Rather than ignore the elephant in the room lets just clear the air, three years between posts is too long. I’ll briefly explain the why and then update you on what is going on in the now.
Right around the time of my last post the company I worked for decided to reduce overhead by reducing staff. It was a surprise both professionally and personally, not the hey it’s your birthday and we threw you a party kind of surprise either.
I took a job in another state and we had every intention of selling and moving. The shop was actually a big part of our final decision to not sell. Since building it we invested a lot of ourselves into getting it finished just so. We decided it was better to spend our time working in the shop than building a new shop and being a couple of years out before we could really work in it.
Now in all of this we did actually sell, but they had issues and we never came to the closing table. But we did move all the tools out of the shop and put them in storage for a year. Saddest year of my life. Once we realized that the cost of three storage units, rent in another state, and a mortgage were going to kill us, we closed down the storage units and brought everything back. It might seem like a waste of time but it turned out to be a good thing. Putting the tools back in, we have an opportunity to fix things that were not working in the original design. Plus we have a couple of new “problems” which are part of the whats happening now.
I want to share some of the things that are happening in and around the shop. Because you might just find yourself either in the same situations or perhaps it might inspire you. In this post I just want to kind of layout what to expect.
First, fix the blog so that you can comment. In its time untended, posting was limited to 28 days. After that if you had something to say, well, you had to say it behind my back.
Second, get the blog and the newsletter current and keep them that way. If you have any questions, go ahead and post them and I’ll try to answer them. Even if that means having to go out and buy a new tool because you are that important to me!
Third, we will be working on finishing the inside of the shop. There were things that went undone for time and money and just not enough of me to go around. So finishing the electric, plumbing the bathroom, getting all the dry wall done and deciding to ceiling or not to ceiling that is the question will all be on the agenda.
Fourth, we will be incorporating, getting business cards, insurance, all that good business type stuff. I’ll review the service(s) that I use.
Fifth, Maker’s Faire coming to Kokomo Indiana. I’ll document what it is, how we got involved, how you can get involved, what happens, and basically how much fun I have in the process. Psssst I did get a new tool for this. Two actually, but the wife only knows about the one.
Sixth, a couple of ways to drill pens and whether or not the tool you use to put kits together is better than the old way of whacking it with a hammer.
Seventh, setting up the foamery. It seems like a stretch for a woodworking site but bear with me, it’s kind of fun and it can get you new tools if the wife is into it and or is involved with a cause that needs it. P.s. get involved with a local community theater. Better yet, get your kids involved or your significant other because they will let you get new tools so that you can make stuff for the sets and props. More on that later.
Eighth, storage and organization in the new shop. Lots and lots about this.
Ninth, tree services are your friend, especially if you have a sawmill or access to one. I’ll also detail and talk about wood arches and how useful they are.
Tenth, and this one is so cool, how to setup your shop for more than one wood turner. My youngest is into it and is in my space. This is a problem I want to solve. Plus I’ve been toying with ways to do classes, especially free classes for wounded vets. So I’m going to be trying out different setups so that turning could be done at different heights and in different ways.
Eleventh, how to get your products into stores! We discovered that there are places all over that are popping up which will take your builds and sell them in their stores. Of course, they take a cut, so how does it work and is it for you? Might even dabble over into the Etsy world and see what that is about.
Along the way there will be some miscellaneous builds of cabinets and tool storage. I might write a review of the bench I made, kind of the five years later sort of thing. I’m going to be figuring out clamp storage that works and probably a lot of ways that don’t. The long and short of it is a lot is about to happen, so buckle up, it’s going to be a bumpy ride.
But I have a hand planer, so we can fix that.
