I like to watch the shop tours YouTube makers post occasionally. Well, I like them until they pan over to the $30,000 CNC machine or the shelf with Festool tools worth $10,000. It’s not envy, it’s just I don’t need those things.

While a shop tour is premature for my workspace, here’s a little bit about it.

When I want to build something, I have to move the truck and car out of the garage before setting up the DeWalt contractor’s table saw. I bought it when I bought the compound sliding miter saw. Both are great tools, but I wish the miter saw had a better table and the table saw needs to be built into an outfeed/assembly table.

There’s just not enough room, not enough maker skill . . . yet.

Please notice the storage shelves hanging from the ceiling. I got the idea for them from Jay Bates, who built some for his garage. The top shelves, though, are better suited for storage than for a woodworking shop. Did you see the Kirkland toilet tissue and paper towels and the microwave? Jay doesn’t have those in his shop.

I hate the workbenches. They’re both on casters and I can move them when I need to, but it’s not pretty. The long one needs more lateral support, but I can wait for the built-in benches in the new workshop which will definitely not have a pegboard organizer in it.

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Many of my smaller tools I inherited from my dad. He liked drills and bits, saws and levels. I inherited a DeWalt reciprocating saw. What a beast! I’ve used it once. He also left me a DeWalt hammer drill. Never used it. I bought another hammer drill when we flipped a house a few years back. It seemed like a good idea then.

When we flipped the house, I had an excuse to buy more tools because “half the job of doing a job well is having the right tool.” I read that somewhere (I think). I bought a handheld power planer, a belt sander, and a grinder. I used them all.

When I was cleaning up yesterday, I noticed many of the tools I have are more suited for building/repairing a home. There are far fewer woodworking tools in my collection, though I have added a Dremel multi-tool, a finish nailer, a trim router and an orbital sander.

Not all my purchased tools have a power cord or battery attached, though.

I have a favorite I use often – the Kreg pocket hole jig. Purists detested them, I know, but I have learned to hide them in my projects. Other favorites were Christmas gifts: my Japanese saw and the tape measure with fractions printed on it.

Five large trees have to come down but, by the end of the year, I’m excited to crank up some machines and start making sawdust.