Off Topic Knife Making Spaces for Hobbyist - Garage with Cars

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honingblades

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Oct 4, 2018
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This may seem a bit odd of a question, but after looking at a lot of the maker spaces it seems like a lot of you have dedicated space for your knife making. Same with a lot of the YouTube videos I watch/see.

I'm building a new (my first) house and have a 3-car garage (one car) and was looking at using the "3-rd" stall as my knife making area. I'll have my car, some storage, etc. in there (typical garage stuff).

I've been wanting to get into knife making for a couple years now and finally have space to do so but then had this thought.

I guess the one obvious thing is all the metal dust, etc. likely getting all over my items and into my car, but wanted to get some thoughts.

EDIT: I might also add, with woodworking people have dust management systems, is there a version of this any makers use to make this acceptable.

Am I over thinking this?

Thanks!
 
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I agree with navman about the partition. I was working on one side of a 2 car garage, and even putting all my stored stuff in sealed plastic crates, I occasionally have to pull everything out and clean up.
 
I work in 1/2 of a two car garage. I pull our car out when I'm going to do any grinding. Even so a thin film of dust settles on it. I wash our car frequently and haven't had any problems with scratching. Other items in the garage...well you gotta clean them or get used to having dust on them. Or you can get a filtering system. A filtering system is high on my list of next things to get for my shop. A partition is also a good idea. Even a partial one will help some.
 
I built a wall to section off one bay. I also built a dedicated grinding room within that bay. Having the extra walls keeps the rest of the garage clean as well as provide tons of space for electrical. I ended up adding a sub panel and put in as many outlets as it would handle.
 
Darn. Was hoping I was over thinking this. Thanks for the feedback.

I have an unfinished basement ill be framing with my brother once I move in; so maybe ill just price out the materials for the garage as well. This is becoming more and more expensive - haha.

There goes the money for my Evenheat KH 418 I had on my wish list.
 
I also use a portion of our garage. I put up a wall in one part and hung thicker visqueen plastic in the doorway to help keep grinding gunk more contained. It goes everywhere.....

Jeremy
 
I use one bay of a 3 car garage. I have my grinder against the outside wall and there’s never a car within 10 feet. The dust from sanding handles gets everywhere but I’ve never had a problem with steel dust on the cars.

With that said, I might not be the best guy to ask because I don’t really worry too much about clean cars. I live in a rural area with lots of dairy farms, gravel roads, and a constant wind that makes it so nothing is ever “clean.”

There are dust collection systems for grinders. I was worried about my lungs so I looked all over at stuff guys have done with a “spark bong” and a shop vac and cobbled my own thing together using an old leaf blower/vacuum and some air filters. I posted a video on here somewhere. I’d link to it but I’m clueless.
 
Well...I solved the problem. I started doing woodwork out of half of our two car garage. Then got interested in knives...The car hasn't been in the garage for 5 years now. I want to buy a place with a three car garage so I can have two bays for woodwork/knives and one for a vehicle.
 
You’ve already got lots of good advice. Let me add this (as a car guy). If you care about the quality of your cars finish, keep the metal dust as far away as possible. Off is best. It’s about more than just dust on it, dusty/dirty looking. Metal dust can and will scratch easier than other dusts. But not much worse than, say, limestone dust. The real issue is corrosion. Auto paint is not completely sealed. The fine particles will imbed itself into the paint, and then, over time, start to bleed orange colored stain into your clear. This is next to impossible to get out once started and once it becomes visible. It’s much more apparent on light colored cars, obviously.
 
Many small hobby knifemakers make a rolling workbench that they can roll out of the garage and do dirty/dusty work in the driveway or side yard. Blow everything off with the dust vac or your leaf blower before rolling it back in.
 
build a simple wall, paint it white and have more electrical outlets then you think you'll ever use.
You wont use them all but you'll have one at that strange place where you couldn't imagine needing one
 
Just ought a house with a 3 car garage 2 months ago and have set up knife area in 3rd stall which is walled off from the 2 gar section. It is working great so far. To keep dust accumulation down I have been blowing the grinder and benches off with compressor and then the bay with leaf blower after every use.
 
I have an extra large three car garage. Vehicles park outside. One side is the leather work, the other side is knife work. Even still I have my grinders on an 8 ft bench and wheel that outside for all grinding and a 8 ft bench for my buffers that is also wheeled outside for use.

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Bandsaw and drilling are on far wall as far away as possible from the leather side:

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Get lots of work done this way.

Cold sometimes though:

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A wall it is! I'll do it at the same time I frame out my basement. That way I can have the drywall and electrician folks do the garage portion as well as the basement.

I'll update with some pictures once it's complete. It's going to be a few months though.

In the meantime ill get to ordering my equipment!
 
honingblades said:
A wall it is! I'll do it at the same time I frame out my basement. That way I can have the drywall and electrician folks do the garage portion as well as the basement.

I'll update with some pictures once it's complete. It's going to be a few months though.

In the meantime ill get to ordering my equipment!
Click to expand...
I was thinking of the wall and thinking how easy it is to just frame and drywall if you want to....then I thought about mudding the drywall!!! I so hate that job! I don't care what drywallers charge, I will pay them every day to do the mudding.
 
Instead of doing nice mud and paint.

Consider putting thin (cheap) galvanized sheet metal on the wall over the drywall.

either ribbed commercial siding, or just plain flat galvanized sheet steel.

It's spark proof, gouge resistant, dust cling resistant, paints white easily because no suck up paint like drywall does, doesn't really need painting - reflects light in a muted way.

Or instead of drywall, put 1/4 sheathing plywood or OSB under the steel.
If you like hanging stuff on the wall, having something that holds a screw ANYWHERE is nice.
 
I did the walls in a separate garage at our old house in thin plywood

it was easy less expensive (I did all work) and really worked well for the 10 years I used it
 
I did the walls in a separate garage at our old house in thin plywood

it was easy less expensive (I did all work) and really worked well for the 10 years I used it
 
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