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Pictures of my workshop

After I did my woodshop tour videos I had some people ask me for some pictures of my shop.  This does help to orient how the overall shop is laid out and the work station that I have set up, so here they are.

Again for those that may not have seen our shop tour video, I have tried to set up my workshop around work stations.  You can see from the pictures that lumber is brought in through the garage doors and placed in the lumber rack until it's ready for use.  Then I will normally rough cut the pieces to length with the miter saw.  At that point, one face is made flat and one edge is jointed on the jointer.  Those pieces are taken to the thickness planer where the flat face is laid facing down and sent through until the desired thickness is achieved.  Now all that's left is to bring the pieces over to the table saw. The jointed edge is placed against the fence and ripped to the correct width. 

The other workstations are used in other processes depending upon what I'm making.  The lathe might be used to make legs, the band saw is often used in cutting shapes or in cutting veneers, the router table is used for making joints, adding molding details, and the drill press for roughing out mortises and, well, drilling holes.  Most pieces at some point or other end up on the next workstation, the work bench, for sanding, planing, chisel work, etc.

With all that said, you can see by looking at the pictures how these tasks are grouped together for efficiency.  

Work Station No. 1- Lumber rack and miter saw

Work Station No. 2- Jointer, thickness planer, and tablesaw

Work Station No. 3- Lathe (this also includes my sharping center)

Work Station No. 4- Bandsaw, router table, drill press

Work Station No. 5- Work bench

You can see from this list that the first two work stations are for stock preparation.  The next three stations are all for detail work.

This set up has evolved over several years of woodworking.  It works for me now, but I'm always looking for ways to improve.  Depending on what you build, this set up may not work for you at all.  Take what you like, and see if it works for you.  Experiment with it until your work flows through your own workshop in a way that you're more productive. Which means you'll have more time to build, and thus, spend even more time in the shop!

If you'd like to see the video shop tour as well, click here. 

Craig Stevens

(c) Woodworkers Resource 2007