology for mid and Enterprise Level companies. Products such as Ethernet and fiber cables, switches, and other communications products. Shop on their site at CablesAndKits.com, or call to speak with a customer service rep or account manager. I’m going to leave a link to their website down below and in the show notes so they’ll be easy to find. 

Cables & Kits is inspiring in so many ways, especially to another small business person. The company is just incredibly well-run and their level of respect in the marketplace is off the charts. We are blessed to know them, and blessed to have one of their coffee mugs! 

Thank you Craig and Christin for a coffee cup that is exactly what I expected…so much better than it has to be. And as I’ve said many times here, the coffee cup a company sends us is absolutely a direct indication of the level of business that company provides. It’s a truth that I swear by. And with that in mind, I have no doubt that C&K is doing everything better than they have to. Thank you, guys! 

 

Alright…Setting Up A Small Shop. Whoa…where do we begin? 

I’m going to give you some general points that I think every shop owner needs to consider, then we’ll break those apart a little bit more. Still though, as I mentioned, this is just going to be an overview. We’ll going to really get down in the mud in the coming weeks and do some “splorin’”. 

So our Six Main Points for Setting Up A Small Shop… 

  1. Decide what you’re going to be doing 
  2. Know your budget 
  3. Tool Selection 
  4. Layout your space. Sq Ft. 
  5. Buildings? 
  6. Plan for the future 

Decide what you’re going to be doing 

  • Hobby 
  • Small Business 
  • Signs 
  • Cabinets 
  • HQ 
  • Wood Turning 
  • Furniture 
  • Deliveries? 
  • Storing lots of materials? 

Budget 

  • Dream big. But stay grounded. 
  • As with tools, do the best you can, now. 
  • Use an existing space. 
  • DIY 

Tool Selection 

  • Work Bench – most important. I’m going to devote an entire episode to this. What do you already have? 
  • What else do you need? 
  • Buy used? 
  • Review our episodes 2-5 
  • Harbor Freight – See the Family Handyman link in the notes 
  • Name Brand? 
  • Look for other shops 
  • GOOB 
  • Growing 

Lay It Out 

  • Ref The Wood Whisperer - https://thewoodwhisperer.com/articles/12-shop-layout-tips/ 
  • Know 1 and 2 
  • Tool selection will determine what you have to work with 
  • What is your central tool? 
  • Look at work flow 
  • Give yourself elbow room 
  • Explore multi-use areas – assembly, sanding, taping, etc. 
  • Look at workstations that fold away – router table, sander 
  • Roll around tools. – Drill press. Any large tool actually. 
  • Easy cleanup. Dust collection? 
  • Lighting 
  • Heat and Fans? 
  • Power 

Buildings? 

  • Basement/Man Cave 
  • Driveway/Yard 
  • Carport or Garage 
  • Shed. Expandable. 
  • Simple Building. 
  • Premade building 
  • Steel shop 
  • Rent or Lease 
  • Buy a building on location 

Plan to Grow 

  • No matter your level, you will always need more room down the road 
  • Expandable floor plan 
  • Wall that can go 
  • Connected Buildings 
  • Go up - attic 

 

OK. That was a very quick high pass over our Small Shop Setup criteria. Be sure to come back next week where we’ll jump into some big hairy details about Deciding You Shop’s Purpose, and maybe a little about your Budget and how to afford all that awesomeness. 

And if you have questions or comments about anything you’ve heard today, then definitely let me know what you think. I’m always looking for great questions! 

One last thing…if you enjoyed this episode, please take a second and leave us a great review. And, wherever you’re listening, we would love it if you subscribe to our podcast and become a regular listener. 

Also, if you’re watching us on YouTube, then obviously we post a video of each Podcast Episode on our Apple Valley Farm (our woodworking business) YouTube Channel. Definitely like, comment and subscribe to us there as well. 

And finally, if you’d like to learn even more about us, you can check out the show notes and head over to www.applevalleyfarmga.com for things like our store, our woodworking projects and lots, lots more. 

That’s it. Have a great day. Thanks again. And I’ll see you next time…on Everyday Woodworking. 

Apple Valley Farm YouTube Channel - https://www.youtube.com/c/AppleValleyFarmGA 

Everyday Woodworking on Anchor.com - https://anchor.fm/everydaywoodworking 

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/AppleValleyFarmGA 

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/applevalleyfarmga 

Cables and Kits - https://www.cablesandkits.com/ 

The Wood Whisperer - https://thewoodwhisperer.com/articles/12-shop-layout-tips/ 

The Family Handyman (link to a Harbor Freight article) - https://www.familyhandyman.com/list/things-harbor-freight-employees-wont-tell-you/ 

We also couldn’t make the Everyday Woodworking podcast happen without a LOT of help from our friends behind the scenes. 

Thanks to the folks at https://www.online-convert.com/ for helping us convert our files into the formats we need. 

And Infinite thanks to the Audacity family. For helping us put it all together in the greatest audio production software on the planet. - https://www.audacityteam.org/ 

(The music we use here on EW comes to us courtesy of our friends at Purple Planet Music. All rights reserved. Used with permission. Music: https://www.purple-planet.com )

This Episode can be found at - https://anchor.fm/everydaywoodworking/episodes/Setting-Up-A-Small-Shop-1-erc4u2

 

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