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Thread: Is your hobby woodworking or building your shop?

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  1. #1
    Join Date
    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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    65,675
    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
    Join Date
    Jul 2007
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    NE OH
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    2,615
    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
    Location
    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 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

  10. #10
    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

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Apr 2013
    Location
    Kansas City
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    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 >

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Feb 2018
    Location
    Coquitlam
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    394
    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.

  13. #13
    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

  14. #14
    Join Date
    Dec 2006
    Location
    Toronto Ontario
    Posts
    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

  15. #15
    Join Date
    Nov 2013
    Location
    Waterford, PA
    Posts
    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.

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