Should I give up woodworking???

Well, you have a valid concern, but… you should take comfort in the fact that the cedar log actually beat out several entries, not just yours. Ha. Please don’t give up and thanks for the chuckle.

-- Rob (A) Waxahachie,TX

I like your attitude—not the best YET
Look out LumberJocks – you ain’t seen nuthin’ yet!!!

-- "Functional WoodArt" by Debbie, Canada (http://www.execulink.com/~yohan)

I’ve given up working the wood 1-20 times in the last month.
Will probably quit many more times in the near and distant future
as well. :)

-- Still learning everything

Ha! That was probably someone voting who had a project in the contest and didn’t want to give
his competitors any votes since they couldn’t vote for themselves.

I think that rule should be changed so that every one will have at least one first place vote! :-)

-- Gary, East TX -- The longest journey begins with a single step.

I agree with rpmurphy completely. It is easy to get frustrated and want to walk away. I felt like this just last week trying to cut dovetails by hand. This is an area that I have sorely neglected over the years But my efforts are getting better and I am stubborn enough not to walk away. (I may decide to by a Leigh D4 down the line but at least I have tried to learn this skill) The real value of the projects that we make is not how others perceive them but in the effort and perseverance that we put into the project itself.

-- With God's help all things are possible- even woodworking. Woodworking is not just a hobby, it is an (expletive deleted) expensive hobby.

TimD,

(Smile) Maybe because yours wasn’t ‘waashed’.

I feel for you. Or maybe not. I got the most number of 5th place votes. Out of both contests. My friends and I are trying to figure out what this really means. What does the most number of last place votes say? Extreme mediocrity? Maybe people, after placing their 4 votes, decided to give a sympathy vote to the old guy? I donknow.

Frankly, your box is really kind’a nice. I would vote for it over a log any day. Keep it up.

Steve

-- Stevethepeeve -- I'm no rocket surgeon

I think GaryK hit it right on the head. How do you think he won his bandsaw? ;^)

-- Eric at http://adventuresinwoodworking.com

OK, I’ve calmed down some now… I have to admit, it was a very nice log…

I was too judmental and should have seen the artistic value of the work. The purist nature of his craftsmanship, the perfect simplicity, truly thinking outside of the plain old “box”.

I was way too critical, I’m so ashamed….. :-(

-- Tim D. - Woodstock, GA

LOL….Heck, I gave up woodworking for good....twice…..today.

-- If you can't set a good example, at least serve as a horrible warning... www.rarewoodcreations.com

As the guy who came in last, I should be the one considering giving up woodworking! I’m not upset, I’m just disappointed that I didn’t think of submitting a nice log, it would have saved me so much trouble.

-- Steve, New Zealand, www.steveracz.com

-- Tim D. - Woodstock, GA

Tim, don’t beat yourself up so much. Your project was better than…..a log.

Tim,

You should actually use this as motivation to get good as fast as you can. Let me tell you a story. When I started woodworking, I build bookshelves then I build some boxes. My wife liked them and praised me. Then, on a whim, I purchased a lathe and starting making bowls. My wife made it a point to remind me every now and then that everybody tries to reach his/hers level of incompetence, that I should stick to what I do well and give up the turning nonsense. For the first 6 months I was breaking bowl after bowl and my wife was putting the pieces as garden decoration and laughing out loud. Every time she heard a BANG in the garage, she come to see if “I broke another one”. Well, at some point the woodturing started to work pretty well to the point that people like my bowls more than boxes or other things I build. My wife still tells me that my woodturning is still not too good, that my boxes are better. To be honest, if not for my wife’s mockery, I would have given up woodturning long ago. Showing her that I can do good woodturnings became my primary goal. As an advice for you, use the result of this contest as a strong motivation to get better and do an amazing project for the summer contest.

Alin

-- -- Alin Dobra, Gainesville, Florida

If the next LumberJocks competition is “Woodturn a Log” I think you better watch out for Hap or he might submit a box and beat you again.

-- Eric at http://adventuresinwoodworking.com

One vote or no, the log was too big for the scope of the project. and should have been DQ’d! I like your 3rd point. Keep the sense of humor, and don’t quit.

In earlier contests Martin would just post the top 5, which was great, but it would leave you wondering was mine 6th or last? Should I be motivated to try a little harder, a LOT harder, or should I turn my attentions to marking or refurbishing tools for my fellow woodworkers to make great projects with…

-- I am always doing what I cannot do yet, in order to learn how to do it. - Vincent Van Gogh

I think I like the abality to see all of the votes. And i agree with Gary that you should be able to vote on your own. In the beginning. First contest, we didn’t have the requirement that you had to have a project posted on the site to vote.

There were some shenagans. People signing up as a new member and voting 1 on a project and 10 on another. The votes were jumping all over the place. Martin went in and deleted those votes because they wern’t true LumberJocks voting.

he made the change that you had to have a project, and we only had 15 to 20 entries in the contest. Now that we are getting 50 I think we could open it up that you can vote on your own project. I mean you can only vote once.

Sorry Tim about your project.

-- Karson Southern Delaware karson_morrison@bigfoot.com

Karson – That was before my time. I wasn’t aware of what was going on. ( I haven’t heard the word
Shenangans in a long time!)

-- Gary, East TX -- The longest journey begins with a single step.

But if we can vote on our own, we’ll all get a first, and they’ll cancel each others out, so no need for that, really. I suppose some may still not vote for their own, but as it is there’s a level voting field, right?

-- I am always doing what I cannot do yet, in order to learn how to do it. - Vincent Van Gogh

I have to disagree Scott.

You are right that everyone voting on their own project would cancel themselves out, but then you have the 2 thru 5 place votes to consider. It would in essence make your 2nd place vote a first place vote and so on.

Preventing you from voting on your own project may make someone just not vote at all since they would have to vote for someone elses project. What would they have to gain by voting?

There were about 50 people who had projects entered and I think 121 people voted. There may have been
a potential 171 voters?

-- Gary, East TX -- The longest journey begins with a single step.

Interesting way to look at it Gary…and I habve to agree.
What I found weird is that more people voted in the box catagory than the 2X4…...? I figured the vote count would have been equal.

-- If you can't set a good example, at least serve as a horrible warning... www.rarewoodcreations.com

Sorry for hijacking your thread Tim but I just want to add my 2 cents to the voting system discussion.

Gary: “There were about 50 people who had projects entered and I think 121 people voted. There may have been a potential 171 voters?”
Nope, you can vote even if you have project(s) in the contest. You just cannot pick your project as one of the top 5.

And the rule that you cannot vote if you have no projects posted on LJ – that’s because we still don’t want shenagans voting as Karson said.

I’m really glad how the rules evolved during our first Awards and the current voting system makes me happy ;)

-- Martin, http://lumberjocks.com | My Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/people/Martin_Sojka/1357216976

I think the current system works well. I second that you keep it where you cannot vote for yourself.

-- Maplewood, MN

I think the system worked well. I feel bad that some projects didn’t get any votes, especially since they ALL could have been winners. The votes just had to go somewhere.

-- "Functional WoodArt" by Debbie, Canada (http://www.execulink.com/~yohan)

never noticed the log entry … nice wood, but not a box …. yet

-- ..... art for lifes sake

Uh-oh, did the thread turn serious on us???? This was totally meant to be humorous and I hope everyone took it that way. Sorry if I openend a can of worms…

-- Tim D. - Woodstock, GA

mmmm worms.

I think this discussion sort of parallels the voting issues in this (and perhaps every country) what is the fairest way to do it. and what to do if some of the candidates don’t really qualify? Apparently not voting for them still gets them points.
Gary, you are right that everyone didn’t vote though – I missed the window completely. My fault for waiting until the last minute. In one sense I’m relieved that I didn’t have to figure out my “bottom 3”. My picks would not have changed the positioning at all for the winners though, whether or not I could have voted for my own. (so no need to demand a recount!) – oh and unless I’m reading your comment wrong I don’t think we actually disagree.

-- I am always doing what I cannot do yet, in order to learn how to do it. - Vincent Van Gogh

being from fla. i dont think ill express any opinion on how voteing does or should work , after all everyone knows its not one of our strong points ! lol

-- if you aint the lead dog the scenery never changes