Workshop Tour - April 2005

Welcome to this extensive tour of a workshop made famous, by, erm, well it might be famous one day. Please try to keep together and if you get lost please look out for the 26" Spear & Jackson handsaw I?ll be waving over my head in lieu of an umbrella. Remember we have to be back at the coach by four, so no dawdling?

Please note things have changed a little since I first put together the tour, but nothing monumental

	It's a floor plan - sort of; North is up and so forth. You're coming in through the door at the bottom right hand side.
	Through the door, one of two although the second is rarely used, into this granite-walled ex-farm building. Will tall members of the group please avoid hitting their heads on the security light? It does double duty; security and lighting the tired woodworker back up the garden path at night.
	Immediately to your left you?ll notice the fire extinguisher (near the door so you can get out in a hurry if it doesn?t halt the flames?), First Aid Kit, sink and steps up into, er, the wall.. Moving swiftly past the sink; no, don?t look, it?s a bit of a?
	Oh, you looked. Erm, every workshop needs a glory hole or two, and this is one of them. The Belfast sink was rescued from the garden, cold running water only. All the various pots and containers get used for glue, stains, parts of tools, you name it. Very useful, but a pain to store until they?re wanted.
	Going up the steps we find to our right the entrance to the timber store. This is an enclosed raised platform, about 4 ft off the ground, occupying approximately an 8?x4? area, furnished with an 8? length of ex-village store shelving. There was some thought amongst experts that this related to some sort of tribal custom, but apparently it was simply to take advantage of the 9? (minimum) ceiling height. See, there's some newly delivered Cherry, Beech and Walnut stowed on the bottom shelf. Most of it's now visible in other guises on the Projects page.
	On the end wall of the timber store, next to the doorway, are hung levels and straight edges.
	Continuing around to the side wall of the timber store, we find some local fauna, in the shape of a ?Rat. Please refrain from screaming, ladies. It?s quite harmless. Some experimenting with T-track and a stop can be seen to the right. The small set of drawers holds router bits and toys to keep the ?Rat happy.
	Below the ?Rat we find the advantage of the raised timber store. Here we find eight boxes, six of which are filled with rare historical artefacts. You might call them rusty tools waiting to be cleaned? Behind them lives the garden shredder, which can be accessed from the end without disturbing the boxes. Also present is The Table, which needs a proper home before I bring a tour group here again. The buckets function as bins; one for rubbish, one for burnable scrap and one for, er, whatever's left over that won?t fit in either of the others.
	Above the rodent we find the first of many kitchen cupboards. This one holds various bench, moulding and rebate planes, plus a woodie jointer or two on the top. Problem? What problem?
	This way please; quick as you can. Under the other half of the timber store is a cupboard for some of the power tools. I made it very early on in this workshop, it?s moved around considerably, but it?s been tremendously useful - if butt ugly.
	Now for perhaps the most outstanding feature of this tour. Above the cupboard we find?   An area of empty wall   Unlikely that this will be preserved for long, but for the moment please feast your eyes. Postcards of it are available from the shop?

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