Is the Ultimate Small Shop guide by Ralph Chapman really worth the money? Is it a con or does it really work? Today we will be pursuing the answers to these questions in regard to this course.

The primary aim of the Ultimate Small Shop e-book from Ralph Chapman is to help woodworkers set up their own workshops. Two factors that weight the most in setting up a woodwork shop is lack of space and a limited budget. These are the factors that Ralph will focus mainly on.

In addition, all amateurs and every professional woodworker will stand to benefit from this comprehensively written book. Well, Lets now dive into this Small Shop guide and see what its all about. Lets see how it can help you.

The Ultimate Small Shop Review:

Firstly, the book advises against generic pitfalls that starting woodworkers make when it comes to this industry. This has to do with, among others, tools selection; buying unnecessary tools; buying top-quality tools from the right places at highly discounted prices; not to be suckered in by scores of tool reviews on the internet and also sponsored reviews in woodworking magazines. The long and short of this is, that because of a lot of unscrupulous practices, it would be good to be made aware of it and to stay away from these offers.

Because Ralph have been victim to these practices in the past, he has wised up to them, and have shared his experience in this course, so that you will not make the same mistakes as well.

As far as space management is concern, Ralph, a woodworking veteran for over 25 years, shares about an experience he had in the year 2008, which we should all remember, suffered a financial setback, where he had to shift to a smaller property. This experience helped him understand how to manage under a smaller space.

With this resume of Ralph's background story, you can see how he is able to help anyone in the industry, for there is a wealth of useful information in his book.

What Is Included in the Ultimate Small Shop ebook?

This book has 246 pages which is divided into 6 modules.

These are:

1. Tool Selection

2. Space Selection

3. Shop Layouts

4. Heating, Cooling, Ventilation, Dust & Drying

5. Electricity, Lighting & Soundproofing

6. Safety Tips

Tool Selection

There is a lot of valuable information for both beginners and professionals in this section. In this section Ralph shares advice, tips and instructions, that will benefit everyone.

For example, lets look at badly manufactured tools. Ralph is forthright in naming popular brands that falls in this boat. He gives the models and gives his opinions on the matter for our consideration. This is pretty bold and we appreciate his effort in sharing that.

He goes on to give the right tools to buy. He categorise it by budget in your pocket. For example, what tools to buy with a $500 budget? What your selection should be for $1000 budget? By selecting the right tools in your budget range you can produce products with good quality.

There is a shopping list in which he recommends personal hand tools in addition to power tools. In that list, he emphasize that if your current budget does not allow it, you can still do wonderful work with hand tools, without owning certain power tools, like a band saw or a chop saw or a drill press.

Ralph gives wonderful advice on how you can compensate for lack of power tools with hand tools. This is a great highlight to this book.

Space Selection

Ralph firmly maintains that a smaller space is no hindrance to build a fully operative woodworking shop. He reveals, that he has operated in a workshop that is 10X10 feet in area even as small as 8X8 feet in area. So it does not matter whether you are in a garage, attic, basement or some other corner of your apartment, any space can be suitable for a small woodworking shop. Ralph supports this claim by many illustrations as well as snapshots of his own working space.

There are other factors that need to be considered when selecting a spare room or space for your workshop. This would be electrical outlets, proper ventilation and other factors to zero in on.

Space Layouts

The next consideration is Space Layout. It involves maximizing the space for tools, cabinets, storage units and workbenches including circulation. Also you will need to consider where to place the tablesaw in relation to the workbench? How to set the right workbench height so it can also work as a tablesaw outfeed support? Answers to these questions are adequately illustrated and covered in this book.

Heating, Cooling, Ventilation

In this section, you get to learn about proper heating and cooling methods to adopt for your workshop. There will be issues that any woodworker knows that by using various tools, it could often lead to some common issues which can be hazardous or inconvenient for the worker. This book will also guide you to have proper heating and cooling methods and systems to adopt for your workshop; the right equipments to buy; ways to maintain clean air even during high workflow or when there is not enough ventilation and much more.

Electricity, Lighting, Soundproofing

In respect to this module, Ralph provides step by step instructions that is meticulous to guide you adequately. This subject can be tricky but you can benefit from his experience.

Safety Tips

In the industrial world, safety is number one. At a woodwork shop it is no different. when you are working at a woodworking shop, you are dealing with a lot of machines; Power tools; and even hand tools can sometimes lead to major or minor injuries. Ralph provides safety tips to help you avoid or minimize the chances of suffering any such injuries at your workshop.

Additional Materials

These are two bonus in this guide:

1. A complete Cheat List of suppliers from whom you can buy your tools and lumber at high discounts.

2. A free and lifetime service called Deal Alert Service. Once you purchase this manual you are notified when some supplier is offering lucrative (i.e. highly discounted) deals on various useful woodworking tools.

What can we take away from the Ultimate Small Shop e-book?

1. The simple, clear, easy-to-understand and overall tasteful representation of this book.

2. The detailed instructions and all the valuable information the book contains.

3. The book never looks like a jumble of materials patched together in a hurry.

4. The author seems to have given his best efforts to make the book useful to all woodworkers, regardless of their degree of skill.

5. The Tool Selection section. He has revealed a number of methods aka tricks that will help increase the longevity of your tools (the tricks that manufacturers never disclose).

6. No hesitation in mentioning that well known stores are not the ideal places to buy your tools.

7. The list of suppliers and deal alerts provided in the bonus section.

8. The author reveals on page 89 of the book, one woodworking tools supplier from where you can get as much as 70% DISCOUNTS on many of the major tools.

9. The author is upfront about challenging those manufacturers who outsource the construction of the tools and then spend the saved money on branding and marketing efforts (read Chinese tools!).

10. The manual is available at a HIGHLY AFFORDABLE PRICE, and comes with a 60 days Money back Guarantee. Because of the extensive discount lists provided in the book, it is assume that you’ll get the price back possibly from the purchase of a single tool alone!

Pros & Cons

Pros

1. Vary Affordable.

2. A highly informative and valuable resource for availing tools from the right places and at huge discounts.

3. Full of useful advice, instructions, strategies and maintenance tricks.

4. Straight-forward, Simple presentation with neatly divided sections.

Cons

1. Audiovisual resources would be a plus. A collection of video lessons would be an asset to the guide.

2. An option to obtain a physical copy of the book, would be good.

The Verdict

This is an excellent all-inclusive and resource-rich book to set up your own carpentry shop, small or large. I highly recommend it.

My rating: 5 out of 5.