Is it strange or is it normal?

Well, if it’s strange, then I’m strange. I do this, too. I enjoy just going in and sitting, looking outside into the timber at the animals. Then, I’ll look around in the shop, maybe think of some things that aren’t even shop related. My shop is more than a shop to me, it’s a place where I can have some quiet time.

-- As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another. (Proverbs 27:17)

Same here. I have to go out to the shop at least a couple times a day even if I don’t have anything I am working on. Like steve said it is a place where I can just get away from everything else.

-- Glenn, New Mexico

Hey….maybe I’m not as weird as everyone’s been telling me! I also enjoy admiring my shop, even if it’s only to put that hammer away. After all it’s MY shop and MY hammer.

-- Don, Pittsburgh

Perfectly normal thing to do in my book…..Lucky me , I get to walk through my shop everytime I leave the house or get back home from work ! There’s just something peaceful about being in there , whether it’s the aroma of the different woods or the smell of a certain finish that I’ve applied to one of my projects OR just planning how I’d like to rearrange my shop if only I had more room to do so : ) I don’t know if it’s just a MAN thing or if the Ladies out there get the same feeling from their shops.
How about it Ladies , what’s your verdict ? Peace and Happiness to all : )

-- Dusty56@comcast.net

Sounds pretty normal to me. The visit before going to “the paying job”, I account to wistfulness for the day I get to putter around all day. Hopefully I’ll get to retire someday.

-- "Bordnerizing" perfectly good lumber for over a decade.

My shop is in the basement. The washing machine is in the basement. It takes me several hours to put the clothes into the washing machine. :>)

Randy – there you go – another guy being sexist “Is it strange or is it normal for guys to do this?”

We girls do this to!!!!!

Now one thing I will agree with and that is “I understand that men have an easy time doing this – thinking of nothing” I’m quite certain this is true!!!

PS – Just having some fun!!!! :-)

-- Betsy - GO BUCKS!

I too can spend inordinate amounts of time doing nothing specific in the shop, or can work intensely for the same length of time…both seem to be equally relaxing though.

-- ....next big purchase is wood for the next project, Mark

Whew! I do the same thing. I have told mo wife I going to the shed and snuck a book (a western or mystry novel) and a cup of coffee and did the same thing, just sat in MY SPACE. Felt like a little kid sneaking around. Now that I know there are others like me (kind of like the new movie Hancock) I will proudly announce that “I am going to MY SHED and read a good book”.

-- Jerry Miller

I don’t try to do it, but I do. I think it has as much to do with being either 1)overwhelmed by my project or 2) being overwhelmed by my mess. I rarely can accomplish what i set out to do in the course of a day. Thats just one reason I found it so interesting to follow Blake’s sewing table blog. Man did he ever crank that piece out, nevermind how good it ended up being.

Sounds like we all do the same thing. Now off to ‘the shop’ to do nothing…

-- Bruce from Central New York

It’s strange not to do it.

-- - Ray

I thought I was the only one. :-)

Most of the time when I do it, I just sit there and eyeball my tools laying around. I imagine how a particular tool will look among the other tools. Should I hang it vertically, horizontally, beside which tool. Should I group them together like layout and marking tools on one side, striking tools on another and should the time come that I have a collection of wooden hand planes they will be arranged in the middle of the rack and be the star among stars. This I do everytime I am in the shop.

Now that someone mentioned about reading a book in a shop, I am now thinking of putting my growing collection of John Lecarre/Robert Ludlum hardbound novels (I am really preparing for my retirement) on their own space in the shop.

Mind you I always take a nap on top of my bench whenever i feel like it. My shop is my refuge.

-- "Real jocks do it on a bench"

I have sat in the shop doing nothing for hours, if I go into shop during the day and open the garage door within a few minutes a chipmunk will show up looking for handouts. I listen to the radio, or just sharpen a not so dull plane iron. Today I thought I was heading toward crazy when I left an air conditioned house to sit in a 90+ degree shop and look out the door.

-- Frank Auge---Nichols NY----"My opinion is neither copyrighted nor trademarked, but it is price competitive."

That’s why it’s taken several (several dozen) months to clean the basement. Sometimes It’s hard to get up the energy to get off the couch, but doing anything, or nothing, down in the basement is energizing.

-- I am always doing what I cannot do yet, in order to learn how to do it. - Vincent Van Gogh -- http://snbcreative.wordpress.com/

Wow, I just realized I can fire my shrink! I was thinking I was the only PERSON (how’s that Betsy) with these type of issues. Over the past week I have come to find out that I am not the only person to recycle plastic or broken tools with a piece of firewood and a scrap of brass. I also now know that it is not unusual to sit and look out the window of my shop/garage and do nothing much of anything. For added measure, it takes me hours to do the laundry. I love this place!

-- Brian, Lebanon PA, If you aren’t having fun doing it, find something else to do.

This sure is a strange bunch. :-)

-- Betsy - GO BUCKS!

I am definitely a weirdo and I love it.

-- Depend on the rabbit's foot if you will, but remember it didn't work for the rabbit.

I work out of my home, my office is in a metal shop 40” X 60”. My office is in one corner and my shop is in the other, back to back with a hall way and bathroom between them and a little door. many times I end up in the shop and sit and stare go figure.

-- Ron Central, CA

I like my solitude as much as the next guy. The shop, even when just sitting there, is the place for it.

-- It's better to have people think you're stupid rather than open your mouth and remove all doubt.

Because I am still working on the new shop I spend a lot of time out there planning and looking at what has already been done. I have retaped seems, patched digs in ceiling/walls and painted. Put in 200amp service in for shop and house. Wired shop and put up lights. Bought 12,000 AC and put it in. Already have cyclone and am getting ready to order duct work and planning where to hang it. Need to decide what to do with the floor yet and get that done. Then I am deciding what equipment to buy first and designing cabinets for the shop. It sure is nice to start out in a new shop and have all new equipment to work with. It is also a great place to go for no special reason.

-- Mc Bridge Cabinets, Iowa

I love to go out to just sit in the shop. I’ve even got my internet hooked up out there.

My wife is saying that I’m not interested in making her kitchen. I told her I was still designing it.

That’s the same as sitting and thinking and doing nothing isn’t it.

-- Karson Southern Delaware karson_morrison@bigfoot.com

my time or my speed really slows down when I have a bag of sunflower seeds…that is when I stop…sit…think…my wife even notices when I have a mouthful of sunflower seeds how slow I get…

but besides that…yes the shop is the oasis…besided my car its the only place I listen to the radio and enjoy every minute…

-- Matt, Napa, CA...142 days to sanity...

Well, Randyman, I must respectfully say, “Get to work!!!!. You look like a knot on a log! Sitting out there ‘looking a the birds and eating ice pops’. Nothing is getting done this way. It ain’t no hangout. I know folks that don’t even have any thing to sit on in the shop. Your friend over there in Mortgage Hollow, for instance. Next thing you know, some of those loser friends you know will be hanging out there eating ice pops and bring their binoculars to “watch the birds”. You know how dangerous it is for folks to eat ice pops and then try to drive. Terrorizing the neighborhood. Next I bet you’ll fall in with a really bad crowd and start playing Frisbee golf. You know, throwing your life away! Hey, I got something call my name…A TABLE SAW! You got that, McDuff! OK. I’m done. Hey, would you pass me one of those ice pops. Oo, is that a red breasted warble nut?”

Ain’t this GREAT!

-- Makin' Sawdust!!!

I love going and spending time in the shop, I lose all track of time when I am out there guess that is why my wife has named it the “wood vortex”. I get suck in as often as possible

-- Troy