Whats 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.

Youll 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 thats safer and easier.

Get shop-proven ideas for:

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

About the author
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

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

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.

Customer Reviews from Amazon

I found this book to be very good in listing useful shop jigs/solutions. It is rare in that it gives enough of the key dimensions to actually build the items. What I think I like best is that in some cases, it shows several similar jigs. You can combine the best of all if you like (which is what I usually do). This book is a great value.

...just like the tittle says. The book focusses on nine specific problems and the solutions and workstation projects to handle the related challenges. A trademark of Taunton Press books is the abundant photographs and excellent illustrations. Each chapter has a logical progression in which the writer talks about the problem, suggests a solution with photographs, working drawings and a cut list to build the jig, cabinet or workstation. This is not a step by step instruction book but if you have a workshop, you probably have the skills to finish any of these projects. Even skilled woodworkers can appreciate the hints and tips that accompany each project. For example, how to fit the hinges on a blade storage cabinet and details of the mortise and tenon joint on an out feed table. I like the side bar articles such as the one on how to build a table-saw kill switch.

The book is 172 pages long. Some of Taunton`s books are over 300 pages and others are broken up into several volumes, for instance The Workshop books and The Toolbox book. All of these books are wonderfully inspiring. Smart Workshop Solutions is new material that adds to earlier books and magazine articles from this publisher. Some readers may enjoy the pictures of shops that belong to other well know work workers like Brian Boggs, Andy Rae and Bill Hylton. I wish the book was longer so it could offer more ideas and solutions.

This book is excellent. Wonderful ideas for organizing any shop, big or small. Good drawings, and beautiful color photography, throughout make this a visually pleasing book to look at, and dream of one's "perfect" shop. If you want to get your shop running at peak efficiency, this book will get you pointed in the right direction!

I recently had the chance to read this book and despite some initial reservations, I came away with quite a few good ideas for my small home shop. What took me a while to understand is that most books of this type simply give many different options for how to solve a problem in the workshop without giving detailed specifics on any one choice. This book does the opposite - there are few "solutions" to choose from, but the ones that are offered give a great amount of detail so you can easily reproduce the same results in your own shop.

So, for example if you don't already have an idea of what you want to do to solve your clamp storage problem, then I would say look in other places first to gather a lot of ideas and get a feel for what will work as a solution for you. Then if the idea you like best happens to coincide with one of the solutions in this book you could turn here for detailed plans on how to build what you need.

That's my advice, hope it helps in some way...

Paul Anthony's SMART WORKSHOP SOLUTIONS tells how the right fixtures an accessories can transform a workshop. From assessments of clamp racks and wood storage solutions to router tables and tablesaws, this covers the basics to obtaining and building accessories which lend to the woodworker's achievements.

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