Put the Skee-Ball Machine Down by the Stuffed Moose, Boys

I am working on my lofty sanctuary.

The new (still new to me) house has a big upstairs room where I hang out, and I am getting it ready for more effective use. This room has to be my office, music room, TV room, gymnasium, and upstairs workshop.

It doesn’t have to be, exactly. I have spare bedrooms. But using this room for multiple functions seems like the way to go.

I’ve had my recliner, couch, and entertainment system up here for a long time, along with the exercise equipment, some musical things, and the computer. But I haven’t done much to organize it or add a tool area. Last week I moved all the furniture, got rid of some things, and started adding tools. I even vacuumed.

As noted in an earlier post, I have a prefab workbench on the way. Sneer if you want. It would cost me something like $150 to cobble something together from two-by-fours, and it would be a big pain in the butt. I will end up putting about $250 in the prefab bench, and it should be up and running an hour after UPS drops it off.

The bench won’t be here for three more days. I’m using a folding table in the interim. Once the bench is here, I plan to use it for electronic instruments and whatever else shouldn’t be on the bench itself.

I’ll show you what I’ve done so far, and you will have to accept it and continue functioning if I go over things I mentioned last week.

I’ve been picking up tools. I’m not trying to have a complete shop up here. That would be redundant. I’m trying to assemble enough tools to prevent me from having to go up and down the stairs 300 times whenever I have something to do on the second floor. Also, it will be nice to have a bench within view of the big TV/monitor. These days, you have to be a fool not to use the Internet when you work on things.

I’m not trying to locate the finest tools on earth. I just want things that will work well and not fall apart. If something fails, I can always go to the main shop and get something better.

The bench itself will be Chinese, of course. It will have a light fixture, pegboard and hooks, a big drawer, a solid wood top, and a power strip.

I got myself a Tekton socket set. It was pretty cheap, and it’s Taiwanese. It will cover the vast majority of jobs I need to handle up here. Looks very nice.

I needed screwdrivers, so I got the blue Felo set in the photo. Seven drivers which will turn most screws. I also have a cheap set of Grace gunsmithing screwdrivers, and I think I’m going to leave my old Wiha precision drivers up here and get new ones for the main shop.

No intelligent person turns screws manually when he has a choice, so I have a DeWalt gyroscopic screwdriver.

I love the Ridgid Jobmax. Make fun if you want, but if you’ve tried one, you know how handy they are for little jobs that involve multiple power tools. They saw. They sand. They turn fasteners. They drill. I had a cordless Jobmax plus one with a cord. I am replacing the cordless one the main shop with an 18-volt version with more grunt, and I’m moving the old cordless up here. I got a few new tool heads because…stairs.

A long time ago, before I realized my dad was becoming demented, I bought him a 12-volt Panasonic drill and impact driver set. The set was cheaper than the driver all by itself. Go figure. The drill is small, but it will work fine for most of what I’ll do here. The driver is very nice indeed. It can’t match my corded Makita, but it’s a very serious tool. This set has crappy non-lithium batteries, but my dad has never used it, so they ought to give me a year or two of good use.

I got me a set of Bondhus ball-end hex wrenches for a pretty good price. There is no excuse for skimping on quality when the best costs $18 and garbage costs $14.

I splurged on Klein side-cutting pliers. Very expensive for little pliers, but people love them, and I was feeling whimsical.

I have a set of Gearwrench metric and standard box wrenches on the way. I thought I could use some tools we already had, but I was wrong. A long time ago, I bought a set of Craftsman sockets and wrenches for my dad’s boat, and I wanted to use them up here. When I opened the box, I saw that some of the items had walked away. People who work on boats are very dishonest, which is unfortunate, because the vast majority are also incompetent.

Individual Craftsman sockets and wrenches cost a lot to replace, even when entire sets are cheap. I looked at replacements and decided I was better off getting the Gearwrenches. The quality is better, and the price is very good.

I also found a great price on a set of Craftsman metric and standard ignition wrenches. These things are very handy.

I will probably get some kind of bench block. I’m not sure what to do about workholding. My feeling is that if a job requires me to use a vise, I should probably take it to the main shop.

I’ll be putting my Ersa soldering station here. It’s too nice for the garage. I can move my old Weller out there.

The lamp is the one from my electronics station back in Miami. I’ve been using it as a living room lamp. I’m going to get a floor lamp from Home Depot to light the room. I have articulated magnifier lamps I’m not using, and I will probably put one on the bench and put the one in the photo elsewhere.

I don’t know what to do about seating. The bench is taller than the table (which can be raised). I have a very, very, VERY expensive ($1400) ergonomic office chair my dad doesn’t use any more. If I can raise it high enough, I’ll make it my tool chair. If not, I’ll have to think.

I’m sorely tempted to move my CNC lathe up here. I have the wall space for it. Hobby CNC is a computer-intensive game, and it would be nice to do it near the main PC and the fridge.

When all is said and done, I will live in obscene luxury up here. I will be able to watch my favorite Youtube tool gurus from my workbench in total comfort. Guys I went to high school with are probably fussing over the color schemes for their new Lear jets, but to me, a couch, a recliner, and a nice workbench equal extreme self-indulgence.

If I were married, my wife would be reading over my shoulder and working on the necessary papers to put me in a mental home. When you’re a single man, putting a CNC lathe in your den is not a problem. I could put a mechanical bull in here if I felt like it.

I have started to think the machine tools (the big ones) should be in the garage, not the main shop. Space in the main shop is not as generous as I had hoped (at least the way I have things arranged now), and the temperature in the garage is usually more comfortable. Also, it’s nice to have space between your machine tools and the things that throw sawdust.

I need to make a firm decision and get a quote from an electrician.

In any case, I am living the dream. I know you want to be me, especially if you live in a house full of throw pillows, cats that aren’t stuffed, potpourri, and Hummel figurines.

I’m going to go over to the table and smell the tools now. Don’t wait up.