Sunday, March 9. 2008

Posted by Chris Billman

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Virtual Woodworking

I miss my shop. Lately I've been travelling a ton for business, and the hours are long and there's little to no relief in site. Since I can't take my tablesaw and handplanes with me on a plane, I've been busy with "virtual woodworking". You know - reading books, reading web forums and blogs, working on desigs in Sketchup, visiting tool stores and galleries, and generally thinking about wood much more than working with wood.

So I'm well read but poorly practiced. This bites the big one. Really sucks.

I even started a few threads on my favorite web forums asking for ideas about woodworking on the road. The best ideas seem to be learning chip carving (which I've been meaning to do for a while). That's fine, but when I really want to work on a desk or throw shavings at the lathe, fiddling with eeny weeny geometrical cutouts on a bland piece of basswood just doesn't seem so appealing.

So if/when free time becomes available again I need to concentrate on two priorities: my family and woodworking. The wife and kids are always number one, but I need to take every spare half hour while the family is otherwise occupied and carve out some shop time. I have a friend who wakes himeself up at some ridiculous hour in the morning so that he can have an hour or two of project time before the family awakes and work beckons. I'm not a morning person, so that will never happen, but the idea of creatively squeezing out time to work with wood at every available moment is one that I need to learn from.

So if you're reading this and have your workshop a few steps down the stairs or out in the garage, get out there, spend an extra 30 minutes, and appreciate the quality time working with wood.

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ahhh... my life story lately. i can relate.

#1 pat on 2008-03-09 22:52 (Reply)

While on the road I like to carry a couple of woodworking books or magazines to read. They usually trigger some ideas, so I keep paper and pen handy to write them down. My little wire-bound notebook will have pages with titles like: Stuff To Buy, Jigs to Make, Project Sketch.

I try to look on the web for woodworking stores and tool stores in the places I will be visiting. I print out maps and phone numbers so I can visit them if I have some free time.

But you are right, there's nothing like making some real sawdust!

#2 Art Stadlin on 2009-04-23 21:05 (Reply)

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