WOODWORKING

ESSENTIALS

BY SCOTT GIBSON

Setting Up Shop:

Material Storage

It takes more than a room full of tools to make a productive woodworking shop. Along with stationary power tools and a collection of handplanes and chisels comes a diverse list of materials that must be kept on hand and accessible when you need them.

Not surprisingly, most of us focus on storing lumber. In addition to being the basic raw material that woodshops must have to operate, lumber has its own intrinsic pleasure. We can always make room for it.

Lumber also varies tremendously in size, shape and potential use. Rough hardwood that needs jointing and thickness planing before it can be used is nothing like the finished pine we can buy at the local lumberyard. In addition to various kinds of solid lumber, most shops also will need at least a modest inventory of plywood and other panel goods.

And wood is only the beginning. Shops also need everything from stains and finish to boxes of wood screws, pencils and paper, nuts and bolts, glue, cleaning supplies and light bulbs.

It's not hard to find yourself awash in shop clutter. You know you're in trouble when you'd rather go to the hardware store and buy a tube of 5-minute epoxy rather than take the time to look for the tube you know you already have. It's just plain easier than pawing through the stuff you can't seem to keep organized.

Finished work, whether it's a turned bowl or an entertainment center, is at center stage in most woodworking shops. But material storage and handling, such as these racks of lumber in the background, play an important if not as obvious supporting role.