Free Checklist: Shop Failure-Point Checklist
A short pre-build checklist for finding the weak spots before they stop your project.
Free download. No signup required.
- One-page PDF checklist
- Three questions before you start
- Built for home shops
✓ Your checklist is downloading.
Download didn't start? Get the checklist here.The checklist takes three minutes. The shop it runs in is the other part.
- A layout guide for a one- or two-car garage or a basement: which tools to buy in what order, and where each one stands so the work flows in one direction.
- What to read first: the layout chapter. If the same weak spots show up on every project, bad light over the bench, cords across the floor, no assembly space, the fix is the setup, not the checklist.
- A digital guide sold through ClickBank, with a 60-day refund window stated on the vendor's page.
Disclosure: Some links on this page are affiliate links. If you buy through them, I may earn a commission at no additional cost to you.
Every project has a few places where it can stop cold.
Sometimes it is a dull blade, a missing hinge, one dead battery, a glue-up that moves too fast, or a wall stud you should have found before the first board was cut.
This checklist is not meant to make woodworking complicated. It is meant to help you catch the obvious weak spot while it is still easy to fix.
Project at a Glance
- Format
- One-page PDF checklist
- Best for
- Weekend builds, glue-ups, wall-mounted projects, small-shop work
- Main idea
- Find the stopper before it stops the build
- Time needed
- 3 minutes before the first cut
- Tools needed
- Pencil, project plan, and a clear look around the shop
From the shop:
A good builder does not just plan the cut. He plans what he will do when the cut, the tool, the material, or the day does not cooperate.
The checklist works because it makes you look at the shop before the shop makes the decision for you.
If you keep running into the same problem — tools in the wrong place, bad light over the bench, cords crossing the floor, no clear assembly space, or nowhere to stage clamps before a glue-up — the issue may not be the project. It may be the setup around the project.
That is where a broader small-shop layout guide can help.
What the guide actually covers
The eight-foot test
Take an eight-foot board from where the lumber is stored, run it through the saw, and set the offcut down. If you had to move something, open a door or turn the board sideways to get it in, the shop is filled, not laid out. That is the problem this guide is written for, and the checklist is how you find out you have it.
The guide covers layout for a one- or two-car garage or a basement, the order the tools go in, and the parts tool reviews skip: lighting, dust, noise and where the lumber lives. It won't tell you which brand to buy, only where the tool belongs.
Disclosure: Some links on this page are affiliate links. If you buy through them, I may earn a commission at no additional cost to you.
Also worth a look: the technique layer
Woodworking Secrets is a printed book on layout, cutting, joinery and finishing, the part a plan leaves out. The publisher sends it at no charge and you cover the shipping. It ships to US addresses. On the order page there is a box for a trial membership that is already ticked — untick it if you only want the book.
See the book →