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Thread: Is your hobby woodworking or building your shop?

  1. #46
    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?

    For me it's woodworking, hands down. Shop projects are a necessity no matter how enjoyable the may be. Like many woodworkers, I suffer from a workshop that is too small and ever shrinking, hence the necessity to organize.

  2. #47
    Join Date
    Feb 2003
    Location
    Toronto, ON
    Posts
    610
    interesting question

    this year, it's hard to tell

    spent the last number of years away from woodworking and the shop started to look like a volcano - my wife told me this spring to tidy/clean/organize the shop or she'd appropriate it

    cleaned it up and realized how deeply I'd missed conceiving the engineering and then executing projects, so this has been what I've been calling "the year of infrastructure" - bought a SDD and deconstructed my DC, built a new TS outfeed table using torsion box principles vs the heavier "than something" particle board top that scared the fertilizer out of me every time I swung it into place (I tend to wear sandals in the shop....)

    so yeah, this year it's both...
    Howard Rosenberg

  3. #48
    Join Date
    Jan 2017
    Location
    MT
    Posts
    698
    When I was working out of town a few years ago I was building a tool chest in the garage of the condo we were staying in. I was also building a work bench at home on my garage workshop. My co-worker and roommate where we were staying asked me "when are you going to start making things instead of making things to make things?

    Now that I am in my third year of trying to finish up my dedicated workshop I am really looking forward to getting back into some furniture projects. I have enjoyed however, the planning and execution of building the shop.

    What was the original question?
    Regards,

    Kris

  4. #49
    Join Date
    Apr 2013
    Location
    Kansas City
    Posts
    2,652
    My shop will never be finished. After 20+ years, much of storage is still in tubs and boxes. In fact, I'm starting to reduce the footprint to phase things out. When I started out as a hobbyist, with working, home maintenance, and family life, my shop time was measured in a few hours a week. If I had prioritized building a shop over projects, it would have taken years to have anything to show for it, and I'd have probably lost interest.
    Last edited by Stan Calow; 11-03-2021 at 4:06 PM.
    < insert spurious quote here >

  5. #50
    I think the delineation is between working on your shop and working on woodworking is potatoes and potatoes. If your a production shop, you spend less time working on your shop because time is money. If your a hobbiest, you can spend more time on your shop. I think a lot of "shop" work is woodworking. People make benches, drawers, sleds, etc. This is all woodworking as well. The common theme is creation of something, out of wood.

  6. #51
    Join Date
    Apr 2008
    Location
    Edmonton, Canada
    Posts
    2,479
    For years I was buying tools and building my shop, especially during the period was building our house. Now over the last 5 years or so I have rarely bought any new tools (well except a recent 23g stapler that specifically bought for a project I have going) and have only used the shop. In fact many tools and items need attention (tuning and cleaning) but time is limited. So the project take priority....

  7. #52
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Location
    Colorado
    Posts
    441
    Quote Originally Posted by derek labian View Post
    This is all woodworking as well. The common theme is creation of something, out of wood.
    This is very true, it is all woodworking. The question might best be posed, "do most of the projects you complete leave the shop or stay in the shop?"

  8. #53
    Join Date
    Nov 2006
    Location
    Wisconsin
    Posts
    256
    Great topic of discussion. I am building my new shop in half of our new home's attached garage. The progress on the workshop has been stop and go, moved equipment and machines in and made some quick temporary work tables to finish the trim and cabinets for the house. We are in the house now and much of the cabinetry, all the trim work and the mantel are done. Transitioned back to getting the workshop finished now and the last of the house projects are waiting until the last of the shop walls are insulated and the shop heater is installed. Once I have heat, I will finish the last of the drawers and cabinet doors. To me the shop projects must support the projects I want to build. I love time in the shop, just need to balance working on the shop and working on furniture and cabinet projects. I just need to find a way to get more time in the shop, work and life seem to pull me away. Really excited to have a 24x32 dedicated garage work shop, had a 15x40 basement workshop at the previous house. It was climate controlled, but a pain carrying all materials down the garage steps to the basement and finished projects back out.

    A reputation for craftsmanship is a responsibility
    to never take lightly.

  9. #54
    Join Date
    Dec 2013
    Location
    Central New Jersey
    Posts
    1,007
    I tend to enjoy both actually. Of course once I get things in my shop set up the way I want, I think of a better way to set it up and redo things a bit. There is the never ending re-organization, which I dread since now I have to to remember where things go, but also on a constant path of upgrading or getting additional tools that require more space, more organization.

  10. #55
    Join Date
    May 2005
    Location
    Highland MI
    Posts
    4,511
    Blog Entries
    11
    At this point, neither. Some of my most rewarding projects revolved around my shop, particularly my dust collection system, but not much left to improve on there. Early on I took on some pretty big WW projects for around the house, my biggest being my first, a computer hutch. Followed by my kitchen cabinets ten years later with a few big ones in between and after. Now I still love working in the shop when I have a project of necessity or a request, but they are coming further and further between. Nowadays I don't look for projects to do, they need to find me.

    Answering this thread makes me want to start another thread. Guess what?
    Attached Images Attached Images
    Last edited by Ole Anderson; 11-09-2021 at 10:13 AM.
    NOW you tell me...

  11. #56
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Costa Mesa, CA
    Posts
    76
    I am mostly a tool collector. I build things to hold my tools. It makes me happy when I have the tools to do something. It makes me unhappy when I know I have the tool but can’t find it. I have built a few useful things for the house but not enough to justify the money spent on the shop. But for me woodworking is a hobby, not a business. We asked our kids if they wanted anything to be left specifically to them in our wills. One of my daughters' only request was for an end table that I built.

  12. #57
    Join Date
    Jan 2010
    Location
    Lafayette, Indiana
    Posts
    1,378
    Woodworking is the hobby. Building a workbench, saw till, tool cabinet, outfeed table, router table, workstation for the sliding compound miter saw, shorts bin, sheet goods rack are all wood working. In the early days it was more about household needs, beds, book shelves , tables, cabinets, gifts … and so the focus was more on output. In the past 5 years or so there as been a shift towards more of the hobby side of things - what technique do I want to learn? What do I want to create not because we need to fill a household need, but because I want to try my hand at that? The latest shop build was a shaving horse, presumably to be used for chair making. We do not need chairs. I’m not even sure that we want new chairs, I just know that I have an interest in making a chair. But that will go on the back burner because we also recently decided to remodel our bedroom and I will be making closet modules for a 12x7 walk-in. Nothing too technical, but lots of dresser drawers and shelves.

  13. #58
    Join Date
    Nov 2021
    Location
    Pacific Northwest
    Posts
    25
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    I find I'm more into building the projects, either for my wife or customers. Ashamedly, my garage/shop is a mess that is long overdue for a cleanup.
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]

  14. #59
    Join Date
    Mar 2018
    Location
    Moscow, ID
    Posts
    428
    I spend more time designing and building shop improvements, but I have to do an occasional project or my wife threatens to start selling my tools. Gotta keep her happy. My latest project for her was a cedar planter box with benches on each side, sized for our front porch. She now has it decorated for Thanksgiving. It turned out well so she is very happy.

    Now she wants shelves added to a couple of walls in our laundry room. After I do those, it's back to the shop to design and build a clamp storage rack, and then either an organizer for nail guns or getting started on the cabinets for a miter saw station. The list goes on...

  15. #60
    Join Date
    Oct 2018
    Location
    New Boston, Michigan
    Posts
    247
    I used to spend many hours in the shop making furniture for money. My profession as a musician took its toll on family. The phone rings and off you go to the recording studio leaving a dinner party or holiday behind. The good news is I only worked for an hour or so on a jingle or 3 hours on a record. So my answer WAS a nebulous YES as well.

    But now as a retiree with no desire to make big stuff for money I only go into the shop to fill inventory on a small production level for my niche small business. I guess my wife paid her dues and I do not think it is overly fair to hang out in the shop fine tuning stuff unless necessary. So now NO to building the shop up.
    Ask a woodworker to "make your bed" and he/she makes a bed.

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