As I sit here next to my beautiful wife and BRAND NEW two week old son Benjamin, let me say that I am not complaining. I have three awesome kids whom I love more than life itself and I would gladly trade every ounce of sawdust that I might ever make for them instantly. I do have a question though.
How many of you guys/gals out there share your “shop” with all the usual stuff that goes with family life? Do you get dark looks from the other half if the sawdust gets too deep on the carpet? I know I do. Am I the only one who makes stuff out of dimensional lumber that I find in construction site dumpsters? Do you trip over and curse stuff in the two bay or god forbid, the one bay “shop” that you call home? Do you eat tuna at work in order to horde your “lunch money” for the important stuff, like tools?
For me at the moment it is strollers and bikes and wagons. The car stuff takes up a shelf and the coffee cans full of parts that are “important” take up another. Balls roll around and under things, the stepladder hangs on the wall in prime cabinet space and fishing poles lean in the corner. The lawn and garden department takes up another perfectly good wall that would be perfect for a lathe. I have one electrical outlet and lots of extension cords. The garbage cans hang out for the first 5 days and then sit outside for the last two. Two kids in diapers will change your perception of what nice curly shavings smell like. I need a shed and the cost of a shed is the cost of a good used cabinet saw.
It is not all Bad though. I do on the other hand have successes. I pick up free wood and make things for the house and the kids and tackle very small organizational tasks like hanging up my new/used spokeshave on the tool wall. When James, my second child was born, I wired 12 four foot double bulb lights in the “Shop”. I didn’t want any shadows, ever. When Ben was born I took ten days off and started and almost finished my new bench. I built it out of salvaged wood and it is 8.5 ft long and weighs pretty close to three hundred lbs. I call it the Big Ugly, and it will not move under any hand planing of any kind, period. It cost me nothing except for glue, bolts and vises. It is dead flat and I smile when I look at because I built it with my few simple tools and my ingenuity. Sometimes I go into the local Woodcraft and drool. My wife bought me the low angle block 4 years ago for x-mas which I cherish and polish often and say nice things to. She understands and supports my passion to a point, which is 11:59 pm.
I wouldn’t trade my life for all the Cuban mahogany that I could fit in a tanker ship, alright maybe, but not for anything else. My passion for wood never dies, I just shelf it until the I have five minutes free. I would love to hear the war stories from all of you that started slow, unwilling to be deterred.
Replies
HeavyD,
Nope, your not the only one. Just remember: Don't pull on Superman's cape, don't pee against the wind. The reality is your plans, as a priority, are over for about the next 20 years. Yes, you are intitled to dream (for about 5 mins.) but, as I'm sure you know, children are all about now and each day is full. It's a fabulous time for you..try your best to enjoy it.
Just make sure all bad stuff can be locked up...up high!
HeavyD,
It sounds like you're headed in the right direction. You are improving your workshop, or workspace with lighting, and a new workbench. Progress may seem slow, but I bet your better off than you were 2 years ago.
I started with a couple of older power tools which were my Grandfathers. My small shop was in my folks basement. It then moved to my one car garage, and now have 600 sq feet in my basement. And am now thinking about a detached shop (about 1200 sq ft ) in a few years. Over time I asked for tools (Very specific tools) for Christmas and birthdays. As the years have passed I picked up most everything I need, but I'll never have everything I want. WW has changed from a hobby to a side buisness. In 10 years I may be WW full time.
Keep making those small steps. Finding the right deals. You'll slowly get where you want to be.
HeavyD
I started out dumpster diving like anybody else of modest means.. then I found out about pallets and the neat hardwood they contained.
I sell forklifts for a living and at one time one of my customers was a pallet shop. (every major city has several and even some smaller towns has someplace where pallets are made).. While I was there I happen to notice that some of the wood they'd bought was dark,...
Hmmm, dark wood at a pallet shop? I looked and it was black walnut.. Stacks and stacks of black walnut..
Turns out that at the time nobody wanted black walnut!
There really was no market for it.. everybody wanted the blonde woods, maple, birch, ash, oak, etc.. I happen to notice where the invoice was from (and was shocked to find out how little he paid for black walnut! )
So I skedaddled my butt to that sawmill to find out the whole story.. Sure he had black walnut,, all I wanted and it would only cost me 17 cents a bd.ft. It was mill run, which means whatever the tree had in it is what you bought, some of the boards were as much as 22 inches wide (all his sawmill could handle) and flawless, most had a knot or two and about 5% was pure junk. No boards were less than 4 inches wide or six feet long..
Black walnut is once more in fashion so the prices I pay are much higher.. however, nearly once a month he has some wood that somebody ordered and didn't pick up. I bought 5/4 ash for 15 cents a bd.ft. (and he considered it only an inch thick for price purposes) I bought fiddleback maple for 10 cents when the expected customer failed to pick it up and it had gone black on the outside. (the inside was beautiful after just one pass on the planer)...
The point of the story is that there are wonderful woods out there for an extremely modest price. Don't ever yield to the temptation to pay retail for fine woods. Find a sawmill!
Heavy,
Take heart that the strollers, bikes and wagons will give way to other things. It is important to keep things in perspective; there will come a time when you will look back on this time in your, and your children's, lives with nostalgia, maybe even longing. So my advice is to take some time out for yourself, enough to keep your sanity, in the shop or elsewhere, but don't lose sight of the fact that your young family is why you are here, now. You know this already, don't you?
I've been fortunate in that I've always had a dedicated shop space. In our first apartment, it was a 4' x 9' "sunroom" off the kitchen. I built a dropleaf coffee table, a highchair and a queen anne sofa there in the year we lived in the apt. Electric drill, skilsaw and a router, plus a few hand tools. My bench was a 2'x3' piece of solid-core exterior door, the vice a couple of cheesy clamps bought at Nichol's Discount City... Those were the good old days.
You gotta figure out how to enjoy the day you have, don't know what tomorrow will hand you.
Ray Pine
Well I guess there are advantages of having a sma... tiny shop! It kind of becomes your inner-sanctum if you will. Like just the other day my brother threw a stink bomb at the door (give us a break we ARE teenagers) and I just about went off on him, I'm very attached to my shop even if it is tiny. But don't you worry one of the bombs didn't bust, all I can say is he better watch his back.
-Ryan
No, you are not the only one by far.
The big thing to keep focused on is that kids grow and will eventually leave. Things that happen with them as they grow cannot be done later while building a sheat/shelf... can be done later. My time in the shop is mostly weekends for building and then, mostly if my son is over at a friends and my wife is grading papers. There are times when I am not in the shop for 2 months due to family needs. Do I wish I was in there more? Sure. would I swap the time spent with family for more shop time? Not on your life!
When they get older, you can get back in the shop and get a great deal of enjoyment/bonding time by teaching them woodworking and working on projects together.
My son at 6/7 had a great time pounding nails into a scrap block of 2x4.
" There'll be no living with her now" - Captain Jack Sparrow
HeavyD,
As the Master used to say on "Kung Fu", "Ah Grasshopper, you must become one with the world".
My three kids are now away from home. They have advanced degrees, spouses and jobs. Those are all good things. I miss having them at home. I miss the noise, the excitement, and the problems getting them to three different activities when we only had two parents and two cars. But, after all, we brought them up to be independant, and that's what they turned out to be.
Now I have much more time to spend alone in my tiny workshop, without distractions. YOu too will be old someday and you will have more time in the shop without distractions.
But what about NOW! I built a small workbench, and the kids used to come in and hamnmer nails and paint pieces of wood. That would take them out of mom's way for a while, and Mom loved that. They would also make presents for her. She was thrilled by those pieces of damaged wood, and by my taking the kids for a while.
While the kids are in the shop, I wouldn't be making critical cuts on expensive wood!!! Safety first. But I still got some woodwork done, and I passed on the "wisdom" of handcrafting thingns. Make your kids work aprons. It is very important to have an apron.
Do things that free Mom up, by taking the kids on woodworking adventures. Take them all to Home Depot to buy a piece of wood and some nails. Build them some toys, or a tree house.
In your time without kids in the workshop, make some things for Mom that SHE would like. Ask her what they are? I started doing Bauernmalerei so I could learn how to paint a shrank. Pretty soon, my wife was wanting me to make more of those paintings on wood as gifts.
So Grasshopper, become one with your world, as #### is now. Don't fight it. Join it. Use the shop to take the kids off mom's hands, and use the shop to make her stuff she would like. Soon she will see the shop as a good thing.
I spend a lot of time vacuuming, and still I track a random piece of sawdust to the stairs, and it will be pointed out. Oh well. Do your best. Remember your wife is SWMBO (She Who Must Be Obeyed).
Hope that helps.
Remember - you will miss the kids when they are out on their own. Enjoy them now. They actually are more important than woodworking, if that is possible.
Have fun.
Mel
PS - if you want to find out more about Bauernmalerei, go to
http://www.bavarianfolkart.com/
and see Scottie Foster's website. The womenfolk in my family really like the paintings. One of my goals is to build and paint a schrank, which is in Scottie's last book. The schrank, and many of her other pieces are real conversation pieces. It is impossible to walk by and not notice an 8' tall, 4' wide closet that is painted in an old German style.
Measure your output in smiles per board foot.
I started with a cheap table top saw from lowes and a few hand tools in an apartment. The fece was so bad, I threw it away and used a board and c-clamps for a strait edge. I made a step stool (still have it). That was over 20 years ago. I'm sure the neighbors loved me. I did only work at resonable times and only used the power saw when I had to. When I started was just married and did ot have two nickles to rub together. I worked in Pine, because it was cheap and that was all I could afford. Made the material decision easy. I moved up to the shopsmith it was cheap, and served multiple purposes and took up a small amount of space. By then I had a house with about a 10x12 space in a basement. Over the years I squirled away enough to buy individual pieces (not top of the line, but very good), but its been a process over many years. I have a three car garage that I take up 66% of. It will allways be a constant battle over space unless you get your own building. My wife still comments that we have a three car garage and she hardly ever gets to park in it. Hey, I have to spray finish somewhere, right? Good luck with that young one. I have one 16 and one 11. Take care.
HeavyD!!
Here is what you have to prepare for if your experience turns out like mine. Two daughters are in college and one still at home in high school. These young women have learned to appreciate nice things, and my skills as a sawmiller and woodworker have been noticed!
To date, I have built for them 2 chests-of-drawers , 2 night tables, 2 student desks, 2 filing cabinets, 2 bookshelves, a large mirror, and 1 blanket chest. All these pieces are made from walnut or cherry. The oldest daughter (the walnut one), is now talking about the bedroom dresser and the bed she will need in walnut to match the other pieces and to complete a full set! I won't go on to list all the other stuff I have made for the family and the house.
Here is my point.... You better get that shop you always wanted and get tuned up because you will never be able to keep up with the internal demand once these kids (and their spouses) determine what a wonderful resource you are!!
Heavy,
You've received plenty of great comments and war stories. I guess we can all identify ourselves here, one way or another. Just my five cents (I'm writing from NJ) on what you can look forward to:
I was finishing a table for my 12 yr old son to play his strategy games on. He was perched on top of something scrubbing stain on the table, more stain on his arms than on his gloves, but happy as a bird. My mind went way back then when my father and I worked on some projects together....my best and foundest memories of him.
Bring your kids to work with you as soon as they show some interest. Work on projects they like to keep their interest. Sure, the skills they get are nice, but the experience will last a lifetime. Mine did!
Good thing you have one outlet and one cord. You always know when everything is unplugged!!!
Zé
Like the others, I can empathize with your situation, and applaud your priorities. I also started off small - playing with a router my wife gave me in out basement. Her work schedule was different than mine, which meant either do something productive and fulfilling or start hanging around pool halls wishing things were different. Now I have a barn in CT that is all mine to use as a shop, and over the last five years I have stocked it nicely with man toys. On the other hand, I truly envy you and your children - something I'll never have. I can't tell you how much I wish I could share my passion for building things with a son or daughter. Thins like making them a sand box, or building a simple birdhouse together. Cherish those moments when they come, and keep those priorities exactly as they are. Half the fun of woodworking is thinking about your next project - that got me through many a mind numbing commute.
Enjoy your life,
-Tom
I like your spirit, keep following the yellow brick road and you won't go wrong. Now I have only one child, a son who is a gifted hand bookbinder. He also plays trombone and I had not appreciated that these skills mean care of hands to the extent that it is imprudent to risk harm by DIY. He is only 34 and married, living some twenty minutes away, so this year I and my wife have replumbed and rebuilt their bathroom, insulated and boarded their loft creating a new access, made kitchen improvements, repaired the roof and will be stripping out the kitchen in the near future as soon as the boiler is changed. However all this is fun, I am happy and the next ten to fifteen years will be my most productive, I might actually finish something for us!
Life is good if you consider the alternative.
HeavyD,
I've been working in the garage for years (sure beats a car port :}). I still use two saw horses and a door for a bench. If anything, it has improved my organizational skills. All my "large" tools are on casters (TS, jointer, radial arm, dust collector, performax sander, hor/vert sanding center, and scrap wood box) . I built large cabinets (for three roll away tool boxes to fit under) and store quite a bit on top of them (tools that have cases). Two racks that hold various bar clamps along with a shelf for lumber storage. All this is in a garage that is 24x24. And to top it off the lovely Mrs. still parks in there. Ofcourse I take one for the team and use the driveway (check my profile, brrrrr).
I'm still young and have learned to work on projects in stages. Nothing worse than forgetting to plane something when that tool is put away. And yes, with both kids out of the house (college) I am busy. Just finished coffee and end tables. I'm sure that they are being nice so I'll check my list (yes they gave me a list, isn't that sweet of them, [take a number]) to see who is naughty and nice. Oh did I mention I am building Cherry bedside tables for the in-laws.
I won't trade it for anything. Sure it's nice that the house only sleeps two now (but four house keys are on peoples key rings). Everybody is proud of what I build and seem to enjoy it. I do place a dollar coin and sign every piece (so it is atleast worth a buck).
Joe
Is it really saw dust or wood dust?
To all of you who told your tale and who have walked in my shoes. I really appreciatte all your thoughts and struggles. It makes the whole thing worthwhile to know that I am not the only one who battles with this. I intuitivly know that others share these pains, but it is great to actually hear from you. I can't complain though, at all. This morning before work, my son asked like only a four year old can, repeatedly, to clean off the bench so that he could sit on it and run his eggbeater drill. My 19 month old played in the shavings at my feet(which I caught hell for) as I worked feverishly to complete a childs garden tool rack out of a 2x4 that I got off a job site. My wife called while I took a breather to report that our two week old son has gained 1/2 lb. and 1/2 inch as they left the Doc's. I sometimes just sit in my "two bay shop" and enjoy the quiet and think up projests and know I as someone mentioned, I will miss all the hubbub when they are gone, and know that my busiest furniture building time will be just after they get married.
The best part of it all is that I actually got 7, yes, seven whole hours of sleep last night.
Thank You
Dave
HeavyD,
Where are you located? I might have some extra wood that you might be interested in.
Danny
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