Wife or girlfriend in the ‘SHOP”.. I was thinking of gettin this place livened up a bit…
Not wood working.. But rebuilding a old car long ago… Had all the valves hand lapped.. Wrist Pins all hand lapped… Many other parts.. HAND LAPPED…
Dumb me.. I had then all lined up ‘in a row’ on a shelf by the door to my garage..
Well, my ‘wife to be’ came in and SLAMMED the door.. All My HAND LAPPED parts fell to the floor…
I just looked at her and asked her to be my wife… I told her.. If not I would have to kill you…
Any stories from you folks???
Replies
Mine happened to be in the shop when I ran my hand through the tablesaw 18 years ago. I was mighty glad to have a ride to and from the ER, let me tell you.
Andy
Andy Engel
Senior editor, Fine Woodworking magazine
An updated profile is a happy profile.
Other people can talk about how to expand the destiny of mankind. I just want to talk about how to fix a motorcycle. I think that what I have to say has more lasting value. --Robert M. Pirsig
None of this matters in geological time.
I just hate it when they hog all the benchView Image
IanDG
...I'm not going to even ask about the WD40...
I hasn't been long since I cut the end of my finger off. I was by myself in the shop. I turned off the saw, stuck my hand under a faucet, didn't look at it too long, wraped it in a plastic bag then went into the house. As I passed my wife on the way to the car, I told her I had hurt myself and we were going to the emergancy room. Then I got into the passenger seat of ther car and waited. . . and waited. . . and waited. . . Turns out she had to put on her bra first. After all, first things first! Got to get your priorities right. I now have one of the new SawStop saws. To be fair, she hadn't seen the hand.
Now, that's funny.Andy Engel
Senior editor, Fine Woodworking magazine
An updated profile is a happy profile.
Other people can talk about how to expand the destiny of mankind. I just want to talk about how to fix a motorcycle. I think that what I have to say has more lasting value. --Robert M. Pirsig
None of this matters in geological time.
My wife and I share this hobby. I am a lucky man. She keeps telling me that she enjoys it even more than she thought she would. We are equal partners in this and work well as a team.
Not much to tell. The shop is my place to hide. Worst thing I did was put a phone system in the house that allows others to ring my phone like a paging system. SO instead of coming down to get me (a reasonable barrier) now she can just call me... :-(
The few times she's used it she left her work on the floor and nearly killed me...
Mark
Measure it with a micrometer, mark it with chalk, cut it with an ax.
Will,
The wife has always been my toughest critic, or as she calls it, "quality control". She sees details that I'll overlook because of too close proximity to the job. Fresh perspective, I suppose.
It will often be something like, "Isn't that pull a little cockeyed?" I'll measure, and sure enough it's a 32d higher on one side. But if she sees it, then I can make sure the customer never does!
Regards,
Ray
I invited my ex-girlfriend to my shop...only to hear her reply "what for, all you do is cut wood and put it back together again". Took my dog and never looked back!
GO CUBS!!!
So should we just refer to you as Bench from now on?
What are you smiling for Keith? All you do is spin wood around...: )GO CUBS!!!
GO CUBBIES!!!!!
WHAT'S UP, BUDDY!!
Hope they win 3!
Jeff
Go Cubs?!?!?
They will be under 500 when this weekend is over.
Look here bubs, let's make it interesting! If the Cubs don't take 2 out of 3 this weekend, I'll take down the sign...what's your offer?GO CUBS!!!
In a pigs eye, under 500! Those minor leaguers from the south side and that big fat cry baby with the sore wittle ankle are in for a rude awakening. Of course, not too much managing going on over in the minor leagues with the designated hitter hitting for the pitcher. You should just put a skirt on em!
LOL
Jeff
This widower would find it heavenly to find a new spouse who shares my passion for woodworking; it would sure be nice to find someone with skills in areas in which I am lacking - and to help when breaking down large stock and such!
-Jazzdogg-
Whether you think you can, or you think you can't, you're right.
Jazz you forgot to throw in sanding and finishing to.You guys are asking a lot. Hell, I would like to find one to just stand there with a 2 X 4 to give me a whack every-time i stop or slow down. You would think that would be easy enough wouldn't you?
"I would like to find one to just stand there with a 2 X 4 to give me a whack every-time i stop or slow down. You would think that would be easy enough wouldn't you?"
Rootburl,
Sounds more like a mother-in-law's job description to me!
The masochist said, "Whip me, drip hot candle wax on me, and call me names." To which the sadist replied, "No!"
By now you've probably already heard about the woman who saw her husband staggering around in their back yard - she took aim and shot again!
Be careful what you wish for ; - )
-Jazzdogg-
Whether you think you can, or you think you can't, you're right.
My wife doesn't share my passion for woodworking but does really beautiful stained glass work. So, in one of my weaker moments and between projects, I agreed to put a work table for her in the corner of the shop. The work table has now grown to include a kiln for slumping and fusing glass, a light table and storage cabinet for glass and other floor space for supplies that won't fit anywhere else. This is, of course, when she isn't working on a large project. When that happens she has a habit of taking over the TS 4' x 6' out-table and work bench.
Now all of that wouldn't be so bad but then when I have the temerity to venture into MY woodworking shop, she has a not so subtle way of letting me that I'm making too much noise (it upsets the dog who also now has a bed there and that wouldn't be so bad but he's a yellow lab and lordy does he take up a lot of room), can't I please make less dust (I used that excuse to but some L-N planes) or that finish really stinks! Oh, she also is not real tolerant of my way of quaint way of expressing myself when I have done something really stupid.
But you know, I wouldn't have it any other way. I can't tell you how I enjoy sharing the space and time even if is for occasionally conflicting endeavors.
Oh, in two weeks she is starting to teach basic stained glass techniques to 4 students. I wonder where she if going to find the room for that?
Sounds pretty terrific to me, Doug!
Have you made many projects that incorporate her glass work in the form of stained glass, glass knows, etc.?-Jazzdogg-
Whether you think you can, or you think you can't, you're right.
Yes, the first was a router cabinet that has a stained glass replica of the PC router as the panel in the router access door. That was whimsical but fun. I posted that one in the gallery about 18 months ago.
We've collaborated on some mission-style lamps for friends and family. I recently finished a pair of prairie-style lamps to go with a tall chest/TV cabinet and night stands currently under construction and she made the lamp shades. I plan on posting the lamp next week.
Finally, something (someone) I can brag about. This is probably going to bring a tear to Jazzdoggs' eye, but here goes. My wife of 12 years (she's my second) loves tools. Not long after we started dating, I showed up at her house one Saturday morning to find her under her Chevy pickup changing the oil. Man, I was, and am, in love! She surprised me our first Christmas together with a new Craftsman table saw. A couple of years later on my B'day, it was a 17" drill press, etc. Did I mention that she loves tools?
She's only spooked me once, but she never forgot. After we cleaned up the mess, she hugged me and told me how sorry she was. Scared her as much as it did me. Now she stands at the door and waits till I complete the cut or I see her.
She enjoys puttering in the shop with me, learning to operate the tools, giving me a hand with sheet goods and generally just being a good hand. And she never fails to tell me how beautifully my below average projects turn out. What a woman.
We're just now finishing up her sewing room. She was great help hanging and finishing drywall, putting down a new hardwood floor, installing new lighting and outlets and is very good with a finish nailer.
I can only hope that someday I'm half as good a woodworker as she is a seamstress and quilter.
I think I'll keep her. (I JUST HOPE SHE KEEPS ME!)
Did I remember to tell you that she loves tools?Onward through the fog.
Chuck Whitney
Does she have a sister?
; - )-Jazzdogg-
Whether you think you can, or you think you can't, you're right.
Sorry Dogg. Two brothers. The younger is a cute little blonde and might be okay once you take the fight out of him!!! :-DOnward through the fog.
Chuck Whitney
Would be nice just fighting over tools!
Edited 6/24/2005 10:58 am ET by Will George
Toby, I guess it goes back to the old saying "there is no free lunch".
Quid pro quo Clarise, quid pro quo.
She coulda' played you like a cheap fiddle, so just go about putting together those projects and assuring her you need more tools.
Wife or girlfriend in the shop??
Not at the same time, for sure!!!! - lol
Basically my wife leaves me alone in the shop, (she doesn't like the dust) it's when our daughter wants to see me that she comes in with our daughter. Usually won't say much but once in a while she'll say something like "why don't you add a drawer or door or .... This is of course after I've asked her what she needs and showed her the plans I've made adding her suggestions/wants/needs. The problem (this happened today) is the cabinet is 75% finished and she wants a drawer placed after I've fielded the panels and made the frame for the bottom cabinet.
First reaction is I can't do it, then I start thinking about how I can incorporate the drawer.
Then I'm back at telling myself to keep things simple.
Even AFTER marriage women confuse the blank out of men!
Will,
This is a tough one. I sort of like my wife coming down into the shop now and then, so she can see what goes into those projects she wants done around the house!
HOWEVER...
She tends to find the most inopportune moments to pop in. For example, I'm running the table saw, my sight and concentration totally focused on the cut, the entire outside world tund out, and suddenly...there's my wife's face. More than once, it has made me jump with a fright.
Or she walks in when I'm in the middle of a complicated glue-up and starts asking me a question about something. Anyone who has been in the middle of their own complicated glue-up will understand when I say that, at that moment, I would rather not even have to explain why I can't talk right now.
And finally, my wife tends to walk into the shop and see a project right after the clamps have been removed. Inevitably, she looks at the ugly thing with dried up glue all over it and says something like, "That's our new kitchen table?" I always say, "Never judge a woodworking project until it's done."
So it's complicated. On one hand, I think it's better to develop an understanding that the shop is essentially my private space. But then again, I like my wife to be involved. I just wish I could predict when she is going to arrive.
"she tends to find the most inopportune moments to pop in. For example, I'm running the table saw, my sight and concentration totally focused on the cut, the entire outside world tund out, and suddenly...there's my wife's face. More than once, it has made me jump with a fright."It's taken a while, but I've trained my wife to wait and get my attention after I shut off a tool (unless I happen to see her open the door).I too have been jolted by a "Mark!" being shouted from the shop door (loud enough to be heard over the tools and the hearing protection). Lucky I still have all my fingers...Mark
Measure it with a micrometer, mark it with chalk, cut it with an ax.
Matthew,
That is the real definition of 'True Love'...never knowing when she'll kill you but quite sure it could happen every day....ain't it grand.
I too have been jolted by a "Mark!" being shouted from the shop door (loud enough to be heard over the tools and the hearing protection). Lucky I still have all my fingers...
does that ever ring a bell !! SWMBO's speciality is creeping in when I'm miles away, canna hear anything but the sound of plane on wood (other than the constant rattle of the bench and its contents hitting the wall with each stroke), only to pause, look around and jump cos she's just ... there...!! Kinda reminiscent of the nun in the Blues Bros... her skowl's every bit as bad too but dinna say I said that...
doesn't matter how many times I've uttered.. "would ya quit sneakin up in me..!" FWIW I've discovered unvolunterily that L-N planes will survive a 3ft freefall into a bed of fresh shavings with no more harm than a few missed heartbeats and a change of underwear....
One thing she has learned however... whenever she hears the air turning blue over and above the skirl of the machinery, coming through to see what's gone wrong isn't exactly a wise move...
Mike Wallace
Stay safe....Have fun
Edited 6/24/2005 6:55 pm ET by Mike
The first time I remember the wife being in the shop, I was making a bench for the greenhouse I had built her for a birthday present. Very successful present, by-the-way. I had a treated pine 8 foot long, 4X4 balanced on a chop saw. She couldn't stand to have all those messy bits of cut off wood under the saw. She decided to clean them up at the same time I knocked the 4X4 off the saw and hit her on the head with the corner. That saw (which was hers when we married) makes nice clean, sharp cuts. Even a small head wound bleeds a lot. We are still married. I am told that when we move, that bench definitely will be taken with us! Hey, any woman with her own chop saw has to be alright.
She hinted several times that we didn't have a wood lathe. No, I never was very interested in having one. Finally, I got the message and bought her one on sale at Harbor Freight. The drive belt lasted about one hour. I replace it with one from a local industrial supply house and it has run fine since. She has turned some candle sticks which she is proud of. Hardly ever touches it anymore, but she likes having it and it is the neatest area in the shop. I needed some knobs for two Shaker style end tables I made for her, but I had to turn them. As long as she is careful and doesn't get hurt I like having her in the shop.
Thanks for starting this thread: it is both humerous and touching.
Doug
This forum post is now archived. Commenting has been disabled