The challenge Andy set himself in 2020: build a shop that fits entirely in a single rolling cabinet, can be deployed in 10 minutes, and can make finished furniture. No permanent wall storage. No dedicated machine area. One cabinet, on casters, that contains everything needed for a complete hand-tool woodworking practice. The cabinet had to fit through a standard door and store in a 2×4-foot footprint when not in use.
The cabinet he built over four months is a masterpiece of compact organization: 24 inches wide, 18 inches deep, 48 inches tall, on four 3-inch locking casters. It opens with a single door on the front that reveals a full tool display on the door interior – chisels, marking gauges, a marking knife, squares, a cutting gauge, dividers, a scratch stock. The interior has four drawers (hardware, sandpaper, sharpening supplies, finishes), a pull-out shelf for the sharpening station, and a dedicated slot for a full set of Stanley-type bench planes numbered 2 through 7. The top of the cabinet becomes the workbench when deployed – a 24×18-inch space he supplements with a Moxon vise that stores in the bottom drawer.
He works in an apartment with no dedicated shop space. The cabinet lives in his bedroom closet. When he wants to work, he rolls it into the living room, opens it, and deploys the Moxon vise on the cabinet top. When he’s done, he packs everything back in (a trained 8-minute process), rolls the cabinet to the closet, and closes the door. His apartment shows no evidence of a woodworking practice. His furniture is excellent.
“Space is a constraint, not a limitation,” Andy says. “There’s a difference. A constraint shapes the design. A limitation ends the project. I let the constraint shape the design.” The result: a complete woodworking shop that lives in a closet. How have you built a shop practice into a space that wasn’t designed for one? Share below.