January 12, 2006

The molding planes are old and worn. Made before the Civil War by E. & C. Carter, a Troy, N.Y., tool company, they still are used for shaping wood into exquisite furniture and cabinetry.

The dozen or so hand-operated planes rest on a shelf in Harry Hinteman's basement workshop in Head of the Harbor. In this large space, filled with high-tech power equipment, such as band saws, jointers and drill presses, the 150-year-old wood-shaving tools seem out of place.

"But these planes are probably what I treasure most in the shop," Hinteman, 32, said. Using them brings him closer to the project, almost as if he, the planes and the wood are paying tribute to craftsmen of the past. "Working by hand is how they did it centuries ago."

Hinteman, a computer network engineer at Stafford Associates in Setauket, devotes 1,500 square feet of his basement - a space bigger than some two-bedroom homes - to a workshop he shares with his brother, Brian, 28, of Sayville. The Hintemans call themselves amateur woodworkers. But they are passionate about building furniture, re-creating classic pieces down to the last detail. To get things just right, they'll admit to having crawled on museum floors for close-up photographs of ball-and-claw legs on antique tables and chairs.

Tools, equipment and passion aside, the brothers said the most important element of their workshop is the escape it allows them. Homeowners with separate workshops say the space is less about tools and machines and more about a state of mind. Hours fly by like minutes. Tension and pressure disappear. The shop is a venue for recreation, like a prized course for an avid golfer or a baseball diamond for a weekend softball player.

The home shop serves a tangible purpose - making repairs or building furniture - but it also provides something much richer.

"A good shop is a place you want to go to and do some work," said Anatole Burkin, editor of Fine Woodworking magazine. "It's a comfortable place. You can slice it up a lot of ways, but it is definitely a place people can use to just get away."

Harry Hinteman, married and the father of two daughters, Ava, 2 1/2 years, and Emma, 3 months, agrees. His shop is as much about woodworking as it is about carving out a deeper relationship with his brother. They work three times a week in the shop, Tuesday and Thursday nights and all day Saturday.

"We're here all the time, it seems, so this is what brings us close," Harry Hinteman said. "This is what we like to do, where we like to be."

Said Brian, also a father of two (Sarah, 19 months, and Owen, one month): "We always work together. It's like one of us won't work down here unless the other is working, too."

Their shop nearly rivals that of Norm Abram, the acclaimed furniture builder of "This Old House" TV fame. With $40,000 to $50,000 worth of hand tools, power tools and storage cabinets, the Hintemans' shop is not your ordinary home shop. The brothers are combination furniture builders, wood carvers and cabinetmakers. Over the past eight years, they've made everything from workbenches to dining room sets.

"OK, so I'm serious - maybe it's more like passionate - about my hobby," Harry Hinteman said.

Harry Hinteman started piecing together his own shop soon after he bought his first home in the mid-1990s. His father has a construction background, and Hinteman, always handy, figured it was easier to make his own repairs than to hire someone. From humble beginnings - a few power tools and some traditional hand tools - the workshop has blossomed. In addition to the assortment of tools, the shop has several cabinets and benches, most designed and built by the brothers.

Asked what other components might make a good shop, Harry Hinteman said: "You do need the right wife." His is Marlene. "She doesn't mind my working; she sort of encourages it."

Added Brian of his wife, Corinne: "She understands. She likes that I am doing something I enjoy."

That might be because the Hintemans' results are superb. Harry and a colleague just finished shaping and installing more than 7,500 linear feet of decorative molding in his most recent house, a large Colonial the family moved into late in 2004. He also built cabinets for their remodeled kitchen, including cabinet facing on the Sub-Zero refrigerator. Brian and his wife have one of the brothers' most prized furniture collaborations, a mahogany dining room table with matching chairs.

This month, they start on their first commissioned piece; a Huntington woman is paying them to re-create a Mission-style dining room table.

Although more modest than the Hintemans' work space, Kurt Dietrich's two-car garage in Huntington Station is every bit as productive. The garage houses his shop, where Dietrich tends to his hobbies, woodworking and automobile restoration, and where he finds a little peace, a little comfort and a bit of warmth, especially this time of year.

In Dietrich's shop, thermal heat is furnished by a wood-burning stove. Warm memories are turned out by a wood lathe that dates back to 1923 and originally was owned by his grandfather, a machinist who worked in the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Refurbished wood toolboxes owned by the same grandfather and a great-uncle sit on a shelf above the lathe.

"I got started doing stuff around the house because I couldn't afford to pay anyone else to do it," Dietrich, 48, said of the evolution of his home workshop. His hands-on approach started in the mid-1980s, when he bought his first house, on 12th Street, a few blocks from where he lives today.

"I've always been mechanically inclined, too," said Dietrich, an engineer with Sidney B. Bowne & Son in Mineola. "It was just a natural progression."

Dietrich remodeled virtually every room in his current house, a three-bedroom ranch purchased in 1995. The house was 30 years old at the time, and it needed upgrading inside and out.

"I just went room to room," he said. Interior walls were ripped out so he could improve insulation and wiring. Dietrich remodeled his kitchen and built a cedar deck, a pergola for an outdoor hot tub and a cherry mantel for the family-room fireplace. Virtually all the work took place in his combo workshop- garage.

Now, he's in the process of rebuilding a car, a 1970 Mercury Cyclone, so there are tools and equipment for welding and metalworking. He also got plans - and the wood - for a drop-leaf walnut table.

Dietrich's shop contains the traditional assortment of hand tools and power tools. All told, he probably has somewhere between $5,000 and $8,000 tied up in his shop. There are also a small color television and a mini-fridges for storing soft drinks.

Now that his son, Robert, 19, is driving and working on a used late-model SUV, Dietrich is finding more and more that he's sharing his shop space.

"He'll work on his car, and I'll be in here, too," Dietrich said. Both are auto-racing fans, and some nights, when a NASCAR race is being televised, father and son will sit on an old van bench and watch.

"It's pretty cool," Dietrich said. "We're out here in the shop, watching and cheering, and it's just a good place to be."

At times like these, Kurt Dietrich's garage becomes that distinctly different kind of workshop.

DREAM SPACES FOR TOOLING AROUND

Home workshops can differ drastically in size, location and, of course, financial investment, but most good shops share a few common components.

"The right tools," said Kurt Dietrich of Huntington Station when asked what makes an efficient home workshop.

"Good lighting, both natural and artificial, and a good power source," added Harry Hinteman of Head of the Harbor.

Both Dietrich and Hinteman are members of the Long Island Woodworkers Club, so most of their tools are intended for shaping and sawing wood. Their shops contain common kinds of power tools: ban saw, table saw, jointer, planer, lathe, drill press, mitre saw and air compressor.

But because Dietrich also dabbles in automobile renovation, he has equipment for arc welding and shaping metal. Hinteman, who makes cabinets and furniture, has a larger table saw built in to a series of tables and benches for added support. The extra support makes it easier to cut large pieces of plywood, common to tables and cabinet faces.

"The ultimate shop, the dream shop, is probably separate from the house," said Anatole Burkin, editor of Fine Woodworking magazine. "That's because a separate shop cuts down on noise; you can work at odd hours and not disturb other members of the household."

One item crucial to a successful home shop is a dust-collection system, which gathers and stores sawdust and other power-tool waste through a series of ductwork and a vacuum. Some dust collectors are modified central vacuums; others are specially designed for shop use and start at about $300.

Burkin's personal shop also features many of the same power tools owned by Dietrich and Hinteman. While each owner has his preference, Burkin's experience tells him many of them prefer hand tools to power tools.

"It's an easier pace and more satisfying to work with hand tools," he said. "Most workers use hand tools for all the rough cuts, then use power tools for the finish work."

READ BEFORE YOU BUILD

Fine Woodworking magazine publishes an annual issue on Tools & Shops each winter. This year's edition, $8.99 at Fine Woodworking.com, features workbench plans, a tool test on router tables and ways to store lumber.

"We find that many home workshops get by in small areas," said editor Anatole Burkin.

The magazine's publisher, Taunton, also has several books on starting and organizing home workshops. The latest is the "Workshop Idea Book" (160 pages, $29.95), also available at the Web site.

Another source is "Workshops You Can Build" by David and Jeanie Stiles (Firefly Books, 224 pages, $29.95), which has plans and designs for home offices, art studios and even portable work spaces. It's $19.95 at StilesDesigns.com.