How much time do we spend...

[Karl Stewart]

Hi Everyone
Just when I hit my stride, I hear,'time to get ready for dinner. The so & so's are coming over.' DOH!!

With all the stats we hear about the average worker in US works 2000 hours per year and we sleep 7.1 hours...I wondered how many hours on average you all get to work in your favorite hobby : woodworking [not including time here] My time is mostly on weekends, but fiercely look forward to retirement (22 years from now) when I can really get into it. Let's try a survey.

[John Bailey]

Since I retired, and since I lost my part-time-build-my-shop-buy-my-tools job, I spend a lot of time out there. I'd spend more time, but I made a deal with the wife to spend weekends not in the shop.

John

[Jack Dickey]

Not near as much as I'd like to .. Well I spend a lot of time there , but it's not all what I want to be doing ..
Most weeks less than three hours ..

[Keel McDonald]

It's kind of weird for me. I sometimes spend no time in the shop. And some weeks I spend 30-40 hours out there working on a project. Just depends.

[Ken Salisbury]

At the present time - close to ZERO. Due to my lung cancer problems and my recent stroke. It is really tough to curtail a hobby you have pursued for close to 60 years:mad: .

[Jim Becker]

I think that many of us "strive" to spend more time in the shop than we actually get to do...life is so full of interruptions. My woodworking time was really rocked when we became parents a little over a year ago, but gradually, it's been possible to get some quality time in the shop, especially on Sundays. Saturday is harder due to "activities", like dance, karate, etc., but even there I'm now able to get in the shop for a bit. This is all good as I have a lot of real and necessary work to accomplish over the next nine months since I've signed on to do all the cabinetry for our addition.

The one thing I wish I could do is get shop time on some evenings, but that's nearly impossible...between homework, cooking dinner (which I do during the week when not traveling) and generally getting to the kid's bedtime, it's not reasonable to head to a cold shop at 9:30pm or so for a short session of "whatever". I'm too tired at that point, too.

So, I checked the "3-7 hours" catagory with the hope that I soon slide into the next rung up!

[Ted Miller]

My wife works til 8:30pm 4 days a week, so after my 40 hour job I relax in my garage/shop in the early evening. Weekends I can sometimes get in a 10 hour day in my shop, and then some weekend days the honey-dos get so overwhelming so the shop lights never get turned on...

[Billy Chambless]

It varies a lot for me. Lately, it's a fair bit, but I was torn between "3+-7" and "7+-12" because it depends on whether I count time spent milling downed trees into lumber. ;)

[John Gregory]

It's kind of weird for me. I sometimes spend no time in the shop. And some weeks I spend 30-40 hours out there working on a project. Just depends.

Like Keel, it depends on the project. We just finished a big project and now we are back in the basement doing remodel work. How ever I am in the shop getting tools for use in the basement, and some minor woodworking to fix things in the basement.

[Rod Torgeson]

I am in the 18+ - 28 hours a week. Sometimes more. I spend everyday in the shop unless I am out town. Actually I don't live in town, I live out in the middle of no where. That was just an expression. If I am not making pens for The Freedom Pen project, I am working on something else. Every morning I go out before breakfast an fire up the wood stove for heat(this is in the winter only). Then by the time I go out there it is nice and warm. Right now I am working on a TV stand for my new 50 inch plasma TV. Got to go start the wood stove.

[Dan Lee]

12-18 I guess. Pretty much all day most Sat/Sun a little during the week but not much. Dang 40hr job... 7 1/2 years and counting till early retirement

[Aaron Beaver]

I voted 7-12 but could be a little more. I don't get to do much during the week so most of mine is done on the weekends.

[Lee DeRaud]

I said "3-7"...of course that doesn't include the time spent here. :eek: :cool:

[John Schreiber]

I'm in the 3-7 range generally. Right now, I'm in the next step up getting some Christmas presents finished, but other projects will call as soon as those are done. It's scary to think that I probably spend close to the amount of time on the creek as I do woodworking. And I'm not nearly as prolific as some here.

[Larry Fox]

While I checked the 12-18 range I actually think it might be a bit more (at least for the past 13 months). Kitchen project turned out to be quite a bit more of an underatking than I originally anticipated. Strange as it might seem, I am actually looking forward to spending a little LESS time out there - at least for a month or so following this project.

[Al Willits]

Picked 7-12, and lately that might be a bit low, but one of the things I foolishly did to get into woodworking was to promise the wife I'd finish the 7,234,645 other projects I've put off...and darn if she isn't holding me to it...:)

Now that I'm starting to get a bit more serious about the kitchen remodel and the fact I have all the old cabinets removed and am getting the "look" from Beasty, I'll probably be spending more time in the garage...actually doing something.

Just wondering though, does just sitting in the garage/shop, listening to music, kicked back with a beverage of choice, watching a finish dry count?? :D

Al

[Calvin Hobbs]

I voted 3 to 7, but it also depends on what I've got going in the shop.

Unlike some of you, I don't get much on the weekends because that "robs" time with my family, you guys have been there....Also church.

So most of my time is from 9 to 11 in the evening, after the kids get tucked away. My wife also enjoys a couple of hours to herself now and then after staying home and keeping everything in order all day.

Last year I went to NC to work with my Dad, we worked about 60 hrs in 5 days in the shop, that was rough! Got a lot done, though.

Cal

[Jack Hutchinson]

I selected the max, but I don't know whether my woodworking qualifies as hobby, or even as woodworking (?) We started building this house in 1976, and moved into it that fall. There have been many years of no activity but now that the kids are launched and I'm in a 40 hr/wk job, I'm back at it 3 or 4 hours a day and more on the weekend.

[John Gossett]

I chose the 7-12 but wish it were more. My wife works most Saturdays so I spend 6+ hours then and a couple of hours on Sunday. I would like to go there on week nights but I am always too tired. So I spend a lot of week nights planning what I want to accomplish on Saturday. I have yet to get as much done as I planned, but I'm getting closer with experience.

Tomorrow I start 17 days off - I've got an incredibly long task list for which I'll be in the shop a LOT!

John

[Lee DeRaud]

Just wondering though, does just sitting in the garage/shop, listening to music, kicked back with a beverage of choice, watching a finish dry count?? :D Yeah, but it's a bad idea...remember the old saying: "A watched finish never cures." :cool:

[Karl Stewart]

I find comfort in our commonality. The #'s are interesting. I wonder what some of the other pollsters spend their time on. For sure most would spend more time if we could, and all enjoy the time we have. At times it can seem like work, but for me there isn't much that I look forward to as often. What a find SMC is !


Karl

'Happiness is having something to look forward to' Hank Stewart [the stone mason]

[Don Bullock]

I don't have nearly enough time to devote to my hobby. That's one reason that I'm finally started to get back into it as I look toward retirement. I have enough ideas to spend several hours a day in the shop and am presently lucky if I get any time n there during the week.

[Jim O'Dell]

I said 3 to 7, but it's not really woodworking..... yet. That's about what I have been spending on an average working on my shop, trying to get it to the place where I can do some woodworking!. I'll be glad when the remodel is finished! Most time is every other Saturday. The ones in between I might get part of the afternoon. Then again some on Sunday. Some weekends I don't get any time. Just depends on what else is going on. Like this Sunday, LOML will be driving up to Wichita Falls for an Agility Trial, and delivering one of the rescue dogs to her new forever home. That means I have custody :rolleyes: of the remaining 7 dogs to feed and keep out of trouble. That in itself can be a full time job! Jim.