Smart Workshop Solutions
Building Workshop Workstations, Jigs and Accessories to Improve Your Workshop

By Paul Anthony

What's the best way to get your workshop to work well no matter what its size or how much equipment is in it? Paul Anthony shares his know-how in Smart Workshop Solutions.

You'll discover great ideas for shop accessories, workstations, jigs, and storage solutions. With the help of the detailed drawings and step-by-step instructions and photos, you can build and install ingenious shop additions. Your result: a more efficient workshop and woodworking that's safer and easier.

Get shop-proven ideas for:

• Clamp racks
• Wood storage solutions
• Drilling stations
• Tablesaw stations
• Router tables
• Tool cabinets
• and much more

Paul Anthony has been a professional woodworker since 1974 and is a past president of the Sonoma County Woodworkers Association. He has built hundreds of projects, ranging from furniture to turnings and musical instruments. He was an editor for American Woodworker magazine from 1994 until its sale to Readers Digest in 1998. He lives in Reigelsville, Pennsylvania.

Introduction:

Time spent in the workshop is the most enjoyable part of the day for many woodworkers, whether amateur or professional. In fact, many of us have a sort of ongoing love affair with the shop because it's our place of creativity and refuge. It's where we make these beautiful, useful things that last for generations and where we go to recharge ourselves, surrounded by wood, projects, and tools.

If you're a woodworker, it's a good bet you love tools. That's a good reason to have your shop in shape, as it's the biggest tool you have. It pays to keep it fine-tuned and operating as efficiently as your saws and planes. An unruly shop can cause you grief as you hunt for that bit for the third time or screw up a cut because your quick-'n'-easy outfeed support fell over again. A well-tuned shop allows you to glide from one process to another, getting much more done and enjoying it more.

Chances are that no matter how well your shop is organized, you've got improvements floating around in your head as you work. Maybe the thought of a new lumber rack sprung to mind when you tripped over that pile of boards last week. Perhaps that recent back twinge from hoisting your "portable" planer is triggering the "tool-stand design" cortex of your woodworker brain. Or maybe you're just finally reaching the sad conclusion that you're no longer the young acrobat capable of traversing your overstuffed shop with only minor injuries.

Whatever the case, there is no shortage of good shop-improvement projects to minimize your wrestling bouts with tools and stock. To that end, this book offers designs for shop accessories such as lumber racks, clamp racks, outfeed and assembly tables, and tool-storage solutions. What's more, you'll find designs for various shop workstations dedicated to particular woodworking processes. Workstations are not only the best approach to efficient production, but they also make woodworking more enjoyable and safe.

Whether a workstation is dedicated to sharpening, drilling, sawing, assembling, or sanding, it includes all of the tools, supplies, and space you'll need to perform a particular process. For example, a sharpening station usually includes a grinder and honing stones placed at the appropriate working height, with a wheel dresser, water for cooling, and any grinding and honing jigs nearby. No matter how it is configured, a workstation that provides a ready-to-go work platform with all of the necessary tools and supplies close at hand will pay off big dividends in efficiency and quality of work.

So have at it. I think you'll find that the projects in this book will make your time in the shop more productive and enjoyable. Just don't forget to step outside for some sunshine once in a while.

Table of Contents:

Introduction

Smart Workshop Solutions

Clamp Racks

Wood Racks

Table-Saw Station

Drilling Stations

Lathe Stations

Chopsaw Cabinet with Extension Tables

Router Table

Mobile Tool Cabinet

Assembly Table

Sources
 

Soft-cover, 8-1/2 x 10-7/8 in., 176 pages with over color photos and drawings

ISBN 978-1-56158-578-6