Woodworking for everyone

You don't need to invest thousands of dollars to get started in woodworking. You don't need to put a second mortgage on your house to build a new shop. Many new woodworkers have started out in an area of their garage or in their basement. Most have found with a little creativity that they can keep their craft right there.

Where to set up shop
A garage is an ideal place to set up your woodworking shop. You do not have to sacrifice parking space. Simply mount your tools to a mobile base and pull them out when you are ready to work. When you are finished push the tools out of the way and put the car back in its place.

A basement is another good place to set up shop. There are some unique challenges to using your basement but they can be overcome. You will need to make sure that you have a way to get lumber into the basement and a way to get larger projects out. Other than that if you have a nice dry basement you are pretty much ready to go.

Shop requirements
Whether you have your shop in the garage, basement, or other location you will need to make sure you have an adequate number of electrical outlets installed and plenty of lighting. You may need to add a few outlets and circuits to avoid having a tangle of extension cords all over the shop to trip on. Good lighting is also necessary. Several well placed flourescent shop lights will do the trick. Its a good idea to put your lighting on a circuit seperate from your outlets so you do not loose lighting in case you trip a breaker while using a tool.

Essential Tools
There are a few tools that I regard as essential for most any woodworking shop.

A sturdy workbench is often overlooked as a woodworking tool but is the most often used tool in your workshop. You can go as simple or elaborate as you want with a workbench. I prefer simple and sturdy. There are tons of free plans in the internet for workbenches. You may also find free plans at your favorite lumber yard or home center.

A table saw is another tool that is needed for most workshops. You will find that the table saw will become the center of your workshop. It is a very versatile tool. You will likely be starting out with smaller projects, so a small bench model table saw is fine for now. You can always upgrade later as your skills increase.

There are other tools that you may consider buying as well but that is beyond the scope of this introductory article. We will take a look at other tools to consider in another article. Whatever tools you are using take time to read and understand the manual. Work safely and enjoy.

Read this article "Beginners Guide To Woodworking Power Tools".

We just had a new 30' x 52' shop built! We have moved in and we are getting everything set up. Once we get everything set up I will be producing some how to videos. Check back for the videos.

The good people at MLCS have created a whole bunch of woodworking how-to instructional articles and videos. They are free to view and download. There is a wealth of woodworking information on this page. You will learn how to make all sorts of woodworking joints and use many of their router bits.

Free Woodworking Videos

Rockler Woodworking has a huge section of woodworking how-to articles and guides. You will find a ton of articles on tools, hardware, projects and more. This is a great place for you to learn more about woodworking.

Rocler Woodworking How-To