Going Against My Own Advice

It's amazing how much woodworking and blogging one can get in while the wife is away on a business trip.

I started another project today.  Allow me to get on my soapbox for a minute to warn about the dangers of working on too many (ie. more than one) project at a time.

Two projects take twice as long to finish as one.  If you are a hobby woodworker like me, time in the wood shop is precious.  I find satisfaction in sneaking in there for an hour or even twenty minutes during the day.  If you are a professional woodworker and wonder why my projects take so long, it is because I feel I did good if I get 4-8 hours of woodworking in a week. Sometimes it is less, or none.

A wise one on the Old-Tools list once said that a shop in motion stays in motion.  That means that the converse is also true.  If it has been a couple weeks since I was in the shop, chances of me going down there tonight are low.  But, if I am cruising on a project, it seems easy to find a little time to get in there just to get the next step done.

When you undertake a second, third, etc. project on, as a hobby woodworker you do yourself no favors.  Because now it takes twice as long to complete two projects, you are not getting that mental boost that comes from finishing a project.  I don't know about you, but when I put that last coat of finish on a piece and stand back and look at it, I am amazed, and at the same time can't wait to start the next project.

I love to do a small project after a long one.  If it takes several months to complete something, there is something gratifying and self-validating about finishing a weekend project.

The more often you get that little boost, the more efficient of a woodworker you will become.  This is because (for me, at least), you ride the positive endorphins from the last success into the new one.

I get mentally bogged down when I don't have the skills or tools for the next step in the project.  As an example, it took me almost nine years to finish a blanket chest.  By the time it was done, we didn't even live in the same place that I built it for.  I got hung up on flattening the lid and keeping it straight.  In fact, now that I think about it, there is one small project in my shop that has been there longer than that.  I'll have to get back to that someday.

Anyway, I am going against my own advice right now, as I currently have three separate projects going.  But, there is a reason.  We have a second apartment in the town where I work, which is about an hour's drive from here.  I happen to work on an Army post that has a wood shop for me to use (for now).  There, I am building a table for my in-laws, and plan to start a dining table for our second apartment once that is complete.

Here at home, I have my new workbench to complete.  It's going slowly, but it is going.  I can kind-of justify doing these two projects because I can work on whichever one I happen to be near that day depending on where I stay that night.

I hope I didn't jinx myself because Today I went to a third workshop, the kurs.werkstatt workshop run by Dictum here in Munich.  Peter is a great guy and helped me resaw a maple table leg for me to make a Krenov style jointer.  I brought it back to my hand tool shop where I hope to finish it in the not-too distant future.  Hopefully I will be able to use it to flatten the top of my bench.

I'll let it sit in this state a couple days to let the moisture levels equalize.  Hopefully this won't slow me down too much.

Come to think of it, this photo shows another almost-finished project, my tool chest.  Is there no hope?