Work shop layout books

I haven’t found one good book, but each one has some good ideas in them, so do the annual homeshops isuues from a few of the different wood magazines. When you say you want to come as close to a pro shop as you can, what kind of pro shop are we talking about. A turners ? Cabinetmakers ? Furniture makers ? Because each one is different and specifically designed for purpose. Size can be eaten up quickly if you aren’t careful, I have 1280 sq/ft and I still have many machines on mobile bases. If you have height, then you can store wood vertically, saving floor soace and making the wood much more accesible. You can build a seperate room for your dust collection and air compressor.

In the end there are many options, so one plan may not necessarily be right for you. I can recommend that you go to Grizzly.com and use their workshop planner http://www.grizzly.com/workshopplanner.aspx .

Good Luck.

-- -JimmyC...Clayton,NC- "Just smile and wave boys, smile and wave"

I recommend Scott Landis’ “Workshop Book” from Taunton Press (www.taunton.com). Found it to be the most comprehensive approach.
A good general approach to workshop design is to think in terms of what might be called “work modules”, ie the operations you’d perform on wood for any project you might build. Then lay out the shop so the work flow supports each module-for example, here’s a typical workflow
1) Store lumber close to the door it’s delivered to
2) Milling lumber-locate the miter saw, jointer, thickness planer, table saw so the work of milling flows from the lumber rack.
3) Joinery-router table, table saw, workbench, hollow chisel mortiser, hand tools, etc.
4) Glue up-glue up worktable(s), clamps on racks, etc
5) Finishing-sandpaper storage, spray booth, etc.

You get the idea. What you’re really doing is laying out the workshop so the flow of activities replicates your “assembly line” for projects.

Hope this is helpful to you. Take a look at my workshop photos for some ideas. (It was designed to maximize a really small space-ie. stationary tools on moveable stands, etc.

-- Gerry

Also check out Tolpin’s books

-- Sam

Sometimes the easiest way is just to move tools around until you get a set up that works for you. Since you already have everything on wheels, you’ve got it made. Keep in mind the largest items you might be building, if you’re going to be cutting plywood sheets up, and leave yourself with an assembly area, close to the door, that will give you enough room to work. It’s your shop, set it up for how it best works for you.

-- Tim -- http://tmuli.com

I found the worshop layouts and description in Tom Hintz book 'The New Woodworker Handbook' to be good. It not a dedicated book to the subject, but you may find it useful

-- Rich

Thanks everyone, I’ve been poking around and think I have a plan.

-- Tom, Simsbury, CT