Woodworking
A Work-Space
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Size Requirements
A workspace can be any place separated from the main living area of the house that is dry and ventilated. Attached garages and basements may be suitable, but the best set up will be a detached garage or building. The amount of room needed will mainly depend on the type of woodworking that will be done. Furniture building will require more space than building jewelry boxes. The amount of floor space required is not only affected by the physical size of the work piece being made, but it is also affected by the complexity of the project. More complex projects may require more pieces of equipment and more work stations.
Also consider that the type of projects built in the workshop will not only affect the amount of tools and equipment needed but the type of equipment needed as well. For example, a basic piece of equipment for most any workshop is the table saw. A table saw may be used in building a jewelry box and also be used in building large pieces of furniture; but a larger table saw would be needed for furniture building than for building the jewelry box. Of 
course, unless you have the liberty, the funds, and the motivation to build a new facility, it will be a mater of the space you have determining the type of woodworking you do.
There are some techniques that will allow you to make the most out of what space you have available. For example, many pieces of equipment can be placed on casters so that they can be rolled out of the way when not in use. This set-up may require less space than having all your equipment stationary. The illustration to the right shows an after-market caster set available for mobilizing various pieces of shop equipment.
Shop Layout
The layout of a shop is important for several reasons. The layout will largely depend upon the available space (shop size). One particular layout may work well for a medium sized shop, but would not work in a smaller shop. When the available space is limited, altering the layout may enable a person to still have their shop.
The layout will also affect the flow of work as a work piece moves from one operation to another. It would be a real inconvenience to have to cary a work piece back and forth all over the shop, therefore workflow and sequence of operations should be considered in planning a layout. It is impossible to determine the flow for every single work piece because depending on what is being built there will of course be some variation in sequence.
However, some very basic principles of workflow will mostly stay the same regardless of what is being built, and it is on these principles that the layout is established. For example, the saws should be located such that they are close to the raw material storage area since cutting to size is more often than not the first operation. Planeing is also one of the first operations required so it too should be located close to the material storage area. Bench work, assembly, and applying a finish are usually among the last operations to be performed, so it would make sense that they would be near the end of the work flow. It is difficult to have the perfect layout unless you plan to build only one particular item all the time. In that case you could design a near perfect layout to accommodate the building of that item. Otherwise, considering workflow simply makes for good guidelines in laying out a shop.
Laying out the shop on paper first will save a lot of problems when it comes time to start physically setting up the shop. The most important thing about a layout is that it be to scale, such as 1/4" = 1'. The first step is to draw the parameter of the room, being sure to show all doors and windows. Also show all support post, electrical service boxes, and plumbing fixtures and fire extinguisher locations. This is to prevent inadvertently blocking access to these areas when placing power tools, work benches, etc..
The non-stationary items in the shop such as tools, shelves, cabinets and benches can be drawn in place, but most likely not everything will stay exactly where it is placed the first time. This is a trial and error process. Therefore it is highly recommended that the non-stationary items be drawn on a separate sheet and then cut out; in other words, make templates. Then they can easily be moved around until you find the best layout for your shop. Be sure to make the templates to scale also. The illustration above shows a layout using templates that were purchased as a kit design specifically for woodworking shops. When making home-made templates, it is not necessary that an accurate shape of the object be represented. Just draw the smallest rectangle that the item would fit into and you will be covered. Be sure to allow for aisles for walking and adequate space for a person to be at each work station. In fact, it would be a good idea to make some templates representing a person and place one at each location where you would stand to operate the equipment or where you would stand at a bench or other work station. This way you will not crowd yourself by mistakenly thinking yo have provided enough workspace for the operator.
Ventilation and Dust Collection
There are often activities that go on in a workshop other than woodworking, such as staining, painting, varnishing gluing, and cleaning. Such operations involve the use of toxic chemicals with harmful vapors. For this reason, proper ventilation is crucial. Proper ventilation is more than simply opening a window. The very basic concept of ventilation is to have air flow with an inlet for bringing in fresh air and an outlet for exhausting contaminated air. Of course having two open windows or vents will usually not produce enough air flow for adequate ventilation, therefore a fan should be used for this purpose.
Basements and attached garages could be a problem if windows or vents are not accessible. An option in such a case may be to simply not do any task inside the shop that would produce toxic fumes such as painting, staining or varnishing. Weather permitting, these task may be done outdoors.
Dust collection systems (photo at left) operate like a vacuum to remove dust as it is being produced by power tools. The dust is transported through ducts to a collection canister which needs to be emptied periodically. Saw dust not only creates a mess, but it is also hazardous to your health when breathed into the lungs. Saw dust can also cause a lot of discomfort and even injury when it gets into the eyes. For these reasons, both an approved respirator and eye protection should be worn when operating any power tool in a woodworking shop, even when a dust collection system is being used. Saw dust is also a fire hazard. There are many dust collection systems on the market.
For more information on dust collection systems, click any of the following links:
Laguna Tools | Woodworking at Home | Vanguard-Dust Collection