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