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| Butternut and walnut hollowed vessel |
It's obvious that I haven't been blogging for well over a year but I have been in the wood shop. Two years ago I wrote about my new Jet lathe. Woodturning has become my primary activity to the exclusion of almost all my other projects. As my wife says, "you like woodworking, but woodturning is your passion." And I think she is right. So now I want to resume blogging as one of several changes I am making to improve the quality and quantity of my time in wood working.
The big move
I decided over two years ago that it would be a good idea to locate all my wood shop at our lake house, twenty miles away from my residence. It was appealing because we have a four car garage there and I could have most of a very large, flat area for my work. When I bought new tools, table saw and lathes, I had them delivered to the lake house garage.
Then, I started realizing the problems I had created. First and foremost, I was a 45 minute drive away from my wood shop which meant that I had to have a chunk of several hours to make the round trip worthwhile. Secondly, I soon realized that a little air conditioner did not cool the garage in the summer and the two baseboard heaters did not heat the space in the winter. I didn't go at all on certain days because it would be too uncomfortable. Finally, I noticed that some of my equipment was rusting or getting mold, both due to the excess humidity from the lake.
So, the first big change I am making is to bring everything back to my home. A short sentence is describing a long, heavy, dusty undertaking. I am now realizing that I have a very large stash of wood blanks for turning and a much larger array of tools, jigs, accessories, and what-nots. So I am making two or three trips a week loading my Explorer with smaller items and all my hand tools.
Preparation work
The basement workshop needs some work in order to be useful. We are building a wall to separate the workshop from the rest of the unfinished basement and adding electrical outlets where needed.
When that is finished, I will hire some movers for help since everything (table saw, lathe, band saw, drill press, jointer, planer, work benches and cabinets, etc) will need to go down the basement.
Mid January is goal
I would like to have everything working in my new workshop around mid January. In the meantime I need to prepare some blanks for a January class at John Campbell and to organize a gazillion items in their new home.
