_{Here’s an easier way to stain or seal chairs, lattice or anything with numerous tight recesses. Pour the stain into a clean, empty spray bottle ($3). Spray the stain onto the project and wipe up the excess with a brush or rag. The sprayer will squirt stain into all those tight, hard-to-reach cracks and joints. — Valrie Schuster. Learn more about staining wood.}

Ultimately, your workshop should be a place that inspires you to be creative and to do your best work. When you take the time to plan the space for maximum efficiency and comfort, you’ll love spending time there — and that means you’ll get more done, whether it’s fixing up a car or building a new piece of furniture. No matter how you use your workshop, you should enjoy the time you get to work with your hands and make something brand new. So what are you waiting for? Get started designing your perfect workshop today.

Use the corners — Some machines are perfectly content to live in a corner, including the bandsaw, scrollsaw, disc or combination sander, and lathe (see the illustration). Orienting the lathe’s tailstock end into a corner will leave room for outboard turning. Pulling the bandsaw away from the wall allows the necessary clearance to cut large curved parts, while locating it near a doorway or window permits resawing of long planks.
Lumber storage is spot on, I think especially for a basement shop – I used to store my lumber at the furthest point from the outside door, and it wasn’t until I moved it closest to the door that I realized how much of a difference it could make. And sheet goods are starting to be stored and broken down in the garage more so I don’t have to fight them into the basement.
Typically furniture such as tables and chairs is made using solid stock from hardwoods due to its strength and resistance to warping.[10] Additionally, they also have a greater variety of grain patterns and color and take a finish better which allows the woodworker to exercise a great deal of artistic liberty. Hardwoods can be cut more cleanly and leave less residue on sawblades and other woodworking tools.[10] Cabinet/fixture makers employ the use of plywood and other man made panel products. Some furniture, such as the Windsor chair involve green woodworking, shaping with wood while it contains its natural moisture prior to drying.
In this video Dave Heller shares an introduction to wood veneering and wood inlay for furniture making. What is veneering and inlay? They are traditional methods used to embellish and beautify furniture. Veneering is the process of gluing thin slices of attractive (and often rare) wood onto core panels. Inlay involves insetting wood, precious stones, etc. into the wood. Here's a prime example of one of Dave's boxes that incorporates both techniques: Here is an example
If your shop will be attached to your house or another struc­ture, it will likely need to match its foundation, tying the two structures together so that one does not structurally stress the other if they shift differently. That may dictate a poured concrete or concrete block foundation. Regardless of your foundation type, a cold concrete floor will sap energy away from the rest of the structure if you are not careful, so think about how to insulate it well before you build.
For our customers who are passionate about woodworking, we offer an extensive selection of tools and accessories to help your woodworking projects come to life. Whether you are a professional carpenter, construction manager or simply wish to build a DIY project, you will find everything that you need on our Amazon.com Woodworking page. Our selection ranges from, screwdriver sets to air filtration, band saws, sanders, drill presses, dust collectors, jointers, laminate trimmers, lathes, planers, benchtop, plate joiners, belt sanders, router combo kits, shapers, sharpener, barn door hardware, circular saws, router tables, router bits, planer, tool box, wood glue, nail gun, table saws, hammers and more.
Line ’em up — Most other woodshop machines work harmoniously when lined up along the walls, where they are easy to power and connect to dust collection. The amount of space left between these tools depends on the amount of room you have, the size of the stock you work with, and whether or not adjacent tools have tables at the same height. You can always pull a machine away from the wall if additional space is needed. Clearly, these options are not the only possibilities and are contingent upon the mix of machines you have, the shape and size of your shop, and the kind of work you do. The bottom line is if the layout works for you, then that’s the best for your shop (and don’t let anyone tell you any different!).
While trying to trace an exact copy of the throat plate for my table saw, I came up with this nifty technique using an ordinary pencil. I just shaved my pencil into a half-pencil by carefully grinding it on my belt sander. The flat edge enables my modified pencil to ride straight up along the edge of the template. It also works great for marking and then shaping inlays for my woodworking projects. — Tim Reese. How to cut circles with a band saw.

Spray gun: Not every woodworking job gets a film finish, but most of mine do. And of those, everyone will meet a spray gun. For a million reasons, including making finishing fast and fun, I recommend using a spray gun whenever possible. It will raise your game and make you n0t hate finishing. (Click here to read my thoughts on purchasing a spray gun).

_{Marc, would not assumptions for a Festool shop differ considerably? Far fewer big machines, and more carrying lightweight precision machines to the wood, for example. I only have a few Festool machines so far (took quite a while to get past the sticker shock), but I am beginning to see how it could change the way we work. My 400 sq ft shop is getting awfully crowded with floor-standing machines and implementing your guidelines, sound as they are, is difficult.}
^{Afrormosia Alder Andiroba Anigre Ash Apple Aspen Avodire Balsa Beech Bilinga Birch African Blackwood Australian Blackwood Boxwood Bubinga Camphor Cedrela Cherry Chestnut Cocobolo Cumaru Ebony Elm Eucalyptus Hazel Hickory Hornbeam Idigbo Imbuia Ipê Iroko Jarra Jelutong Lignum vitae Linden (lime, basswood) Merbau Mahogany (American, African) Maple Meranti Oak Padauk Pear Plum Poplar Purpleheart Ovankol Ramin Red Quebracho Rosewood Rubberwood Sapele Teak Totara Utile Walnut Wenge Willow Zebrano}
If your shop lacks wall space or doesn’t have a long enough wall to accommodate long stock, another option is to place the crosscut saw near an operable doorway with the right-hand side closest to the door (see option 2 in the illustration). This leaves most of the length of the fence to the left of the blade (preferable if you’re right-handed), allowing short and mid-sized parts to be cut to length or trimmed without having to open the door.