Craig Parsons Ultimate Miter Saw Station

Recently Craig Parsons sent me some information and pictures for the miter saw station he built using my miter saw station plans. He modified it to fit his needs and his space. He did an awesome job on the entire project and really made it his own by making it Pittsburgh Steelers themed. I love it when people take a certain theme and make their work space THEIR space. Check it out and let him know what you think in the comments below!


Jay,
I was wanting to build a miter saw/workstation for some time. Your miter saw inspired me as I used your ideas (I wanted a lot of drawers) and changed things up a bit to put my personal touches on it.

While I was looking on the internet for ideas I would show my wife different photos and she said one day, “why do they all look the same?” I asked her what she meant?, they all shared a few things but they didn’t look the same. She said “they are all the same color so they look alike, it’s all just wood; people need to spice it up” That got me thinking and soon after that I saw your miter station build and I was off.

I hate to admit it but the wife was right, so I decided to add some color and flair to my workshop. I decided on a sports team theme color. My choices were my favorite college team the West Virginia Mountaineers (Gold and Blue) and my favorite pro team the Steelers (Gold and Black). After the Mountaineers laid an egg in the NCAA Basketball Tournament I decided on the Steelers. So Gold and Black it was.

Here is some Photos:

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I used 3/4 inch pine plywood for the build as I knew the paint would cover up imperfections. I bought the plywood at a small local lumber store and it was the best plywood I have used for some time. I trimmed everything (the black pieces) with cherry. I wanted a harder wood and have plenty to spare. It is 16ft long and suspect higher than your build as I am 6’2″

The painting stretched this job much longer. I used Gloss Black enamel, and Glidden Porch and Floor Gloss Poly Enamel. I find the Poly enamel works great on wood that will be used and abused. Once it dries it has a rock hard finish. After a two week wait for the paint to set I followed up with a coat of Johnsons wax.

The notable changes I made was the number of draws is 27. Also made my own pulls (your router lift plans I purchased worked well for this)

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I have my Rigid Sander, Miter Saw, Kreg Foreman and Radial arm saw using the same bench and fence. I have the Foreman on it’s own drawer pulls so I can pull it out for large items.

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I made several drawers in the box under the RAS.

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The notable drawer here is the top right. I find I needed a drawer to put my owners manuals and paperwork so I made it into a hanging file drawer.

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Another thing I think I am going to like after I finish populating it is storage for jigs for my table saw and other equipment. I used a drawer pull between drawer boxes and will use hooks to hang the jigs from. I can pull out the drawer for easy access to them.

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After I am all said and done I must say if I never build another drawer again it will be too soon. I plan to also add a stop block and I still have to decide on how to finish the left corner of the workstation.

UPDATE: Craig finished the far left side of his station.

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30 COMMENTS

  1. Jay,

    I love your workstation, and plan to purchase the plans for my own. Trouble is we’re looking to move next year, and I don’t know what my new shop will look like.

    Craig,

    This is awesome. I have an old Dewalt RAS that I have set up just for dados. I have not built a miter saw station yet because I try not to use it much. It’s a POS, and I have gotten in the habit of using my TS and sled. But, having to take the sled on and off to make rips, etc. during a project is becoming a pain, so I think this is the way I’ll go as well. Not sure I’ll do the painting like you did, but who knows. My daughter is going to WVU in the fall, but I have made enough blue and gold things already. Packers theme is popular here in Wisconsin, but not sure on that either. What did you do for DC?

    Again, it looks great and totally functional. You did an awesome job.

    Regards,
    Brian

  2. Brian, Jay, Craig, totally agree really nice work on this piece. I am in the process of building using Jay’s plans, my first build as a hobby woodworker, it’s a challenge for a newbie but I am enjoying it. My good friend is helping me. I am really interested Craig, in how you did dust collection and do you have a SketchUp plan of how you built your dust hood for the chop saw?

    Thanks guys for all that you do, helps me out a lot.
    Regards
    Tom

  3. All I can say is WOW!!!! Amazing build. Like the others I am very interested in what you did with dust collection. GREAT JOB!!!!

  4. Craig,

    Did you use pine plywood because of the cost? Did you find pine wood easier to work with?

    thanks,

    Luis

  5. Craig,
    Looks awesome! There is just one problem, your choice of football team, haha. I might sneak into your shop one night and paint it NY Giants blue.

    I am almost done with my miter station build using Jays plans that I purchased. I will send Jay pictures when complete.

  6. That’s a great miter saw station! But I think it would look much better in Crimson and Blue ! ;) Great job, Craig! Thanks for sharing it with us.

  7. Great job! Once I get enough shop budget I’m building the station too! I know in doing so I will free up a ton of space. I’m also in a small two car garage and creating space is my main objective right now. Also interested in dust control.

    I have a question for the group. I built the Paulk(sp?) workbench 2 years ago. I love it. I ran power to it in multiple locations, built my router into it, my table saw utilizes it, and lastly I ran 2″ dust ports through it in multiple locations. That runs to a 55 gallon drum with a small vortex powered from a shop vac. That works really well and I feel the high pressure does 90% of my dust collection needs best. I recently bought the harbor freight 2hp 4″ system for $135 at harbor freight. Super big deal will coupons and discount. It’s awesome to use with the jointer and planer and I suppose the table saw at times but the 2″ through my workbench keeps up fine. My question is does a 4″ system have enough pressure to replace my shop vac completely or do most shops utilize both 2″ and 4″ applications. I watched Jays tool talk on the shop vac VS Festool but I’m still wondering if I can consolidate with out loosing some benefits. I worried about clogging the 2″ runs using a 4″ high volume low pressure system only.

    Sorry for the lengthy post!!! Much appreciated everyone!

    • Ryan,

      I’m very interested to hear what you decide to do and what others have suggested. Can you please let me know what you end up doing with your dust collection. I was considering doing something similar with the shop vac but am leaning towards using the HF 2hp unit for all dust collection.

      You can email me at Jared.s.turner04@gmail.com.

      Thanks!

  8. Great build especially the radial arm saw, How ever Texas Burnt Orange would have been a much better color choice!

  9. Craig,

    Looks Good! Now, if your were a Marshall fan instead of WVU it would look great!

    Go Herd!

    –Jason

  10. Great job, well except for the Steelers colors. I’m thinking a little more Silver and Navy Blue!! Maybe a Star for pull handles. ;-)

  11. That is a really nice build. You obviously put a lot of thought into the design and layout. The effort was worth it.

  12. I have been reading your stories foe some time and noticed this guy built the miter saw station you designed. That will be my next project after a table saw station. My Laguna saw in great but it is too difficult to move and it is too low with me being 6-1. I am just finishing up an 8 drawer tool box stand that has a Matco top box on it. My son is a heavy equipment mechanic in Bakersfield, and I bought a used tool box for him since he was changing jobs. I was 6′ 6″ tall, 51 ” wide and 34″ deep. Iw weighs close to 1000 lbs so I is a bear to move. He has the bottom 2/3 over there and brought me the top 24″ high top section. So I decided to build my own bottom section with 8 drawers in it. That way, I can sell 4 other toll boxes and consolidate stuff. Now one more bit of information. I am building some store fixtures for a girl from CA that is starting a rockabilly store. It is in a building right next to the Pawn Stars TV show store here in Las Vegas. We bought pine 3/4″ 9 layer plywood to build closet doors that we had mirrors glued onto. The doors are 6; high and since cutting them out of the 4×8 sheets, they have warped from top to bottom about 3/4″ out of plumb in the center. This plywood came from Home Depot which you said is very good wood. I sure don’t think much of it warping like that. I have never seen plywood warp like that. Especially 9 or 11 layer whatever it is. Maybe you have some ideas why it would warp like that. Wasn’t warped going up. Keep up the good works. John in Las Vegas

  13. Great job! Looks awesome. I’m a big DeWalt fan. So that color scheme would work if I were to build the station.

  14. O.K I will try to answer your questions.

    Brian, I have not used the RAS for several years and decided to integrate it into the build for the sole purpose of dados.

    Brian, Tom, and Chuck. My dust collection is a HF 2hp unit with plastic piping running around the out side wall of the shop. It runs into a 55 gal drum to catch the big stuff and then into a 1 micron bag for the fine stuff. The collection for the Miter Saw is pretty much like Jay designed. I’m not too worried about the big stuff the DC will just help direct some of the finer particles away from the saw. The sander has it’s own connection with blast gate and I don’t worry about the foreman. I have not decided what to do about DC with the RAS. The shop vacuum I have on the wall is just for general cleanup.

    Luis, I used the pine for cost I guess, but it really didn’t matter that much. It was AC grade and since it was getting painted I didn’t think the birch was necessary. As I said I was surprised on how good the quality was and I saved about $8-$10 a sheet. Not a real difference was noticed as far as working with it.

    As to the rest of your all’s color suggestions, You sound reasonable…Time to up my medication, Lol. If the Steelers ever leave Pittsburgh I can always see if Dewalt wants to sponsor me.

    • Thanks for the response Craig, I was interested in the way you shaped the hood at the back. Do you have plan/SketchUp of that build/change from Jay’s? Thanks for your help

      • No plans, I just winged it. I temporarily mounted the saw and made sure I had proper clearance. And then I measured and cut the sizes I needed to box it in.

  15. Craig
    This is awesome. I too purchased Jay’s plans and need to modify a bit as I am 6-3. Black and yellow was my choice as well ?. I would like to speak with you about your mods. Email me at puppy2@telusplanet.net if you have the time. Thanks

    • Craig, awesome job. you may have saved me. as a novice aspiring woodworker I got jay’s plan and am getting ready to build (thurs to be exact). I like you have a craftsman radial arm saw. plus the dewalt miter saw. I was just going to place the ras in the spot of the miter. but now….. Im 6′ how tall was the end cabinet that your RAS is on ? you can email (kasilofkid@yahoo.com) me if you’d like. so many awesome jobs on here and I check Jay’s stuff religiously.
      keep up the great inspiration
      Bill

  16. Craig, excellent adaptation of Jay’s already excellent approach. I had planne something similar with my miter saw and RAS, but hadn’t thought of the Foreman. I also plan to incorporate my 16-32 drum sander, and 13″ Dewalt planer (at the right-hand end). I am blessed with a large and long shop, but don’t want to have all that ‘walk’ space around all the machines. I am fortunate in that I do precision alignment work, so have the instruments to make sure the long top (and fence) is straight and flat. Thanks for sharing!

  17. I love your black and gold workstation!! As a fellow Steeler fan I appreciate the work put into it. My shop also has a lot of black and gold in it. I also have black and gold rubber floor tiles. Good Job!

  18. Nice project. I am particularly interested in the last part – the bind drawers on the left. How did you support those – a couple of bottom tracks each, or what? Do you have plans for those?
    Thanks.
    Andy

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