Julian Nies carries an oak plank, cut in his own sawmill, into his new 65 m² workshop, which he moved into in March. It is located on a hillside in a former horse stable. The 40 m² wood store is in a garage above the stable, which belongs to his house, situated even further up the hill. Everything in the workshop has its own well-thought-out and practically organized place.
This allows the master joiner to place the plank on a completely clear workbench, which is mobile on casters. Whether he is processing just one or several planks, the workbench serves as a staging area and a means of transport between the individual workstations. For the current order, this one plank is sufficient.
The heart of the workshop
First, it's over to the centerpiece of the joinery, the new "K 740 S" sliding table saw from Felder. He doesn't remove the sliding table for the upcoming rip cuts. It's not worth the effort for just one plank. Before the first edging cut, Julian Nies pulls the table all the way back and installs a ripping blade. When the machine is switched on, the "AF 16" dust extraction system also starts automatically. A series of alternating edging and parallel cuts follow until the entire plank is broken down and the material is back on the workbench.
The planer
The joiner pushes the workbench over to the "AD 951" jointer-planer, which is located in the front, recently added part of the workshop. The machine is in its default position, which is jointing mode. At 2.1 meters long, the boards are actually too long for the extension, which is only four meters deep. Not a problem, because there is a pass-through in the wall on the infeed table side and a window opposite it. Julian Nies opens the window, flattens one face of each board, and joints a long edge against the fence. In three simple steps, he converts the machine for thickness planing. Within a few minutes, all the timbers are planed to thickness, and Julian Nies closes the window again. For cutting to length, it's back to the sliding table saw. He cuts the mortises for the Domino joints with a hand-held router.
Minimal sanding required
The jointer-planer, which is also new, is equipped with the "Silent-Power" spiral cutterhead. It is fitted with many small, four-sided reversible knives arranged along two spiral lines, operates extremely quietly, achieves a much longer tool life compared to HSS blades, and ensures an outstanding surface finish with a continuous shear cut. Julian Nies is very satisfied with the planing results: "The extra cost for the spiral cutterhead quickly paid for itself through significantly less sanding effort, especially since I usually have to rely on a random orbit sander without a stationary sanding machine."
The workshop is too small for a shaper. The joiner cuts rabbets and grooves on the sliding table saw. If more complex shaping jobs come up, he carries them out in a colleague's workshop. He deliberately decided against a combination sliding table saw and shaper because he shies away from the high setup time and, secondly, doesn't want to make any compromises when it comes to the sliding table saw.
He had no idea when he bought the house
In 2020, Julian Nies, together with his wife Laura and his parents-in-law, bought a multi-family house complete with a horse stable and meadows in Olpe-Oberveischede in the Sauerland region, right next to his parents-in-law's farm. At the time, he had no idea that he would later use the 40 m² horse stable as a springboard into self-employment. An extension now brings the workshop to 65 m². For structural reasons, a piece of the old outer wall unfortunately has to remain as a column. This gets in the way, especially when breaking down large panels. The business, named Holzprojekt Nies, has been running since March and occasionally employs a temporary worker.
Looking for a larger workshop
Julian Nies says: "My joinery has gotten off to a very good start. The order books are full until March. My most important investments, the two machines from Felder, are working exactly as I want them to. Now I'm urgently looking for a larger workshop."
