Ultimate Workshop Tour

[Mario Turcot]

First of  [welcome] back to the FOG froum and RESPECT

Thank you for having Richard doing a shop tour. I also appreciate the fact that you took the time to explain how most of your tools works.

I am a big fan of your dovetail jig... thank you for the pictures  [thumbs up]

 

[BMH]

Thank you for the shop tour and the explanation on how these tools work for you. Could you give me more details about your vacuum  table it is on my shop upgrade list for a project.

Thank you again

Bruce

 

[martin felder]

The Barth table is my favorite "tool".  The best part of it is the ability of it to hydraulically raise and lower with a very nice range.  You can work on cabinets or do assembly with it low, and do certain things with hand tools or sanders with it above the normal height.  A bonus is the vacuum hold down clamps.  I never use it as a rolling cart.  I see there is a video on it


I wish the holes were the same size as the smaller Festool holes.  There are a limited number of (expensive) clamp options from Barth, and you have to use a lathe to make dowels if you want home made accessories (so far, I have not found metric or other dowels that fit just right for jig making.

I rarely use my traditional workbench except as a counter top to set things on, often as clutter.

 

[jeffinsgf]

snip
I wish the holes were the same size as the smaller Festool holes.  There are a limited number of (expensive) clamp options from Barth, and you have to use a lathe to make dowels if you want home made accessories (so far, I have not found metric or other dowels that fit just right for jig making.

I rarely use my traditional workbench except as a counter top to set things on, often as clutter.

Any reason not to make a new top for it with 20mm holes on 96mm centers?

 

[AtomicRyan]

Human nature is interesting... It's oddly natural to search out the kink in the armor of someone who has more. With tools, that kink is often something along the lines of:

"Oh... I could do that just as well if I had the kind of tools he does."

Or,

"That guy has it easy because he has so much money."

Of course, the irony here is that these sentiments are being expressed on a Festool forum.

***

In any regard, I do my best to repress that natural sense of jealousy and in its place find appreciation and replace that search for kinks with a quest for knowledge.

"Oh man, look at that table saw I could never afford. It amazes me humans have come from cavemen with sticks and stones to walking creatures of innovation capable of making such things."

And,

"That guy has been more successful at creating revenue than I have been. He must work his ass off. What can I learn from what he has done?"

***

Point being, everyone comes from somewhere... And everyone has their own problems.

 

[ChuckM]

Snip.

Point being, everyone comes from somewhere... And everyone has their own problems.

And my problem is that I don't have space for any more tools (my shop is my double garage which also houses two SUVs at night!). But that could be a blessing in disguise meaning I must resist every bit of temptation to buy new or more Festool tools. Must have saved me tons of money.  [tongue]

 

[Jiggy Joiner]

Very nice workshop, I appreciate nice things myself. If somebody can afford, and buys nice things, good luck to them.  [wink]

 

[DynaGlide]

The Barth table is my favorite "tool".  The best part of it is the ability of it to hydraulically raise and lower with a very nice range.  You can work on cabinets or do assembly with it low, and do certain things with hand tools or sanders with it above the normal height.  A bonus is the vacuum hold down clamps.  I never use it as a rolling cart.  I see there is a video on it


I wish the holes were the same size as the smaller Festool holes.  There are a limited number of (expensive) clamp options from Barth, and you have to use a lathe to make dowels if you want home made accessories (so far, I have not found metric or other dowels that fit just right for jig making.

I rarely use my traditional workbench except as a counter top to set things on, often as clutter.

That's what I want out of my vac sys setup. I made a thread on the cart I built for it and it's very functional but I'd love to have the ability to raise and lower like yours. I was aware of the Barth setup before I built it but couldn't figure out a sensible way to make my own with what I had.

 

[egmiii]

snip
I wish the holes were the same size as the smaller Festool holes.  There are a limited number of (expensive) clamp options from Barth, and you have to use a lathe to make dowels if you want home made accessories (so far, I have not found metric or other dowels that fit just right for jig making.

I rarely use my traditional workbench except as a counter top to set things on, often as clutter.

Any reason not to make a new top for it with 20mm holes on 96mm centers?

Possibly cost if you want to exactly replicate what is already there. You would need a sheet of 30mm Appleply, then veneer a HPL later, create a CAD file for the holes and vacuum pods, and have it cut on a CNC. Easily a $500 job, but cheaper than the original at $1200.

 

[Cheese]

Any reason not to make a new top for it with 20mm holes on 96mm centers?

I think the center-to-center distance not being 96 mm is less of an issue than the diameter of the holes themselves.

I'd keep the top as it is, it certainly seems more robust than the typical 18 mm thick top. Depending upon the ID of the existing holes, I'd machine a bevy of aluminum adapter rings. The OD being the ID of the existing holes and the ID being 20 mm.

To retain the adapter rings without resorting to a flange, I'd machine a small o'ring groove around the periphery and through experimenting with the depth of the groove and the section thickness of the o'ring you'd arrive at a combination that would allow good adapter ring retention along with easy placement & removal.

Probably a dozen or so would get you by.  [smile]

 

[Roachmill]

I could easily fit every single one of those tools in my 10x4' shed. You just see if I can't! I'll send you the shipping details in just a moment [big grin]

Anyroad, that's a lovely looking shop you have there and I hope you and Richard can work something out. He seems like a fine fellow who will never stop learning.

 

[greg mann]

I could easily fit every single one of those tools in my 10x4' shed. You just see if I can't! I'll send you the shipping details in just a moment [big grin]

Anyroad, that's a lovely looking shop you have there and I hope you and Richard can work something out. He seems like a fine fellow who will never stop learning.

What I find refreshing is that Martin feels he can learn from Richard. I suspect that humility and objective reasoning is partly responsible for his achieving what he has in life already.

 

[locaholic35]

Martin,  Thank you so much for allowing this video to be made.  We rarely get a glimpse inside very beautifully curated shops and it is a wonderful treat.  For every negative comment, there are thousands more that look on in admiration. 

 

[martin felder]

On the holes, similar to what was mentioned, I thought about trying to find something like this:
https://www.wlfuller.com/html/drill_stops.html

... a sleeve adaptor so that Festool jigs would work with the Barth table perforations.

However, I think when I am ready to make more attachments for my table, I will probably make my own using my lathe, baltic birch, and Destaco clamps.  Next would be to find a very fast easy way to secure pieces for when using the domino or biscuit joiner.

If Richard comes to do the work, I will be OK with him making videos.  On one hand, I am not in favor of the loss of privacy, but on the other hand, I am a big believer in sharing info that would help others since I have benefited from others (perhaps some of you who contribute and are reading this).  I did not have him come to see my shop or give a bid.  He told me what would work for him, I said ok, but he said he would like to see the job first, in part so I could prepare.  Ball is in his court.  After all this, I hope it will happen!

I did post pictures of a recent project in another section of his forum.

 

[greg mann]

I think one of the cool things in this thread is that with all of the wonderful high value equipment to be seen most of the complements here are over Martin’s creative dovetail jigs, tools that virtually anyone could acquire.

 

[grobkuschelig]

I also want to chime in to encourage you to keep sharing. Your shop is really a blessing, to you and to all who watch.

I always draw tremendous inspiration and motivation from seeing other peoples shops, regardless of equipment level. Mainly because there is always so much „process“ hidden in how the machines are laid out etc.

I particularly liked how you combine the shaper and the router into a „single tool“ with two different collets. Makes a lot of sense!
What your shop shows, in my opinion, is not the amount of money you spent, but rather the amount of thinking you put into shop layout, precision and safety!
And we can all learn from that!

I would like to see some of the work you do, not finished product, but actual work. I am quite sure there will be a lot of good things to learn on how to do stuff (see the interest in your dovetail jig application).

Thanks for being you and doing what you do.

 

[usernumber1]

im surprised nobody mentioned the pinball machines!

 

[Vondawg]

And guitars/amps playing area...ha! ....and I think acoustic sound panels on the ceiling

 

[stvrowe]

A Youtube friend suggested this thread since my channel is Extreme Woodworker and I seldom participate in forums.  Congratulations to Martin for such a fine shop.  Up until this video, I did not know Martin machinery even made a combo jointer/planer.

To correct some earlier statements about me, I have spent the last 40+ years as a licensed professional engineer in the nuclear power generation industry and former US Navy submarine officer.  Other than work on a framing crew in my younger years, I have never made a living doing woodworking.  I am not 'trying to make it as a Youtuber' and have not created any new content for almost 2 years.  Work schedule combined with a lot of vitriol directed at me personally in my channels comment sections were major factors in my decision to suspend production.  I may resume now that the work schedule is no longer an issue but still need to ponder this. 

On the subject of shop tours, I did a shop tour because it was requested by so many viewers.  It is a difficult decision to invite the entire world into your shop since a number of viewers will look at it as 'showing off' regardless of reality.  I recall a tour done by Popular Woodworking a number of years ago about a Martin and Kundig filled shop near St. Louis as I recall.  I think his name was Kent and I remember seeing the s***storm of negative comments before it was finally turned off.  Nobody deserves that type of treatment.  I should have known better and making a shop tour video is a mistake I will never repeat.  Honestly, if you have a shop with higher end equipment and tools, you are better off keeping it to yourself regardless of the fact that the majority of viewers will likely enjoy it.  It is a simple thing to encourage one to ignore the haters but be silent in the comment section.  Kudos to those who are willing to endure.  It is simply not worth it to me.  Perhaps my expectation that woodworkers who share a common passion and interest would actually be civil and not act like a bunch of name calling politicians is unreasonable in this day and age.  Only time will tell.

 

[ChuckM]

Yesterday I came across a news item about an 8 year-old kid making $26 million (or so) via his youtube production (don't know what his youtube videos are about). Not a subscriber of anything online, I suppose if negative comments, in addition to views, also counted towards revenue, he might have welcomed them.

I do admire people of all trades who are willing to invest their money (video equipment for example) and time in producing free videos, but Youtube has commercialized the whole sharing environment that some viewers feel cynical about the motives of their productions. These days, as a free member I can hardly find a youtube video that does not come with an ad segment at the beginning or in the middle of viewing (sometimes more than one ad).