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Tuesday, January 3, 2017

Nearly a Year in the Making

Last Spring I did a post about how the blog was not all I naively hoped it would be.  I have done a lot of woodworking and other stuff since then, even though the blog does not reflect it.

About the time of the above referenced blog entry, I started painting miniatures for gaming.  I was quite the gamer as a kid, but funds, and life got in the way of it for a couple decades.

I thought I would post a picture of a creature I finished painting a couple nights ago.

The woodworking isn't going anywhere, but as I said nearly a year ago, I'm going to include other maker type stuff I work on.  I can't wait to start my Steampunk rifle this Spring.

Without adieu, here is Spike, a troll:

Spike Saying Hello.
Here are a couple pictures with the flash engaged to really feature color and texture:


Start Before Stop Against Stop Before Start: A Blind Cohort Study of Woodworking Projects

First, I must apologize for the title.  It will (somewhat) make sense by the end of this post.  The purpose was to confuse Google to see if I'll ever be indexed in a scholarly article search.  Call it my intellectual rage against the machine for 2016.

The question posed is valid:  why do we, as hobbyist woodworkers, often start the next project before the current project is done?  To make matters worse, there are often several starts, before the first stop!

In a production environment it only makes sense to have all assets utilized to their fullest potential.  The constant flow of projects requires constant management to get all the square pegs confused with round holes (dark, cylindrical, 1 ech.) on the widget line.  Let's call that sentence my second intellectual rage against the bureaucratic machine for 2016.  Moving along.  The hobbyist is supposed to enjoy the process, not the product, or so the conventional wisdom says.

Too often I find myself getting into ultra efficient production mode (that's what it looks like in my head--the shop, not so much) when planning shop projects.  I recently had another one of those moments causing me to be more reflective on the approach I take toward this 'hobby'.

My main project is currently a Jefferson book stand, like the one appearing in the Woodwright's Shop.  The project has about eleventy-gazillion mortise and tenon joints; I'm closing in on about half of them.  So, to celebrate that milestone, I went and purchased more material:  Ambrosia Maple to do a modern version of the book stand, MDF to do a giant shoe box to store shoes (duh!), Cherry to do a high smallish side table, and some regular maple to do a large bookcase.

I had to save a draft of this post for 'later'.  In the interim I also bought some Poplar to make another six board chest because there is enough Ambrosia Maple left to make a cool lid for a chest.  As of right now the first Jefferson book stand is where I left it, but in the interim I did make the giant shoe box, the six board chest (sans lid, because, you know, the 'real' project with the Ambrosia Maple is not done yet), a glockenspiel, and several other little things.

Back to the original point of stopping, read finishing, projects before starting other projects.  I have to wonder if I'm alone in this, or is this behavior germane to the subspecies of human known as woodworker?

I have re-re-re-resolved to finish projects for which the material is on hand before starting other projects.  Right now that includes two Jefferson book stands, a large bookcase, the lid for a six board chest, step stool, a high smallish side table in Cherry, and containers to transport and store miniature figures.

If you stumble on this blog post in your net quest for better woodworking, please drop an opinion on the best way to handle projects in hobby woodworking.  Maybe someday we'll accumulate enough anecdotes to qualify as data, and thus a real study.

2016 Damage Control

Every year I make a post about where I spent my woodworking money for the year.  This is just a list, sometimes with comments; it is not meant to be a budget report, or purchase advice.  Simply stated, this is a yearly look at where my hobby money went.

The top of list this year is Acme Tool.  I purchased a drill press from them.  That is all I will say for now.

The rest of the list:

Amazon.com.  This year I purchased a lot of accessories from them.


Lee Valley.  I purchased more times from them this year than any other vendor, though all the purchases were in the 40-80 dollar range.  This is odd mainly because Highland Woodworking fills this niche for me.  I just needed more hardware this year and Highland is light on that.

Champaign/Urbana Woodshop.  They go by CU woodshop; neat double entendre.

Crucible Tool.  I purchased the dividers and have been using them quite a bit.



Both Rockler and Woodcraft were off the list last year.  However, Rockler opened a new store (Bolingbrook, IL) near my local Woodcraft (50 plus miles away) giving me incentive to hit both when I'm in the neighborhood.  I actually purchased sizable quantities of wood from both this year.

Highland Woodworking.  A perennial favorite.  Any Lie-Nielsen purchase not at a Lie-Nielsen tool event is made through Highland.

Penn State Industries.  A new entrant on the list.  Last year, from Acme Tools, I picked up a lathe.  Now I'm actually buying stuff to use with it.

Knew Concepts.  I know I have been remiss is keeping the blog updated.  I just don't feel the imperative to write often when there isn't much of an audience.  I got the 5" fret saw, I believe they call it.  I'm not exaggerating in the least to say this little tool has been a game changer for me.  I never knew coping could be so good.  I intended to write extensively about the saw but never got around to it.

Patrick Leach.  Pat is a bit of a victim of his own success.  He now does so much volume that the quality of every item cannot be vouched for.  My advice is to look carefully at the merch if you are buying at a show.  By all accounts I've heard, contacting him directly on his site is the same quality it always has been.

Store Supply Warehouse.  Long story involving a lot of hats and a need to store them.

Fastenal.  Another new entrant to the list.  I needed special metric parts for my band saw.  Fastenal and McMaster-Carr were the only places that carried what I needed, and Fastenal had them in stock.

And now a mention for the places where I get most of my 'instruction' in woodworking:

Mortise & Tenon Magazine.  I took one for the team when I bought issue one.  Who'd a thunk I actually would love this yearly rag?  Well, I do, and already ordered issue 2.

Though I have not listed it before, I again renewed my subscription to Popular Woodworking.  

I'm sure I have forgotten a person or two.