photos of workshops

[Tabby66]

Nice workshop. I have an eye on my son's room.........if only he'd move out!!

[bruggen]

Thanks Tabby66, before this I managed to move my son (teen) from the second bedroom into the smaller back bedroom, we then extended and my son stayed in the little room the former workshop became a wardroom room for my wife and the former main bedroom became the guest bedroom, so it can be done and he is not too upset, really, I think! So good luck, I made the benches myself, much much cheaper than buying one, does help we have a good sawmill near.

[jille]

I love seeing other people's workshops :-))
i moved into my sons room, he got a surprise at Christmas LOL!
I wish we had a garage I could convert, the shed is too cold and damp

[Steffi]

So many tools and neat storage units etc that you all have, i'm very jealous! Haha :P
My 'workshop' is currently the corner of my bedroom! Roll out of bed in to the chair at my desk and scoot along to the bench! More space (and tools!) though would be great, aaah one day! Xx

[emroyjewels]

Hi guys - wow there are some awesome workspaces here!

I am in the process of looking for a new bench / studio set up since my hammering bench is currently a cheap sawhorse from B&Q. I have other tables too, but am trying to get something more consistent. I was thinking of making the tim mccreight version - but can anyone tell me what it's like for noise dampening?

I do a LOT of hammering, and need a surface that deadens the sound, rather than accentuates it. My last attempt at a work surface was a piece of pine, which had a bit of an echo. I'm really trying to find something "neighbour friendly" that will deaden the noise I make or at least reduce it a little bit.

I work on a carpeted timber floor, and have been looking at installing a floating floor or some sort of acoustic dampening system as well. So I guess the question is three-fold -

a) what is your work surface and how does it stand up to hammering noise
b) what floor surface do you have
c) have to taken any particular measures to deaden the sound of your work and did it work effectively?

Thanks in advance.

[Goldsmith]

If I was looking for a new bench then you cannot beat Emir benches, If the prices are too high check out this seller of 2nd hand tools, they have some 4 ft square beech wood Emir benches that are built for heavy work, see;http://www.gandmtools.co.uk/cat_leaf.php?id=7586 , they are woodwork benches probably from a school workshop, but they could easily be adapted for silversmithing and even have a semi circle, jeweler's work area cut out along one edge.
James

[Dennis]

The best I have tried for noise dampening, Emma, is an upended tree stump about 600mm tall, with the top hollowed out to retain a lage sand bag. Failing that, a blanket folded many times with a sand bag ontop. Regards,Dennis.

[Kwant]

I wear earplugs while bashing out scrap from molten lumps ( I have no roller) and luckily we have no close neighbours. On the subject of sandbags, I wondered if I could make my own, using beach sand wrapped in multiple layers of plastic bags, then stitching that into a couple of sheets of softish leather. Has anybody tried this?

[Joe]

Urethane sheet is used industrially for sound-dampening in hammering processes... This one from Rio is rather expensive for a tiny pad. Cooksons have some hard rubber blocks which are ok... but too small for most of my purposes ( I do use one under my lead block).

I must check out some of the UK urethane suppliers sometime (Eg Gelmec ), they offer 0.5m sheets which sound ideal.

[Dennis]

The improvised sand bags I have seen, threatened to give way due to the corners of metal blocks worming their way in. I think this is partly because the covers were not resistant enough, but also because the were underfilled.
My bought one is now sixteen years old and shows little sign of wear. It is covered with thick hide and glued at the edges. It has a double row of stitches and is very firmly stuffed. I think a saddler would do a good job. Dennis.