I thought I would start my blog by talking about a project that I'm currently working on (albeit slowly).

When I first got my drill press (a cheap, underpowered, Ryobi, bench model which cost me $70 on eBay), I made a table for it.

Unfortunately, that table is somewhat over-engineered and it has reduced significantly the already limited height of the chuck above the table surface. This is because I overdid the amount that the supplementary table is above the metal table and also because the underside of the table interferes with the footplate. There is nothing that I can do about the first problem but I will be working on the second, using saws and planes to cut out the unnecessary elements. I reckon that will restore about an inch of height.

The next thing that I want to do is to install a fence (you can tell that I really was a beginner...

jmk89

Just once I wish that I could do in a day all the things that I planned to do in a day. Everything takes much longer than I want it to GRRR!!

This house reno is almost finished (I thought) so I made a final list of jobs and time estimates, to get it ready to sell. I ended up with 137 jobs to do with a total hourage of 480 hours. How many normal working weeks is that?

The first job was to assemble a sliding panel of timber windows, finish it and hang it on the exterior wall - Estimated work time 12 hours over 3 days - in reality it has now been about 8 hours over a week and its still not painted and the entire 200 kg panel is still lying on its side on my workbench preventing me from using the work bench for any other job - GRRRRRRRRRR!

I had 4 guys from the building site, lined up to help me install it, but now I wont see them again until week after...

Dirty Doogie

I reckon I've done 3000 posts where I've searched the www for answers for those lazy buggers who don't. For reasons that aren't obvious to me, telling people to actually look for themselves is frowned apon, yet it's quite ok for them to ask the most inane question and expect others to do the work.

I respond because it's part of the "surfing experience, man", or to be more precise it's amazing what I come across while looking for things I wouldn't have necessarily even been interested in. I am pretty much allergic to the fare provided by commercial television and it is usually easy to spend a pleasant half hour or so reading about topics that one would not normally have considered, from various academic viewpoints.

Of course as a spin-off, I get to help someone who's intellectually handicapped (or who doesn't have an "o" key which makes...

bitingmidge

Today there was a bloke asking about wanting to get into woodwork.

Which again got me round to thinking about how these forums are both instructive and destructive at the same time.

Now that my somewhat sulubrious workspace is within cooee of being finished, and I have a useful collection of tools, the most common reaction I have from visitors is something akin to "if only I had this setup....".

This is rather disheartening, as the last thing I want to do is discourage people, and the reality is that pretty much none of what I have is necessary.

I usually whip newcomers straight down to the boatshed and show them the Goat Island Skiff, (launched in 1995) making a point of the fact that it was built pretty much in the driveway of our home, using not much more than a panel saw, Stanley #4, Ryobi drill, a spokeshave and...

bitingmidge

Yesterday Peter asked if the workshop would ever be finished, and he has a point.

The simple answer is "no", but that would be ignoring the fact that it's evolution is a process rather than a project.

I have a very simple rule when it comes to defining what is and what isn't a project, and I am scrupulous about separating projects from my hobby!

Simply, if it has a purpose, it isn't a hobby, it's a project.

Bath leaking? Project. Cracks in ceiling? Project. Need a new coffee table, but can't afford to buy one? Project.

You see, all of the above require an outcome by a particular time, and therefore have a purpose.

Fit out a workshop? Well that involves hours, or years of reading, standing, scrounging, thinking, coffee, playing, re-inventing and who knows what else. In itself the...

bitingmidge