Set Up Your Own Woodworking Shop

1. Make sure you have room to move around. Don't put so many large stationary tools in your shop and end up with not enough space to work!! Somethings you may want to use mobile equipment that can be easily stored out of the way until you're ready to use it. Put locking wheels on any and all equipment that you can including your workbench!!

2. Install at least 2 fire extinguisher in your work area. Make sure they are approved for a woodworking shop!! Put them at either end of your shop. If you're lucky enough to have a seperate finishing room- put one in there also.

3. Put large rubber mats in areas where you will be doing most of your work. You don't want ot be standing on concrete floors for long periods of time!

4. Install a First Aid Kit in an acceptable spot. This will save walking thru your house everytime you need a bandaid or bandage.

5. Make sure you add 1 or 2 dedicated electrical circuits for your shop and use 20 Amp lines.

6. Install plenty of florescent lights. In my 24 x 21 shop I have 2- 8' light fixtures 3- 4' light fixtures. Locate the fixtures over your work bench and the main stationary equipment.

7. Last but not least- keep your area CLEAN!! Sweep or vacuum often. Don't leave sawdust on the floor, it gets slippery and you can't do good job working in a messy work shop!!!

There are dozens of essential pieces of equipment which may be considered vital but I'm focusing on health problems!!
DUST COLLECTION and AIR PURIFICATION

Tiny particles of dust floating in the air are the worst things that you can breathe!! Don't rely on your own human filtering (your nose) to keep this hazardous material from entering your lungs. You need a 2 phase attack to filter out these small microns of dust. Please if you do nothing else--do research on this subject. Purchase a good DUST COLLECTION SYSTEM and AIR FILTRATION SYSTEM.

Now I'm sure you have seen Norm Abrams on New Yankee Workshop and caught a glimse of his dust collection and air filtration system. It would be wonderful to have that kind of equipment. But most of us don't have enough room or the budget but that doesn't mean you shouldn't have a good system.

In my shop I have a Delta Dust Collector with PVC piping running to all my equipment. The collector is the type with 2 bags. One on top for fine air filtration and one on bottom for bigger heavier sawdust.


I also have 2 JDS Air Filteration Units that in theory scrub the air and remove even finer particles of dust. I place the units at either end of my shop attached to the ceiling on a diagonal line. The idea is the air flows in one unit and continues in a circular fashion to the other unit. Keep in mind my shop is a double car garage approximately 24 x 21. These units are only abouit 10 feet apart.


Lastly, set all your equipment up with dust collection attachments so as to collect as much as the sawdust produced before it gets in the air or on the floor. These measure will help greatly in keeping a healthy wood shop!!

PLAN PLAN PLAN and then Plan some more!! There is so much to take in account for!! Where do I put the Dust Collector? How about my table saw, drill press, router table............

Been there - Done that!!! This is where you would propably be wise to purchase some plans showing several different layouts. You might as well be looking for a compete package of woodworking plans--after all you're going to be making products and projects also! Most of the time it's less expensive to purchase a complete package than individual project plans. Just take a close look and make sure the package offers a number of plans for each project. I'm not talking about 2 or 3 variations- you should want 20, 30, or 40 different plans for each project. Also make sure they offer a customer service option in case you have some problems.

Generally speaking in a small shop the work area should center arount your table saw. I put a work table behind my saw so it served as support for long pieces of wood I had to cut. I also positioned it so I could stand behind it and have an additional work table.

If you have enough room- try to set up your tools in a semi-permanent position so you can maintain project flow. You want to avoid setting up and tearing down equipment during every step of the project.