The Workshop Book

**Westie** · 23rd August 2001, 12:46 PM

Just finished reading, for the second time, Scott Landis' 'The Workshop Book'. For those who haven't read this book I strongly recommend that you check it out. Those of you who have read it will know what I'm talking about. Landis is truly in love with the craft of woodworking and has created a work that is invaluable for anyone designing a workshop ( and I'm constantly doing that, despite the fact that mostly my plans are pipe dreams ) or anyone who is interested in tools and machines or methods of working. The chapter on `Dream Shops' is tantamount to pornography for tool-heads.
These cool winter evenings are a perfect time to catch up on some reading ( although, apparently, Western Australia isn't going to have winter this year - we've just gone from Autumn straight into Spring ). This is also a good time to start dropping some hints for woodwork related Xmas presents.
Cheers

[This message has been edited by Westie (edited 23 August 2001).]

[This message has been edited by Westie (edited 23 August 2001).]

**Justin** · 24th August 2001, 02:33 PM

Gotta agree with you there Westie. I bought this book prior to building my new workshop (aka The Man House), and found it very valuable in terms of identifying the issues that I needed to consider.

One tip that worked really well for me was to make a scale model of the intended structure, and then do models of your stationary tools, benches, storage etc. Yes, your non-woodie friends and relatives will laugh at you, but there's no substitute for this method of visualising space usage. I just used cardboard from some removalist's boxes, and it didn't take long at all to whip up the required bits. 1/10th scale was easiest to do - just move the decimal point back one place on all dimensions.

It's a real eye opener to also make up some little models of common timber shapes and sizes (say a 2400x1200 sheet, and planks in 300mm increments), and then see how they can be moved around within the structure as you use different tools & processes.

Cheers,

Justin.

**Rod Smith** · 24th August 2001, 04:29 PM

G'day
I borrowed this book years ago from the library and enjoyed it.
I've had to reorganise my workshop a few times and have a drawing in a cad program along with scaled machine shapes overlayed with material passageways. Quick and easy to do. Only 2D in my case though.
Cheers
Rod

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