Thoughts on long and narrow shop

[Brad Swanson]

I have a dedicated space in my basement that is approx 14' by 40' for a woodworking shop. The basement is a walk-out and the walk-out end of the shop has a double wide door which was placed there by design to facilitate moving equipment in and out as well as large panels, etc. I anticipate on eventually having the usual woodworking equip in this space; table saw, planer/jointer, router table, assembly tables, cyclone, etc. Breaking down sheet goods will be handled with a track saw, so that should help-out spacewise a little bit. I'd appreciate the communities opinion on the best layout for a long and skinny space such as this. Thanks very much.

Cheers,
Brad

[Bruce Seidner]

I have a bit more width but not much more, plus I have 8' joists to contend with in my basement/garage. I recently rebuilt my benches and found that wall mounting a large L shaped bench maximized my ability to get around the floor with large sheet goods or long boards. The end is a 4x8 workbench space with a 3x12 extension along the side wall. I also find that keeping all surfaces the same height very helpful and everything is mobile that is not bolted to the wall. That is a lot of surface but I find that as I bring out or put away projects and tools it gets filled in a hurry. Large machines as noted are mobile and along the wall parallel when not in use and perpendicular to the wall when in use.

[Leo Graywacz]

Ya, same situation, bigger. 25w x 55L. 14' is gonna be a tight squeeze. Might be best to have things like your jointer, planer and table saw on wheels so you can put them in the middle of the room when running longer stuff. I can show you my setup, but I have 10' extra on the width.

This seems to be the only shot I have of the whole shop, or as much as I could get in the shot


Here is an update of how the machines are setup, and even this is a bit behind the times.

[Michael W. Clark]

Mine is about the same width, but much shorter I have two workbenches. One is against the wall on the far end, then another in front of it perpendicular to the long side. The one in the middle serves as infeed for the TS. I have a miter saw bench along one wall with lumber storage over it. Under the bench is my planer, a sander, scroll saw, shop vac and a bench grinder. I have a couple of 6' tall cabinets that I wish were not full height so I could have more room. The main constraint is crosscutting on the TS, no room for 52" rails.
Mike

[Art Mulder]

I have a dedicated space in my basement that is approx 14' by 40' for a woodworking shop. The basement is a walk-out and the walk-out end of the shop has a double wide door which was placed there by design to facilitate moving equipment in and out as well as large panels, etc. I anticipate on eventually having the usual woodworking equip in this space; table saw, planer/jointer, router table, assembly tables, cyclone, etc. Breaking down sheet goods will be handled with a track saw, so that should help-out spacewise a little bit. I'd appreciate the communities opinion on the best layout for a long and skinny space such as this. Thanks very much.

Cheers,
Brad

Gee, I wish I had your space... I have an 11x24 room in my basement, and NO walkout doors. The walkout is the one thing that would be really nice.
I still fit all the standard tools down there (no lathe). Stick with shorter TS rails, and maybe keep the lumber storage elsewhere, and I don't see any issues at all.

[Jim Finn]

I would put a wall mounted bench/table on one wall with cabinets above. Not the whole 40 feet but 1/2 of it at least. Wood storage would be good nearest the door against one wall like the bench.

[paul cottingham]

I work in a long thin garage in a 50's house. It is 9' x 20'. I have a contractor saw, a small jointer, a bandsaw, router table, drill press, mortiser, workbench, and sharpening station in it. Oh, and dust collection. I find it small (I am a big guy) but functional. Needless to say, I use very little plywood in my projects!
I think I am going to get rid of the table saw, and rip most things by hand, or with the bandsaw. I would kill for a 15x 40 space.
The easiest way to make the space work is to put lumber storage along one short wall, and place the drill press, router table, and mortiser along on wall with the bench. They are staggered, so long pieces of stock don't bang into the machines. The joint and table saw are along the other wall, with an out feed table behind, that I also use as an assembly station. Sharpening station is stuffed into some spare space...
It is doable......

[Don Jarvie]

Obviously all the tools need to be mobile and pulled out when needed. Maybe in the back 1/3 have your assembly table, bench, cabinets along the back, etc with the other 2/3 having eveything against 1 wall. Need to rip pull out the TS, turn it and cut. Crosscut just pull it off the wall. 14ft is tight but not bad.

I have 20x20 and everything is against the walls with the TS/Assembly table in the middle. If I need the planer, I just it out and use it.

Set it up and go from there. Hold off one anything permanent in the other 2/3d until your in the shop and see what works and what doesn't. Only reason I suggest this is you may make a long bench for the RAS/miter saw and then find out its too big and doesn't really work.

[Steve Rozmiarek]

My first shop was about that exact size. It still is my favorite of the four I've had. Having the machines in the middle and the ends for workbenches, assembly or storage makes the space seem bigger than it really is. In my opinion, a long narrow shop is a more efficient use of space than a square of the same area.

[Kent A Bathurst]

Obviously all the tools need to be mobile....

And then, from a different perspective.............. It is not at all obvious to me, to be honest.

The primary area of my basement workshop is 11'6" x 26'. Included in that area is:
> CMS on a long bench, with capacity for about 350 - 400 BF lumber stored under it and above it.
> a long secondary bench with mortiser, many drawers, and a tool wall above it
> primary workbench with drawers under it
> TS with 72" x 72" surface
> BS
> DP
> cyclone-style DC
> 15" planer

Out of all of these, only the planer is on wheels. And it has to move only 5' to get in the game.

One side of this primary area is bordered by stairs, that descend into the basement - I can walk around all 4 sides of the stairway.

On the other side of the stairway is the jointer, along a long aisle. Also over there are some 12" x 48" grey metal shelves fulla finishing stuff. And - along that aisle - is "overflow" lumber storage. Stickered in a stack on the floor. It is only there when I have something that needs to be there [which seems to be almost all the time - I guess I'm a bit of a hoarder....maybe 150 BF there at the moment].

2 annoying things I just have to deal with.

First - and this is actually minor - is there is no place to conveniently store much in the way of sheet goods. That suits me, because I don't do a lot with them, and when I do, I get organized so that I buy what I need, and break it down one sheet at a time as it comes in the door.

Second - The TS table doubles [triples?] as finishing and assembly area. I nearly always finish components and then assemble, so the flow from machining - finishing - assembly works fine, but that area is the bottleneck, especially since I cannot make sawdust while the varnish is cooking off and actually try to not make sawdust during the entire varnishing sycle - do't want all that stuff in the air.

If my area was 14' x 40', I would be in tall cotton. VERY tall cotton. The jointer would be on "my side" of the stairs. There would be 14' more at the end for finishing and assembly. I would likely not need the planer on wheels - but that is not very inconvenient, since most of the time I am planing in batches of the same thickness. Plus - I have only a 36" door to the outside, in the middle of a wall. Fortunately, it is to the driveway, where Mr Pickup Fullawood sits for unloading.

With 14' x 40', I would start at the double doors with wood storage, and then move through the machining steps to the finishing and assembly at the far end. A long aisle along one wall takes you back to the doors for finished stuff. This same aisle can front the CMS or the jointer, which both need long aisles in front for them.


So - there are many ways to skin this particular cat.

[Brad Swanson]

Thanks to everyone for the input. My thoughts on this are leaning toward Kent's one way workflow with mostly stationary machines. One detail I left out about the space is that there will be a second door on the long wall at the other end of the space that exits to additional unfinished space in the basement. THis will allow me to transport finished projects to the living space without having to carry them back through the shop. I think this lends itself to the one way workflow through the shop, with lumber coming in and being stored by the walk-in double door. I still need to work on the layout of the big tools (table saw/router table, etc), but the layout is starting to come into focus a bit.

Brad

[Jeff Monson]

Brad, my shop is 12x32 so its narrow. I wish I had more room, but that is not an option yet. My tablesaw and jointer/planer dont move much, they are placed along different walls. My mitre saw station is up against a wall also. Other tools are all mobil. If you would like some photos I could post them.

[Michael W. Clark]

Brad,
+1 on what Kent said and also Jeff. My shop is about the size of Kent's, but only about 22' long and it narrows toward one end to miss the water heater and HVAC. The only tools I have on wheels are the planer (13" on flip top stand) and 6" Delta jointer (37-220). The planer pulls out from under the miter saw bench. The jointer sits against the wall and I have to pull it out a little for infeed/outfeet. The table saw top and primary workbench serve as the assembly areas. Finishing takes place in the garage upstairs or outside.

(2) 36x18x72 cabinets
Craftsman mechanics tool cabinet
24x12x60 plastic cabinet
metal workbench (on short wall)
25x54 woodworking bench (primary bench)
6" jointer
14" bandsaw
10" cabinet saw (no extensions or outfeed)
13" planer
16-1/2" floor model drill press
router table, 24x32
miter saw bench, ~8'x24
lumber storage above miter saw bench
plywood storage on wall
Jet DC 1100 collector
Air compressor in closet with water heater and HVAC
(2) clamp storage cabinets
small (dorm type) refrigerator

The extra length of shop you are going to have would allow for for more room around the TS (could move some items down to accommodate outfeed) assembly area, and finishing area. You could put a partion wall in for your finish area to help keep it clean. After thinking about it, Steve may be on to something, the rectangle design may be the most space efficient.

Edit: The table saw and router table are also on wheels, as is the primary workbench (wheels retracted for normal use, my own design, not pretty but stout). The table saw and workbench have not been moved since I originally placed them. The router table gets moved out from the wall a couple of feet to clear the plywood storage.

Mike

[Steve Peterson]

My shop is 13x23 and it is a tight fit. I gain a bit of space because it is an enclosed stall in a 3 car garage, so there is an 8' rollup door on one end. I put the table saw about 3' away from the door and open it up to rip anything longer than 4'. The TS outfeed table serves as an assembly table and also an outfeed table for the jointer and planer. The long wall has a bandsaw, miter saw, router table, RAS, and 3'x4' closet for a dust collector. There is also a lathe and drill press squeezed in. Almost every inch of wall space has something hanging on it. Luckily, there is a small amount of space in the rest of the garage for some sanders and storage space.

I often move the jointer to gain enough floor space to work with sheet goods. This gives me an open area of about 7' by 9'. Everything else stays in place.

Steve

[Kent A Bathurst]

Thanks to everyone for the input. My thoughts on this are leaning toward Kent's one way workflow with mostly stationary machines. One detail I left out about the space is that there will be a second door on the long wall at the other end of the space that exits to additional unfinished space in the basement. THis will allow me to transport finished projects to the living space without having to carry them back through the shop. I think this lends itself to the one way workflow through the shop, with lumber coming in and being stored by the walk-in double door. I still need to work on the layout of the big tools (table saw/router table, etc), but the layout is starting to come into focus a bit.

Brad

That right there sounds like a finishing room, separated from the sawdust. Yee-Hawwww!! I would kill for that.

The hook, of course, is that depending on what you are working on at the moment, the workflow isn't always linear..sometimes you've got to back up, or go backwards, or whatever. That doesn't matter at all - there is still a "mostly goes like this" path that is easy enough to sort out, as I'm sure you have already done.

You're gonna be able to do a nice job with this space, Brad. Have fun.