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Thread: Is your hobby woodworking or building your shop?

  1. #1
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    Apr 2007
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    New Jersey
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    Is your hobby woodworking or building your shop?

    In looking at the various forums I can't decide if we are more interested in woodworking itself or building up our shops? I'm woodworking.
    Which are you?
    Dennis

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
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    SE PA - Central Bucks County
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    LOL...there's a natural tendency for many folks to put a lot of time into their shops, even when they are also putting a lot of effort into projects. For me, the answer to your question would essentially be "yes"...
    --

    The most expensive tool is the one you buy "cheaply" and often...

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Sep 2013
    Location
    Wayland, MA
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    Enough of the latter (and then some) to enable the former. My shop is way nicer than it needs to be, but it's a hobby and where I spend most of my days.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    May 2018
    Location
    Lancaster, Ohio
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    1,346
    alternates
    build up shop then build furniture then build up shop then build furniture
    alot depends on money availability
    no more room in basement to expand shop, HOWEVER SWMBO said IF she gets a new master bedroom suite addition then I can have the extra basement space HOWEVER she would get 8' x probably 20' due to southern exposure for her plants as there will be a walk out entrance/ramp on west side. This would give me 12-16 x 20 addition to shop with outside ramp down to basement
    Just need to decide I want to work long enough to pay this addition off. Past retirement age now and still like working, just not certain how much longer.
    Ron

  5. #5
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    Jul 2007
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    NE OH
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    I'm pretty much with Jim...I enjoy both aspects, but when I do shop projects I focus on utility and efficiency more than making things beautiful or finely crafted...I save that for "real" projects.
    --I had my patience tested. I'm negative--

  6. #6
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    Mar 2003
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    odessa, missouri
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    Making money...

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Sep 2010
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    New England
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    Well you know the old joke-

    Guy at party: What do you do?

    Me: I'm a woodworker.

    Guy: Oh! cool! What do you make?

    Me: Oh, I make jigs and cabinets for my shop.

  8. #8
    shop management is a whole job on its own.

    The smaller the space the harder it will be. the more types of work you take on the more stuff you need to have. More stuff means more storage and organizing. I likely have 50 wall cabinets for shop stuff and its not enough. More work each time machines are added place to store parts and accessories from the machines

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Feb 2018
    Location
    Coquitlam
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    Quote Originally Posted by dennis thompson View Post
    In looking at the various forums I can't decide if we are more interested in woodworking itself or building up our shops? I'm woodworking.
    Which are you?
    I enjoy both. End of the day it's a hobby, and I spend time on whichever aspect feels more satisfying, in that moment. There have been time where I spent days cleaning and organizing shop (old one). Then there have been days when two sawhorses served as shop.

  10. #10
    At one point, I came up with at rule that I would do one shop improvement project between each "real" project (e.g. item of furniture, custom door, etc.). The reason for the rule was to keep myself from doing nothing but shop improvement projects

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Dec 2006
    Location
    Toronto Ontario
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    11,247
    Quote Originally Posted by dennis thompson View Post
    In looking at the various forums I can't decide if we are more interested in woodworking itself or building up our shops? I'm woodworking.
    Which are you?
    Both.

    Normally after making a couple of pieces of furniture I’ll make something for the shop, might be as simple as a sandpaper storage cabinet…Rod

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Nov 2013
    Location
    Waterford, PA
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    1,225
    I love making furniture, but do find myself making items/upgrades to my shop and equipment quite frequently. So maybe some of both. What I despise is buying a widget I can make myself.

  13. #13
    I enjoy all of it: making furniture, fine tuning my shop and making hand tools (like wooden planes).
    Oh. And talking about all of the above.
    "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing."

    “If you want to know what a man's like, take a good look at how he treats his inferiors, not his equals.”

  14. #14
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
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    E TN, near Knoxville
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    12,298
    Quote Originally Posted by dennis thompson View Post
    In looking at the various forums I can't decide if we are more interested in woodworking itself or building up our shops? I'm woodworking.
    Which are you?
    After putting up some basic storage and building a workbench, I mostly use the wood part of my shop for woodturning and processing/drying blanks for woodturning. I spend almost zero time making things for the shop except things like special tools and lathe tool handles.

    I can appreciate some of the incredibly beautiful shop cabinetry I've seen in pictures and in person but that is definitely not for me. My shelves are from 1x12 pine from HD, deck screws protruding from the walls to hang stuff on, satisfy me. Most of my closed storage is salvaged kitchen cabinets and lots of roll-around tool boxes. Open storage is mostly wire shelf units from Sams. One workbench is a salvaged piece of bowling alley resting on a salvaged kitchen base cabinet. I do have a cabinet saw with slider, jointer, planer, drum sander, scrollsaws, belt/disk sanders and bandsaws but most don't get much use except to support the woodturning. Since finishing the shop a few years ago I've built a few sometimes nice but mostly useful things for around the farm and the house.

    I use the building for other than wood: machining, welding, electronics repair, video editing, incubating peacocks, 3d printing, farm equipment maintenance and more so I do occasionally make things to support other hobbies. In a couple of weeks I'll be cutting steel and welding up a steel calf on a sled to pull around with the 4-wheeler for roping practice.

    JKJ

  15. #15
    Join Date
    Jan 2004
    Location
    Lewiston, Idaho
    Posts
    28,504
    YES!

    I found the Creek about the time I wanted to build a shop. At another unnamed website, a couple guys attacked and criticized any newbie who asked a newbie question. Some one there announced he was leaving that site and coming to the Creek where people were treated with a little respect and civility regardless of their woodworking experience. I followed him here.

    I enjoy it all and coming to the Creek led me into a nice sized shop for my hobby and it has emptied my wallet several times over as I purchased new and bigger tools.
    Ken

    So much to learn, so little time.....

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