# An invitation...



## skiprat (May 1, 2011)

....to have a look around my shop. 

Please forgive the *very* amature production, but if you would like to see inside my little workshop, then just look here

Hopefully I'll get better and can put something useful up. :biggrin:


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## Jim Smith (May 1, 2011)

*Your shop*

Skiprat,

Thanks for sharing the view of your shop. If anything, it makes me wonder even more how you produce such beautiful works of art with such simple tools. Your craftsmanship and creativity amaze me. 

Jim Smith


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## markgum (May 1, 2011)

Thanks for sharing.  Like your photo area, and how you can make a small area work. Gives me ideas on how to set mine up.


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## witz1976 (May 1, 2011)

Neat little shop there Skip.  Thanks for sharing!


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## OKLAHOMAN (May 1, 2011)

Just reminded me how much alike you and Eagle were, both working with minimal tools, both doing things that amazed us, you with nuts and bolts him with wood scraps and at the end mixing PR,antler and acrylics.Damn on thinking back on it how I wish I was a fly on the wall when you two met at Lou's...


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## Brooks803 (May 1, 2011)

Thank you for sharing Steven! That's how you make the most of what you have! That rose engine lathe is sick!


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## PenPal (May 1, 2011)

Thanks Skip Steven,
Enjoyed the romp around the room. A real pleasure for me.

Best wishes mate.   Peter.


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## alphageek (May 1, 2011)

Alright!!!  Nice look into your space!  Can't wait to see your action videos!


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## DurocShark (May 1, 2011)

Wow. That's pretty cool.

_*DurocShark hopes Skippy doesn't decide to start making adult films now that he's a bigtime director_


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## mredburn (May 1, 2011)

I believe I actually saw some unused wall space and a couple of the nooks werent completly jammed full. YOU must have cleaned up a little to make the vidio.:biggrin:

Mike


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## Whaler (May 1, 2011)

Thanks Skip, that was awesome.


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## lorbay (May 1, 2011)

Thanks Skip. When I see shops like this I am always amazed how compact things are and the space used very wisely. My wife was in Britain a couple of yrs ago and dropped into see Ray Key and she took some pictures of his shop and how compact it was, and I said really Ray Key. I thought he would have had at least a 1000 sq ft shop.It really makes me very thankfull of my 700 + sq ft shop.
Lin.


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## bitshird (May 1, 2011)

Steven that is truly a shop of wonders, it's amazing what you do with such a compact shop. And I love the beginning of your Rose Engine Lathe, Great work, you are an amazing man!!!


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## MarkD (May 1, 2011)

Thanks for the insite into you shop. So where is the  "real" shop where you produce such amazing work? :biggrin:


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## seamus7227 (May 1, 2011)

Wow Steve, makes me feel good knowing we share something in common, a small workspace. Is that actually a room in your house?


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## BRobbins629 (May 1, 2011)

Nice space Skippy.  Enjoyed the movie.


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## skiprat (May 1, 2011)

OKLAHOMAN said:


> ..........Damn on thinking back on it how I wish I was a fly on the wall when you two met at Lou's...


 
Before I got there, Lou asked me if I wanted to meet the rest of the gang from his area but I didn't want to impose myself on his hospitality so said no. In hindsight, as I'm unlikely to visit USA again, I wish I had taken the opportunity and met as many as possible.





seamus7227 said:


> Wow Steve, makes me feel good knowing we share something in common, a small workspace. Is that actually a room in your house?


 
Seamus, this is my single car garage. It's part of the house. By UK standards, my house is fairly large, but much smaller than what you can get for the same money in big countries like USA, Australia and South Africa. 


Thanks for the comments on the vid. Once I've practiced a bit, I'll make some that are hopefully more interesting. :biggrin:


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## Jim in Oakville (May 1, 2011)

Thank you very much for the tour, I totally enjoyed the walk through and the commentary.  I have always thought of your pens as more art and common sense than production works, I have been inspired, laughed and amazed by your results.  Thank you again for sending my imagination in a new direction, You are one of a kind my friend and I am glad you share openly.

I am thinking of a trip to the UK with family next year, 14 days, Wales may be on our trip list.


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## Texatdurango (May 1, 2011)

Thanks for the video, I think I detected some sort of an accent going on! :wink:


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## workinforwood (May 1, 2011)

That was thoroughly enjoyable Steve! I can just imagine you with that voice sitting back in that stool with a pipe and one of those old golf hats on. :biggrin:


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## IPD_Mr (May 1, 2011)

OKLAHOMAN said:


> Just reminded me how much alike you and Eagle were, both working with minimal tools, both doing things that amazed us, you with nuts and bolts him with wood scraps and at the end mixing PR,antler and acrylics.Damn on thinking back on it how I wish I was a fly on the wall when you two met at Lou's...


 
Those two together for any length of time in a shop would be scary.  The rest of us would have to just give up.  Could not even begin to imagine what it would be like if either of those two had a proper shop with plenty of space and equipment.  Then again they would not need to be as creative as they are and were if they had all that.  

Steven, the Missus really like wyou photo box.  Unlike ours it is out of the way and take up little room.  Thank you for sharing.


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## JohnU (May 1, 2011)

It's always nice to see someone else's shop, especially when they creat such masterpieces as you do.  Now I know why you make so many metal pens from bolts and things... Poor guy didn't have but a small rack to put his wood blanks on. Lol. Thanks for sharing.


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## nava1uni (May 1, 2011)

Steven,
I really like your shop.  Having a small space myself it is nice to see how you have organized it.  It is amazing what is possible if the space is organized.  Your abilities at making things amazes me.  Thanks for your videos.


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## Texatdurango (May 1, 2011)

JohnU said:


> It's always nice to see someone else's shop, especially when they creat such masterpieces as you do. Now I know why you make so many metal pens from bolts and things... Poor guy didn't have but a small rack to put his wood blanks on. Lol. Thanks for sharing.


 
Actually I always invisioned Skips shop to have just two storage areas...... two coffee cans, one for stainless bolts and the other for stainless nuts! :biggrin:

This video proves one thing, all a master craftsman needs is enough space to sit or stand with a little elbow room.  A 50' x 50' shop is just extra walking distance!


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## hewunch (May 1, 2011)

How do you fit all of that inside a Police Box?!? Rat?!? Nah, call him, the Doctor :biggrin:


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## DurocShark (May 1, 2011)

I just re-watched ... I didn't notice the first time that my pen is a star!!! Preserved for posterity in a Skiprat video! 

HUZZAH!


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## NewLondon88 (May 1, 2011)

I figured his 'pen blanks' would be in glass jars with the lids nailed to the ceiling.
The size of that shop ... they say the camera takes off 10 feet, right? 
I think my trash area is bigger than that. I don't even want to show pics
of my shop area.. hopefully it's about to double next week.

Interesting to see how people make use of space. When you have less
of it, I guess you learn to adapt. Me.. as more horizontal space becomes
available, I seem to find more things to put on them.

One interesting thing about the video.. at one point he was saying that
the Americans weren't that bad. Then on screen is said "JOKING!!"
I dunno Skip.. was this video meant for someone else?  :tongue:

And what was that sound? Were you winding up your camera?


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## thewishman (May 1, 2011)

NewLondon88 said:


> And what was that sound? Were you winding up your camera?



I think that was the home-made stedicam, made from bicycle parts, ratcheting around the corners.:wink:

Loved the video! The plot was a bit thin, but the subject was interesting.


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## DurocShark (May 1, 2011)

ROTFLMAO


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## lazylathe (May 1, 2011)

Cool video and a small insight into your world!!
Thanks for that!!!:biggrin:

I did notice that you have not entirely lost the accent!!!

And awesome work!!!!

Andrew


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## wouldentu2? (May 1, 2011)

Oh sure, any one can do great work in a small space but lets see you do that in a space way too large, filled with too many other uncompleted projects, cable TV and other distractions.


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## Smitty37 (May 1, 2011)

*Hmmmm*

Well now, I'd say you probably don't keep much that you don't use in that shop.  You couldn't even get all my tools in there.


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## Ruby pen turning (May 2, 2011)

Thanks for the professional video  I was thinking that you had some big workshop with all kinds of fancy shmancy tools. It turns out you are just like the majority of us and have minimal tools and minimal space but a far better knowledge of how to make them work better then most of use. My hats off to you. (insert hats off smily here)


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## workinforwood (May 2, 2011)

I hope the next video involves tea and crumpits


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## DurocShark (May 2, 2011)

Especially crumpets!


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## moke (May 2, 2011)

That is an awesome shop, it is totally dedicated to pens.  Specifically, works of art that you can write with.  For those of us that have larger areas, if you take out the area just for pen making are they as big as his?  I know mine is not...I think its huge!

Thanks for showing.


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## Lenny (May 2, 2011)

Thanks Skip, that was an awesome tour!

Your rose engine lathe project is Waaay cool!


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## simomatra (May 2, 2011)

You have that skip packed to the rafters with goodies Skippy, thanks for sharing. Just goes to show what can be done in a small space


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## GoodTurns (May 2, 2011)

showed the Mrs.... she says she is very impressed...."so that's what a clean shop looks like!"   She's never seen one without at least an inch of shavings all over it!


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## bluwolf (May 3, 2011)

Hey! We have the same laptop! There's hope for me yet. Okay, maybe not. But still a very cool vid and peak into your world. Thanks for that.

Mike


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