Have you Ever?

Doninvegas i just got in from my shop and did absolutely nothing. I vacuumed, thought about other projects, admired my tools, waxed, sat on the stool and played on my phone. And it was pretty therapeutical. I finished a few things in the last week so im in between projects so im not in s hurry right now. So YES! Its okay to do nothing! Glad you brought it up!

Todd

Sometimes it’s just catching up with shop chores and sometimes we just want to think about what to do or how to do it.

-- W James Brokenbourgh Custom furniture maker http://artisticwoodstudio.com/

Do that a lot. Sometimes when I’m not physically able to work, I just go out there and sit at my bench and dream. It is my space and just being in it alone is very relaxing. So you are not alone.

-- Like a bad penny, I keep coming back!

My wood shop is the calmest place I know. I go there a lot just think,or be alone I have no windows so I can completely lock out the outside world works great…....................................Schloemoe

-- schloemoe, Oregon , http://www. woodrehab.blogspot.com

Like Betsy, sometimes I’m not physically able to do anything but go out and look around.
Sometimes it’s therapeutic, sometimes not so much and then there are the times that I think, “I’ll just clean up that little thing there”..... and 3 hours later I am piddling with something else, making a bigger mess.

Today for instance I was sitting there listening to music on an old laptop I use in the shop and the next thing I know, I’ve figured out how to build a totally worthless homemade miter gauge for my table saw and band saw.

-- Improvise.... Adapt...... Overcome!

I go to mine just to get away and tinker/think or whatever… doesn’t always have to be for a project I am working on…

-- Rome wasn't built in a day... but I wasn't on that job? ... http://www.southernrider.co.nz/projects/

I feel SOOOOOO much better now. I go out to the shop just to be there weather I have something to do or not.

-- "Courage is being scared to death -- but saddling up anyway."

I put casters on my newly built cut-off cart which finished it this morning and that was at 7am. Will post it as a project soon. I planned to sit down at the computer today and get a start on preparing project posts on the many projects from last couple of years. I document all my projects with lots of in-progress pictures but, never get around to creating the project posts. I have posted one project and think one review after being a member for 886 days. I promise to do better in the future …......... Yeah right?

I got distracted collecting all my off cuts and loading them into the new cart and spent rest of the day cleaning up the shop.

Oh well …...... Project posts will come some day.

This is a great web site …....... If only the political BS would just go away!

-- Rick Gustafson - Lost Creek Ranch - Colorado County, Texas

Well I’ve gone out there plenty of times not knowing what I was going to do. I usually find something. And there always seem to be tools to sharpen and I really need to build that skill up. I just had the opportunity to use a new chisel that I had worked on a little and now I really appreciate having a sharp chisel.

-- --- It's the little tools that get you ---

Yea it happens, but when it happens I just sit there and be thankful I have somewhere to go thats just me time.

-- Warren, Cambridge,OH.

I couldn’t have said it better. It’s ME time. I just enjoy being in the shop weather I have somting to do or not.

-- "Courage is being scared to death -- but saddling up anyway."

I went out to my shop and did nothing as well. But then I have not put in the electric or insulation or sheet rock but I did do a lot of planing on where everything will go. I have to run a 200 AMP panel and decided that all the 240VAC lines will be ran in conduit outside the wall and all the 125VAC circuits will be quads inside the walls with no more then 8 feet apart. My new shop is about 2.5 times as big as my old one.

Sometimes the best part of my day is when I get “sent to my room”, “sent to the dog house”, or just exiled from the kitchen because the wife is putting yet another outstanding spread on the table. She realizes that I need my time to “tilt at windmills” and just dream about the projects that I’ll one day have the skills to build. Half the fun for me is thinking thru the problems the skills present.

-- Matt

I used to do that constantly. Especialy when waiting for glue to dry. Going to school will ensure that I have something to do in the shop everyday but lately when this block happens I have been trying to draft something, anything or cut a practive dovetail just to keep active.

-- {Current North Bennet street school student}

I have known a few people that do that at work…. :)

-- -- Lou Stagner, http://www.WorkTheWood.com (a blog about a newbie woodworker's journey)