At the Bench

Last night I got to have some quality time ALONE at my bench. What a welcome relief after dealing with a cranky toddler all day! Well that lasted all of 20 mins before the shop was invaded by my son, hubby, and his friend. They came in to work on their old cars. There went my meditation time...

I do have an 12' wall section of our 60 x 40 barn as my shop...the rest is my husbands domain. I am happy to at least have this much, but I dream that someday I have my own space to do with as I please. I also dream about having time to actually spend at my bench! But that won't happen until the little one is a bit older!

Currently my "shop" furniture consists of a work bench that my husband made for me and a really cool old set of storage drawers that came from the University of Illinois Geology Museum. They relocated and renovated so there were several old storage units like this for sale at the local architectural salvage store, PACA . It is the perfect size to store all of my copper, silver, brass, files, hammers, saws and blades, sandpaper, etc...you name it. The bulkier items fit on top or on my bench. Other goodies I have are a dapping set, bracelet mandrel, ring mandrel (always set up in my large vice), a lazy Susan (no pun intended) filled with fire brick to do my soldering, of course the tank and goodies to solder with, 2 pickle pots, a little drill press, a fire extinguisher, and a few tools of my husbands that have made their way to my area!