South SF South Bay Woodworking Center Open

[charlie b]

South SF South Bay Woodworking Center Open

Disclaimer: I?ve got no financial or personal connection to The Sawdust Shop. I visited the place for the first time today, Wed. Aug 17th, liked what I saw and heard and am passing this info along.

If you live in Santa Clara or San Mateo County, have an interest in doing some woodworking - but don?t have the space and/or the money and/or the time to set up a shop - this might be for you.

The Sawdust Shop, located near the intersection of Lawrence Expressway and Arques Ave (which turns into Scott Blvd) on Oakmead Parkway (452 Oakmead Parkway, Sunnyvale, CA) is a woodworking supply store of the WoodCraft type AND a 4,000 SF, pretty well outfitted, woodshop WITH lockable storage space for your ?in progress? work and materials you can rent. They?ve got a slew of options that should fit most folks time schedule and budget.

Here?s their shop list of tools etc.. It?s pretty well outfitted. The only thing I didn?t see was a shaper or a William Hussey moulding machine.

store part of the place isn?t fully stocked yet but they?ve got a pretty good variety of turning and carving tools and they also carry lumber, mahogany (Honduran, QS oak, beech (or it could?ve been birch), basswood, and even Macassar ebony, along with maple, walnut and cherry.

They also have woodworking classes

They?re going to save me a bit of gas by not having to drive to Dublin or San Carlos for stuff. Got out of there today for ONLY $75 - the lowest amount I?ve ever spent at a woodworking store.

Hope theymake a go of it. Shop space AND equiptment rental ain?t easy to come by in the Bay Area.

charlie b

[David Sizemore]

Hope they do well...."dues" seem kinda high to me, but I know everything is pricey north of the Central valley.

Add a little while to get thru "malfunction junction" during the week, though!

[SonomaProducts.com]

Great concept. Thx for letting us know about it. I'm kinda local so I'll drop by when I'm doen that way to see mom.

I imagine that the liability insurance must be a bit expensive. The Saw Stop TS is pretty much a given in this case so I am glad to see they have one.

The pricing seems reasonable given the facilities. If you were using most/many of the hours you paid for it would be worth it if you didn't have your own equipment/space.

I wonder if they make you pass an idiot test before they let you loose on the equipment. I know I figured I knew everything there was because I had been watching Norm for so long. Honestly, I was a fatal kickback waiting to happen when I first started spending serious time in the shop again. And this was after having worked in a furniture factory as a youngster and owning my own TS for life.

Finally, I'd like to see a wide belt in lieu of a drum sander. They also mention "spindle, disk and belt" sanders on the equip list. I would hope they have a real edge sander and not just some delta 12" belt. These two sanders are the biggest missing component of every garage shop I've ever been in. They really make all the difference IMHO.