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A shop needs flat sturdy worksurfaces and plenty of storage. Both of these needs are filled by your workshop furnishings.

Workbench. A first-class bench can be expensive, but you don’t need anything elaborate. A low-cost handy-man’s bench from the local home center may actually be better for your needs. You can also build your own. Simple workbenches aren’t difficult to make, and you’ll end up with exactly what you need. You can even speed things up a bit by using some prefabricated materials, like cabinets and countertops. Bench dimensions vary by intended use, but a good all-purpose bench size is 34 in. high, 30 in. wide, and 60 in. long.

Regardless of the design of your workbench, you want it to be heavy and rigid. The starting point is the leg assembly. A commercial joiner’s bench usually has a trestle-type base assembled with mortise-and-tenon joints. It will be made of hard maple or beech, maybe oak. But a massive, rigid structure can be built with nothing more exotic than 2 x 4s, glue, and drywall screws. The resulting bench may not look as handsome as a commercial unit, but it will be heavy and very strong. The time-honored way to beef up a bench is with a thick top. Manageable ways of getting a good top include buying a length of butcher-block countertop, face-gluing lengths of well-dried Douglas fir 2 x 4s, and layering several pieces of plywood, particleboard, or medium density fiberboard (MDF). Two or three coats of penetrating oil, such as tung oil or Danish oil, is the best finish for a benchtop. Never stain or paint a benchtop; the color can mar workpieces.

Vises & bench dogs. Strong and easy to operate, a bench vise is all metal, including the jaws (add wood facings to the jaws to protect your work). A sliding dog in the movable jaw, used in conjunction with a dog in the benchtop, comes in handy for clamping work on the bench surface. One great feature is the quick-action lever, which allows the front jaw to be moved without all the tedious cranking.

WORKBENCH OPTIONS

A woodworker’s workbench (purchased or shop-built) with one or two woodworking vises, bench dogs and a heavy-duty hardwood benchtop is the centerpiece of a wood shop.

A rugged set-up table made from dimension lumber and sheet goods is economical, easy to make and can accommodate most woodworking functions.

Kitchen cabinets work well in a shop. Find inexpensive or used base cabinets and attach a countertop to create a worksurface that can also be used for short term storage or a workstation.

Lumber storage

Exposed wall framing members (or ceiling joists) in garages or basements can be converted to out-of-the-way storage spots for lumber simply by attaching a scrap wood rail that spans the framing members and holds the boards in place.

A typical lumber rack is constructed from inexpensive dimension lumber. It should contain several racks for storing lumber flat, as well as a vertical cubby for storing full-size sheet good panels on-edge. The vertical supports should be tied into both the floor and the ceiling.

Mount at least one vise on your bench, bolting it to the underside of the benchtop, so the top edges of the jaws are flush with the bench’s top surface. Bench dogs expand the utility of your vise. Locate a row of dog holes in line with the pop-up dog on your vise. Position them about 4 in. apart.

Workbench storage. Storage can be organized under the workbench. Most straightforward is a simple shelf for tools and supplies. A built-in cabinet, with drawers and doors, does a better job of organizing the space and keeping things clean, but it blocks access to the benchtop for clamping purposes. The best compromise is a cabinet installed between the bench legs, 8 in. or so below the benchtop.

Storage furnishings. Wood-working involves a vast array of tools, equipment, accessories, supplies, and materials that make well-designed storage essential. The photos on these two pages will give you some good ideas for coping with clutter.

A rolling lumber cart makes transporting stock to the work area more convenient, but its best feature is that you can move it out of the way as needed to free up working space in a small workshop.

Shop layout tips

The centerpiece of your shop should be your workbench. Position the bench so you have access to at least two (and ideally four) sides. Where floor space is at a premium, place the bench at the outfeed end of the table saw. That way, you can forego a separate outfeed table and allow the bench to do double duty.

Place your cross-cutting saw below a wall-mounted lumber rack to minimize handling full-length lumber as much as possible. Fixed extension tables with fences on each side of this saw make cross-cutting fast, easy and safe. On the wall opposite your cross-cut station, locate storage for tools, supplies, and hardware. Build a floor to ceiling unit, making it no deeper than what’s necessary to house your largest portable/benchtop tool. Store benchtop tools at benchtop height, so you don’t have to stoop and lift all the weight.

Perforated hardboard (pegboard) is a trademark of the organized workshop. In addition to general pegboard hooks, you can purchase whole systems of hanging devices in many sizes and configurations. Use tempered hardboard and set it into a sturdy frame to create clearance for the hook ends behind the pegboard.

A locking cabinet is a good idea for storing your valuable hand tools and portable power tools. More than security against theft, it keeps them from being used by kids or unauthorized people. You can make a basic cabinet yourself from just a couple of sheets of plywood. For maximum efficiency, measure the height and depth of your tools first and dimension the cabinet with a suitable space in mind for each tool.

Wall-mounted clamp racks protect your clamps and keep them organized and accessible. A few lengths of scrap lumber and some ingenuity are all it takes to devise your own clamp storage system. Cut notches to hold heavier bar and pipe clamps. Smaller clamps can simply be tightened onto your rack or hung from a cord.

A roll-around cabinet, like this mechanic’s parts cabinet, is a great shop furnishing for storing hand tools, saw blades, drill bits, hardware and other small tools that need to be kept organized. By rolling the cabinet to your work area, you’ll save a lot of trips back and forth across your shop retrieving tools or putting them away again.

A rolling scrap bin is handy in shops of all sizes, and can even double as an outfeed “table” if the rim of the bin is set to the proper height. Use the bin to store cutoff pieces while a project is in progress. Then, once the project is built, sort through the leftover pieces and save or discard them as you see fit. You might consider painting the bin to avoid confusing it with your trash can.

A metal cabinet with tight-closing, locking doors is not only a good idea for storing finishing materials and chemicals, it’s also required by most fire codes for commercial workshops. Used office furnishing stores are great places to look for metal cabinets like the one shown here. Paint a clearly visible warning on the cabinet doors.