I’ve got a new shop in the back now. It is a 16’ x 40’ building with a gambrel roof. I bought it from the Amish. It came completely assembled, so when they were pulling up the street in front of my house, I thought what in the world have I gotten myself into? It is as big as a mobile home and when they tried to push it to the back yard it got stuck at the corner of the house. I had to cut down our old apple tree. I hated to do that because the neighbors always came by to pick some and we always got a lot off of it. For some reason, though, this year there were no apples at all! Anyway, we cut down the tree and he drove it back out to the street and made a run at it. It is slightly uphill and there was about a 2’ rise he had to go over. Didn’t make it. It was stuck completely, truck and all, and he was going to let it set there until the ground froze next month… talk about a white elephant in your front yard…. I went across the road to the gold course and they brought over a backhoe and pulled it in. They didn’t charge me anything. I was praying like crazy as they inched it into place. I need to insulate it and add heat. I only have a a kerosene heater out there right now so it is cold. I’ve got a job I’m working on this week and am scheduled to install it by Friday so I’ve been fairly busy. I’ve got work scheduled for the next three weeks. A couple jobs fell through, one being a small remodel that the owner didn’t want to go more than 2K. I estimated it and I couldn’t even get the materials for that. Even if I got a sizable discount, I still coun’t do it. I knew when I looked at the job I couldn’t do it for that but went ahead anyway. It was a good learning experience.

I have had a few somber days, and a couple depressing, but it soon passed. I try to focus on my new direction, and not on what I don’t have that the last job gave me. Not o much feeling that I’m going the wrong way, but a feeling of loneliness in what I’m doing. In my previous job, everyone knew, ok, he’s an engineer, so he does what an engineer does… in my new job, every job is different, so I find myself telling people a lot what I do. Which is ok, but it makes me realize that I still haven’t focused enough to say, THIS is what I do… I’m getting there.

I bought a copy of QuickBooks Pro for Contractors. I’m still waiting on my EIN number from my lawyer (won’t be back in the office until after New Year’s) so I can’t start a business bank account yet. I talked to them today and as soon as I get the number, I’ll have some accounts set up. Talked a new accountant and I’m going with him. I don’t think the last one took me seriously which irritated me a bit. I feel like sending him an email telling him why he won’t have my business but I have bigger fish to fry…

Still hanging in there and loving it. Especially the grandpa part…. :)

Happy New Year’s if I don’t blog before then!

I am hoping to get my building this coming week, as the weather is probably going to get worse which could delay the delivery. I’m getting more work that is quickly overwhelming my crowded shop. Things are happening at a good pace, but I’m spending a lot of time think about efficiency, and what I should sub out because I can’t be in several places at once. I have three friends that are very willing to work for me and all are retired and have a good building backgrounds so I need to get worker’s compensation, etc. set up in my business structure. I won’t be hiring them as full-time employees but for part-time work on an as-needed basis and that is fine with them.

I pray every day, and I have to admit I’ve had few moments when a bit of fear enters the picture when it sinks in that I am on my own but I haven’t looked back. I realize I would not have walked away from my previous job and taken the steps I’ve taken, but I’m glad things have worked out the way that they have. The ‘sink or swim’ aspect of this has been a deciding factor but more and more each day I am becoming more confident as a new businessman.

Still hanging in there and loving it…

All in all, I feel so thankful and blessed to have a wonderful and supportive wife, a wonderful family, being a grandfather, having some success so far with my business, and having you guys for friends!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING GUYS!!

This past week, I finished up roughing in the plumbing for the room addition job I’d been working on. The drywall wouldn’t be delivered for another day so I had time to go work on another job for another customer. This second customer had orignally asked me to repair some furniture, which I did, but the conversation with them has led to a lot of other new work! Some of it is furniture and some of it is remodeling. While I was there I did a small plumbing job for them. In my last blog I mentioned that they talked about expanding their bathroom upstairs and creating a laundry room. They have decided to add and addition to the house and have asked me to do the job, as well as upgrade their plumbing from galvanized to CPVC and copper. It will be a big job for me. They are not in a hurry and will wait until I am ready, as I told them I had another job I’ve quoted across the highway from the one I’m working on right now. They still want me to build the chair I suggested, and amazingly, they want me to build a 3/4 size curio cabinet to match their existing (but very large) one. They also want four more chairs repaired…

My sister and her husband (at the other end of the state) have asked me to come up in a couple weeks and wire their new addition, design and build a pantry cabinet, and an island. I will do the wiring over a three day weekend, and build the other cabinets and take them back up.

I got all of the groundwork done for my shop, and have ordered the Amish building and it supposed to be delivered in about 2-3 weeks. I wish I had had the time to build it myself, but with the work I’m being blessed with, I want to focus all my efforts in that direction. I need to have a tree cut down and the site will be ready for them to deliver the building. I’ve held off advertsing cabinet worl yet until the building is in place.

I am talking to an accountant tomorrow at 3 and my lawyer on Friday, both for the first time. I also got the contractor registration paoperwork from the local city engineering department nearby to allow me to do contractor work in the city. I had previously enquired about whether or not I had to have a license, and the city engineering department said for residential work I could do both plumbing and electrical work without a license, but that I will have to be registered as a contractor. I called my insurance agent today and am getting both business insurance and bonding which will satisfay the city’s requirements for a contractor. The city was very helpful and made me feel encouraged.

Things are moving much faster than I imagined and my head is spinning a bit so I am trying to stay on top of things so that I keep moving in the right direction.

Tomorrow I am back at the first job to continue on the drywall work.

Still distilling it and loving it…

Thursday evening I went across the highway to scope out the job that the woman had asked me about earlier in the week. It looks like it might be about a week of work, but it may be a bit longer because of some electrical work that I may do. I’ve been working on the quotation, and based on her budget, i think I have a good shot at getting the job.

Friday I got the TransTint I ordered so I will work on the set of dining room chairs this weekend.

This morning I scoped out a job that originally was just a furniture repair. I’ll be repairing a recliner chair and a couple dinner table chairs. It turns out that they have a son in law who is a very large man and the chairs that they have for their dining room are a bit too small for him. I asked if they would like to have a custom chair built just for their son and they looked at each other and grinned and said they would love that. So what started out as a furniture repair turned into a custom furniture job.

The conversation led to what I did for a living and I told them that I had started a woodworking and remodeling business. They asked me ‘home remodeling?’ and I excitedly I said yes. They said ‘well – - we’ll we need you to do some other things for us too’ ... I’ll be redoing some plumbing to fix a low pressure hot water line in their bathroom, and replace a leaky house main water valve. It was an elderly couple in their 80’s and they have their washer and drier in the basement so I asked them if they had ever thought of moving that up to the main floor and they said yes that they had been wanting to do that for a long time. The discussion then led to where upstairs they would put it and now there is a good possibility that they want me to quote building an addition onto their house to accomodate the washing machine and drier. The best location at the present time seemed to be off of their bathroom, so they said they might want to expand their bathroom out as well since we would be doing the addition…

Prayer does work…

Still distilling and still loving it….

This is a bit different than what I have been focusing on but I have to admit I have had so much fun in the past two days it has really boosted my confidence. I am trying to maintain a reasonable pace until I get a feel for what I can really handle.

Still distilling and still loving it…

I’m still working on the stained glass for a chandelier that will be the first item I will put on my web page by the end of the year. I’ve started two other lamps and a table that will be on there as well.

I’ve been doing some drawings & estimates for a shop building. I looked at one of the local Amish building makers and they have a great deal on a building that I have been looking at. The Amish are really wonderful people and live a lifestyle that at my point in life seems to be a dream-come-true… and their furniture is amazing…

As for the building, I’m deciding whether or not to build or buy, with the end result getting everything out of my garage and into a real shop building. Fortunately, I’m not going to borrow any money, but before I spend the money I do have I want to make sure I’ve looked at all the options available to me. The first building that I really considered seriously is a 16×36 metal building with a garage door, a ramp, a walk-in door, 7 windows, Advantek T&G flooring, 2×6 floor joists on 1’ centers, one bench, two shelves, two lofts, and a barn roof. The price is about $7800. I talked to one of the Amish people ansd they said they had a bigger one (16×40) that someone decided not to get so they would sell it to me for the same price. I went home, and did a pretty detailed estimate against what they are offering. The major difference on mine is I added in insulation, which theirs does not have. My estimate wasn’t as competitive (minus labor & delivery costs of course) as I thought I could build it for. To be fair, it really wasn’t a close apples-to-apples comparison, as theirs is a metal structure with a wood interior and my design is all wood. My wife pointed out that if I build the building, I’ll be taking time away from my business efforts. So, I am leaning towards buying the building from them. They’ll deliver it assembled.

I have a house addition job starting Monday about 40 minutes away. My friend (dining room chairs) already has the structure framed, roofed and sheathed, so I will be installing siding, insulation, drywall, windows and trim. I’m hoping I can finish in about 2-3 weeks. We may not be working every day so that works for me as far as continuing on the items at home. Also, my daughter may have her first baby (my first grandchild!!!) by mid-week so that will certainly change plans :)...

I registered for an SBA marketing seminar in mid-November, and I’m meeting with a CPA/bookkeeper next week for my very first business consultation!

Still loving it….

So far I have had some quotes on jobs but nothing has materialized yet. A friend wants me to work on his 4-season room, and refinish his dining room chairs. In addition to working on my house, I have been focusing primarily on my production items, and it is becoming more and more obvious that that is where I will spend most of my time. I will take on small remodeling jobs to bring in money but until I see which way the balance is tipping I will concentrate on building the first items of sale.

I am multitasking between business, the craft, and looking for work so I have had plenty of late nights. I suppose that is everyone’s dilemma in this business as well…

STILL LOVE IT

Tomorrow I’m going to an all-day business seminar on internet marketing.

Ok, I got all of the individual pieces machined and now I am doing some fitting to see where everything stands (no pun intended :) )…

Here I am assembling the outer frame of the upper door. In the drawing I posted in the last blog, you will notice I had intended to do double doors on each side. When I started sizing the individual members, it seemed to balance a bit better and give more space if I only did one door on each side instead of two.

Still in the fitting stage with no gluing yet, I continued the rough fitting to see what needed to be done. I always find some outliers that need a bit of tweaking (I won’t go into how often that happens…). If you are going to do a lot of mortise and tenon work, I strongly suggest considering getting a mortising machine. I got a Craftsman, and it suits my needs. Up until about a year ago, I did all of my M&T work by hand. I still do a lot, but when you have a lot of repetitive work it is a life-saver.

I laid out all of the mortises together to keep everything straight. I am a proponent of story poles and measuring without ‘measuring’. For example, if I am doing trim work, I rarely will use a rule or tape measure. I prefer to ‘measure’ directly and transfer cutting measurements from the application directly to the piece that will be cut. Do a google on ‘story poles’ and you’ll see what I’m talking about. I don’t shun rules, etc., but I believe there are some jobs that are better served without them. It works for me but others may swear the opposite and that’s ok – that’s one of the things that make woodworking so interesting. Everyone has there own way of doing things.

Here I am assembling the central mullions on the rails. I debated for a long time whether to shape these or leave them straight. I did a lot of research in some of the Greene & Greene books I’ve got and I’ve come to the conclusion that sometimes less is better. They didn’t over-do the use of their design elements.

A bit of trivia for those who are interested: What two design elements that Greene & Greene used predominantly are never found together in the same piece?

Ok, back to the work….

I used masking tape to temporarily hold all the pieces together during the test fitting. Assembling pieces during rough test fitting reminds me of working on old plumbing… touch something here and ten feet away it falls apart and starts leaking… imagine if you had to worry about sap leaking every time you worked with wood….

Here are some shaped members that I will apply to the bottom and top of the door units. They’re really not ‘cloud lifts’ per se, just some shapes that I really like. I wanted to incorporate a sun theme into the door but I didn’t. Again, less is more…

The end of a good day…

Day 5

Today I start on the bottom door units. The shaped elements in these pieces will tie into the shaped members in the doors above. For these, I like to use my imagination, but something that works with the upper members. I just started drawing on a board and found the shape I liked.

Here is a little tool I made several years ago courtesy of one of my wife’s cutting knives. I took an old unused cutting knife and ground the blade down until I found the shape I liked, and then sharpened it. You can no longer carve a turkey with it, but It makes a great marking knife…

In the process of machining the pieces, there will always be pieces that need some fine tuning. Here you can see plenty of light along the edge of this board. I’ll establish a straight line along one edge of the board with the straight edge and my turkey carver. I then darken the line with a pencil. This will help visually when I plane the board’s edge.

I know, I know, it’s an ancient plane, but it works and I love to use it. I have a jointer but after listening to my planer scream for about an hour (even with ear plugs) it is a joy to use an old plane and enjoy the peace and quiet. I go back and forth from plane to straight edge until I can no longer see light.

Here I am using a Stanley #4 to flatten a side of one of the boards. I love doing this… I have the plane set up to take a very thin cut, and alternate with crisscross swipes to bring the face down to flat.

Now the board has a nice flat face and straight edge. Ten more to go….

Another wonderful tool to have is a marking gauge. This tool was used all the way back to ancient Egyptian times. Some texts and users will say to push it. Some say pull it. I find that there are different times when one work well but the other doesn’t. It’s probably me….

Cabinet #1 is set in place. Note that I don’t have the internal back installed yet, nor is the door hung with hinges yet. If I had some regular lifting help, I would have built the entire cabinet in my shop and then transported it to the room. White oak tends to be very heavy… Since I typically work alone, I try to build pieces in a simple manner. The cherry mantle I made about 20 years ago will come out soon.

The second cabinet is in place, and the cherry mantle has been removed. Next, I will mount the doors on their respective hinges, install the internal backs, and install the glass. The fireplace is somewhat offset from the center. If you notice, there is a 4” gap on the right aside of the room. I’m still thinking about how I will deal with that….

Thanks for reading!

Stay tuned…

Day 1
In this first picture, what you see is the living room with everything removed.

There are three fireplaces in my house, the others being the Greene & Greene style fireplace in our 4-season room, and another one downstairs almost directly beneath the one in the picture above. There are actually two flues, with the second one to the right of this fireplace. The room currently has red oak crown molding and baseboard trim, but I will be removing it because I will be installing trim more in line with what you would see in a Craftsman home such as a Stickley. While the main styling will be Greene & Greene, I will use some accents from the Stickley homes as this room seems to be well suited for it. Also, the ceiling will get a new color, and I will be installing ceiling beams of some design.

I have removed some lighting that was on the left side of the fireplace. I am going to build two cabinets on each side of the fireplace. I made the mantel current in place but it is a period-style piece that won’t fit with what I am going to do. Also, the fireplace screen will go as well. Also, we didn’t like the sandstone color on the walls so we will change it too. In this photo, I refinished the floor and used Fabulon 50 which a clear water-base finish. I have never used water-based finishes before and it made me a believer. It took two days to sand and then refinish the floor. I got the finish from the dealer where I rented the floor sander. We were able to walk on it by the third day.

Day 2
The next item was to paint the room in a color that will work well with a Craftsman-style approach. We chose Valspar Gold 4 Interior Stain as seen in the next photo. I put the couch back into the room because my wife was tired of climbing over it in the adjacent kitchen.

Day 3

Today I began designing & building the cabinets that will go on each side of the fireplace. I always like to do at least some type of drawing, even though the final product might be a bit different. It at least gives me a good starting point. Sometimes anyway … …

Here is a drawing of what I will be build. Before I begin an actual design, I usually do a lot of research to get some ideas. For this one, I used some elements of a G&G door found in the Gamble House. I will be making the cabinets out of quartersawn white oak.

I began by machining the raw stock for the individual parts of the doors first. I like to work from the inside out sometimes, instead of building the cabinet, and then building a door to fit. Sort of like the old argument over whether it is best to cut the tenon first or chop the mortise first…

Here are some cloud lift elements in various stages that will be used.

Thanks for reading.

More to come…

So based on what I have learned so far, I will probably structure my business as what is known as an LLC rather than a sole proprietorship since I will be doing remodeling as well as producing salable items. She recommended making the business license the last thing on the list because the monthly reporting is enforced for each month thereafter even if I don’t sell anything applicable. She said a lot of people make the mistake of getting a vendor’s license first, and then not filing until they’ve sold something that is applicable. Unfortunately the state of Ohio sees it a bit different… so I will wait.

My next step is to register the business name I am going to use. I won’t say what it is until it’s registered since it’s still unused at this time, and the web site I will get will use the name as well. I will then talk to my attorney to set up the LLC properly. There will be a state of Ohio fee as well as the attorney fee.

One thing I definitely won’t be doing is borrowing money to start my business… Sam Maloof gave good advice and the lady at the SBA said the same thing. A business does take cash to run but if you don’t need to borrow at first – don’t. I’ll use funds from my severance, buit I will be very cautious.

I also picked up a schedule of business seminars and classes that the SBA will be offering throughout the rest of the year. I will try to go to them as much as I can..

Thanks for reading…

I finger-jointed the corners of the base, and pegged the joints through the fingers with dowels. The base surface on top of the deck is 1x cherry stock. I rounded the longer runs with my router and ¼” round-over bit, and used it as well on the ends but ended up using a Surform and files to get the final shape I wanted. Robert Lang pointed out in one of his books that using a router tends to make the roundovers a little lifeless as they are too uniform. The Halls brothers, who did most of the more famous work of the Greenes, didn’t have routers like we have today at their disposal. I have the utmost respect for those woodworkers back then. They did have machines, but a lot of this type of work was done by hand using tools such as a spokeshave. I did use one on some of the long runs and it worked well. I try to use hand tool methods as much as possible.

I began the next phase by building the two sides of the fireplace itself, and framing them together to make the ‘superstructure’ if you will. Each side is a ½” oak plywood panel framed with 1-1/4” cherry stock rounded over. One interesting detail about G&G is that rarely will you find adjoining members meeting in the same plane. For example, you might see two members meeting at say 90 degrees, but their sides probably won’t be flush. There is usually some amount of overlap, i.e., one surface proud of the other. In this piece, the inside of each framed section is doweled into the deck surface below. I framed each side together across the expanse of the fireplace at the top using mortises into two 2x cherry stock members that are dowelled into each side top plate. Across the top of the fireplace opening, I mortised a crosspiece member into the back inside of each side section front plate. Above and in the back of the fireplace insert I added a second cross member.

On each side piece surrounding the fireplace opening, I doweled two posts into the deck surface and tied the upper ends into the crosspiece in the back with dowels. These two side posts help frame the bottom two oak ply surfaces on the left and right. The ply sits on the post sides in dadoes and in a rabbet in the backs of the side section front plates. The crosspiece in the front lips over the top edge of the ply. At the bottom, I doweled a bottom frame member with a dado to receive the bottom of the oak ply.
Since I had a little more than a foot of surface space above the fireplace opening, I used oak ply again as a base for whatever I would decide to incorporate into the design. This meant that I needed to remove the upper crosspiece, dado it to receive the top of the oak ply, and then reinstall. I added another crosspiece in the back identical to the front crosspiece.

Now I had a second deck upon which to build the next section. I wanted the reminder of the fireplace to reach the window level into the kitchen. The first section at this level consists of another rectangular frame, this time perpendicular to the surface just below it. Instead of two side major members with the expanse connected by two long members, the major members this time are running length-wise, with the interconnecting members now at the sides. This level is doweled into the level below it. Upon this latest level, I created an assembly of 4 beams that are mortised and tenoned into each other, front and back, to provide a new level. Again, this level is doweled into the one below it. I created one more layer before I applied the top by using 2x cherry stock again, this time adding the front contours to begin to differentiate it from the layers below. Almost as if each layer is growing or changing as you go up. The final top is another growth of the last layer, with the addition of breadboard ends. The piece I used for the top was a 13” wide piece of ¾” cherry. It didn’t extend all the way to the back as you can see in the photo so I added some contrasting maple with additional pieces of cherry.

I added the sunburst almost as an afterthought. I had some oak ply left over, and had some white hickory (almost like holly, but a little more yellow). I thought about this for a while and drew up several designs before deciding on what I would do. Somehow I wanted to convey a certain feel, not just Greene & Greene. If you have ever seen photos of King Tut’s tomb, and the wonderful works of art found there, you will see many examples of woodworking art that are breath-taking. In the quiet solitude of his tomb for more than 3 thousand years these treasures rested waiting for the world to see. When they were found in the 20’s, it spawned new stylings and creations of art that exemplified the Egyptian designs. I wanted the sunburst to convey that sense I felt the first time I saw those Egyptian designs. It may not convey that to the observer but hopefully it does convey something that is eye-catching.

As a finishing touch, I added dark green marble tiles to the fireplace at the top, on the front, and inside of the fireplace opening. The fireplace is actually in two removable sections, the ‘superstructure’ up to and including the first level of 2x stock beams (just above the sunburst), and everything above it. Each of the two sections are doweled as indicated above, but no glue is used. That allows the fireplace to be disassembled and moved if necessary, or to allow the fireplace insert to be removed or replaced. It is free standing with the exception of being pinned into the stone block wall at the rear of the top-most section. That is accessed by removing the last couple of boards in the top layer section. They are tongue & grooved into each other but are glued down with a minimal amount of glue at each end, so it won’t be a major problem to remove them if I ever need to.

One thing I learned in this project is patience. There are so many edges to round over, and it really surprised me as compared to constructing a piece of period furniture. I didn’t necessarily think it would be simple, but the work essentially revealed to me that each piece, each member, is created and finished such that it could stand on its own. For example, compare a straight-edged board with say with dovetails at each end that you might find in a period piece. Now compare that to a similar member in a G&G piece. Just the rounding alone makes the piece feel alive… Both take similar efforts to get there, but the Greene & Greene piece makes you want to touch it…

Thanks for reading… TTYL

I don’t have any pictures to show the progress of the fireplace, but I will backtrack and describe the design & building process I went through.

Originally, we had one the fireplace shells made of MDF & oak with some applied carving that sat in a box for probably 4 years in my garage. My wife had bought a fireplace insert for $100 and it kept it company in the garage for the same perido of time. I was still working on converting our open patio to a closed-in 4 season room so I had no place to install the fireplace.

I began my design as I always do with a sketch and then a lot of research to just get ideas. I don’t try to completely copy specific elements of a style, but I try to see where those ideas take me. In this fireplace I did use a lot of G&G elements such as the cloud lifts and the pegs, but as I was drawing out the design I knew i would have a large area above the fireplace opening that needed something. I’ve always been fond of sunbursts, so I thought about that for a while. I didn’t want to do something that seemed out of place or was completely at odds with the G&G style. Actually, in the original drawings I did the sunburst never appears and it wasn’t until I got well into the building that I decided on something that satisfied me. I always second-guess myself on design, and even if God gave me the ability to design a masterpiece, knowing myself I would still probably stand back and say ‘Does that look right?’...

I knew whatever I would build it would be in cherry. I love cherry with its coloring and warmth. I wanted to incorporate another wood that might provide some subtle contrast so I chose red oak. I had consider maple (which makes a wonderful complement to cherry) but I wanted to maintain the subtle quality of G&G. The other woods that I used (hickory and walnut) provide the details that I wanted to stand out.

I gained a huge respect for the Halls brothers (the Greene brother’s woodworkers) , and anyone doing G&G-style work. It does require an amazing amount of tedious detail work that isn’t apparent when you are looking at the finished product.

Well, time for me to get to work… I will continue this blog and cover in more detail how I built this piece.

Thanks for stopping by!

I am still hanging in here, working on remodeling/cabinetry jobs as they come along, and researching the market and learning as much as I can about the business end of things. It is interesting to get so many different perspectives about what works and what doesn’t. There are some who have given me fantastic advice that I am following though on, and a few detractors along the way but that is life. I had a long talk with one of the owners of a local tool rental place where I live and was asking him about the remodeling market locally. He said the downturn in the economy doesn’t seemed to have hurt the remodeling market. I told him what my plans were as i know he will be a resource for me and he was very helpful.

It must be fate. Last night, my wife and I drove about 50 miles to a mall and as I was waiting for her outside on the parking lot, a very nice-looking, well-dressed elderly couple walked up and started talking to me about my car. I have a replica 1951 MG TD. I get a lot of comments and it has generated an amazing amount of new friendships. Anyway, the elderly gentleman was telling me he had been a B24 pilot in WWII. Being the WWI & WWII nut I am, we struck up a great conversation, talking about his experiences, and me relaying my late father’s experiences to him (my father was a airplane mechanic in WWII). Eventually, our conversation turned to what I did for a living and I told him I was an engineer but my dream is having my own custom cabinet shop. He slowly got this big grin on his face and said ‘that’s what I am’. Another door opened for me. He and his wife had just turned 90, and he was still in love with woodworking as well as her. Wonderful couple. The conversation really encouraged me. He started telling me about all the doctors and lawyers in the area and how there was a good market for high-end custom cabinets.

Today I’m refinishing my living room floor. Waiting on the first coat to dry. First time I’ve ever used water-based poly.

One problem I have is storage of wood. I have access to a very large amount of air-dried hardwood at incredibly low prices so I tend to hoard wood. I’m waiting to see what is going to happen with my daytime job over the next couple of weeks. It won’t change my long-term plans for the woodworking business, but will influence what my plans are going to be in the short term. I’m either going to build a small building for wood storage to create room in my garage shop or build a new shop altogether in the back. In either case I won’t be going into debt to do it, but there are other factors that I will be considering. Long term I will definitely have a larger shop in the back. In the meantime, I will be focusing on work flow for my garage shop.

I have been working on my business plan, talking to my lawyer, found a good accountant, and reading as much as I can about the business end of things. I also found someone that has ran a construction business (the business end) and is willing to help me get started and possibly even come to work for me if things goes as I hope. I never thought I would be as interested in that part of the picture as compared to woodworking, but I am really interested in learning all I can so that’s where most of my focus has been in the past couple of weeks.

I just finished up helping my son-in-law remodel their bathroom. I got to reproduce some turn-of-the-century wood trim to match the rest of the house. My other daughter has a small list of things that she want’s me to help my other son-in-law with so I’ve been splitting my time between the two.