Who has a spouse that does wood working and/or home improvement stuff with them?

[Rich Engelhardt]

As a sort of companion thread to this one:

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?255943-How-old-are-you-and-are-passing-on-a-woodworking-legacy

Who here has a spouse that enjoys wood working and/or doing home improvement stuff with them?

My wife and I have been redoing rental property now since 2002 & every time we take on a new house, we take on more and more "stuff".

My wife did all the drywall work on the last one. She hung all the drywall in the basement, then taped and sanded it. She did a very respectable job.

LOL! & No! I didn't instruct her....I had a contractor show here step by step how to do it!

I really think the key to our 36 year marriage has been - - not to tell her what to do - - in any way shape or form! :D :D

She also does help me out in the shop from time to time, but, doesn't show a lot of interest in learning the "why" of things, like in "why do you have to edge joint lumber".

[Mike Cutler]

Mike, Like yours, isn't interested in why, but she's part of every home project we've done. The sound and vibration of the machines is uncomfortable for her.
Hand mix 6500 lbs. of mortar and fill in our stone foundation. Tiled bathroom surrounds. Installed wood flooring, and appliances. She's involved in all of it.
We've been married 33 years, so we must have figured out our "division of labor".:D

When she silver soldered the radiator on my truck, to repair a seam leak, I did have to step back for a minute. That one got me.:cool:

[kevin nee]

If you call going shopping for SHOES while renovations are going on. My wife is a great helper. I help her weed the garden by watching TV. We are a good team.

[George Bokros]

My wife helps me install crown molding. She helps hold the molding in place, checks corner fit in one corner while I check corner fit at the opposite end and nail.

[Russell Stanton]

We have been married for 50 years and she has helped in many projects from installing and engine in a 67 Alfa, body work on a 74 Alfa and she is now a woodturner and artist. She has done pyrography and carving on many of her turned items and on mine as well. We really enjoy our time together in the shop.

[Darcy Warner]

She will be my wife in 13 days, but she helps me with whatever I need. Moving machinery, painting, tailing lumber, hauling stuff, cleaning, organizing etc.

I spent 12 years with someone that showed no interest in anything I did and wouldn't lift a finger to help me out.

[Jon Grider]

My wife is involved in most of our home projects. Her greatest strengths are her keen sense of color, proportion, style and period awareness. We're on our second major home remodeling project and she does lots of research on our projects to keep our MCM home period correct. She has stripped and refinished cabinets and furniture along with painting projects. She gives me someone to bounce ideas off when I'm building things and I usually defer to her judgement when we have different opinions. She is exceptional at finding good deals on stuff for our home.

[Erik Loza]

My wife is quite handy and good at DIY-type stuff and we did projects together during the early days of our relationship but the reality was that I really preferred to do projects alone. It took me a while to come to this realization and in hindsight, created a lot of friction between us in the beginning. We would try to do things "together"and since everyone works at different paces and dexterity levels, I would find myself getting impatient rather than relaxing. Accomplishing projects were my "Erik time" for reliveing stress and We came to the realization that it's OK for me to say, "I want to do this by myself", which does not equal, "I don't want to do this with you". To my lovely wife's credit, she gets it and is glad to give me my space. We were putting together some Ikea furniture yesterday. She took the chairs, I took the tables, and we both got them done at our own paces. It worked out great. For us, the ability to give personal space has been just as important as having the ability or inclination to do it together.

Erik

[Shawn Pixley]

LOML helps / performs on most of out maintenance / improvement projects. We have done one complete house ('20s Craftsman) and several rooms and a deck in our current house. She has a good craftsman's eye for quality and precision. She is not very fond of the saws but nailers, drills, and all hand tools are useful in her hands.

We have to debate colors for a year before there is a meeting of the minds.

[Mike Henderson]

She will be my wife in 13 days, but she helps me with whatever I need. Moving machinery, painting, tailing lumber, hauling stuff, cleaning, organizing etc.

I spent 12 years with someone that showed no interest in anything I did and wouldn't lift a finger to help me out.
Congratulations on your upcoming nuptials. Sounds like you have a winner.

My wife helps me with advice on color and design. She's not interested in the actual construction, which is fine with me. I enjoy making the stuff and there's no deadline.

Mike

[Brian Holcombe]

My wife will usually comment on things that I build, good or bad depending on how she sees it.

[Art Mann]

My wife and I are partners with almost everything we do. In our little CNC router business, she does all the artistic design work, she does some of the toolpathing and she can run the machine by herself on simple jobs. Our house contains many pieces of furniture and cabinetry that I built and we finished together. We have painted the interior of our house together twice. We usually have a vegetable garden and she is right there weeding and harvesting with me. Just last week,I cut down three 12 - 15 inch diameter trees in our yard and ground up the stumps. We both raked away the larger wood pieces and planted grass on the bare spots. We are mostly done with hauling off the brush. She is less than half my weight and (unlike me) she is thin and has a fine bone structure so I don't want her to help with the heavy work. She has a lot of projects of her own and I am usually right in the middle of them. As of next week, we will have been doing things this way for 42 years.

[Mark Felps]

My wife and I often work together. Both as assistants for each other, and as collaborators. We did a set of Christmas ornaments on the scroll saw. She thought my cuts were cleaner, so I did most of the cutting, and she did most of the sanding (which was just fine by me) and then we finished them together. Recently she built a quilt rack for her mother, and i acted as her assistant, holding stuff in place, carrying clamps around for her, etc. She did most of the actual building out of poplar, and then I did a lot of sanding for her. She was nervous about the finish (we used a gel stain) so she let me do that, so I could take the blame if it got messed up.

We like working together and we have different skill strengths. She's actually better at mechanical stuff, so she fixes and sets up tools for me sometimes. She also does a lot of textile work, so when I build my first chair, she'll be there to do cushions for me. We really enjoy working together, although it means sometimes I wind up helping her do quilting stuff, too.

[Cary Falk]

My wife does the research (finds what she wants on Pintrest). I am tasked with getting it completed no matter what the complications may be.

[Jay Larson]

My wife does the research (finds what she wants on Pintrest). I am tasked with getting it completed no matter what the complications may be.

That is my fiancee. She comes up with the ideas, not Pinterest but Houzz, And I am tasked with building it.

Unfortunately, she now has the idea that since I have "too much" lumber of mixed species it doesn't matter that it matches the existing woodwork.

[Andrew Gibson]

My wife and I started dating 13 years ago and have been married for five. She has always been the one to encourage me to stop analyzing and go for it when I am apprehensive. She listens to me ramble about whatever project I am planning and will interject with helpful input on occasion. The running joke is that she can rebuild a carburetor despite never turning screw one...
All that said, she is not interested in woodworking. But when it comes to home renovations she is proficient at painting, laying tile, basic plumbing, helping move heavy things, and swinging big hammers, she leaves the electrical to me though she understands it. I consider myself a lucky Man. We make a good team.

[Bruce Wrenn]

She will be my wife in 13 days, but she helps me with whatever I need. Moving machinery, painting, tailing lumber, hauling stuff, cleaning, organizing etc.

I spent 12 years with someone that showed no interest in anything I did and wouldn't lift a finger to help me out.That means she is your UPGRADE WIFE. My wife of 39 years HATES that term, but that's what she definitely is!

[keith micinski]

Couldn't be more shocked by how many reasonable women there appear to be out there according to this thread. I would have guessed there weren't this many in the entirety of the world.

[Rod Sheridan]

Diann does stained glass and wood turning (she even lets me use her lathe).

Diann also helps move machinery, carry heavy pieces of wood, and generally encourages me to spend money on the shop and do things.

I guess she does more "artistic" stuff than me with the turning and glass work, my work tends to be functional such as furniture. Even my wood turning is functional, furniture parts, tool handles etc.

Anyway, without her support, help and encouragement ( how many wives tell you to spend more on a machine to get the tilting spindle in the shaper?), I wouldn't have half the shop or half the projects completed...........Rod.

[Charles Lent]

My son married a licensed building contractor. She's partners with her dad, building spec houses. She is very "at home" in a woodworking shop and doesn't hesitate to join him in projects. My wife just keeps thinking up changes that she wants ME to make around the house and some of her ideas are quite extensive. She never participates, except to sometimes hold the other end of something. My son is very lucky.

Charley

[dennis thompson]

She will say: we need to paint the bedroom. She picks out the color and I paint the room.

[Jerome Stanek]

My wife will help me we sided our house and also my sons she did about half the cutting. We put a chain link fence up for us and my daughter and we are going to help my daughter put her lawn in.

[George Werner]

My wife works with me on every home improvement project we do. She's not a fan of using the large power tools but she gets in there and tries everything. We work surprisingly well together.

[Brian Henderson]

Nope, not mine. She has her interests, I have mine, sometimes they intersect, sometimes not. This is one area where they do not. She's very supportive of what I do, but she has no interest in doing it herself.

[rudy de haas]

My wife has guaranteed my entry into heaven -assuming, of course, that she doesn't change her mind about the guestroom again... because even Job would break the fourth (4th!@!) time :)

[Jim Dwight]

Neither my late wife nor my current wife help a lot on projects. My second wife is better at most home improvement things and has great taste for the planning stage. But I guess I enjoy doing things myself. I can't work and talk about it at the same time and she can't help without the talking. Any urgency in my voice causes an adverse reaction. Just easier to do it myself. Today I got my adult son to help put in a new exterior door. My wife and I did the last one and it was a lot easier with him. Less talking required and he's a lot stronger.

[Mitch Bray]

My wife apprenticed with a woodworker for 5 years prior to my meeting her. We started a business based on her skills & I "apprenticed" under her.
-Mitch

[keith micinski]

That sounds like my worst nightmare.

[David Boardman]

I woodwork full time, my wife woodworks part time. She handles clients and the kids when she is not in the shop with me. She's always learning and wants to learn more. She has a great eye for finishing much better than me. I wish I could get her turning on the lathe but she's just too timid around it..

[Charles Taylor]

My wife leaves my woodworking hobby to me, but she'll lend a hand if I need it. She's in the trenches with me on most any home improvement project.

[mark mcfarlane]

Married 39 years. We remodeled two old homes by ourselves in decades past. Sonia is an excellent painter and will help with whatever, whenever I ask, but nowadays she mostly helps me with with the heavy lifting and when I need a second set of hands, if she isn't on the golf course or the Houston Rockets aren't on TV. Yes, I am a golf widower.

She has expressed some interest in turning, so maybe there will be a lathe in the new shop. She is more of a doer than a studier and since I don't know anything about turning, maybe we'll take a class together...

[Darcy Warner]

363333

She wanted to use the 30" jointer

[Darcy Warner]

363334

Helped unload a trailer full of machinery

[Johanna Johanson]

Couldn't be more shocked by how many reasonable women there appear to be out there according to this thread. I would have guessed there weren't this many in the entirety of the world.
Ouch! I hope you eventually meet some reasonable women, including some who, like me, love woodworking.

[Rick Potter]

My wife and I re-roofed her grandparents house before we got married. Years later she carried hundreds of cement roof tiles up a ladder, one at a time to assist the carpenters (friends) in finishing my new workshop, while I was in the hospital. She got tired of waiting for me once, and built a couple closet drawers while I was at work. She designs projects complete with scale drawings for stuff she wants me to make, and comes out to the shop when help is needed, including finishing. She completely designed a complex addition at our present house, including the kitchen cabinets, I am still working on.

She just retired last week, and is presently on a trip with our daughter. She has never nagged, and very seldom complains about anything, but she says when she gets home she will 'help' me finish the 12 year remodel on the house. Yes, she is that patient. Has to be, we have been married 53 years.

I can't really say she likes woodworking, but I know she likes me.