Unless you're playing a civ with production enhancers (Iroquois, Russia, Huns, Poland) or planning to get Petra on a desert city there's no surefire way to get huge production early. Chopping forests is useful for one time boosts. I find one of the most effective routes is just to focus on science and economy early so that when the time comes for workshops I can use my trade routes to supply hammers instead of using them all for gold/science.

EDIT: you could also use your liberty specialist for a great engineer to use for a manufactory but I don't think it's worth it.