When it comes to woodworking at home, the first and most crucial step is to ensure your workshop is setup correctly.
However, for many woodworkers, fighting weekend workshop space versus weekday requires cars or trucks in the same area.
In this guide, learn how to:
- Choose the best workshop layout
- Heating and cooling considerations
- Bench and storage solutions
- Dust collection strategies
- How best to setup a miter saw
- And many other helpful tips and tricks
Page Contents
Step 1: Start by Inventorying Your Projects and Tools
Don’t look at your available workshop space for now, as that will likely not change. Focus instead on how you’ll plan to use the space – from projects, tools, and demands of the area for lighting and heat.
What Projects Will I Focus on in my Workshop?
Take a few minutes and on the left-hand side of a piece of paper, write down what projects you’ll plan to build over the short and medium term:
- Cabinetry
- Shelves
- Wooden toys
- Turning pens
- Carvings
- Breadboards
- etc…
What Are My Top 10 Tools for the Workshop?
Now on the right-hand side of the paper, list what you think will be the most used tools for these projects. Keep in mind you may not own these yet, and sticking to tools that will take floor space or have significant storage needs is fine:
- Table saw
- Lathe
- Drum sander
- Router table / Shaper
- Miter box
- HVLP sprayer
- Dust collector
- Air compressor
- Pipe clamps
- etc.
What next? You can start prioritizing your projects based on what you’ll build most, then do the same with your tools (by frequency of use). You can see I build cabinets and chose the miter saw as it’s central to my workshop, and I use it for just about everything. It’s always ready to go.
How Big are My Tools & What Storage Will I Need?
An essential requirement is as simple as just how big everything is. Measure height, width, stand base dimensions (for roller base consideration), fold dimensions vs. in-use, etc., of everything. Capture these in a listing. We’ll use these to lay out the shop later.
Still, need to get a few of the tools? Head to a tool store and check out what tools you think you’ll buy—error on larger vs. smaller.
Where should you store your small hand tools? One trick is just to lay them out on a bench or floor as if you were going to hang them on a pegboard. Measure how much space you’ll need in height and width. Do the same with any tools like biscuit joiners in complex plastic cases and how much shelf space they’ll need. Count how many pipe clamps you have (or will have) and their stored size (and lengths).
Working Space: Accommodating Plywood & Hardwood
This is a little bit trickier but still significant. For each of your tools, think thru how much space you will need around it for adequate working space. The table saw is the classic space hog – for ripping and cross-cutting plywood and long boards, it can take up to 12′ on the in-feed and out-feed and 8′ to the left of the fence, and 5′ to the right of the wall (a whooping 24’x13′ space overall). Some essential tools to consider:
- Bandsaw
- Jointer
- Miter box
- Table saw
- Drum sander
What Else Will I Need in my Home Woodworking Shop?
This gets a bit trickier and isn’t just about what you’ll use – but instead, focus on the environment of what you’ll be building in:
- Access to adequate power for multiple large tools (multiple 15-20amp circuits)
- Adequate lighting
- Dust collection
- Storage for hardwood and plywood
- Heating & cooling based on your climate
- Air compressor supply lines
- Exterior doors for bringing in supplies and carrying out finished goods
- Fans & ventilation
- Tool mobility
- Benches
Step 2: Design and Set Your Workshop Budget
For your home woodworking shop setup, the design is most important. Now that you have your requirements from step #1, you can focus on the space. Smaller spaces are more complex to design as you’ll need to consider portability over fixed layouts. Larger areas may condense over time as unforeseen future purchases (a boat – in my case!) demand freedom. Be thoughtful in this phase!
Start by taking a piece of graph paper and marking out your available space in 1′ increments. This should easily fit on a single 8×11 piece of graph paper for most areas.
If you have a three-stall garage and can dedicate one stall always to be available, go ahead and mark that off. If you can’t have benches on the other walls so you can park cars, then block those areas off.
Decision Time: What Must Stay in One Place?
Surprisingly this may be very few things.
Benches, saws, air compressors, and shelving can all be mobile. Practically, though, this is tough to do. Look at your tools, factor in what you’ll use most often, and prioritize what should be non-mobile and ready to use. Note those on your draft design.
Tip: Look at wall-mounted options! The dust collector is one potential – it should be piped to many spots almost in the workshop. To avoid taking up floorspace, consider how it can be raised off the workshop floor and mounted.
Portable Tools: What Can I Lift vs. What Needs Wheels?
Now that you’ve picked what can stay in one place identify what will be mobile and be moved during your projects and stored in a position requiring mobility. Consider the weight of the tools, how often the devices will be mobile vs. fixed, and the overall cost of mobilizing everything. Check out Rockler mobile bases and this #1500 pound Bora Portamate to start. Prices range from $50-150. Be sure to look at the locking mechanism and adjustment of the “down position” foot pad. I’ve found that to be the #1 issue for me.
Design Benches and Shelving
The bench design is an entire book! Design options are endless. You can easily make them yourself, but if it’s above your skill level, there are options for pre-made cabinets to get you started.
If your needs are basic, look at a relatively inexpensive rack for less than 100 board feet of stored lumber. Hang it about 52″ off the ground to the lowest shelf, and you’ll have space underneath for your plywood (off the floor on a 1×6!).
Finish The Design & Test Out The Layout
You now have enough information to complete your layout on graph paper or physically in the workshop. A mix of both will do – and a physical form, if you already own the tools, will be best.
Tip: Buy a sheet of 4×8 pegboard and manipulate it around your table saw as if you were making cuts. That will ensure you have enough physical space as you look at in-feed/out-feed and spread to the left of the saw.
Set Your Budget
You can use your list of tools to identify what you’ll need. Do the same for your workbenches, shelving, mobile bases, etc. Add 20% to your “wants” and use that to set what you can buy now vs. later.
Consider eBay and Craigslist in your quest for tools – several slightly used instruments are available for a significant discount vs. new ones.
Take a look at these suppliers as you look at tool and storage solutions:
Step 3: Build Time
Only a little to say here – it’s time to start sawing, buying, and assembling to create your home woodworking shop.
Planning to make money from your workshop? Fixed space used for your projects (consult your tax advisor) can qualify as part of a tax credit.
- About the Author
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Eric has been a professional woodworker for over thirty years and has worked in small cabinet shops making everything from kitchen cabinets to hand-made furniture. Now working from a home woodworking shop Eric is sharing his passion for woodworking, tool advice and how-to knowledge from his Minnesota-based woodshop.
