ian maybury
11-25-2010, 7:22 AM
Some musings from the trenches, pardon if they don't fit here.
I've been refurbishing my shop to go professional for the past year - researching and sourcing tools, machines and equipment; planning layout and flows, whacking holes and installing new doorways through walls, building and installing a full inverter powered Pentz ducted dust system, installing plumbing and heating, rewiring, installing lighting, building a bench, installing storage and so on.
And guess what! I was quite certain when starting out that I'd be finished months ago. It's really turned out to be quite an odyssey.
The end is coming into sight now as I'm in the middle of wiring etc, and the rest mostly just a matter of grunting out the hands on work. Apart from incidentals the hardware is pretty much all in stock.
When making the decision to upgrade and go woodworking full time I made the decision that I wasn't borrowing money to do anything. Which means I'm doing everything possible myself.
It's been quite a learning journey, and great fun - for example I know a lot more about woodworking equipment, plumbing, electrics and dust systems than I did before. (thanks again to you guys)
But there's been a few tough sides to it. :) First off unless you are very experienced there's a lot of research, reading and figuring out needed and it's highly time consuming - yet essential.
You get really fed up with friends asking if you've finished yet and making like they would have had it done in a week - they haven't a clue as to what's actually involved. After a few weeks you can see the 'this guy is dreaming' view setting in, and after that they stop asking.
As a self employed change management consultant I was mostly used to office work, and at 55 with a dodgy back and knees (too many years of motorcycle MX racing) can truly say that trying to work successive days hands on came as a bit of a shock to the system. (the body does adapt, but it takes time and you have to pace it and rest when needed)
I flat don't have the energy or the stamina to blast through the hands on work in haze of 14 hour days. Maybe 30 years ago.....
A key perspective seems to be to take it one day at a time, and to not get too fixated on a completion date - apart from cutting corners all over the place it would become very stressful and negative.
It's hard work trying to live with an absolute minimum of personal spending - and it wears a bit thin after a while. The arrival of an out of the blue assignment from my old line of work (while a significant delay) was for this reason very welcome.
Another angle is the amount of patience that has been required of my wife (who fortunately is working - it wouldn't have been possible without her) I know there's times she gets a little impatient, and she doesn't always 'get it'. The family are fortunately grown up.
It gets a bit lonely when there's really nobody around that at the detail/having an interest level is interested in sharing what's going on - my son isn't into working with his hands, (he's more musical) and woodworkers aiming at the high end space are thin on ground over here.
We're not even thinking about the fact that I'll be setting out to find work in the middle of our (irish) economic collapse/IMF/EU rescue and all that entails - although I have at times rationalised that there has to need for woodworking even if there is a meltdown!
What I can say is that while there's been a few downers I'm very happy I headed down this road, and that working hands on continues to deliver a satisfaction that's not available (to me anyway) in an office job.
For anybody who is thinking of doing something like this. It has to be your own decision, and it may not be the right thing for everybody.
But life is strange. The commitment was made after many years of hoping to do it in parallel with my previous work, but it just wasn't happening. Serious illness some years ago led to a deep sense that it was now or never, but there was no clear sight of how to get to the end.
There's still a bit to go, but having committed the needs that arose (e.g. funding) have so far almost magically been taken care of in very unlikely ways.
Maybe it does make sense to follow your heart. (but of course you have to find it first)....
ian
I've been refurbishing my shop to go professional for the past year - researching and sourcing tools, machines and equipment; planning layout and flows, whacking holes and installing new doorways through walls, building and installing a full inverter powered Pentz ducted dust system, installing plumbing and heating, rewiring, installing lighting, building a bench, installing storage and so on.
And guess what! I was quite certain when starting out that I'd be finished months ago. It's really turned out to be quite an odyssey.
The end is coming into sight now as I'm in the middle of wiring etc, and the rest mostly just a matter of grunting out the hands on work. Apart from incidentals the hardware is pretty much all in stock.
When making the decision to upgrade and go woodworking full time I made the decision that I wasn't borrowing money to do anything. Which means I'm doing everything possible myself.
It's been quite a learning journey, and great fun - for example I know a lot more about woodworking equipment, plumbing, electrics and dust systems than I did before. (thanks again to you guys)
But there's been a few tough sides to it. :) First off unless you are very experienced there's a lot of research, reading and figuring out needed and it's highly time consuming - yet essential.
You get really fed up with friends asking if you've finished yet and making like they would have had it done in a week - they haven't a clue as to what's actually involved. After a few weeks you can see the 'this guy is dreaming' view setting in, and after that they stop asking.
As a self employed change management consultant I was mostly used to office work, and at 55 with a dodgy back and knees (too many years of motorcycle MX racing) can truly say that trying to work successive days hands on came as a bit of a shock to the system. (the body does adapt, but it takes time and you have to pace it and rest when needed)
I flat don't have the energy or the stamina to blast through the hands on work in haze of 14 hour days. Maybe 30 years ago.....
A key perspective seems to be to take it one day at a time, and to not get too fixated on a completion date - apart from cutting corners all over the place it would become very stressful and negative.
It's hard work trying to live with an absolute minimum of personal spending - and it wears a bit thin after a while. The arrival of an out of the blue assignment from my old line of work (while a significant delay) was for this reason very welcome.
Another angle is the amount of patience that has been required of my wife (who fortunately is working - it wouldn't have been possible without her) I know there's times she gets a little impatient, and she doesn't always 'get it'. The family are fortunately grown up.
It gets a bit lonely when there's really nobody around that at the detail/having an interest level is interested in sharing what's going on - my son isn't into working with his hands, (he's more musical) and woodworkers aiming at the high end space are thin on ground over here.
We're not even thinking about the fact that I'll be setting out to find work in the middle of our (irish) economic collapse/IMF/EU rescue and all that entails - although I have at times rationalised that there has to need for woodworking even if there is a meltdown!
What I can say is that while there's been a few downers I'm very happy I headed down this road, and that working hands on continues to deliver a satisfaction that's not available (to me anyway) in an office job.
For anybody who is thinking of doing something like this. It has to be your own decision, and it may not be the right thing for everybody.
But life is strange. The commitment was made after many years of hoping to do it in parallel with my previous work, but it just wasn't happening. Serious illness some years ago led to a deep sense that it was now or never, but there was no clear sight of how to get to the end.
There's still a bit to go, but having committed the needs that arose (e.g. funding) have so far almost magically been taken care of in very unlikely ways.
Maybe it does make sense to follow your heart. (but of course you have to find it first)....
ian