_Next PageThe next upgrade was to take over the next corner (which now holds my lapidary saw). This allowed me to make slightly larger things. This was the year that I bought my first grinder (the Inland Wiz). I mainly decided to buy a grinder because of a slip up with a very sharp piece of glass while foiling. The glass had one of those inside curve lips, and needless to say it cut pretty good (a real bleeder). You see a grinder wasn't one of the first things I bought because my teacher never used one, so we never used one in class. The grinder now sits on my original bench. Around this time I made up makeshift shelves which hung from the ceiling which held my various toys. When I was in the 8th grade I made a metal box in metal shop for my scrap glass. Originally it was going to hold larger sheets (12x16), but my teacher said that he didn't want me to use that much metal in a project. So it stayed as an empty box. It was just as well, because it makes a perfect box for scrap glass, mainly because the glass won't poke through the sides of the box. This large thing stood on a old desk at the other end of the basement (where my current main bench is now). BTW by the 7th-8th grade or so, I started to sell my first projects, even though they were a little chunky looking.
That setup stayed for a pretty long time though the largest project I could make was about 18"x24". When I was in the 10th-11th grade I worked for Kay Weiner, a professional stained glass artist, as a summer job. It was there that I found out about all the toys I didn't have.
When I was in the 12th grade, I was showing off my pictures. One of my teachers asked me if I could do a door. Although I know she would not buy it, I thought, "you know, I can't make anything very large at all." Putting my drafting and maintenance mechanic skills to work, I designed a bench. Originally it was going to be 4x8' but that would have been too wide for the space I had. So I reduced it to 3' wide, which was just as well for storage reasons. After I planned it out, I had to remove things to make a space. I bought the cabinets at IKEA, figured out those next to impossible instructions, and now have a mighty collection of those funny looking Allen wrenches. When all that was bolted together, I started on the top. I decided that a laminate top would be best, because it doesn't absorb water, unlike my other two benches which soaked it up like a sponge. The original two benches then turned into my grinder benches, and I started to foil in another room because every time someone would do a wash, all my foil would fall to the floor. With the overhang my bench had, I was able to store 12" boxes under it. Originally it had hardware and such under it as I had a lot of it.
The next year, while I was in technical school (I was in carpentry at the time), I got my second grinder. The reason I got the second was this: a local store near me held a contest. I entered the 57 Chevy. The grand prize was a Wizard grinder. Everyone in the store loved my Chevy, so I thought I was a shoe in for sure. But I didn't win. However, since I wanted that grinder, I just simply bought it. I'm glad I did though. Even though my Wiz still works fine, the surface was too small. It was also around this time (between birthday's and Hanukkah presents) in which I also got the lapidary saw, and some of my smaller things like a strip cutter, a lens cutter, etc.
The following year (now in the masonry class of technical school), I bought my kiln, band saw, and came saw. This is the year that I won the prizes for Superior Express and 32 Ford Coupe. I won the garden variety pack of Uroboros, stained books, solder, couple of sheet of Bullseye and a gift certificate (I think the value was about $300). Now with the extra glass, I had to make more space behind my bench and get rid of the hardware stored behind there.
Then, the year I was in the auto body class of technical school, I got a very good deal on glass from someone who needed to clear out the basement of his shop for a huge project. I got tons of glass from this. I filled up boxes everywhere. It was then that I decided to build that box over the oil tank because I was running out of space in my main cabinet. In that year I bought my third radio to listen to while working (I keep wearing them out). Also I installed that little overhanging shelf behind the saw for my art glass.
Last year (in 1996), was when I raised my bench, opened up the toe kick area of my bench, and spread out my scrap glass by color and by type. I also bought the my third and fourth grinders, the Twin Spin and the Bevel Max. That was also the year I built a good sized (though skinny) box along side one of my original benches for larger sheets.
This is for the people who are just starting out: take pictures of your shop once a year, use up a roll of film or whatever. This way you can look back on it. I know I wish I did. That's why each year I take a new picture of my shop. Currently my shop is packed full of stuff. I took over just about 90% of the basement (the shop half, the other is my mother's studio). Right now I'm competing against my glass and my ever growing tool collection. So I have to use every little scrap of space available. And even though I don't have the space, if someone were to give me a bunch of glass, I would of course take it. Even if I don't have the space for it, I'll find the space.
CLEANING MY SHOP
This is the cycle I use when I clean my shop. During a project I'll sweep off the "crumbs" of glass so I don't cut myself or scratch the glass that I'm working with. After the project is all done, that's when I'll drag out the shop-vac and vacuum everything, bench, floor, etc. I do a full cleanup every so often. It's either a "now and then thing", a "I can't find anything in this drawer thing, or a "before I make a large project thing". A full clean up consists of cleaning out and straightening the drawers of my bench along with sorting out scrap by size and color (depending on what system I'm using this year). And finally, the rest of the glass will get sorted by size. Straightening out the glass is really a good idea though before a panel because other than the fact that it's now neat and easier to find the color you need, this can also act as a color review of what you have. You'll still have to play the memory game if you have a lot of glass in your shop. The other thing I usually do is to scrub clean my bench, and try make it have the original whitish look it had when it was installed. When the top is clean it will give you a lot more reflectivity and will help up see the line on clearer darkish glasses. Another important step is to clean your tools. If you use your tools for soldering then they probably look pretty rusty by now. What I do is, I clean the tool with a wire wheel setup in my grinder. After blasting the rust off, I then clean it with alcohol, oil the joints, then spray the metal with polyurethane. The coating will help prevent the rust, but you'll probably have to do this step every so often anyway.
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Started on 9-22-98