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Thanks. I've currently got three anvils (probably three more than I really need, but that's how it is :) ). I've got a 55-lb Harbor Freight cast iron one, a 110-lb (Japanese? steel) Jet one, and a big 200-lb mystery anvil that might be great or might be just a very heavy lump of steel (no...

I think the name Strong Hold -- or ownership of the Fabricated Metals brand -- is a fairly recent thing. I was under the impression that Fabricated Metals had been making cabinets in Kentucky, and that the company was bought and the cabinets were rebranded as 'Strong Hold' at some point in the...

Here's that SoCal Jeep at work -- with 20' lengths of steel on a rack I just made.

Most of the driving I do in that car is on the freeway. The little old straight six isn't going to set any speed records -- but no engine work at all under my ownership (since 1994 or so). I used to take it down to Mexico every so often, but haven't done that in a while. It just goes and...

Thanks, Thomask. I don't use any file cabinets in my garage, but I always thought they'd be good for things like power hand tools.

I haven't parked this under any cover in the 15+ years that I've owned it. But you just don't get much rust out here. Mostly, it hauls parts.

Thanks. Everything in the garage is mine, and it's all used, home-made or repurposed in some way. I have about $700 in all four of the big steel cabinets. The wood cabinets and shelves might be another $200 in lumber. Some of the stuff I paid more for. The big steel bench top was $300. I...

Thanks. The compressor actually isn't in the garage at all. There's a 50' retracting reel behind that panel, but then there's a line running to the basement, where I've got the compressor in a sound-insulated box -- with two fans circulating air through it, so the compressor doesn't...

When you’ve got a place to put everything, you can clean the whole place up really fast with something like this: Well, that’s the basic rundown of the place. It’s not going to set the world on fire or re-invent the idea of a garage, but I’ve got to admit that I really enjoyed putting it...

I stained the tops of the three main benches dark with an opaque stain and marine varnish on top of it. I’m still on the fence about this decision -- I don’t want benches that look so nice you’re afraid to use them, but I also was getting tired of all my benches being the same unfinished wood...

The next wall over has my ‘compliance station,’ which is a steel-topped bench on another Strong Hold cabinet. Next to that, I’ve got one last steel cabinet, a Lyon, which I belt cut and rewelded so it would be short enough to fit in this space. I still have the sink and a small bench...

Down below, I adapted both of the Strong Hold cabinets to store as much stuff as possible. One of them now has seven wooden shelves, each holding six bins I sourced from (huh?) Ikea. I keep all kinds of different stuff -- everything from extension cords and trouble lights to...

In the latest update of the garage, I got rid of the yellow paint on this wall. I’ve decided the only two colors on the wall will be the tan and the green. Here’s the old yellow: The back wall is the one that’s changed the most this month. Here’s the way it used to look. I had...

Did I mention that they’re heavy? Each of the doors on the 4’ wide cabinets weighs 85 pounds. They open and close easily, but it has the feel of opening a bank safe. THE BASIC FACTS The garage is small -- 20’x22’. I store one car in it and use the rest as my home shop. In addition...

THE GARAGE TODAY I’m calling it ‘The 12-Gauge Garage’ because when I built a steel-topped bench for it, I discovered Strong Hold Cabinets, a Wisconsin company that makes ridiculously strong cabinets. They claim that they’re the strongest metal cabinets you can buy. They’re rated to hold...

I posted a thread about my garage back in 2007. I called it the ‘Poor Man’s Retro Retreat’ back then because my budget for it had been low ($500) and I’d used a kind of old-fashioned color scheme when I painted it. It’s a garage I’ve liked a lot. It’s...