Lack of space in London!

[rob666]

Hi all,

I have designed a coffee table but am struggling with all the tools I need as well as space to do all this...I live in a rather small basement flat and am looking at options for how I do this:

1. Find a timber merchants that will cut wood to my exact requirements (unlike Travis Perkins etc), so I need less tools (clamps, saws, mitres etc) - one I found would make my surfaces and do glueing but not mitre cutting, but was very expensive

2. Find an evening course where I can do woodworking projects of my own and all the tools would be available

So I guess my questions are:

Does anyone know of workshops you could 'hire' space and just do some evening projects - in London? (Have I a good business opportunity here?)

Does anyone know of any evening courses in London area - I can't find any?

Does anyone know of timber merchants in London that would custom cut wood to 'table like dimensions' - i.e. Travis perkins only sell widths and 3ft min lengths, meaning I would have to get a lot more tools for cutting...

Any advice greatly appreciated!

Rob

 

[adidat]

where abouts in london rob, welcome aboard by the way



adidat

 

[Blister]

Rob

Why not contact a local carpentry shop , explain your needs and see if the will do the cutting for you ?


One of our forum sponsors G&S timber offer a cutting service

http://www.toolsandtimber.co.uk/information.cfm?page=17

Cut To Size Service
At G & S Timber we will meet your requirements at any level and offer a cut to size service from our skilled machinists. You receive your order promptly with no waste. Give us your cut to size list on the
OBTAIN A QUOTE form and we will be pleased to give you a quote including estimated delivery time.

 

[rob666]

Thanks chaps, am in Balham, near Clapham, south london. I saw one near me on this site so will check them out to see what extent they will do this...

I sort of feel like im cheating by not doing it all myself but then no space, no choice!

 

[adidat]

is it just a simple rectangle top, and what timber are you planning on using?

adidat

 

[rob666]

Dimensions for the table top are 1100 x 600

The intention is for it to be a raising coffee table - we will see how that goes!

 

[Pete W]

Rob, when I got started a few years ago I did a daytime course at Richmond Adult Community College (at their Twickenham campus). This course:
http://www.racc.ac.uk/course/C00122-111204
looks about the same, but is run on Thursday evenings.

When I did mine, there were a couple of students who signed up for a second term and were allowed benches and tools to work on their own projects. Not sure about access to the big power tools though - I seem to remember the bandsaw was considered acceptable but the table saw might be a tutors-only zone.

The course itself was a good introduction with a heavy emphasis on chisel and plane sharpening, and lots of traditional joinery (half-laps, mortice-n-tenon and dovetails) but aimed at diy/site carpentry projects rather than furniture-making, although tutors were more than happy to tailor some parts of the course to us wannabe cabinetmakers.

 

[rob666]

thanks chaps - will check this out!