What's your favorite woodworking sound, tool, task, thing, sight, smell, etc.

[Bill Carey]

I have 2 things that I love above all else in my shop. The first is the sound a nice piece of machined hardwood makes when I put it on my bench. I swear I can tell the difference between walnut, QSWO, maple, polar, etc. And I would be hard pressed to tell you why - it's just a ringing bell to me. Sometimes I'll pick it up and put it back on the bench a second time just to hear it. The other is breaking the edges of milled pieces with sandpaper. I know. Weird. There is just something cool about a sanded edge. I don't like planed edges - they seem to perfect. Maybe it's the small imperfections. Dunno.

What's yours?

[Bruce Wrenn]

My favorite wood working sound is teller at the bank asking how would I like my money from the check that my customer wrote me.

[Darcy Warner]

Feeding a 6 head moulder.

[Mark Hennebury]

Everything that is working well.

From a cleanly scribed knife-line to the sweet buzz of the big jointer,hanplane to supersurfacer


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6ltxYbJX5c

[Mark Hennebury]

Supersurfacer.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bp73o2nT5CU

[Mike Henderson]

My wife telling me how beautiful a piece of furniture is that I made for her.

Mike

[Nick Lazz]

I just like the smell of newly milled wood. Doesn’t matter the species for the most part...new construction, cabinets, general projects. I truly love wood I guess.

[Paul F Franklin]

I like the "thuck" sound of a perfectly fitted tenon sliding into the mortise. I wish I could say I hear it often :-(

[Jack Frederick]

The sigh, when I occasionally get it right!

[Scott Winners]

I like the sound of a well sharpened hand saw coming to the end of a cut.

[Rich Engelhardt]

Hands down - the big "Locomotive" - - the Milwaukee 5625 - winding up to a screaming high pitched wail!

One of my fondest memories of the end of my youth (a month before high school graduation) was a trip to the Indy 500 time trials.
My best friend, his dad & his dad's friend (who was one of the officials) got us seats for the time trials on the infield - in the owners area.
We were right on the rail & close enough to the action you could see the driver's faces & the whine of an "Offy" was so loud it hurt!

I think of that every time I turn on a router.

Good times....the harsh realities of life set in a few months after that.

[Jerome Sidley]

The smell of raw wood mmmmm

[Malcolm Schweizer]

Favorite sound: A well-sharpened plane singing through a piece of hardwood. You can hear when it needs sharpening because it starts to lose that "zing."

Favorite smell: Either mahogany or port Orford cedar when freshly planed.

Favorite tool: The NX60 block plane that a fellow creeker gave me. It meant a lot to me, and it is a beautiful tool.

Sight: My wife when she comes to sit and talk while I work.

Thing: My workbench- modified split-top Roubo with plenty o' vises.

[Jacob Reverb]

Favorite sound: A well-sharpened plane singing through a piece of hardwood.

Doh! Beat me to it! I also like the "squeak" sound a sharp plane makes as it creates paper-thin shavings going through white pine.

[Martin Wasner]

My favorite wood working sound is teller at the bank asking how would I like my money from the check that my customer wrote me.

Get outta my head

[Jacob Reverb]

Another sound I'll never forget (though not my favorite) was my Dad's old monster Parks planer...I swear, you could hear that thing half a mile away with the doors and windows closed!

[Jim Becker]

The satisfaction of learning something new...

[George Yetka]

I appreciate not hearing the baby crying, allowing me more time in the shop if that counts

[Kyle Iwamoto]

The smell of koa.

[Al Launier]

The feeling of satisfaction that I get when I complete a project that came out as perfectly as I can make it, along with the sound/feel of sharp, clean cutting tools, regardless if it is a jointer, or a planer, or simply a pocket knife telling me I sharpened it well.

[Marc Jeske]

Spraying regular nitro lacquer.. the dance like application, and how nice the subsequent coats get after the scuff sanding.

Smooooth.

Marc

[Jay Larson]

I like the smell of the workshop when I walk in.

The smell of some fresh cut lumber, not the smell of white oak though...

I like the smell of opening the shellac, because it means I am almost done. And the boiled linseed oil.

I also like the feel of a top that has been hand planed. It has just enough unevenness to let you know it wasn't done by a machine.

[Earl McLain]

When turning, the smell of Thuya Burl, Camphor or Koa--depending on what wood i have. With a head cold last weekend, i purposely chose a pen blank of camphor burl--theraputic.
earl

[Malcolm Schweizer]

Spraying regular nitro lacquer.. the dance like application, and how nice the subsequent coats get after the scuff sanding.

Smooooth.

Marc

I love the smell of lacquer- makes me think of when I was younger and building hot rods with old school hot-rodders that taught me a lot.

[Frederick Skelly]

I'm with the well tuned hand plane guys!

[Jon Shank]

I've got 2. My favorite sound, so far at least is the sound of a nice sharp hand plane blade, like a number 7 taking a nice long crisp shaving. It's just a super satisfying sound. And my current favorite "thing" is watching just as I plane down to the knife line when a long thin little wisp of wood between the knife line and the plane tells me I just hit the line, just that little sliver of wood floating off the side of the board, the longer the better, telling me I got it right. Super satisfying again. Good time to knock off for the day if it's close to a good time. Kind of an everything right with the world feeling.
Jon

[Tom M King]

Sound is smoothing plane. Satisfaction used to be looking back, at the end of a day, and seeing what was built. At some point past the middle of those 45 years, I stopped looking back, and enjoy thinking about what's next.

[mark mcfarlane]

For me its probably sitting in a freshly cleaned shop with a cup of coffee contemplating whatever I will do next. Could be the next step in a project, could be picking a new project.

I've been retired for 2 1/3 years and am finally getting into the swing of things. I can actually sit still and think for 30 minutes now.

2nd best is celebrating the completion of a project, typically by carrying it into the house.

[Wayne Lomman]

My favourite smell is freshly machined Huon Pine. It is sweet and pervasive. Its a controlled species and illegal mills can be detected by inspectors just driving past.

I used to love the smell of nitro lacquer until I realized it was added perfume to fool you into using it like water. I still love using the stuff but am well aware of the long term effects of it.

My favourite sound is the sound of silence. There is nothing better than when the day is done, the machines are off, the shop is laid out ready for tomorrow and I can park my butt against a stump and peacefully take in the silent, liquid golden sunshine flowing across the mountains on an autumn afternoon. Cheers

[christopher ding]

god i love the sound of the jointer

[Dave Sabo]

Love the smell of 100+ year old heart pine.

I also like the sound of a no.7 taking a long shaving.

[James Pallas]

I like the sound of a well tuned rip saw cutting hardwood in full stokes. You can hear the tone change in the plate. A little like running your hand down the keyboard of a piano. If you have one tooth out of set you can hear and feel it just like a piano the plate just vibrates differently and disturbes the atmosphere.
Jim

[Derek Cohen]

There should be a Like button for this thread :)

For me it is the sound of a sharp handplane going "SSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHHHHHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIICK! along a panel, with the sight of a long, straight shaving flowing behind .....

https://i.postimg.cc/qRPPq9sk/1.jpg

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Jim Becker]

For me its probably sitting in a freshly cleaned shop with a cup of coffee contemplating whatever I will do next.

Shouldn't that read... "For me its probably sitting in a freshly cleaned shop with a cup of coffee contemplating whatever mess I will make next..." :D :D :D

[Simon MacGowen]

Definitely it is the sight of a cabinet door or drawer with an even reveal on all sides...as planned, not by accident. Even a perfect handcut dovetail joint doesn't trump that.

Simon

[Bill Space]

As a retiree, for me it is the sound of a cap popping off a micro brew after a fun day in the shop!

Am I the only one? Must be my German (plus a little Scotch and Irish) heritage... :D

[Andrew More]

The smell of saw dust, the sound of a hand plane, and the lamentations of the women. (Sorry Conan)

[Jay Larson]

As a retiree, for me it is the sound of a cap popping off a micro brew after a fun day in the shop!

Am I the only one? Must be my German (plus a little Scotch and Irish) heritage... :D

Or that little 'erk' of the cork coming out of a bourbon bottle...

[Tom Bender]

Unclamping a good glue-up.

[ray grundhoefer]

The sound of my unisaw bullet motor starting up, Most satisfying is glueing up a raised panel door and finding that its perfectly square

[Mike Kees]

For me it begins and ends with anything I can cut on my bandsaw,just love using that machine.

[Jon Endres]

My favorite thing is feeding a rough-sawn board into the planer and seeing the color and grain of the planed wood coming out the other side. And the smell of the freshly-planed wood.

Second would be chucking up a chunk of green wood on the lathe and getting a shop full of long curly shavings off that green bowl blank. Especially something like black birch - the smell is amazing.

[bill epstein]

Two fav aromas: Johnson's Paste Wax and Shellac freshly cut with DNA.

Fav woodworking result: an excellent match of grain wrapping around amplifier chassis' corner miters after the finish is first applied.

[Brian Nguyen]

The hum of the bandsaw starting up is always pretty cool to me. On the flipside, the awful racket that the guides make is the worst.

Oh and I love the smell of cedar. I love handplaning cedar. I love the feel of freshly planed cedar. I guess I just love working with cedar.

[Chris Montoya]

For me it's applying that first coat of whatever finish I'm using and seeing the true colors of the wood reveal. I love seeing that change that happen. That followed by the smell of saw dust and a cold one.

[Zachary Hoyt]

My favorite shop smell is cutting or sanding cherry. My favorite moment is when (if) I get the strings on and everything set up and working and I can hear what the thing I made sounds like.
Zach

[Noel Poore]

One of my favorite things is planing a bead or a groove with my Veritas small plow plane. This tool puts a smile on my face every time I use it. I love the sound it makes and the small rolled up shavings.

[Tim Bueler]

Great thread!

My favorite smell is freshly sawn/planed/milled Douglas Fir. It takes me right back to the 1960's and my grandfather's dirt floor wood shop.

Favorite sound is when my customers gush at the new cabinets I built and installed for them.

[David Utterback]

I agree with Zach on the smell of cherry when first milling a really old rough cut board that is marked with the circular patterns of an old saw mill. I also like the sound of hand planes on the cherry when the opportunity exists where the grain does not reverse over the length of the board. That, unfortunately, is not always the case. All told, I like just about any sight, smell or sound in the workshop except one that is consistent with tear out. Great post!

[Gordon Stump]

When I did big one-off commissions it was buying a new gallon of Titebond II. Now that I am old and lazy making little products it is when email orders come in from Amazon. The first one was kind off a spiritual experience, the latter just money!

[Jerry Olexa]

The smell of lumber/wood.....Just standing or being milled and sawn....Love it....

[kevin nee]

I make a lot of trestle tables and benches. When you tap the keeper holding the trestle to the legs and the sound changes. You know you are there. I wish I had invented the trestle design!

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