I moved the Roman workbench onto the front porch yesterday so I can work on some of my projects over winter in a warm place. The shop gets cold! It gets colder in there than it is outside by a few degrees each day, and my hands sting while I work with them. The front porch will warm right up in the sunlight because of the big windows out there. When the sun is not shining the room can be warmed by leaving the front door open and letting the heat from the woodstove fill the space. I think that since I will be right there in the room, I can do some work conveniently to filling a couple of the gaps and working towards sealing in the heat even better. I’ll certainly have good cause!
The Roman workbench is a three-inch-thick top on four robust legs that are splayed outwards to help keep it stable against the motion of working with wood. The top is about 18 inches high, and four and a half feet long, so it is to be sat on while working. I have a row of dog-holes and some wooden bench dogs to help with work-holding. I brought in a few tools to do some basic finishing work, such as two hand planes and two saws and a drill and the like. I’ll plan on the big work out in the normal shop, and just get the wood ready for the finishing of final cuts and assembly on the porch. Well, this is now, and it seems like a good idea. We’ll see what I say about that later.
I think the first job to do out there on the porch will be the making of some bobbin lace looms. Missus wants to put some up for sale online to see if she can generate interest and help boost her shop in Etsy. She says she has a hard time finding such looms for sale online, so she thinks there is a space to sell them. I don’t know if I can happily drill what I need to without using a drill press, but that is easily sorted, if need be, out in the shop.
Aside from the drill press, I will be using the bandsaw out in the shop, too. I also will have to do any of my lathe work out there too. So there is plenty of reason to sill work out there. But I can prepare the final work on components such as boards and sticks ready for assembly while on the porch, giving me a place to work that is more naturally warm. I can adjust as I go and see what things I can accomplish without freezing my hindside off!