First steps to a healthier shop

This weekend I took one of the first steps to a healthier shop.  I found a shop air purifier on Craigslist for $20. I have been looking at them on and off for a while and they can range from $100 to $300 or more so it’s been one of those things that I put on my get to list.  Well for $20 if it works half way decently it’s worth the money.  Now I just need to get it mounted to the ceiling so that it can do it’s job.  Maybe tomorrow night.  Tonight I spent the majority of the evening cleaning the shop and it’s still looks horrible.  I am going to spend the next several days trying to get things cleaned up and reorganized.  I have really let the shop go over the last month or so and it was getting difficult to walk around and there is no way I could paint the Jelly cupboard with the amount of sawdust that was in there and would be kicking around.  I still have a lot of dust to clear out and a bunch of reorganization.  I have said on this blog that a clean shop is a safe shop and a safe shop leads to a healthy shop and a healthy woodworker.  I finally listened to my own advice again and couldn’t take it any more it was time to clean.  So hopefully during this week I can get the shop organized cleared up finish the couple things on the Jelly Cupboard get it in some paint and out of the shop and move on to our WIWW nightstand.  I wish I could do this full time and crank out plans and designs and tutorials for you but alas this is a hobby and unfortunately they sometimes have to take a back seat to life.  Plus it is REALLY tough to tell Grover Jr. that I am going out to the shop and not let him come out there because I am going to be using the table saw.  Tonight was great because he Loves to play use the shop vac.  He isn’t playing he is helping Daddy.  Actually he really does a good job.  He gets a lot of the saw dust where it should be. 

Speaking of G.JR.  I can’t tell you as a parent how awesome it makes me feel that he has an interest in woodworking.  We bought a small little project for he and I to do and he is begging to put it together so we will be working on that this week as well.  I love my time with him I only hope that as he grows and becomes a teenager that he will keep the interest in woodworking and it will be something that he and I can share for the rest of our lives. 

Okay ladies…  I’m calling on you.  Once we have this WIWW Nightstand build complete what can I help you learn?  Are there other types of woodworking that you are interested in other than building furniture.  Turning or Scroll Saw.  There are all kinds of things that are out there.  In addition to building furniture I also do Pen turning and scroll saw work, both are a ton of fun and require much different skills but both require lots of concentration, both of these allow me to kind of go into my own little woodworking world and relax.  They are much more artistic in nature than just building a cabinet or a table, not that you can’t get artistic with a table.  Anyway post some comments on things that you want to learn and I will do my best to help you in your journey whether its me showing you or even pointing you to online/offline resources on the particular subject.  Okay enough for tonight.  I got a little long winded tonight. 

Have a Great Day!

 

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