Jaw dropping woodworking hobby shop (video)

[Ries]

I think the saddest thing is not the amount the tools cost, but the fact that it wasnt, apparently, a working shop.

I dont care how much money you spend, if you use the damn things. And that would apply to Ferrari's, too- if you enjoy em, and drive em, good on ya.

Rivett and I know a guy who has no money worries, and who has an amazing shop full of old and new rose engine lathes, along with all kinds of other expensive and beautiful machines, including one of the last new HLVH's made- but he is out there all the time making sawdust and chips. Seeing a bunch of fresh sawdust underneath one of the new Armbruster Rose Engine lathes is very cool, especially since the price for the bare machine is "if you have to ask, you cant afford it", and this one is decked out with all kinds of expensive options on top of that.

Me, I am trying to get the timing right so most of my tools will be plumb wore out at about the same time I kick the bucket- so I dont worry a lot about "pristine". My shop liquidation wont look anything like this guys- I have some cool, rare, expensive machines, with wear marks and scratched paint and a few shopmade replacement parts on em.

Rather than worship in the temple of perfect objects, I wanna make dirt and noise in the shop behind the curtain.

[hlvhowner]

Rather than worship in the temple of perfect objects, I wanna make dirt and noise in the shop behind the curtain.

Amen to that!

[rivett608]

Reis I agree with you. BTW... is that shop you mention on an island? If it is one I think it is a visitor once said to the gentleman..... I didn't know you HAD a village.

[Milacron]

WOW what a shop...... there are shops like that out there and it makes you wonder how many of them get disbanded privately and we never hear about, the family thinking it's just some tools out in the garage and we'll let one of the handymen have them cheap. Keep in mind to someone with the means to have a shop like this it is most likely more of an annoyance to deal with in the big picture of settling the estate, to us it seems like a major asset. To them it is pocket change.

I've heard from a Felder rep that every once in a while they will get a call from a doctor that bought one of their best multi- machines ($25,000 and up) that they want to sell, and eight years after they bought it it's still bolted to the shipping pallet...they never got around to unpacking it !

[Ries]

Yes, Rivett, its the one on an island.

Although, personally, I cant really be talking, as I have over a dozen buildings on my farm, so I have my own village. Unfortunately, what that means in reality is that I am the village plumber, electrician, carpenter, and general repairman.

The more you have, the more time you spend keeping it all operating.

[gdavis2265]

You can bet his daughter bought him that Kobalt tool box for Christmas.

"So Dad, do you like it?"

"agh, eh, yea sweetie, - it's perfect.."

[Steve in SoCal]

You can bet his daughter bought him that Kobalt tool box for Christmas.

"So Dad, do you like it?"

"agh, eh, yea sweetie, - it's perfect.."

I am not so sure of that. There are plenty of things that are not up to par with the rest of the equipment. The more you look at that video the more it looks like a showroom or display area, the three racks of perfect clamps? The stacks of stuff that was taken out of boxes and "placed" in the scene. It almost looks like a set for a home show or something?

Steve

[John Welden]

I guess no matter how hard you try, you can't buy craftsmanship.

[hlvhowner]

It almost looks like a set for a home show or something?Steve

Join us on Saturday morning when Norm will show you how to make a genuine reproduction Hepplewhite footstool worth $49.95 with $150,000 worth of power tools!

[bryan_machine]

I'm a "retired" type with a nice shop. "retired" means I don't worry about a day job any more. That shouldn't be confused with watching soap operas while eat ice cream.

Some of the notes above directly agree with my experience and what I've observed in others:

a. Spend enough time on software, and your desire to make physical things that don't have to be compatible with something made in 1988 can be large. Also, cleanup is done with a broom rather than squads of lawyers.

b. You could buy my (nice) building and everything (some of it very nice) inside it for less then the price of a common class of cruiser. Pacific Northwest marinas are full of boats that are, uh em, not for the budget minded.

c. You could buy the building and everything in it for 1 year's budget for a certain level of racing cars - that's the racing, not the car itself. I'm sure big time sail boat racing, horses, etc. have the same property.

d. Bentley's are chump change compared to big boats, racing programs, private jets, etc.

e. I've met a couple of fellows who have spent large sums, er, working through, their less than salutory relationships with the opposite sex. In short, trophy spouses can run up quite a bill. Especially for the man who insists on more than one.

The building is unlikely to sink, and unlikely to be converted into nothing but loud noises. I can actually claim it's an investment.

I've been working in it lots lately, and making things, and need to get a better vacuum for the chips.

Space is always an issue - large new building makes you feel you have infinite space - and then, pretty quickly, you realize you don't.

[Frederick Harvie]

I wonder what the actual cost of buying all that stuff new was- I kinda think that, by woodworking tool standards, it was a lot, but relative to other things people spend money on, it is, as my mother in law used to say, "bupkis".

[/url]

I agree to many this shop would be beyond there wildest dreams but there are a surprising number of people out there with literaly more money then they know what to do with. Over the years I have done some work for a very high end custom staircase maker and have ended up in houses up to 30,000 square feet in the 30 to 50 million range most often owned by people that you would never of heard of. the amount of personal wealth in North America is at times astonishing

[rivett608]

"make a genuine reproduction Hepplewhite footstool worth $49.95 with $150,000 worth of power tools!" is it worth that much if it is never finished?

Also notice in the video....... not a lot of good wood... I saw some plywood but where was the stack of 20" wide tiger maple or whatever?

[gmatov]

I read once, in, I think Fine Woodworking, about a guy who did the same thing. Built a beautiful woodworking shop, and was showing it off to a friend. Absolutely spotless. His wife told the friend that he BOUGHT TOOLS, NEVER made anything with them.

He liked collecting wood working tools.

Harmless hobby, if you can afford it.

JohnW,

"I guess no matter how hard you try, you can't buy craftsmanship. "

Not a man on here was a "Craftsman" from Day ONE. YOU were NOT. You may brag on what you can do, NOW!!

There WAS a time that YOU were a metal butcher. You may have put that out of your mind.

gdavis,

"You can bet his daughter bought him that Kobalt tool box for Christmas.

"So Dad, do you like it?"

"agh, eh, yea sweetie, - it's perfect.."

Had one of MY daughters bought me that box, I would have told them I loved it. I am at the age, I need nothing, that B'Day and Christmas, and Father's Day gifts would satisfy.

I don't even want gift cards, gimme a greeting card, and forget about trying to get me something I MIGHT like. I have LOTS of that stuff.

I have a couple gifts that I treasure. A coffee cup with the youngest G'sons glazed into it, only cup I have used for the last 3 years. I fear breaking it. Hard bound book with pics of me and my kids, and they quote why they like their Jedo.

Stuff like that might be kitsch to you guys with both money and knowledge of what makes a "good toolbox"

Should she have bought a Kurt Vise. She has NO IDEA what a Kurt vise IS. HE has no idea, if you are all right.

George

[John Stevenson]

He also had the most impressive looking power feed unit on the Martin jointer that I've ever seen.

Don,
Standard power feed this side of the pond.
Usually have a 2 or 3 speed gearbox coupled with a two speed motor.
Pulled many to pieces to rob the motors for small lathes.

[stephen thomas]

The feeder mounted to the jointer is a generic all purpose feeder, not designed for and not ideal for a jointer. Here's what a proper jointer (facer) feeder looks like. Spring loaded fingers haul the work along, instead of rollers pressing it down.



smt

[Brian@VersaMil]

Stephen, well I was wondering how I was going to be able to joint 30 inch wide boards ( That I DON'T have) on a 30 inch wide jointer that I DO have.
Never seen a power feed like that before!

My hats off to the guy who put his little dream shop together. Maybe he doesn't know diddly about making things, but he lived his dream. Nothing wrong with
that. It looks like about a 150K shop maybe 200K. He could have bought a mid-sixties Ferrari- a MUNDANE one at that, parked it and never drove it. Frankly I think
it's admirable that somebody did this rather than just buy some car. Who cares that it's NOT a real workable shop- the guy probably had more fun putting it together
than collecting stamps or books or art.

[motion guru]

I have a different take on this kind of stuff -

I am good friends with the guy that used to run Bridge City Tools - he had stories about folks who would order one of everything in the catalog every few years. They they would die and the widow or kids would call up wondering what they were worth, often times never even out of the box.

He who dies with the most toys is still dead . . .

In all honesty - I have had two friends die in the last year who were old truck nuts - (as am I) . . . after seeing what their families went through divesting themselves of various old trucks and buildings full of parts - all for pennies on the dollar of what they could have fetched if properly identified, cataloged and sold. . . . I suddenly got into the selling mode and have sold off a '36 Chevy suburban, '35 Pickup, '49 Pickup and a slew of engines and parts - I have too much crap and I'll never get around to working on everything I have.

Outfitting a shop like this is more an effort to find some kind of pleasure or satisfaction - dreaming that you will someday use them to achieve something meaningful yet you never get out of your funk long enough to actually use them for their intended purpose. An apt description of empty idolatry.

[Weirsdale George]

I bet this is one of those “who has the biggest penis things”. Five will get you ten that he has a friend/associate/whatever who is a woodworker and had to outdo him, equipment wise. Such a waste of money and equipment.

[Newman109]

The other thing is the shop seemed ridiculously small and tight for such large machines. I'll bet the guy was making small craft items and yet planning on using a 20 inch jointer ! Frankly I don't see how he'd even manuver a sheet of plywood in there. Shoulda spent more on the building first but maybe he had zoning issues.

There's definitely not ehough space for that number of machines. I've been in many of the major wood manufacturing plants in California during my former employment in the workers compensation field. The ones I've seen would have much more room around each of those machines, especially if there were some employees operating them. The place looked more like a showroom for machine sales to me.

It's also interesting that the machines got installed and then really not used. Change of heart perhaps?

[Milacron]

I bet this is one of those “who has the biggest penis things”. Five will get you ten that he has a friend/associate/whatever who is a woodworker and had to outdo him, equipment wise. Such a waste of money and equipment.

I suppose that's possible, but seems unlikely. From my woodworker and Omnijig selling days I got the impression the most common woodworker frame of mind was to try and impress folks with how little machinery they can get away with to make this or that. Plus it was Myrtle Beach for gawds sake...not exactly Newport...