# A bad rap?: Retirement and woodworking



## craftsman on the lake (Dec 27, 2008)

On re-reading this it seems like a rant but it's really more of an annoying observation.

Okay, it seems that people who retire, build a workshop and plan on spending time in it but never do. They build a couple of bird houses and then the shop goes cold.

I retired a few years ago after 30+ years of teaching. I built guitars in my 20's for fun and profit, then got married, a career, kids, a house, etc. Everything came to a halt during that time, except what had to be done, 
like building a house. Now that I'm retired, I'm back at the wood thing. The workshop was prepared, renovated, expanded, etc. just because I would finally have the time again.

I've made a bunch of stuff, blogged it here and also a ton of stuff not blogged. But…. mention to someone that you retired and put together a wood shop to make stuff and they see you as some old duffer, retiring and looking for a hobby just to keep busy so you don't sit in a lounge chair all day. I'm sure they envision a bunch of poorly and unfinished outdoor chairs and some latex painted blue and white bird houses. (no offense to the prolific chair and bird house makers here). Of course relatives and friends who have seen the stuff produced don't think this but the look on other people's faces indicate that they think "ah, the old retire and looking for a hobby thing".

Maybe there are a whole lot of people who retire to a wood shop, then let it collect cobwebs, I don't know. Maybe the moniker is deserved. It's just that I've run into too many people who relate the retirement / woodworking / need to keep busy as a thing that happens when people get old and look for something to keep them from going batty until they die. It does keep the mind busy. It does keep the hands busy, but they would have been busy doing this all along if I had the time during the past 30 years.

Okay, off soap box. Thanks for looking.


----------



## redryder (Nov 28, 2009)

I can relate to the cartoon. During Christmas I was wondering if I had over done it with the family shop made presents. The reaction I get from some of my work is not always the same from the family…..........


----------



## DMIHOMECENTER (Mar 5, 2011)

@Craftsman on the lake, You make some valid points and observations that I happen to agree with. Many people do think of a woodworking shop (home shop) in that way, especially for retirees or near retirees. In my case, this hobby is so close to what we do for a living that I get some of the "Why would you go home to work in another shop?" to which I think and sometimes say that at the home shop I do whatever I want whenever I want (or not at all) without any customer to please but myself. For example, I knocked out a downdraft table tonight driven only by my desire to make it and use it. I'm working on a binding jig for guitars. Whatever comes to mind (or need) is wide open for just having fun creating.

Do you have any plans to build guitars again ? I am having a blast ! You should revisit your passion of years ago.

Regards. DG


----------



## doordude (Mar 26, 2010)

a good observation you have. oh, your friends and family don't really think that. at least that's what they told me. they want the new pieces,that you can make them. but what do people say, about those that still have job to go to, and have this sawdust hobby?


----------



## Mickit (Feb 6, 2010)

Most of my friends, and family are quite supportive of my turning addiction(enablers?  ) I get little chunks of wood from all over requesting this or that. I have a bowl on the lathe right now that was commissioned for a wedding gift by SIL for her son.


----------



## ellen35 (Jan 1, 2009)

There are times that we look to "retirement" (sounds like changing the tires on a car to me!) to do the things we always wished we had time for while working. I walk through my garage workshop twice a day - going to and coming from work - each time, I wish I could just stop and spend the next few (who's kidding who - that should be many) hours working in my shop. We squeeze in what time we can while working. I am looking forward to the day that I can choose to work/play in my shop… or do something else, knowing that I can go into my shop any time I want. That day is coming… sooner that we ever think it will!
Thanks for the thoughtful post.
Ellen


----------



## tierraverde (Dec 1, 2009)

My career started out as a Tool & Die maker for 18 years before staring my own shop. The business grew into a facility with 300+ employees, so my position became totally upper management. I missed the earlier days, using my hands and working with machinery, and the camaraderie with the other guys, so when I retired I chose woodworking to get back with my hand skills.
Point being, it's not just to "stay busy" but a love affair to be creative and to do what I like to do, at my own pace, with my own hands, and give my creations to those that can appreciate my efforts.
Screw what people think. I do other things, not to "stay active" (I hate that term) but because I like doing them. Golf, boating, travel, biking etc. But the love of woodworking trumps 'em all.


----------



## HorizontalMike (Jun 3, 2010)

I am one of those who picked up WW-ing in retirement. Way back in the '60s while in high school, I was always pushed to take the "college prep" classes because "...you don't want to be one of them do you?..." from the then school counselors. I obliged, but always wanted to get my hands on things. Long story made short, I should have done this WW-ing thing decades ago. I think I would have been more satisfied with it as a younger man.

I enjoy WW-ing, but what I enjoy most about it is that I can spend 15min or 12hours out in the shop at any given time. Sometimes I choose to ride my Harley (+24yr rider off and on), or I choose to stay up all night and indulge my Astro-photography (left over from my middle school Science teacher days).

YES, retirement is about keeping busy, but more importantly it is about being in control of just how busy one wants to be IMO.


----------



## tierraverde (Dec 1, 2009)

Mike,
I guess we can agree on some things.
Well said.


----------



## GMman (Apr 11, 2008)

The time I had just a few tools I worked sometimes late at night I was just loving it, I had no clock and the wife had to call me in.
Today I have every tool you can imagine and I have to push myself to do any little thing with wood.
Must be the age sometime woodworking seems like a waste of the time I have left.


----------



## CharlieM1958 (Nov 7, 2006)

Daniel, I must jokingly say you sound a bit paranoid. 

Have people actually said things to you to indicate they think you are just a retiree looking for a way to keep busy? Or is that just what you *think* they are thinking?

Maybe you just feel too young to be thought of as an "old retired guy", and it's working on you to think that people might see you that way.

Note: This amateur psychoanalysis is guaranteed to be worth every cent it cost.


----------



## richgreer (Dec 25, 2009)

I've been retired for 4 years now. In my case, my woodworking hobby started long before I retired. In the last few years of my career I was in "wind down" mode. I was no longer the COO of a large division. I ran a small department and did some very interesting special projects. (FYI - this is very common at my company and I enjoyed it). These wind down years at the office were "wind up" years in the workshop. So, for me, woodworking was not something that I started after retirement to have something to do. Today, I am an active woodworker. I estimate that I spend 15 - 20 hours per week in the shop and enjoy it very much.

There are two developments in my woodworking history that I think are significant. At one time I tried to make some money at it by selling products. That took the fun out of it and I have stopped doing that. A related development is that, in general, I have learned to say "no". There are still a few exceptions I make for family and friends but, in general, I don't work on projects that don't really interest me as a favor to anyone.

If you have observed some of my recent projects you will know that I have done a lot of work for my church. I enjoy that a lot because I am using my talents for a very worthy cause. Perhaps more importantly, the church basically gives me "free reign" to design things and do things the way I want to do them. I just don't get bogged down in lengthy and unproductive committee meetings trying to decide how we want something to look.

FYI - I don't totally ignore the wishes and preferences of the congregation. I often do a mock up (with plywood and 2×4s) of what I propose and I have never gotten an objection or even a polite suggestion on how I could do it better.


----------



## GMman (Apr 11, 2008)

Rick ""I've been retired for 4 years now"" 
I am on my 19 year.


----------



## Gene01 (Jan 5, 2009)

Wife and I fully retired 5 years ago. We were part time retired 5 years before that. Now we go any where we want and do what we want, when we want to. She quilts and does cross stitch. I work in the shop. She is far more productive than I. Hour for hour, I'm sure I got more done when I was working than now. But, for me, it's not what I get done or how efficient I am, but how much I enjoy it. I don't need to hurry. I'm not concerned with how my work is received. I make what I want for the fun of doing it and, if I choose to give it away or sell it, It's gone and out of my mind. Only the nice memories of what I learned during the build remain.
I only try to perfect skills that I need to accomplish a particular part of a task at hand with the tools I have. i.e., I found it difficult to cut accurate bevels for mitered boxes with my Shopsmith in it's current configuration. When I was working, I avoided that problem by simply cutting dove tails or box joints. Now I have the time to fine tune that beveling technique, and others I have surely neglected. And, to embark on other avenues of woodworking that I find intriguing. 
So for me retirement has afforded the luxury of time and the joy of using it however I want.


----------



## Bluepine38 (Dec 14, 2009)

I started my wind down mode at 65, and by the time I was 69 I was working short hours, my co-workers
said it was because I could not stay awake any longer, and at 70 had my shop mostly set up, with a small
reloading/work shop set up in the basement, yes I like to put little holes in targets right where they are
supposed to be, makes more sense to me that trying to hit a little ball into a small hole. These hobbies 
were meant to keep me out of trouble and off street corners, and yes some people get that bored look
when I mention my hobbies, so I shut up and move on. I have fun, make useful items, remodel the house
and enjoy life, and am willing to share my shop with interested family members, one grandfather had 27
children that lived, so I have a large family. Hope all of you get to enjoy life, if you are not enjoying what
you are doing, look around and try something else, as long as it is not immoral or too dangerous, it might
even be fun.


----------



## SnowyRiver (Nov 14, 2008)

I have been retired for about a year now. I was a program manager for a large telecom company overseeing project managers putting in light fiber all over the US. My problem is that I have too many hobbies. I have been active in woodworking off and on for 45 years, but very active in the past 5 years. I am divorced and live alone so my time is my time so to speak. No distractions.

I find that most people are quite interested in the shop and what I build. I frequent Starbucks and many there are always asking what I have been building. Sometimes asking if they can see the shop or a picture of my projects.

I also love fishing and hunting. So I am often in the boat in the summer and the woods in the fall. I have an amateur radio license, and I like antique collecting, and gardening.

I may have to scale back my hobbies since I am not sure if I can sustain all of them on retirement income.

Many years ago my primary hobby was amateur radio. I have a nice station and spent hours talking to folks all over the world. When I started working after college, I found myself in the microwave radio group for my company working on the equipment and towers. I quickly lost interst in amateur radio and I dont think I have ever gotten it back totally although I am still active. This is my biggest fear with woodworking. I dont want to take any chances to spoil it by doing it professionally so most of my work is for friends and family. I dont often do work for hire.

But back to the original post, I feel many people are quite interested in our woodworking hobby. Its been fun talking to them about it.


----------



## PurpLev (May 30, 2008)

Daniel… I'm just WAITING to finally retire so that I can actually woodwork…

the world is full of people and we seem to always get hooked by what the minorities say.


----------



## Rick Dennington (Aug 27, 2009)

So far, from the post I've read, all you retirees are "young" at this….I've been retired 40 years…ever since I was 25….figure that one out…!!!!!


----------



## ShaneA (Apr 15, 2011)

Daniel, spend your time the way you want to. Who cares what others think? Sounds like a good situation to me, enjoy your hobby regardless of precieved opinions. This is what you worked for, isnt it? I am not retired, but I am envious. I bet there are more people who share my envy, than think you are "biding your time".


----------



## woodklutz (Oct 27, 2010)

I am 75 go to my shop 4 to 6 hours a day and try to make something without having a "DOH" moment. I have yet to make something that I had not to alter, Yet I keep returning. If I did not then you might as well put me in a box. I buy tools that I will probably never learn how to use correctly (thank you Amazon). I can't cut a proper mortice or a perfectly squared edge, a clean miter or an aligned dowel. But I love doing what I am doing.
Making jigs is a great way to anticipate making your next great project (not) 
Reading the plane blog inspired me to seek a plane, I did it, is fun, a lot of effort. But why is the middle always higher? I do like to hone the blades.
Box joints, batting 50%, screw up miters 75%. Finishing 0%. But call me crazy, I like to sand, using my ROS is my favorite activity. The worst is glueing, I really hate doing it.
When I am done for the day I can hardly stand erect but it was worth it (said he, expelling sawdust)
Also watching woodworking shows with all their great tools and pristine shops makes me jealous and pisses me off. And I know if I had those tools I would still not be able to make a dent in my ineptness. But it would sure be nice.


----------



## CharlieM1958 (Nov 7, 2006)

woodklutz: After reading about all the "fun" you're having in the shop, the word "masochist" comes to mind.


----------



## ellen35 (Jan 1, 2009)

Woodklutz,
No one's shop looks like the ones on TV… I NEVER see any sawdust on the floor or the bench. What a sterile way to live!


----------



## DS (Oct 10, 2011)

I'm with ShaneA on this one. If you're doing what you love, WHO CARES what others think?

So what if you're reinforcing the stereotype. Do what you love and you'll never work a day in your life!

I fully intend to retire with a 4-axis CNC machine in my detatched garage (20X40 min.) to do my bidding.
(First I'll need a detatched garage, then I'll need the machine… but those are just DETAILS!)

Point is, do what you LOVE!
Let everyone else worry about themselves… and what to do with all those Cheese and Cracker boards you keep giving them for Christmas.


----------



## hairy (Sep 23, 2008)

WW ' ing is something I always wanted to do but never had the time or money. A few years before I retired I started getting myself set up for it. I didn't know what I wanted to make, and that feeling hasn't changed much. Maybe someday I'll make something good, but as for now, I'm having a blast.


----------



## HorizontalMike (Jun 3, 2010)

Rick, 
Thank you for your service, one vet to another. Your DV plate explains it all.


----------



## Roger Clark aka Rex (Dec 30, 2008)

At 65 I had NO plans to retire then at 66 I WAS retired with serious health issues. I was lost and bored out of my brains, so my wife suggested I took a hobby - like woodworking, ha ha, all I had ever done was to build a fence around the yard and make a simple deck. I told her that's not woodworking, it's DIY carpentry, but she insisted and allowed a budget to get stuff I thought I would need. She also put the word out that I was going into WW as a hobby, which surprisingly brought me in more tools and bits and pieces. I had no way out, so I attempted to make some patio furniture out of 2×4s to replace yet another crumbling set that would not survive the Texas weather. The set turned out ok, and the next thing I know is that she had sold another set (which I had not made) to a friend. Next I made her 2 planters and a few other small items, then BOOM, my health turned for the worst, the big C thing wasn't going well, I broke my ankle, got an Aneurysm and was hospitalized 5 times with serious side effects created by conflicting medications. So it's been 2 years now that I have so laid up and unable to go to the shop and play.
During this time I have read WW stuff, designed projects out of my yahoo, purchased tools and stuff and built awesome projects without any problems or mistakes, - IN MY HEAD. lol Come to find out I'm a pretty good imaginary WW. 
I am grateful for the tiny amounts of time I can actually get out of my "cell" and go to the shop and just sit there and smell the sawdust. I am making progress and getting stronger every day although my current Chemo
infusions does a number on me for about 10 days and I'm finding I can function ok for about a week before another infusion. So things are looking up and I am close to getting something started. My LJ friends have been a wonderful source of encouragement, fun and concern, this is the unmentioned benefit of belonging to Lumberjocks, where humanity and sawdust share a space.


----------



## gfadvm (Jan 13, 2011)

"Reputation is what others think of you; character is who you really are". That is why I really don't care what others think of my hobby.


----------



## Jim Jakosh (Nov 24, 2009)

I love retirement and I love woodworking. I just about live in my shop when I am home. I cannot stand to watch mindless TV that some NY exec. thinks we want to watch because it has as much sex and dirty language that they can get away with these days.

I do know a lot of guys that have shops that are super clean and might get used twice a year. Too bad they do not enjoy it like a lot of us do. It is so fulfilling to create stuff we dream up or find on LJ's that turns into a great project. I like an orderly shop so you can find a tool when you need it, but the sawdust is not a problem. I sweep it up at the end of the day and vacuum the place about twice a year.

Variety is the spice of life and no better place to get it than in your own shop!!!!!!!!!!!!


----------



## Sawkerf (Dec 31, 2009)

Woodworking because;

1. I never liked golf that much
2. I'm not into fishing
3. I traveled enough when I was working. With any luck, I'll never get on another airplane
4. I don't haver enough money to start a vineyard or winery. Besides, I prefer good bourbon, anyway.


----------



## DrDirt (Feb 26, 2008)

"The Cartoon in the OP reminds me of the satire in Fine Woodworking

*The Wood ButcherMemoir of a woodworker who aims too high and teeters always on the brink of failure 
by Cary Hall *

There is a class of woodworkers who read Fine Woodworking with all the yearning of the village idiot hopelessly in love with the village beauty, who fondle those photographs of unbelievable masterpieces with longing despair. These are the wood butchers. The wood butcher embarks on projects that are too advanced for his abilities. He aims too high and teeters always on the brink of failure-when he is not already wallowing in disaster. He is not of the home-improvement breed, those who saw weathervanes in the shape of camels and build lawn furniture from packing crates. His projects are Hepplewhite chairs and Goddard block fronts. He is like the high-school art student who copies the Mona Lisa.

The wood butcher always chooses the most difficult way to go, disdaining the obvious shortcut. If he needs to take two inches off a plank, he will plane with long, soul-satisfying strokes, glorying in the aromatic shavings that litter his workshop floor. He won't saw the piece in one pass through his tablesaw.

He reveres sharp tools. He has a collection of stones and special oils and gadgets to put the precise angle on plane irons. But he hates to sharpen tools. So he won't lend them, knowing, by looking into his own heart, that the borrower will dull them utterly-if he returns them at all. He is an insatiable tool collector, always hoping to find one that will cut cleanly forever without sharpening. He buys tools that he may use once, or not at all, and they litter his too-small workshop.

The most distinctive characteristic of the wood butcher is his cursing. When he saws a piece one inch short and it won't fit, he sincerely invokes the gods with a full and heartfelt desire for lightning to melt the ruler, vaporize the saw, and singe the arm that ruined a beautiful piece of wood. Then he splices and patches to make the offending piece do. A wood butcher's work, once finished, has unexpected joints and unexplained pieces of wood inlaid in odd places.

Patching is an art in itself, not often discussed at the more expert levels of woodworking. If you ask the expert what he intends to do about a flaw, he will respond, coolly, "Sand it out." But there's no way, when making a fluted column, to sand out the flute that winds into the next slot because the fitting wasn't properly clamped down before the errant flute was run. So the column becomes an exercise in patching, with carefully cut blocks squeezed into carefully cut grooves. What about a rabbet on the wrong side of the board? Saw off a sizable hunk of wood, make a lap joint, glue on a new piece, and start over on the rabbet, or else throw away those dovetails cut with fearful expenditure of time at the other end.

Just about anything can be patched. The expert says, disdainfully, "Dumb amateurs. Ought to start over and make a new piece." Easy for you to say. The wood butcher knows that if he starts over he'll make a different error on the new piece-and have to patch that.

*But to make up for it all, there's the moment when the project is going together and it looks so good the wood butcher just can't believe his own two clumsy hands could possibly have turned out such beauty. He drags casual visitors into his shop, where they stare dumbfounded at raw wood and comment, innocently, "I see you took all the finish off." His voice trembling, the wood butcher replies, "I made it, the whole thing."*
The wood butcher is thankful that few people know where to look for evidence of his failures and can see only the sanded wood, the chair or chest of drawers with a shiny lacquer finish that most think could come only from a furniture store. They are amazed, as when seeing a monkey painting a picture-not so much that the picture is beautiful but that the monkey can paint at all.

The wood butcher delights in seeing thin shavings peel evenly from his workpiece and in the crisp sharpness of a carving in good stock. Of course, the grain is usually crazy and there's a knot in the panel right where it hurts the most and there's cursing. But the wood butcher remembers only the beautifully grained stuff that works true and smells wonderful.

After all the tribulations, the pieces that were off a fraction, the saw that slipped so the corners aren't quite square, the unexpected splits, the gouges in the surface that was to have been so lovely, the wood butcher remembers the tenon joints he tapped in oh-so-gently with his mallet, the sanded surface that felt so smooth, like the finest fabric, and the curves that flow just right. Everybody has to see the completed work and they are expected-maybe forced-to marvel and to compliment, in strained voices, this miracle of the cabinetmaker's art.


----------



## renners (Apr 9, 2010)

The people who associate retirees and woodworking and 'pottering about' are the same ones who'll call you up to do a job because they think you'll do it for beer money.

It IS a form of prejudice by the name of ageism.

It's annoying. If you're trying to supplement your income and are met by this attitude, I can see how it would really get on your t!ts. If you were only knocking out badly made garden chairs and poorly painted birdhouses, then maybe apprehension on the part of the client would be deserved.

I've seen your stuff (I love your workshop) and can tell you're one for doing things properly. As long as your clients can see that, you shouldn't be put off by what anyone says.

It's worth remembering that people who are willing to commission a piece rather than go to a furniture store will probably stick with someone they know or someone who comes highly recommended to them, and will most likely have seen the makers work.

As long as you do what you're doing to a high standard, you will still have clients who want YOU to do the work. Forget everyone else with the narrow attitude, and just get the most out of what you're doing.


----------



## Bluepine38 (Dec 14, 2009)

A couple of nice ladies asked what I was doing in retirement, when I replied that I had set up a wood 
workshop and at the moment was primarily making bowls on my lathe, I saw the quick transition from
interest to O NO in the eyes. Being nice, they asked for two bowls for the Kiwana's auction, since it
is a good cause, I agreed. Now I have to make a couple of bowls that will prove it is not another O NO.
I guess I will never learn to keep my mouth shut.
Sawkerf-
I prefer single malt scotch, and since a bottle costs more than some of the tools I really want/need, I
buy the tools, not the scotch and that solves the drinking problem I never have time to develop.


----------



## stefang (Apr 9, 2009)

Seeing the cartoon reminded me of a BBC TV series I used to see when I worked in the U.K. It was about DIY cum woodworker who was always taking his neighbor down to his basement to see his latest project. The neighbor would be shown a just completed new cabinet for example, The neighbor would open it and one of the hinges would give way and the door would hang at an odd angle. The neighbor, visibly embarrassed would just comment on what a fine job he had done as the builder smiled with satisfaction. It was hilarious, probably because there was a lot of truth in it.

It was fun to read the amusing comments from so many LJ'ers. I like woodworking a lot and I don't care what others think about me because of it, and I plan to keep at it until I drop. I think it is important that retirees keep active mentally and physically with activities that really interest them. I have seen too many of them still hung up with their past careers and whatever prestige accompanied them. I can't think those are happy people. They just seem frustrated that they don't 'count' anymore. It is much more rewarding to make stuff, spend time in the shop with the grandkids and socialize with so many like-minded folks on LJ. It makes me feel that my life has been enriched in so many ways with this great pastime.


----------

