| Small and large woodworking shops alike have to deal | | | | the same pile. Ideally, horizontal racks should have a |
| with what type of lumber storage they need for | | | | stiff bottom board to stack your lumber on. This |
| their shops. The ideal lumber storage for each shop | | | | keeps lumber frombowing due to long spans being |
| will be different due to the layout of the shop, the | | | | unsupported. It also allows short pieces to be put |
| type of materials used, and the size of the shop. | | | | back without falling between supports. |
| One of the keys to an efficient shop storage system | | | | I like to store plywood vertically on edge. Normally in |
| is how you run your shop. If you have a production | | | | my shop I keep several sheets on hand. By storing |
| shop that depends on material flowing through | | | | these vertically I can pull one piece without having to |
| smoothly then you should have lumber and plywood | | | | move half a dozen sheets or more to get to it. This |
| stored in different places along the production line. Full | | | | saves a lot of work and helps save the plywood |
| size plywood and lumber should be in the rough cut | | | | surface from scratches. If you decide to try vertical |
| area, cut to size parts in the production area and | | | | storage make sure the sheets are vertical and not |
| prefinished parts in the assembly area. | | | | leaning. Unsupported sheets that are leaning will bow. |
| A small shop, making one or two items at a time, | | | | After cutting a sheet into pieces I also store the |
| would be better served by mobile storage so parts | | | | unused pieces vertically on shelves. Again, this allows |
| already cut to size can be moved around the shop as | | | | me to grab the piece I want without moving a lot of |
| needed. | | | | other pieces. |
| In my shop I've found that I must stay on top of | | | | Remote storage, if available, is the best option if you |
| the days storage needs or I soon find myself | | | | have a small crowded shop. Having a place to store |
| continually moving cutoffs and parts out of my way | | | | full sheets of plywood or long lengths of lumber until |
| in order to get my work done. | | | | needed can be ideal. This allows the small shop more |
| Lumber storage can take a lot of space. I store it on | | | | workingroom. It also allows the option of buying in |
| horizontal racks with cut off pieces going back on | | | | larger quantities to get a better price. |