I’m struggling with my workshop workspace, benches and storage. I operate in a 20×25 double garage. I’ve got a table saw, band saw, full size lathe, small air compressor, PM dust collector and drill press. Add to that wood and sheet goods storage plus various cabinets. My Dewalt lunchbox planer is stored on the floor and only brought out as as needed. One assembly table doubles as my router table. It and my main workbench double as outfeed tables. I also have a rolling offcut bin – about 48×30″. In addition, I’ve got normal homeowner items – sprayers, fertilizer spreader and tools in the garage. I’ve avoided getting a proper router table and a jointer since I don’t feel like I have room. I’ve utilized as much wall space as I can by hanging tools and jigs on the walls. I’ve got one bench that I knocked together early on and haven’t upgraded since I’m not sure what an improved version will look like. I know there must be a better arrangement but am stuck as to what it is.
I’m hoping some of you might share your creative solutions – those cabinets that achieve good storage plus double as workspace, wall storage ideas, etc. Descriptions, drawings and pictures would all be appreciated.
As always, thank you for your help.
Replies
I don't know that anyone can provide much insight on improvements from a list of tools without knowing the size or nature of those tools without seeing more of your current setup. Without pictures and a sketch of your current layout it's impossible to offer much other than to check out the shop storage articles on FW and the numerous articles on small shop setups.
What do you make? What do you want to make?
The best space saving advice I can give you is, don't be a wood hoarder. Buy what you need for a project, and don't keep a lot of extra around. Wood storage can take over your entire space.
I concur, twice over!
While anything can be taken to extremes, I will say I'm a big believer in allowing wood to acclimate to your surroundings to minimize wood movement problems related to moisture adjustments. To accomplish this I always buy the wood for my next project as I begin my current one sometimes two projects ahead if one is small and will be completed quickly. I like to give wood a month or so to acclimate to my shop and it serves me well with minimal wood movement problems. To advise anyone to rush out and buy wood and take it home to start cutting it may be not in their best interests. If his garage has 10 or 12 ft ceilings like many modern garages seem to storing wood vertically is an option to save space, just make sure the proper safety precautions are taken.
I don’t think John C2 meant that.
It’s more about the people buying wood in bulk because of a sale, auction or a log miller is nearby and your shop, rather than having wood on deck for a not that far away at bat is, instead, just a remote warehouse for your lumber supplier holding materials with no plans to be used.
Mike
Yes. Wood hoarding. "Ooh, that's a nice one. I bet I can use that some day." In the end, you've moved it around the shop 471 times, and your widow sells it for 3 bucks,
Guilty as charged.
Hard to say without pictures.
I am wondering if you have either more stuff than you really need, or never put anything away.
A rolling 4’x30” offcut bin does not sound like an efficient item to have.
Mike
Here are the ideas that have created the most space in my shop:
1. Being ruthless in riding my shop of cut offs and scraps, particular scrap sheet goods. Yes, there is no such thing as scrap wood, only wood you haven't found a purpose for yet. But if you look at everything like that, you'll be buried in no time.
2. Putting my router table in the wing of my table saw.
3. Flip top carts. I've combined my belt/disc sander and spindle sander on one cart with a flip top.
4. Building a shed and moving everything that doesn't belong in a woodshop (lawnmowers, rakes, etc.) to the shed. Single biggest improvement, by far. If truth be told, its also made getting rid of scrap less painful because I just move some of it to the shed. Denial is more than just a river in Egypt.
If its in the budget, consider a jointer/planer combo unit. They take up less floor space than a jointer because the tables are usually shorter than a stand alone jointer. Finally, what's over your head in the shop? Do you have open rafters where you can store long clamps, wood, etc.
My first suggestion would be to add a tabletop to the cutoff bin...that thing is huge! If I have a cutoff that is 48" long I reclassify it as lumber.
Come to think of it you could build that router into the table and keep the planer on it as well. You might need locking casters.
Have a look at Woodshop Junkies - he fits more than that into a SINGLE garage shop and makes some pretty amazing stuff. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvp9keCjcX8
Fisher's shop has some interesting double-duty cabinets though he currently doesn't have videos of construction. Basically a tool like the planer and a grinder or sander (similar weight) pivot round each other, one being up and in use, the other down and stored.
Stumpy nubs has a 'small shop' setup that mimics your garage in size. He's not shown much of it due to COVID and setting up his new magazine, but the guy is a genius and really does understand the problems of the 'common' woodworker with limited funds and space.
That having been said, I am going to advise a 'nuclear' approach to this. You don't have that much toolage for the space, so it's probably a storage problem. I have assumed in this that you do what I do - mostly furniture, a bit of turning and a lot of household repairs and odd jobs. You probably won't like my ideas if your processes are radically different.
1. clear EVERYTHING out of the shop if you can. Cupboards, units and all.
2. Put all your machines where you really want them. I'd consider TS near the big door, DC near the TS, BS and lathe near the DC. All this should be near the big door for access, ability to extend outdoors when needed and convenience. All up these and your outfeed should take up about 1/3 of the available space.
3. Design a board store to keep sheet materials upright. In that sort of space, something 3-4' deep, 4' wide and 8' high is ideal. If it doesn't fit in the store it's donated. Boards keep very well if within 5 degrees of vertical. You can access every piece easily too. Mine has half full-height and half split in two for two spaces for half-sheets.
4. Every tool gets a cupboard or storage drawers underneath wherever possible. Lathe stands are huge space-hogs and a custom box can be really useful. Remember to leave room for your elbow though - lathes don't like to be too close to a wall (Mine is, but I'm a hypocrite, and not a great turner either!)
5. Reserve a limited space for your household gear and create a storage unit for it. This can keep it much more easily accessible and if everything has a place there is still no chance anyone else will put it away after use, but you do get the absolute right to moan about it when they don't. Cathartic.
6. Throw out scrap you are never going to use. I have two bins. One for handy bits that can't be burned safely, and one for burnable bits. Once they are overflowing, they go to the tip or the fire. No mercy. (who am I trying to kid - of course you have to keep some, but do try not to...)
7. Create spaces to store all your other tools near where you use them.
8. If you're not going to use it, THROW IT OUT.
Easier said than done, but ultimately it may be what you have to do. Last time I did this I threw out over 20 cans or pails of paint that had either gone off or I had no idea what they were last used for. My Board Store is totally full now and only about 1/8 of it is really useful stuff. I've found a local organisation that does artwork for teens who are keen to collect the scraps for projects. Then it all starts again...
You can dived all items in couple of garage like one garage (workplace) should be use for hard items, longest with height item, tools and so on. Second garage (storage) should be use for finished items which are ready to sale.
Buy / build an outdoor shed for all the gardening stuff and expand into the newly created space. Consider above garage-door storage for all the other stuff. Agree with the wood hoarding.. I’m now in a small basement shop and what stays or goes is never easy.
Great suggestions here.
What worked for me was I value my space so much that if it is not used enough it goes away. I am pretty ruthless with culling tools and machines. I traded a 12" joiner for an 8" because I found I didn't need the 12" an it took up huge amount of space.
I don't get caught up (to much) with I wants but focus on I need.
Working on this but everything needs a home. If it has a home I tend to put it there. If it doesn't I will just lay it down and not be able to find it.
Design and building useful, easy to access storage is another biggie. I HATE deep cabinets where things get hidden behind others. I find I never use them. Going to move soon and I have plans for some shallow cabinets. 12" or less deep and the door will be 12" with shelves in it. Lots of practical storage there.
Culling wood is hard but i am getting better at it. I made a place for store cutoffs and it is full so I sort it and keep the best. The rest gets burned.
Some people are just messy and unorganized. I have a buddy that his shop is never dirty or cluttered. NEVER. Even in the middle of project. He cleans up every night when he quits. I am not that guy but I wish I was a bit more like him.
I have the same situation and I put all my floor tools on mobile bases and pull each one out as needed.
I have several tools that I don't use regularly, but often enough to keep. For example, grinder, disk/belt sander, spindle sander, miter trimmer, bench top jointer, etc. I mounted each of them to a piece of plywood or MDF, about 16x24 (or whatever fits) and store them on a shelf. When I need one, I'll pull it out and mount it on the top of my old Black&Decker Workmate table, using the clamping mechanism to hold the plywood tool base. The Workmate makes a great mobile base, and none of those tools takes up much horizontal space when stored away.
I find it helpful to have tools on moveable platforms. My garage is a single car garage and I need to optimize my space. I am also rethinking some of my tool purchases and selling what doesn't work in my present configuration like my DeWalt 635 planer.
Best thing I did was build a garden shed and throw everything not shop related in it.
Primary problem:
"normal homeowner items – sprayers, fertilizer spreader and tools in the garage"
Primary solution:
" killernewfie | Mar 26, 2021 11:44am | #18
Best thing I did was build a garden shed and throw everything not shop related in it."
That is a pretty big space for a home shop. Let's see, I had the following in a 20 x 30 that also had the water heater and laundry in it:
52" tablesaw
Outfeed / assembly table
Router table
Floor standing disc/spindle sander
Floor standing drum sander
8" jointer
15" planer
17" bandsaw
10" bandsaw
17" drill press
2HP cyclone
Vertical wood storage
Horizontal wood storage
Large cut-offs bin/tower
Hardware and finishing supplies and storage
I think if you get the non-woodworking related things sent to a shed you will free up a lot of room. As our space gets smaller, organization becomes more critical. A place for everything and everything in its place. If it doesn't have a place, get it out of there. You need room to work ;-)
I built a "cyclone " shaving collector for the dust collection system and it is proportioned be a good place for the thickness planer.
The simple answer is that you have too much “stuff” in the garage/workshop. A double garage should be large enough for most - it is for me - however, for a start, I have relegated the garden tools and bikes, etc to a smallish shed.
The next important step is to decide what type of builds you want to concentrate on, and limit the machines you own. I build small to medium sized furniture, and have all the machines I need, but not all the machines one could have. These machines are the end point of 30+ years of serious amateur woodworking, and represent final upgrades. They are quite serious (heavy-duty) machines, but compact for what they offer. Where you can, get combination machines. I also use hand tools a great deal, and there is a dedicated area for a bench and cabinets.
I find that there is plenty space and, to emphasize this, I still park my car in the garage over night. It is backed out when the workshop is used. A few machines are on wheels and moved around. All the larger machines are stationary: combination jointer-thicknesser/planer, sliding tablesaw (with router table in outfeed), 18” bandsaw, large lathe, and disk/bench sander. Who needs more than this?
Cabinets are lifted up to clear floor space, and power and hand tools are out of the work area. I have a LOT of these, and if I can create workspace, anyone can!
This is not a shop tour, but just to show some of which I get into my shop. The final photo here is with my car in the garage, which makes it as cluttered as it could be. Without the car, there is enough space to spare. But you will note that there space is at a premium around the jointer-planer/bandsaw/drill press. Those work areas do not need the same space as around a tablesaw or work bench.
Regards from Perth
Derek
My shop is about the same size and to help utilize space in the middle of the floor I added a column from the rafters down to the floor. Not for support but it conceals a run of 6" dust collector pipe, shop air pipe for the pinner, and 4 electrical circuits. No more cords or DC hose running across the floor.
The outer surface became more "wall space" great for clamps. The TS outfeed table is also the router table and assembly table.
“[Deleted]”
Hello everyone, hope you and your families are doing well and healthy.
I live in the Charlotte area, NC. And wondering if there is anybody or know anybody that has space to rent, not to big, not to small, most of it its to assemble cabinets for future clients.
I read all the replies and agree with most of them. You have more than enough space to create an airy shop with plenty of space for everything, and easy to keep clean.
I have a 20x20 garage and have banned everything not connected with woodworking except the house's water supply compression tank and wall hanging hot water heater. I have more tools than the questioner and yet lots of open space, including a large drawing table.
I put the table saw near the garage door. The biggest mistake in most garage shops is putting the TS in the middle. It will take up the whole garage! I can cut boards up to 40 inches, after which the door goes up. An outfeed table serves as an assembly table.
In the middle of the shop I put a 42 inch lathe back to back with an 8 inch jointer. Then I put a 19-38 drum sander at the ends of the two machines. The various infeeds and outfeeds cross without interference. My 15 inch planer gets put in there, a 14 inch bandsaw, a floor-mounted drill press, a medium-sized workbench, a router table, a dust collector, two shop vacs for power tools, a sharpening station, 15 feet of counter space with a spindle sander, mortiser, sander combo, chop saw, and scroll saw. The counter is supported on 5 kitchen base cabinets. The chop saw is in the middle, where the counter is bisected, allowing the chop saw's tables to be flush with the counter; it sits on a cheap table I made from 2x4s.
My hand tools are kept in wall cabinets near the workbench, on the other side of the shop, and that is adjacent to sharpening and clamp storage. I have room for three large cheap storage cabinets 6 feet high, a rack for two or three projects worth of wood, and enough clear floor space to work on a dining table or queen sized bed. I avoid dust collection everywhere by using a Rockler expandable hose and moving it from machine to machine, using quick connects. My design minimizes electrical runs on the floor, and all wires are covered with heavy duty cable covers. Everything is on wheels but I seldom need to move anything--they are all positioned perfectly and the only exception is working on long pieces, when the machines sometimes get rotated a few degrees.
Everybody has their own work preferences, but the above shows you can put a lot into less space than you have, if you give some thought as to the location of each machine.
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