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View Full Version : Sanity on the way out



Jason Solodow
02-08-2007, 9:00 PM
Well, I'm a woodworker-holic and after having my shop shut down for a year because I was in apartment, I finally got it set back up in my new house! Hallelujah! An oversized garage with more then half dedicated to wood. Sounds great, right? Sure does to me..Downside to this? Had to have surgery on my hand yesterday:( ..I'm off work for six weeks because of it and my LOML won't let me in the shop because she's afraid I'll mess up my arm... I figured I'd do it the easy way and sneak out there while she's at work and have some fun. But nooooo....she took the bags off my DC and told me if she finds dust/chips anywhere I'll be dead meat. Is everyone's spouse this mean? Or does mine just like picking on me?

She's really taking good care of me, I'm just going stir crazy right now. At least she promised to take me shopping at all the woodworking stores here.. Now, if she'll just let me spend some money...:(

Nancy Laird
02-08-2007, 9:02 PM
She's just watching out for your best interests, Jason! If you behave yourself, she will probably let you spend some money, but you have to be good!

Nancy

Gary Herrmann
02-08-2007, 9:19 PM
I can see my wife doing the exact same thing. Maybe go buy yourself a cad program and use the downtime to learn it. Then you can teach me, since I keep telling myself I'm going to do that.

Jeff Heil
02-08-2007, 9:38 PM
Spend some time with your waterstones or sharpening system of choice. No chips, no evidence and sharper chisels and planes. We all are guilty of not spending enough time sharpening because we can't wait to build stuff.

I understand your pain, I spent time re-reading back issues of WW mags and marking future ideas when I was off work with a bulged disc. Oh, and I am happily married and understand your situation with mission control, i mean the best thing that ever happened to you :)

David G Baker
02-08-2007, 11:33 PM
Well, I'm a woodworker-holic and after having my shop shut down for a year because I was in apartment, I finally got it set back up in my new house! Hallelujah! An oversized garage with more then half dedicated to wood. Sounds great, right? Sure does to me..Downside to this? Had to have surgery on my hand yesterday:( ..I'm off work for six weeks because of it and my LOML won't let me in the shop because she's afraid I'll mess up my arm... I figured I'd do it the easy way and sneak out there while she's at work and have some fun. But nooooo....she took the bags off my DC and told me if she finds dust/chips anywhere I'll be dead meat. Is everyone's spouse this mean? Or does mine just like picking on me?

She's really taking good care of me, I'm just going stir crazy right now. At least she promised to take me shopping at all the woodworking stores here.. Now, if she'll just let me spend some money...:(
Jason,
Get a back up DC bag and hide it. She will never know and we won't tell, promise. Be careful, if she catches you it will mean attending Wood Workers Anonymous and going through the 12 step wood working with drawl program. :-)
David B

Bart Leetch
02-09-2007, 12:24 AM
Hand tools man hand tools.:D This will sharpen your abilities even better doing it all one handed. After this you'll be able to do anything.:eek: :D

Dennis Peacock
02-09-2007, 8:08 AM
Jason,

My wife does the exact same thing. I know she does it because I'm too hard-headed to mind what the doctor says most of the time. :o

Take this time to learn SketchUp. Even though "I ain't no artist", I've found that drawing out my furniture and see how things will work out in dimensions and overall look of a piece has been very beneficial to my woodworking skill set over the past 2 years. I use the free version of SketchUp and have gotten hooked on using it over my previous CAD program of DeltaCAD.

John Schreiber
02-09-2007, 8:42 AM
What Gary and Dennis said. Now is the time to learn SketchUp. http://sketchup.google.com/product_suf.html

My wife is much smarter than me too. I'll bet after you've recovered for a couple of weeks, she will see the wisdom of occupational therapy which you can do in the shop.

Al Willits
02-09-2007, 9:07 AM
Same here, why do you think I call my wife Shebeast?
Have to admitt, every now and then they make sense, this might be one of them times.
Having my share of broken bones and assorted surgeries, I've found it doesn't pay to hurry, like said, do the physically easy stuff now, your body will thank you later.

Al

Art Mulder
02-09-2007, 9:40 AM
Ditto Dennis et al ... Now is the time to dive headfirst into SketchUp! -- Heck, it's free! And the free version is pretty darn good.

While you are at it, see if there is other software you can learn - maybe take a photoshop Elements course at your local camera store? Take a course to improve your photography?

Bake your wife a cake. Chocolate of course. Let her know how much you appreciate her looking out for you. You know you can't lose with this: if it is a good cake, she'll love it, and you. If it is a bad cake, she'll still appreciate the thought, and you'll have a good laugh. No way to lose! ... well, unless you neglect to wash up the dishes after yourself.

Go for a walk, or if the snow is too deep, get yourself a treadmill or exercise bike. Spend a half hour on it every day - great time to start an exercise regime! Put it in front of the TV and walk during the news.

Go to the library and check out all those books you've been meaning to read.

Do the family taxes.

Update those important papers: check over your wills, verify your life insurance, review your investments - and no, I don't mean count your woodworking tools! Actually, no, I take that back - borrow a video camera and make a household inventory.

Check your local Woodcraft/Rockler -- any classes that you can sign up for that don't require using your hands?

Hop in the the car and drag your wife off somewhere warmer ... if you're off work, why not go on vacation!?

....

I know, I know, you wanted commiseration, not suggestions, right? :p

Dan Gill
02-09-2007, 12:02 PM
If you left your shop as messy as mine, she wouldn't be able to tell the difference. I have a bucket of wood chips I scatter around for just such an occasion.:rolleyes:

Rich Engelhardt
02-10-2007, 7:37 AM
Hello Jason,
You might want to check with the Doc. You may be in for a pleasant surprise. He just might give you the go ahead to do some light wood working with the idea of it being physical therapy. :D

Seriously - it's worth a shot. You never know.

I know when I had a kidney stone years ago, the Doc prescribed I drink tons of cranberry juice (bleachhh!). I made a sour face and mumbled "Pity it's not beer instead, I could really get into that!".

Much to my surprise, the Doc said beer would be better! As long as I didn't mix it with the pain medication, he gave me the go ahead to drink as much beer as I could...
IIRC, Miller Brewing's stock shot up quite a bit ;)

Mark Pruitt
02-10-2007, 9:11 AM
From someone who just had carpel tunnel surgery last month.....

Do what your doc said and don't hurry about getting back in the shop! I'll tell you what fellow Creekers were saying to me: The shop will still be there! This is your hand so you definitely want to "get it right."

Since you said it's a six week wait, I assume your surgery was more involved than mine. My down time was three weeks, and I'm still under instructions to be careful. Whatever you do, take care of yourself! Good luck and a speedy recovery!

Jason Solodow
02-10-2007, 9:18 AM
Well, three days post op and I've followed alot of your suggestions. Got the taxes done, read 5 books already, took the missus out and bought her a necklace for V-day. Watched a couple of movies I've been meaning to see. Can't do the vacation though because she has school four days a week. On the plus side though, she took me out to the book store and bought me a couple of woodworking magazines. Then she said, you can do woodburning and scrollsawing with one hand, right? So she's going to take me to Woodcraft & Rockler to get a burning setup, then my mom is going to send her scroll saw over for me. I love my family!