Maximum-efficiency Shop

From the outside, you would never guess that such an unassuming beige building could house a workshop as impressive as Rick Spiker's. A retired civil engineer, Rick carefully arranged his shop for optimum workflow, dust collection, and space efficiency. One example: "I wanted two tablesaws in the shop—one set up with a combination blade, one with a dado set—and figured I could save space and increase the saw's crosscut and rip capacity by connecting the tables and using a single fence for both saws," Rick says. So he did.

Each workstation and stationary tool ties into the 3" PVC dust-collection ductwork. Rick placed the 2hp dust collector in the adjoining garage area to cut down on noise.

To save on material costs for his projects, Rick harvests lumber from the land surrounding his shop, rough-saws it, and air-dries it. "That just adds to the satisfaction of my woodworking," he says.