Harvey’s Studio
01 / 17
Floor Plan
In the spring of 2002 I had the urgent need to rebuild my shop after spending time in the shop of Eileen Duffy on St. John. For the previous four years I had been in my basement, turning. As in most crafts, this is a solitary pursuit. Turning in the isolation of my basement had became oppressive. With the opportunity of rebuilding came the opportunity to re-design the space,…
02 / 17
Lathe room
…correcting all the inconveniences that were inherent in the basement setup, which grew from a small area to half of the basement. The major issues for me were that the shop was always dirty, from sanding dust,…
03 / 17
Tool wall looking toward lake
…shavings and sandpaper scraps, and there was not enough conveniently located wall space to hold all the items that I wanted at hand. My new shop, formerly a screened in porch and shed, has 250 square feet. The solution to the dirt and space problem was to create a 7 x 8 feet lathe room (see floor…
04 / 17
Back and side wall
…plan). This gave me three walls on which to hang tools, sandpaper and finishing supplies, calipers, etc. It also gave a door that can be closed while turning, so the rest of the shop stays relatively clean. Having bought a new lathe, a Stubby 1000, in 2001 it became apparent that I work from all three sides at different times. I therefore…
05 / 17
Tool rack detail
…mounted the lathe in the center of the room, facing a wall of windows. (After all, that was the reason to move the shop!) I built a cement block, concrete-filled foundation and bolted the lathe to it, after elevating it 4" for convenience.
06 / 17
Tool sharpening area
Instead of covering the walls in sheet rock, I covered them in 1/2" plywood so I could fasten anything anywhere. The addition of pegboard on three walls completed the package. I painted the walls…
07 / 17
workbench
…a nice sunny yellow and, as you can see from the picture, I also painted my lathe. It was originally black. In the design phase of the project I knew that the motors that I have running at various times -- dust collector, fresh air source, vacuum pump, and air compressor -- all make noise. To solve that problem I built a 4 x 3 feet soundproof room. I wired four outlets…
08 / 17
Workbench detail, marble work area
…in the soundproof room to four switches on one wall of the lathe room. This gave me easy control of all the motors. I also ran all the wires for the whole project on the surface. Now I can add, remove or change lights and switches whenever necessary. While we are talking about electric system, I ran everything but the heat through an electrical contactor. That means
09 / 17
The next 3 pictures show the conversion of my drafting table to a photo set. that EVERYTHING goes on and off with one switch. Nothing can be left running. As for the rest of the project, all tables are 38" off the floor; there are plenty of outlets to plug things into and almost nothing is sitting on the floor. Tables are cantilevered off the wall; shelves and band saw are also wall mounted. Cleanup is easy. No…
10 / 17
…underneath's. A wet sink, small frig, and a urinal give me all comforts of home. The project took from Memorial day until the end of September, '02 to complete. Since then I have been rearranging the tools so that they are where I use them most. It appears that most are used in the lathe room.
11 / 17
The great part of the move is that I no longer track debris through the house and can watch the change of seasons on the lake.
12 / 17
I wear a full hood while turning. There is an air pump outside that feeds clean outside air to the hood. I don't breathe filtered air.
13 / 17
Turning a recess in the bowl in the following picture.
14 / 17
My router jig. This is the way I get all the fine detail. The development of this jig, so far, has been a three-year project. It enables me to make cuts indexed horizontally, vertically or rotationally. Different attachments permit me to limit the length, the start and stop locations, and the depth of the cuts.
15 / 17
This is not the bowl I was turning in the previous picture, but it demonstrates the detail that I can get.
16 / 17
This is a photo of me using my new three axis jig. This can do things, that is make cuts, that I haven't yet fully explored. This is the jig I used for the square bowl in my 2003 collection.
17 / 17
Needless to say, this is the view out of my window. The lake is frozen, the sun is coming up, and the air is warm. The fog is rolling along. HEAVEN.