[.ca] Setting Up Shop: The Practical Guide to Designing and ... (ISBN 1561588385)

From Amazon.com:
Setting Up Shop is designed both for professional craftspeople who often have the poorest and most sparsely equipped shops because they are too busy to make improvements, and for hobbyists and weekend warriors who need a shop for entertainment as much getting work done. Author Sandor Nagyszalanczy does a good job of pointing out the relative benefits and drawbacks to various shop configurations and locations. In fact, one entire page is devoted to a chart comparing shops located in attics, basements, garages, or a spare room in the house, and how each rates for various factors, including noise, dust, headroom, access, structural limitations, heating, cooling, and moisture. This is a great how-to book with very useful topics in each chapter, including upgrading your electrical system; making sure you have the proper lighting, heating, and ventilation for your shop; picking the right tools and brands; deciding where to place machines and tools, benches and work areas; ensuring shop safety; methods for collecting dust; and more. Each chapter is personalized with a visit to the shop of one craftsperson or another. The journey is made better by more than 240 color photos, as well as a healthy dose of black-and-white photos and line drawings. In the end, of course, the definition of a good or a smart shop is fluid, depending on its primary use and the need to change things from time to time. And both professional and hobbyist woodmakers can have as much pride in their shop as they do in a handmade chair. Nagyszalanczy has worked out of the same shop for nearly 20 years and admits that he takes offense when someone refers to it as a "garage." "You have to follow your heart as well as use your mind," Nagyszalanczy writes, "when transforming a simple building that others might call a shed or a garage into what you proudly call your woodshop." --John Russell

You will use the examples in this book.:
I love this book. It has helped me turn my garage into a very efficient, productive, and SAFE woodworking shop. Highly recommended!

Info: yes! layout: no!:
It is difficult to properly review this book. If one is used to the superb works usually presented by Taunton Press, Setting Up Shop is a disappointment. Not because the information is inadequate; far from it! Sandor presents solutions to problems you wouldn't have thought existed until they jumped up and bit you on the nose. How much insulation should you have in your new shop? How do you keep the cords from wrapping around your legs and dropping you into the whirring tablesaw blade? Did you even know it could happen? It can. Sandor Nagyszalanczy will help you avoid disaster. Unfortunately, I cannot give a full five stars to this book because it's layout is, basically, odd. References to other pages in the book are wrong and you have to hunt before and after to find the chart, reference, picture, etc. you wanted. The text seems to disappear around a photo and reappear on the next page where you wouldn't expect it. Very, very annoying! Still, I learned an enormous amount and so will you. There is golden data hidden here but it is well worth the search.

Practical and diverse source of information:
I bought a house with a garage that had been converted to a studio apartment. After a year of trying to make it work as a shop I gave up. I was about to completely gut it and start over (which would be more money than I wanted to spend by a long shot) when I spotted this book. The wide range of shop layouts described and shown in this book completely changed my perspective on the problem. Practical and comprehensive, this book is a gem for those looking to build a woodshop from the ground up or renovate an existing one. I have already put several of the principles in this book to work for me and will spend a fraction of what I would have on the remodeling. Thank you Sandor.

Packed with info:
I was looking for a book about the shop space itself, and this was right on the money. There one chapter on general tools that one would need, but that's it. The rest is dedicated to preparing a space for a woodshop. There is a lot of attention paid to outbuilding-type 'dream' shops most of us will never have, but electricity, surface treatment, storage, etc. are all still applicable. Every chapter is a reference itself. The table of contents is clear and makes it easy to find what you may be interested in.

A great resource.:
I've owned a house for about 8 months now and am only dreaming of owning a shop, so I checked this book out of our local library to begin thinking about possiblities. This book was much better than I thought it would be, and I am considering buying it. Let's face it, no one is going to be able to tell you how to set up a shop. Your situation will be different from everyone else. However, this book will give you a good many ideas and much motivation. It has everything from dream workshops to small shops (even a section on garage workshops, which I liked). It's going to give you an idea where to start and where you want to go. It has everything from the basic tool lists to advanced designs for electrical wiring and dust removal. Using this book as a resource, one could really build a great shop, or get a lot of ideas on how to make your shop better. The only thing it won't do is tell you how to make the money for all those great tools you will want after reading it!