# Get outta the shop



## lizardhead (Aug 15, 2010)

How many Hrs do you spend in the shop. I started woodworking 2 years ago this month. I have built 207 projects jigs included. I have been on a cramming session to get as much experience in woodworking in as short of time as possible. You see I had planned on retiring from work this year. I wanted to still have income & I planned on getting it from woodworking (selling projects at a high end outdoor market place here in Phoenix) I usually spend about 30-35 hrs a week in my shop and that's after a 40 hr workweek.. How many hrs do you spend in your shop.


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## agallant (Jul 1, 2010)

It depends. I work about 50 hours a week. Sometimes after work I will go in to the shop for 2-3 hours and just puts around (orginize the same thing for the 100th time, clean, ect). If I have a project to work on I try to limit my self to 4-6 hours a session. If I go over that I start making mistakes. So to answer your question some weeks I don't even go in to the shop and other weeks I go in there for a few hours after work and other weeks when I have a project to work on I will spend 8-12 hours or so in the shop.


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## sammouri (Dec 12, 2009)

I estimate it %30 of my life.


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## Loren (May 30, 2008)

Not much except when fabricating jobs for clients. That varies 
a lot.

If you want to make money at this game, invest your time in your design
and draw skills… or marketing your non-custom product.


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## Broglea (Dec 9, 2009)

Great advice Loren


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## derosa (Aug 21, 2010)

10-12 hrs on a good week, 15-16 on a great week and 7-9 on average.


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## Finn (May 26, 2010)

I work about 35 hours a week in my shop. That is more hours than I worked the last years of my construction days. Life IS good !


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## mrtoasty (Jan 13, 2011)

30 to 40 hours, but I am retired so that doesn't seem like to much.


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## Gene01 (Jan 5, 2009)

Maybe 30 hrs a week. Like Les, in retirement, that's not much.

*Lizardhead*, if you must man your booth, believe me, your shop hours will become less. That, or sleep will be less.

BTW where is this outdoor marketplace? We get down to the valley every so often. I'd like to take it in.


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## Cousinwill (Jun 27, 2010)

Average of 15 hours a week that is after my fulltime job of 40+ hours a week


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## Bobsboxes (Feb 8, 2011)

Around 8 to 10 hours a day 5 or 6 days a week in the winter. I run a paving crew in the summer. In the winter I play catch up on honey do's. wook on projects and such. That and snow removal, not much this year, but it is snowing in Montana today.


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## sras (Oct 31, 2009)

A good week is about 20-25 hours. The other extreme is zero…

It is a weekend and evening activity for me.


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## tom427cid (Aug 21, 2011)

If I had a bed out there sometimes I would sleep there! Ya,I know get a life! That is my life.If it's not a customer project,it is a one for the house(sometimes) or one for the shop(more likely).Once in a while I get away for a day or so but then have the need to get back to work.It's like a drug for me and I gotta have my fix!
tom


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## Jim Jakosh (Nov 24, 2009)

I'm in the shop about 50 hrs a week when I'm home. I have a back log of project that could keep me there 80% of the time. I love it. It is relaxing and better that watching the boob tube and learning nothing from the short programs and long commercials!


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## 33706 (Mar 5, 2008)

I have a hard time believing you've only been at it for two years, with the high level of skill and craftsmanship in your projects!


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## helluvawreck (Jul 21, 2010)

I'm 61 years old and unfortunately still have to work around 48 hours per week Mon thru Fri. I'm mostly too tired to work in my shop when I get home but while I'm unwinding I'm certainly thinking about it after work for a couple of hours. In the fall, spring, and summer I sit in my shop very much like I would in my den. I don't watch much TV. My woodworking is done mainly on the weekends. So I spend about 16 hours a week working in my shop unless I'm lucky enough to have a long weekend. I would love to be able to retire and do it full time but I don't expect that will ever happen. Maybe I can cut my work down some day to where I could have at least Fri thru Sun off. However, I'm not looking for something like that to happen anytime soon.

helluvawreck aka Charles
http://woodworkingexpo.wordpress.com/


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## millzit (Feb 5, 2012)

>How many hrs do you spend in your shop?<

not nearly enough…......


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## rncurrie (Dec 15, 2011)

I work in the shop 5 to 8 hours a day M-F and then as long as I want on weekends. Being retired I can run my wife around anywhere she wants on my spare time but not my shop time.


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## bhack (Mar 19, 2008)

Another retiree. Hard to tell. Maybe 35 to 40. When not in the shop, my mind is on the current project. So overall about 100 hours. I am obsessed.


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## SnowyRiver (Nov 14, 2008)

I am retired too, but I only spend about 10 hrs a week in the shop and thats only in the winter. Summer months find me on the lake fishing and boating and doing yard work.


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## crank49 (Apr 7, 2010)

Well my engineering day job is 50hrs a week and sometimes on weekends another 20 hours.
Then I am a partner in a retail store and put in about 25 to 30 hours there.
The only time I get to work in the shop is Sundays and maybe about 10 to 12 hours during the week late at night. I guess I average about 16hrs a week in the shop.
Guess I'll have to slow down one of these days but I hate the thought of it.


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## willoworks (Jun 1, 2011)

I'm also in the 10-12 hour bracket but hope to cut down to a 3-4 day work week when I turn 60 so I can spend more shop time. I'm currently trying to upgrade the shop and pick up tools while fully employed.


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## oldretiredjim (Nov 14, 2011)

I am in the shop 3 - 4 hours a day in the winter. But some of that is visiting and hollering at my friends about sports and politics. In the spring, summer, and fall, fishing and gardening.


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## Dal300 (Aug 4, 2011)

I'm a little different. I manage an RV park that wasn't well taken care of before we got here 3 years ago. Everything was old and broke often so I spent much of my time, (at least 35-50 hours per week), fixing old problems.
My wife and I also have done some landscaping and want to do more but the bosses have this idea that they don't need to spend any money on the place. For instance, I had to wait over a week to get a new deck belt for our older John Deere lawn tractor because their thinking was that it's 25 years old and the new BIG Z-trac 730 will cut faster and better. Except…. The little LX178 get's into spots the big 54" mower can't and cuts down on hours of weed eating.
I'm disabled but really push myself to find ways to to make the place look better and run better. Originally I spent many hours every day working on the infrastructure. Now I can do everything usually in 1-3 hours or so per day. 
Another problem is that I have no health insurance and living on Disability plus the little we bring in here sucks big time. The alternative is that I drink way too much and take naps at will.
Most days in the wood shop I spend an hour in, then come in the house for an hour or two, unless there's a Gene Autry movie on.. then I'm in for longer.

To sum up, I spend about 5 hours total per day in the wood shop doing what I want to do and maybe another 1 - 3 hours doing stuff for the park.

Of course, that 5 hours doesn't mean I'm doing anything in the shop other than enjoying quiet time. I have a hard time watching Soap Operas, Police/CSI shows, and HGTV for hours on end.

BTW.. I never intake any alcohol if I am going to be working in the shop. Those machines scare the pee-waddin' out of me. 
I worked for a framing contractor once that started the day with a 12 pack of beer, at break he would go get a fifth of Groggydog Rotgut whiskey and at lunch a 24 pack of beer.
I worked with and around him for years and he always tied the blade guard back on his circular saw….. it scared the crap out of me to use his tools.
I saw him about 5 years ago and he's missing a couple of fingers on the right hand….. at the wrist.


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