Are You a Seasonal Woodworker?

[Andrew Joiner]

I'm not in my shop much in the warm months. I don't even think about making anything. My summer obsession is windsurfing, so I'm only in the shop occasionally to tweak and repair my windsurf gear. My shop gets piled up with the summer stuff that my family needs and it's a mess. I'm an old cabinetmaker and I think "I can't work with all this junk in here". The truth is I never do woodworking in the summer now, so I just smile and go sailing.

Any other seasonal woodworkers here? What's your season?

[Prashun Patel]

Summer, Spring, Fall, Winter. I wish I had the discipline to take seasonal breaks.

[Matt Day]

I for sure spend less time in the shop when the weather is nice out. I'd prefer to get some fresh air outside walking, running, ultimate, or if I can get the hall pass from my wife, going for a mountain bike ride (4 hour commitment or so).
But i still spend time on the Creek, design, plan, and create all year long.

[Mike Ontko]

I'm just getting started as of this Spring, having spent the past year-or-so amassing tools and rewiring my garage. And though I purchased the materials for my shop cabinets and my first two furniture projects over the past 2-3 months, I haven't found the time yet to get started on any of them. I seem to be overrun with Summer activities, including lawn and yard maintenance, gardening (fruits and veggies, another hobby), hiking and travel, biking, entertaining friends and family, et al. So for the time being, I guess I'm a just a seasonal, foul-weather woodworker.

[Rod Sheridan]

I'm a winter wood worker.

Summer is motorcycling season................Rod.

[Chris Padilla]

I always seem to have ww'ing projects going for the house so it is year round for me. Thankfully, California (SF Bay Area) doesn't swing too wildly in temperature over the year.

[Jay Jolliffe]

All year round...Can't pay the bill unless I work.....

[Charlie Velasquez]

Unheated detached garage in Iowa... Anything below 40*F I am only in my workshop if something in the house breaks. And, below zero, it will have to wait for spring.

[Brian W Smith]

Am in the shop anywhere from 20-80 hrs a week doing the daily grind.Spend probably 10+ hrs/wk for personal work.Other time is spent riding motorcycles and shooting recurves.The bikes don't take much working on but the bows sure do.There's a constant line of bows needing serious work.....from ground-up builds to testing.But this is even split between professionally and personal stuff.

Biggy items here are,the shops stay clean "enough" that,if they're open....it's all quality time.Fixtures and new tooling in general,"is" quality time though,so that's an ongoing thing,like sweeping floors.

[Ryan Mooney]

Year round unless its to hot or to cold and lately its been a wee bit on the hot side. Shop time does suffer some in the summer due to other activities.

[Steve Rozmiarek]

My job dictates that the winter is my ww time. Nothing better than woodworking in a nice warm shop when its snowing.

[Rick Moyer]

I'm a winter wood worker.

Summer is motorcycling season................Rod.
Same here except summer WAS motorcycle season, now it's been golf season. I also have much more free time in the winter, summer work weeks are usually 50-60 hours.

[glenn bradley]

I'm old and only have so many Saturdays left. I'm spending as many of them as possible in the shop ;-)

[Greg Peterson]

It's easier to heat the shop than cool it. Long, warm summer days deserve my attention. When the daylight hours are spent at work, the shop makes a nice retreat.

[Jim Koepke]

I try to get into the shop year round whether it is 20º or 100ºF.

Summer tends to be the time when so many other chores need to be done.

I was working with wood most of today, firewood! Cutting, splitting and stacking mostly. Did get to a glue up on a small table/stand I've been working on.

jtk

[Shawn Pixley]

It is nice at my house year 'round. So I woodwork when I want....

What are these things called "seasons"?

[Chris Padilla]

It is nice at my house year 'round. So I woodwork when I want....

What are these things called "seasons"?

I hear you...only two in Nocal: warm/dry season and cool/wet season. That's it. However, I'm from Colorado where they do actually have 4 real, distinct seasons.

[Julie Moriarty]

I didn't realize this until about a year ago, that when summer comes along, the workshop gets forgotten. It's not a conscious decision. It's just so much better being outside and the workshop is called "The Dungeon".

[Bert Kemp]

Hey can us engravers chime in here LOL we do work with wood;) at least a lot of us do, so are we wood workers or engravers/ LOL anyway I work year round in the shop or if you will the engraving room, but I also take lots of time for riding my motorcycle. I'll tend to work at night or very early morning and ride during the day except in the summer when I do the opposite to hot to ride during the day from June till Sept.
But this year the whole thing changed as I came back to NH for the summer and no engraving at all. I thought I'd get to ride a lot, well I have but been doing a lot of wood working LOL tearing the deck off my girlfriend place and rebuilding it and painting and staining , now she wants a closet in the spare room and some shelves so there goes another week of riding. Lucky for me its going to rain the next couple days:(no riding but she's :) as I will work in the spare room for her .

[Greg Portland]

The seasons in my shop:
- sharpening season
- sketchbook season
- buying tools I won't use season
- moving piles of stuff around season
- revisiting unfinished projects season
- Completing a project season (very short)