Small Woodworking Shop Layout

Layout
In an ideal shop, there's always room for one more tool. And nothing gets in the way. But in all the shops I've set up, space (or the lack of it) is often a factor. With all the tools and materials required for a project, a small shop can soon get crowded and cramped. Even so, there's no reason a small workshop can't work smoothly and efficiently. All it takes is a little planning.
Work Flow

The key to this planning is to think about how a typical project "flows" through the shop. Then establish an area for each part of the process. For instance, when I bring lumber into the shop, it's handy to have a separate area to break it down into manageable pieces, see drawing below. (This can be as simple as a pair of sawhorses and a circular saw.) And if possible, I position tools used for stock preparation (like the jointer, table saw, and thickness planer) right nearby. Once the stock is flat, straight, and square, the next step is to cut the joinery and shape the pieces. To make this go smoothly, I position the drill press, router table, and band saw near the workbench. By locating the workbench out in the open, there's access on all sides which makes it easy to assemble the project and apply the finish. Besides the way a project moves from one area to the next, there are a couple other things to keep in mind as you lay out a shop. Is there any benefit to grouping tools together? Or what type of space requirements does each tool have?

Paper Planning
Rather than find the answers to these questions after dragging heavy tools across the floor, I plan the shop on paper first. This is just a matter of drawing a floor plan of your shop to scale. Then cutting paper templates of your tools (also to scale) and positioning them around the "shop."

Tool Groups
When sliding the templates around, one thing that can make a small shop work "big" is to organize tools by groups.
Job

One way of grouping that makes a lot of sense is to arrange tools by the job they do. For example, the table saw, jointer, and planer are all used during stock preparation. So it's convenient to cluster them together.

Support
You can also use tool groups to provide support for large workpieces. To provide side support when crosscutting a long workpiece on the table saw for instance, you can set your jointer next to it, see photo. Or if your router table is the same height (or a bit shorter) than your table saw, the top can double as an outfeed support.

Storage
Finally, don't overlook the need for storage when arranging groups of tools. One of the most important "tools" in the shop is my workbench. But it doesn't do me much good if I have to walk across the shop to get tools. So setting my tool cabinet near the bench to give me easy access to both hand and power tools is a must, see photo.

Space Requirements
While a group of tools may look alright on paper, don't start muscling them into place just yet. Remember, each tool has its own space requirements. This isn't just the visible "footprint" of the tool. But more importantly, it's the extra space that's needed so the workpiece that feeds in (or out) of one tool doesn't bump into another one.

Center Stage
Take the table saw for instance. Because of the clearance required in front, back, and at the sides when cutting large workpieces, it usually claims more than its fair share of space in the center of the shop. Even so, you can still work around these space requirements. Sometimes it's just a matter of positioning the table saw at an angle so workpieces feed into an open area of the shop. The table saw isn't the only tool that can gobble up space. When working with long pieces on a jointer, band saw, router table, or planer, you might also need a sizable "run" at each end of the tool.

Overlap
One way to provide this space is to overlap the infeed and outfeed areas of two tools. For example, position a planer so the outfeed passes in front of the table saw. Overlapping areas also works well with tools where the tables are at different heights. For instance, I park my band saw right next to the router table. This way, a workpiece that feeds off the table on the band saw passes above the shorter router table, see photo.

Doors and Windows
When planning infeed/outfeed requirements, don't overlook an opening provided by a door or window. Positioning a band saw or table saw near a door may be just the ticket for those extra-long pieces, see drawing above.

Corners
One last note. The corners of a shop often get filled with clutter. But tucking a tool like a drill press into a corner can take advantage of wasted space. Yet you can still drill holes in a long workpiece because of the distance between the adjoining walls, see photo.

Miter Saw Workstation

I like my power miter saw for its portability — I use it for everything from trimming molding for furniture projects to cutting 2×4s.
But I've never been happy with the small table of the saw. It doesn't provide much support for cutting longer pieces. So I built a portable workstation for the saw that doubles as an extension table, see photo.
To make the workstation, I started with a plywood base to fit the depth of the saw, but I made it about 16″ longer than the width of the saw. (This extra length provides space for the extensions.)
The extensions are just U-shaped channels that get screwed to the base to form a "box" on each side of the saw.
The tops of the extensions are plywood, while the sides are solid hardwood to provide better bite for the screws that hold the pieces together.
To determine the width of the side pieces, measure the height of the table on your miter saw. Then subtract the thickness of the plywood you're using for the tops. When the extensions are added to the base, the tops of the extensions should be flush with the table of the saw.
Before screwing all the pieces together, I cut out a couple of hand-holds to make it easier to lift the saw. With my saw screwed to the base, I can carry the whole unit from job to job.

When installing woodscrews in the edge of manufactured materials like MDF

When installing woodscrews in the edge of manufactured materials like MDF, it's all too easy to split the sides of a workpiece — even if you drill a pilot hole first. To prevent this, I support the sides by clamping an ordinary handscrew across the workpiece.

Handy way to store your electric drill

Here's a handy way to store your electric drill — a "holster" that hangs on a pegboard rack.
The holster is a scrap of "two-by" material with two openings cut in it. The drill chuck fits in a large hole. And the power cord slips into a keyhole-shaped notch.
By installing two L-hooks in the back edge, you can hang the holster securely on the pegboard.

Squaring Large Projects

The problem with assembling a large project is it's hard to keep it from racking after you add the glue and then try to screw it together. As shown in the drawing, I solved this problem by making several plywood "clamping squares" that resemble a framing square. When clamped in place, they square up the cabinet and hold the pieces in position.

Squaring a Mitered Corner

For some projects, like the mitered box shown below, a band clamp is the easiest way to hold the project together while the glue dries. But there is one small problem. The mitered corners tend to slip out of alignment as the clamp is tightened. So in addition to the band clamp, I clamp short pieces of aluminum angle bracket to the inside of each corner to draw the miter together. As you can see in the detail, filing a slight roundover on the outside corner of the bracket provides room for glue squeeze-out

Installing hinges

When installing hinges, you need to be ready to make a few adjustments. This can mean putting on and taking off the door a few times. And one thing to avoid is breaking one of the brass woodscrews. So I use a single steel woodscrew to hold each leaf during the fitting process, see top photo below.
And if the hinge mortise is too deep, use a thin piece of cardboard as a shim, see bottom photo below.

Steel Woodscrews
One frustration you want to avoid is breaking a brass woodscrew. So when fitting a door, use a steel woodscrew in the hinge leaf.
Cardboard Shim
If the gap between the door and the case is too narrow, of if the gap tapers from top to bottom, try adding a thin cardboard shim under one or both hinge leaves.

The history of furniture

Rustic Oak Furniture History

Investing in furniture made of oak is more than just an appreciation of quality: it means becoming part of a tradition which has its roots in the earliest recorded history of the British Isles. This website summarises this huge and fascinating topic and offers advice on the choices of oak furniture available today.

Characteristics of Oak

The Common Oak (Quercus Robur) is a slow growing hardwood tree that is most suited to damp, fertile soils. These are found in many parts of the UK. Its distinctive leaf shape and acorns make it one of the most easily recognised trees in the British Isles. The oak (Quercus) family is a large and diverse one however, and different species of oak can be found in America, Europe, Asia and the Far East.

The typical characteristics of oak are its toughness and durability. This made it indispensible for almost all types of construction, from wagons, to ships to the main structural elements of buildings. In addition to its toughness and utility, oak also has an attractive grain pattern, particularly when the timber is sawn to show off the silver flecks caused by the medullary rays in the growing tree. These attributes make it particularly attractive for use in furniture making.

For more information about trees of the British Countryside follow this link to the Woodlands Trust at http://www.british-trees.com/

Early oak furniture

The earliest reports of oak furniture used in Britain date from around the Norman Conquest and the end of the Dark Ages. These describe massive tables of simple, rough construction, settles (high backed bench seats) and simple benches.

Such furniture would typically have only been the property of the upper classes and any chairs that existed were exclusively the preserve of society’s leaders. Indeed, this association of furniture with the leaders of society began a precedent which survives today in English phrases such as chairman, coming before the bench (of magistrates) and being a member of the board (those privileged to sit around the table or board rather than squatting in the shadows).

It is interesting to note that sitting at a table to eat, rather than on the floor, was an invention of the Roman occupying forces and was probably viewed by the native population as something to which they should aspire. Hence the importance of the table in post-Roman Britain – even giving birth to the round tables of Celtic chieftains, subsequently personified in the King Arthur legends.

During the next 500 years or so, oak furniture developed in both variety and sophistication in Britain. Simple wooden boxes or chests were constructed to store various items of value including weapons, money and linen. The addition of a simple drawer to the base of the chest gave rise to the mule chest, which became the forerunner of today’s chest of drawers, while standing the chest upright lead to the development of the wardrobe and in France the armoire – originally an armoury for holding weapons.

Finishing and carving of pieces developed and there are many fine examples of carved Tudor oak furniture to be seen in museums and private collections around the country.

For more information about buildings and furniture of the period, try English Heritage at www.english-heritage.org.uk or the National Museum of Wales’ open air museum at St Fagans near Cardiff on www.museumwales.ac.uk/en/stfagans


The Restoration of the MonarchyThe restoration of the monarchy in 1660 had significant consequences for the kind of heavy oak furniture that had developed in Britain to this point. Charles II and his court had been living in Europe where they acquired a taste for the much lighter style of Continental furniture. Whereas traditional English furniture had been made of heavy oak held together by joints fastened with wooden pegs, the new furniture used glue to fasten its joints and was decorated with veneers of walnut and other unusual woods.

Six years into his reign the Great Fire of London gave an added impetus to this change of style. Rich Londoners whose property had been lost in the fire commissioned replacement furniture in the new Continental style. As it happened, many of the cabinet makers commissioned to make replacement pieces were immigrants who had escaped religious persecution on the Continent. Consequently they were already familiar with this latest fashion.


The Georgian and Regency periods

If oak’s virtual monopoly on British furniture had been dented by the change in style following the Restoration, the arrival of the Georgian period and famous furniture makers such as Thomas Chippendale threatened to relegate it to the history books. Tropical hardwoods, particularly mahogany, became the furniture timber of choice for the most fashionable in society. Oak was still used for lesser furniture and cabinet work but its pre-eminence was gone, lost amidst the sea of russet, titian and cherry hues that established a lasting popularity.

Several relevant places of interest are in the ownership or care of the National Trust, whose website can be found here http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/


The Victorian period and Church furniture

The phenomenal success of Britain during the reign of Victoria created the largest empire the world has ever seen. One of the effects of this was that people began to wonder how this had been achieved and looked to their history for answers. This in turn led to a huge revival of interest in Britain’s history and spawned the gothic revival style. Part of this was a renewed interest in heavy, solid oak furniture carved in a medieval fashion.

Another feature of the period was an increased concern for the welfare, both physical and moral, of the general population. One way this found expression was a massive expansion in the building of new churches and chapels throughout the country and in the restoration and refurbishment of existing places of worship.

The timber of choice for the vast quantities of church furniture being built was, once again, oak. Today many fine examples of the skills of the Victorian furniture maker and wood carver can be seen and enjoyed in churches and chapels around the country.

A group dedicated to the preservation of Victorian buildings and interested in this period is the Victorian Society, which can be found at www.victorian-society.org.uk Those interested in buying antique furniture from the Victorian and Georgian periods can follow the sales of their local auction houses or the large auction houses such as Christies or Sotheby’s. There are also a number of antiques dealers with very good websites, such as Richard Gardner at http://www.blogger.com/www.richardgardnerantiques.co.uk and Driscolls at http://www.driscollsantiques.co.uk/


Contemporary oak furniture

The carnage of the First World War decimated Britain’s woodlands. Oak stocks were particularly badly affected as the timber was used for building and shoring up the trenches scarring the landscape of France. This in turn led to the foundation in 1919 of the Forestry Commission, charged with safeguarding Britain’s strategic timber reserves. The Commission’s website can be found at http://www.forestry.gov.uk/

Oak furniture of the inter war years tended to be lighter in weight, dark in colour (thanks to an abiding affection for the Tudor/medieval period) and minimalist in style.

The further depredations of the Second World War (when manufacturing wooden furniture was, for a brief period, illegal) meant that stocks of every kind of material were in short supply in post-war Britain. The conifer woodlands of Scandinavia made up the shortfall in timber and for some 30 years, pine furniture and Scandinavian-influenced design, were pre-eminent in the British furniture market.

Since the 1980s however, the almost innate love of the British for oak furniture, has seen a return to popularity of such pieces. There are a number of cabinet makers around the country producing hand made oak furniture in a wide range of styles, including the Queen’s nephew, Viscount Linley. The offerings from these cabinet makers range from faithful reproductions of past designs to the most avant-garde items styled to bring out the natural style and beauty of the wood. Some of this furniture is beautiful but much of it is beyond what many people can afford.