Building Out the Workspace

I love tools, and there was only one thing that could make me rip out the six-foot double-door tool cabinet I'd built some years ago: I needed more space to work on the Singers. After a while, tearing down 15-91s on your desk or kitchen table just doesn't cut it anymore. So I compressed my tools into denser storage and got to work.

  I salvaged some 2x3s left over in the photo studio from a shoot and ordered a couple more from a local lumberyard. Did some quick calculations and hit 'em with the chopsaw. Ripped a sheet of 3/4" birch plywood and rounded off the edges with a router. Nothing fancy, no trim necessary.

  Also routed a little half-circle in the back consistent with an electrical conduit running up the wall of my place. Plywood's eight feet long but I had nine feet of space, so I cut an extra piece, seen here at right. Then I polyurethaned the surfaces and edges, three quick coats with sanding in between.

  I scored six black Steelcase file cabinets for free off of Freecycle. Placed 'em side-by-side with space in the middle for my legs. The toughest part was shimming and leveling them all, the floors in my place are six kinds of crooked.

Then I laid the simple 2x3 lattice on top, screwing it into the cabinets from the bottom.

Dropped the plywood sheets on top of that with a couple of pocket screws to keep it in place.Next I just needed to populate it with machines.

That last part wasn't a problem.