“Unless you think you can do better than Tolstoy, we don’t need you.”
— James Michener
Principles of Shop Setup
Setting up a workshop is one of the most daunting tasks we all face. I’ve had readers send me blueprints (yes, real blueprints) to seek my advice and approval. I’ve had people ask to hire me as a consultant. One guy wanted to fly me out to see his potential shop space and discuss his options.
This is not to boast. It is to point out how desperate new woodworkers are for real guidance.
I’ve had the great fortune to see a lot of bad shops – plus a few good ones. Even so, I don’t consider myself an expert on any shop except my own. During my last 20 years of woodworking I have developed a list of principles on workshops that are important to me. You might find them helpful or completely useless. I discuss my own journey in setting up my shop in some detail in “The Anarchist’s Tool Chest.”
In any case, here they are:
1. Your shop can be too large. Large shops turn woodworking into a “walking long distances from tool to tool” hobby.
2. Use work triangles: (jointer + planer + saw) (tool storage + workbench + assembly). It’s how efficient kitchens are set up. It works in woodworking, too.
3. The more complex the system, the more maintenance it requires. The fancier the dust collection system you have, the more time you will spend unclogging it.
4. The more tools/machines you have, the more time you will spend fiddling with tools instead of building.
5. Have dedicated stations for the core processes. Sharpening, for example. Surfacing wood. Ripping wood.
6. The right light is better than lots and lots of light. Having your bench under a north facing window is the best light. Texture is best seen in raking light.
7. Concrete floors + your feet + your sharp tools = sore back and chipped edges. Wooden floors — even CDX plywood floors — are heaven.
8. Try to keep the humidity and temperature level the same as the place where your projects will end up. This will result in fewer warped doors and lids in your finished pieces.
9. Wood collecting is a separate hobby. Your shop should have just enough wood storage for the two or three projects in the pipeline. If you collect wood (and that’s OK), get a shed. Or a barn.
10. Tool collecting is a separate hobby. If you haven’t used a tool in two years, you probably don’t need it.
11. Jig-making is a separate hobby. If your jigs have more than 10 parts (or an integral micrometer) then you probably are a hobbyist jig-builder (and there’s nothing wrong with that). If you cannot remember what a particular jig is used for then you probably don’t need it.
12. My favorite shops have nothing stacked on the floor. Don’t know why.
13. Light-colored walls allow you to use fewer light sources.
14. In the 18th century, shops were many times a room in the house where the family lived. If you think of your shop as a place where you live, you will construct and arrange it differently than if you think about it like a utility area — where your water heater and furnace are.
— Christopher Schwarz
2 Reasons to Visit the LAP Booth: Roubo and Studley
Be sure to stop by the Lost Art Press booth at Woodworking in America next week. We won’t have a workbench in our booth (I loaned all mine to the event’s organizers). Nor will we have any booth babes (maybe next year).
But we will have a few surprises.
At the top of that list is that we will have Don Williams, the mastermind behind the massive André Roubo translation project and the author of the forthcoming book on H.O. Studley, the piano maker with the legendary tool chest and almost-as-cool workbench.
Don will be hanging out in our booth answering questions about Roubo and Studley and what he’s learned about both men through his research. And if you are nice to him, he might even show you some photos and etchings….
Don will be around the Northern Kentucky Convention Center for most of the event, but if you want to make sure to talk to him, drop by our booth at 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. on Friday and 1:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. on Saturday.
— Christopher Schwarz
Cutting Lists for ‘The Anarchist’s Tool Chest’ (and its Little Brother)
I dislike making detailed cutting lists for complex projects. But I also don’t have the energy to fight about it. So let’s just pretend I didn’t write that first sentence.
Several readers have asked me for a cutting list for the tool chest featured in “The Anarchist’s Tool Chest.” And several more have asked me for plans to the smaller “Traveling Anarchist’s Tool Chest.” I’m almost done with the shell of the smaller chest – I just need to get the lid so it both looks right and doesn’t explode on you.
And so this evening while I sit in a nice Canadian motel room and wait for the inevitable moose attack, I created cutting lists for the exterior shells of both the full-size tool chest and its slightly smaller brother – all for your downloading pleasure.
Note that some of these part sizes are slightly different than those in the book. I did this so you can use 7/8” material (instead of 1”) and also so you will be able to fit the skirts and dust seals around the shell. Trust me on this. I’ve done this before.
I didn’t provide sizes for the interior parts because that would be a waste of 1s and 0s. Your chest will end up a certain size. The guts should then fit inside. A cut list will not help you.
— Christopher Schwarz
P.S. After you build your tool chest, don’t do what I did in the photo above. Especially by yourself. On a rainy day. With the chest fully loaded.
Off to Canada
As soon as I figure out how to get my chest out of the shop and into my wife’s Honda I am headed to Waterloo, Ontario, for the opening of Lee Valley’s newest retail store.
Want details? Here’s a post about the event. There’s also lots of other excellent craftsmen demonstrating there this weekend, so do stop by if you are in the neighborhood.
Note to the U.S. Customs Agents: This photo shows that my tool chest went across the border with me on Wednesday. Just sayin’.
— Christopher Schwarz
P.S. This also means that I won’t be answering much e-mail until after I return and get through Woodworking in America. So if you have a customer emergency, e-mail John Hoffman at john@lostartpress.com.