Redo my shop

[mrhart]

Good evening all,
Ive had an abscence from woodworking and the forum due to a new job and some other stuff. It hit me that xmas is right around the corner. I got shit ta do. Elf kinda stuff. Problem is the my trophy wife got a new car and she actually wants to aprk it in the garage..oh the sacrifices one has to make. My whole shop is set up on the wrong side and I have to move it all. Sadness. It makes me tired just looking at it.
While I have a few bare walls, I was thinking of plywood sheeting the walls with 1/4" maybe and then do inexpensive french cleats ect. Should I spend more for fancy plywood or not? alot of it will be covered with "stuff". I just think it will give it a workshop look.
Thoughts or pics of your ideas are welcome.

[benush26]

A couple decades back a friend lived in Boise and found via an acquaintance, that if you call the BC main office they have a supply house with "seconds" that they don't wish to sell as product and if you are willing to take what you can get, you can get very good deals on ply and such.

If as you say you are not picky, you might call and see if that policy is still in effect. About the only requirement was that you were not a contractor that was going to use it in construction for resale. I think the structural integrity was a problem and they didn't want any law suits etc.

The only worry I might have is that 1/4" seems thin if the cupboard / cabinet was holding heavy "stuff" and what ever fasteners you use might pull out if they don't go into studs. And yes that did happen to me. Stupid or foolish enough to think that toggle bolts were any substitute for 2" lag bolts into studs!

Have fun with the new design plans!

[mrhart]

Not much response here, but at Lowes, oak and maple plywood 1/4 inch is $29 a sheet!! Holy cow. The only other choice is the cheap stuff at $15 a sheet, but its pretty rough and I don't know if I could put a finish on it very well. I need 10 sheets total and then some trim strips.
I was going to mark where studs are towards the floor so I can always find one for support later.
For my old workbench I used 11/8 sheeting and thats spendy too. But I've got to dig in somewhere.

[jere]

That big box store bought stuff is super pricey. I scrounge what I can to avoid buying new. I have found a good amount of shipping crates made from the thicker plywood, that factories and warehouses just trash. Sometimes it is in weird cuts and finish isn't anything fancy but free is hard to beat.

I find it is also good to make friends with local contractors, they throw so much useable stuff away... I guess when it's someone else s wallet...

[BuckeyeDennis]

Not much response here, but at Lowes, oak and maple plywood 1/4 inch is $29 a sheet!! Holy cow. The only other choice is the cheap stuff at $15 a sheet, but its pretty rough and I don't know if I could put a finish on it very well. I need 10 sheets total and then some trim strips.
I was going to mark where studs are towards the floor so I can always find one for support later.
For my old workbench I used 11/8 sheeting and thats spendy too. But I've got to dig in somewhere.

For about the same price, you could buy real wide plank lumber at http://boise.craigslist.org/grd/4026904662.html and panel your walls. Then if you spend another hundred bucks or so on a 10ER for a dedicated wall-mount drill press, your shop walls could look as cool as dgale's does here: http://www.shopsmith.net/forums/showpos ... ostcount=6.

I'm still trying to figure out how to make space for one of those myself!

[saminmn]

Good evening all,
Ive had an abscence from woodworking and the forum due to a new job and some other stuff. It hit me that xmas is right around the corner. I got shit ta do. Elf kinda stuff. Problem is the my trophy wife got a new car and she actually wants to aprk it in the garage..oh the sacrifices one has to make. My whole shop is set up on the wrong side and I have to move it all. Sadness. It makes me tired just looking at it.
While I have a few bare walls, I was thinking of plywood sheeting the walls with 1/4" maybe and then do inexpensive french cleats ect. Should I spend more for fancy plywood or not? alot of it will be covered with "stuff". I just think it will give it a workshop look.
Thoughts or pics of your ideas are welcome.

Current issue of Shop Notes (#132) just arrived this week and has an article on p. 32, "make the Slat Wall" that looks like french cleat and other solutions that have been discussed here (starting at reply #70) before. The Shop Notes article used 3/4" plywood for materials. On down in farmer's project he says he is using 7/16" OSB sheets, his cleats are made/built-up from other thicknesses of OSB. farmer's wall came together cheaply, the shopnotes is a lot prettier:D

Good Luck with your project. My move is stalled while I think out what's best for me...and talk myself into getting going. I want to read about, and see, your progress and solution.

[benush26]

So, ..... WAY WAY outside the box....

Any materials recycling centers in the area? If you are looking at materials to cover the space between studs rather than structural (and use something else mounted to the studs for structure), even that old 60s luan mahogany paneling would work. Flip the grooves to face the wall, flat surface out. Primed and then painted to any color and sheen you want. I would think under a buck a sheet! Especially any walls that will be hidden by shelving and cabinets.

Yes, as I said, way outside the box, but when I was in High School it was "the" thing to have on the basement walls. Actually still there! covering up mid 60s sheetrock!! Baseboard and corner trim is REAL PLOOD! No, not plywood, pressed wood covered in plastic that looks like wood grain! Removed the smoke colored light fixtures that had the huge globe bulbs, replaced with standard stuff a few years back because the bulbs were getting pricey and hard to find and not much "light" would shine out.... Didn't have the heart to put those old fixtures on Ebay! Too many memories! Even some good ones! I think?!?!?

Anyway, cheap on wall covering and put the money into structures to hold the cabinets and such!

[Ed in Tampa]

1/4 ply? Sound like all you are after is looks as 1/4 inch won't hold much for very long.
If you are simply after covering the studs why not use dry wall. And then install french cleats into the studs?

Now if you were hanging 1/2 inch or thicker it would support a lot but the price goes up real quick.

I have dry wall in my shop and it isn't a problem in fact if something dents or punctures the wall it is an easy fix where the same damage in 1/4 inch ply would not be.

If you think you are going to be able to hang much of anything on 1/4 ply aside from hitting the studs behind it you are fooling yourself. Sure you can hang a crescent wrench from a hole drilled into the ply but you could do the same thing with dry wall.

[mrhart]

Thankyou for the input.

I will take progress pics starting this weekend.

No Ed, the 1/4 ply or whatever I put on the walls is for looks only, I will keep track of where the studs are for hanging purposes. I just wanted a "woodshop" look without spending a ton.

[Ed in Tampa]

Thankyou for the input.

I will take progress pics starting this weekend.

No Ed, the 1/4 ply or whatever I put on the walls is for looks only, I will keep track of where the studs are for hanging purposes. I just wanted a "woodshop" look without spending a ton.

Unfortunately these days wood woodshop look without spending a ton is nearly impossible. It seems to me every time I go to buy wood the price has doubled and/or the quality has come down.

I had one supplier 25 years ago if I ordered 100 board feet of cherry I had nearly 100 board feet of usable cherry. Today I have to hand pick the wood and I still have to deal with splits, checks, and knots.

Have you checked you local lumber yards? Sometimes they order wood wall paneling that for one reason or another just doesn't sell. You may be able to get a really good price on some real wood wall paneling that you may not want for your family room but works just fine in the shop.

Also check a few of the wood flooring stores. I have a buddy that latched on to a ton of wood flooring that for some reason was milled to varying thicknesses. On the floor the error stood out like a spotlight so the retailer was dumping the flooring. But once my buddy put in on the wall the problem was almost nonexistant. He got that wood free the retailer was scrapping it all.