Location: Kissimmee, FL

Hobbyist or Pro: Hobbyist

Shop Type: Garage

Square Footage: 250-499

Shop Description:
My shop is a two car garage where no cars live. I have one wall dedicated to lumber storage, one for my work bench area, and one for racks holding equipment. Lots of storage has been squeezed in. All my large equipment is on wheels because most of the year it’s sunny out and the drive apron expands the working space a ton. Great natural light too. At the end of the day, everything gets rolled back in. It works out great!

Thanks to Marc for shop set up tips and ideas on how to get the most out of a small space. Plus the shop machine maintenance and set up guides have really helped. The videos on projects and instruction are awesome!

Location: Oak Harbor, WA

Hobbyist or Pro: Hobbyist

Shop Type: Garage

Square Footage: 0-249

Shop Description:
I decided to start woodworking about two years ago after my wife, Michelle and I went shopping for a new bedroom set. We visited the local furniture mart and Michelle found a set that she liked. It looked nice and each piece was priced around $500. When I asked the salesman what it was made out of, he talked in circles for a minute or two, fed me a line of BS, then walked away to ask his manager. It certainly was not hardwood and didn’t seem any better than the IKEA stuff we had. Frustrated, I left the furniture store and made a decision to start building my own furniture.

I went to my local big box store and loaded up with tools that I thought I needed. I somewhat successfully built my first project–a bookcase for Michelle. I had some real problems with the finishing process. Frustrated with how the bookcase looked, I took a hammer and just start beating the crap out of it. It was literally one of those “tiger got out of the cage” moments. Michelle heard all the pounding and expletives coming from outside and quickly ran to see what was wrong, fearing that I might have already injured myself during my inaugural build. Seeing the look on her face as I was turning her bookcase into kindling, I realized that injuring myself would have been far better than the wrath I was about to endure for ruining her bookcase. Needless to say, I made “nice” and managed to salvage the project and turned it into a bench. From that moment it became clear that it was going to take a lot more time, practice, tools and most of all patience to build furniture!

Over the past couple of years, my shop has gone through a couple progressions. I bought a cheap Delta table saw and Dewalt router from CL and built a couple more projects with some major issues as I continued to struggle. Not happy with the performance of my cheap table saw, I decided to try the all hand tool route. I sold my table saw, router and some of the other unnecessary power tools. Talk about biting off more than I could chew. I loved the idea of working with hand tools, but not the results I was getting. It is a slow, tedious and somewhat difficult process to learn for a new woodworker. It was driving me crazy and I was ready to quit. I took some time off and tried to figure out what it was that I was trying to accomplish. I figured out that I did not have to live in a world with only hand tools or only power tools. I now think of my shop and woodworking as a constant progression and try to enjoy the process as much as the end result. For me there is no finish line, timeline or deadline only enjoying time spent in the shop when I can.

This is my shop in its current state, part of a large one car garage. My workbench is a very basic and inexpensive design. Two IKEA tops laminated together with ¾” dog holes drilled into it. The top sits on a base built out of 2 X 4’s joined together with pocket holes. Not super sexy, but after I added bench dogs, wonder pups and a couple of Gramercy Holdfasts, it became very functional. I also added a T8 light above the bench that I got from Home Depot for about $40. On the bench are a few of my hand tools. I have two LN independence saws, one filed crosscut and the other rip. I have a Veritas Plow Plane, Router Plane, Spokeshave, LN block plane, Stanley Jack Plane Type (Type 14), Tite Mark and Veritas marking gauges and a Blue Spruce marking knife (worth splurging for). On the back of the bench I have a set of LN chisels, two Buck Brothers pairing chisels (wood handles made in Maine) and a Starrett combination square. Underneath my bench is where I store a very generic version of a tool chest, its actually a footlocker from a deployment I went on a few years ago and has come in very handy for storing my hand tools until I can build a legit tool chest. Inside of it I have a Stanley hand brace, Jennings pattern bits, sliding bevel, winding sticks and a couple other miscellaneous tools.

To the right of my bench is my sharpening station. I use Shapton 1000, 4000, and 8000 grit stones, a DMT duo sharp (coarse/fine) to flatten my stones, a Veritas MKII honing guide and a Rockler LED light courtesy of a monthly drawing on The Wood Whisperer site. The surface is just a piece of ¾” MDF bolted on top of what used to be the base for my table saw. The Ridgid jointer is a recent addition found on CL. I was not in the market for a jointer but it was only $100. It was in pretty poor shape–there was a lot of surface rust and it needed some serious TLC. After a couple days of hard work, all the rust was off and it looked pretty good. As far as functionality its okay, but I am not in love with it. The bed is short, its finicky to adjust, its only 6” wide and it I don’t like the amount of tearout I am getting, but it was only $100. Right behind the jointer is where I store my parallel clamps, nothing fancy but it works.

The planer was my first power tool addition. Its a Delta 12 ½”, 2 knife “lunchbox” style planer that I got off CL. This was a great find, I bought it from an older guy and it looked like he had only used it once or twice. The manuals where still in plastic unopened and it came with the mobile base. Its only a two-knife plane so I take very little off each pass; it takes little longer but sure is easier to thickness a board with the planer then by hand.

My newest power tool addition is a Grizzly G1022 ProZ, contractor style table saw with a Shop Fox Classic Fence. Another CL find and the one I am most proud of. It was almost a two hour drive to pick it up, but well worth it. The saw is in great shape, with limited use and very well taken care of. It came with a mobile base that the previous owner built, but I added the drawers, which are from Lee Valley and excellent for extra storage in my small shop. I added a couple of accessories–an Infinity Super General Combo blade, Onsrud Rip and Dado blades (eBay finds recommended by Knotscott). I have not used either of the Onsrud blades so I can’t offer any personal experience but from what Knottscott told me about them, some various opinions around the Interwebs and their very reasonable pricing, I am confident they were a good buy. Can’t forget about the safety equipment–3M respirator and a Grr-Ripper, which is a must have, love that thing! Oh and of course a WW push stick!

There is a very basic outfeed table behind my table saw. Under the outfeed table is my temporary dust collection system. Its a Dust Right Vortex Dust Separator hooked to a shopvac. The shopvac is loud and not the greatest when it comes to DC but it gets the job done.

Finally, we have what serves as my assembly table. Just a piece of plywood mounted between two beams in my garage. On the table is a Ryobi grinder, storage cabinet for screws and favorite new toy…I mean tool, a Festool CXS drill! Oh yea and a pair of Festool safety glasses.

I have an idea of where I want my shop to go over the course of the next couple of years but nothing is set in stone. I will just let my projects dictate my next couple of shop upgrades and continue to enjoy the process of working wood. I will post all of the shop updates on my blog www.jamscroll.com

Location: Lévis, Québec

Hobbyist or Pro: Hobbyist

Shop Type: Basement

Square Footage: 0-249

Shop Description:
Hi folks!
I always wanted to build small furniture and musical instruments but I only have about one quarter of my basement available for a shop. Nevertheless, I managed to cram in a contractor table saw with an out feed table and router table attached, a press drill, small belt sander, jointer, portable thickness planer, a mitre saw my brother-in-law gave me (thanks Jean!), a sink, compressor, homemade dust collection system and air filter, and an always-too-small workbench. In order to still be able to work and go around the equipment, I installed some of them (the planer and mitre saw) on slides and the jointer is on casters so I can stash it under the mitre saw. It’s not perfect, but it’s workable!

Location: Jeffersonton, VA

Hobbyist or Pro: Hobbyist

Shop Type: Basement

Square Footage: 500-999

Shop Description:
My shop is located in the lower level of my home. Three years ago we relocated to this home and one of the requirements was to have a dedicated space for a workshop area other than having to share with the car and lawn mower and be able to work in the winter months.
The space is made up up two areas that are separated by double doors. The combined space is 730 square feet. There are double doors that open to the outside for bringing in materials and machinery.
My heavy tools are located in the larger shop area and the other area is used for assembly and finishing. I have all of my tools installed on mobile bases so they can be rolled quickly to where they are needed. I use a Jet roll-around dust collector plus a JDS air filtration unit to reduce dust from getting into the living area. A feature that I never had in my shops until this one is a large utility sink that makes clean-up easier after those finishing projects. When possible, I try to use water base finishes.
My tool storage is in drawers and tool boxes located around the shop area. Storage for clamps is on a Rockler roll-around clamp rack. The Rocker clamp rack has several shelves that I used to store my glue and other items needed when doing a glue-up and has worked much better than a fixed wall-mounted rack.
I have reorganized my work areas several times but the current setup works great.

Location: Winston-Salem, NC

Hobbyist or Pro: Pro

Shop Type: Standalone

Square Footage: 1000+

Shop Description:
My shop is a work in progress. I enjoy taking a concept drawing for a client and turning it into reality. I also enjoy remaking/duplicating antiques and fixing broken furniture. I use my shop to build custom cabinetry and kitchen cabinets for clients as well.
Currently, I am opening up my shop as a millwork shop for people who need material planed, cut to size or projects glued up & overall general help building projects. To see some of my work please check out my website: johnwhitedesign.com

Location: Bakersfield, CA

Hobbyist or Pro: Hobbyist

Shop Type: Garage

Square Footage: 250-499

Shop Description:
My workshop is a project in itself. It is a 3 car garage that I had to rewire. My wife’s car and my motorcycle need to sleep in the garage at night. I try to arrange everything in such a manner to accommodate the car and bike but still retain some functionality to it. I have some nice open space if the car is out, so this arrangement works well. I’m a amateur at most and still have tons to learn. Most of my projects are building stuff for the house and shop.

Location: Blue Mountains, Australia

Hobbyist or Pro: Pro

Shop Type: Garage

Square Footage: 250-499

Shop Description:
I am in the process of transitioning from cottage builder to joinery shop hobbyist/enthusiast. The majority of my equipment is focused for using on site with far less tolerances than the majority of The Wood Whisperer crowd would be comfortable with.
After haunting some of the forums I have motivated myself enough to start the project of cleaning out years of accumulated junk, tools and projects that lost steam.
The shop is developing in my 20 x 20 garage. The plan is to set up 10 x 20 and leave the other half for my old vehicle to sleep in at night time. There is a space behind my 20 x 20 garage which has a concrete slab, insulated roof and bare frames for walls that will, in time, become the shop proper, conditional on my interest continuing.
I purchased a flat packed steel rolling tool box with laminated hardwood top to help get things moving along quickly and I am very happy with it. The plan is to convert it into a mitre saw station, but at present it is handy for my bench mounted machines. The Dewalt mitre saw stand is what I have been using on work sites and it will probably stay this way for a while. In contrast, the workbench beside it was built by my great grandfather and used by him as a carriage builder for NSW railways, back in the times when railway carriages were built from timber.
I plan on building the torsion box assembly table that Marc showed us and it will sit in a similar way that an island bench does in a kitchen. You can see the difference the new lights make. There were two 36 watt tubes in this area. They were replaced with 6 twin 36 watt tubes that are also diffused and fitted with 5000 kelvin tubes instead of the 4000 kelvin, which were a bit warm for my old eyes. This shop will be a work in progress as responsibilities get in the way–but hey, you only have one shot at life, so why not enjoy it?