A Woodworker’s Resolutions
Yes, it is yet another list of resolutions. Not terribly original I know, but it is that time of year. So I sat down and began thinking of things I wanted to accomplish during the coming year. Some are meant to be funny, but as we all know, the truth is the basis for humor. So, with tongue firmly in cheek, here are my resolutions for 2010:
- I resolve to begin making Christmas gifts TOMORROW! No more waiting until Mid-December to begin making my list and checking it twice. This year I will have the time each project deserves, and I won't be stressing or cutting corners.
- I resolve to finally figure out what color my shop floor really is! It is high time to
sweep up, and get a few more cleaning tools to help keep it clear. A debris-clear floor is far safer and more pleasant to work on.
- I resolve to actually write down a maintenance schedule for my equipment, and follow it! (at least for a while!) Clean, well maintained and adjusted tools are not only a joy to work with, but also give better results and are much safer to work with.
- I resolve to sit down and actually READ my tool manuals! Really! They are just full of useful information. Chances are, you will find capabilities your tools have that you don't even know about.
- I resolve to share my experience and joy in woodworking with as many others as possible. This blog, woodworking forums, Twitter, Facebook and my website are all ways I can share my love of the trade with my fellow woodworkers. I learn as much as I share. What can you be doing to connect with others?
These are a few ideas I have had as I relax from the Christmas rush. I invite you to add your own. What are your woodworking resolutions for the New Year? Feel free to post them in the ''comments'' field below. You will be getting a good start on the last item on my list!
Editor's note: Leave your New Year's Woodworking Resolution in the comments below, and you might be one of three people chosen at random to receive a small prize! Winners to be announced on Tuesday, January 5, 2010. Happy New Year from Rockler Woodworking and Hardware!
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I resolve to organize my shop fully, and to finally organize all my wood into a more alphabetical order.
I also resolve to keep my shop cleaner between projects.
# Posted By Sean
| 12/31/09 7:40 PM
I resolve to finally draw-up and finish organizing my shop.
# Posted By John
| 1/1/10 11:34 AM
I resolve to learn to make, by hand, at least one new kind of joint this year.
I resolve to organize my shop so that my wife's car will fit in the garage.
I resolve to teach at least one new woodworking skill to each of my grandchildren.
I resolve to pass on a skill that I have learned, to another woodworker.
I resolve to keep woodworking in perspective, as a pastime.
# Posted By Tom
| 1/1/10 4:39 PM
I resolve that the Magswitch team comes up with a new tool to win best new product in 2010 for the third time...yes we have several ideas in the pipe line.
# Posted By David Morton
| 1/1/10 6:50 PM
Where to start?
I resolve to not save small "important" scraps of wood. I have a wood stove now. I'll give it some love.
I resolve to empty the container on my cyclone dust collector before it fills the cone and the filter.
I resolve to not spending awful amounts of time making my shop pretty and instead make pretty things in my shop.
I resolve to be patient with guests to my shop, it was after all my choice to locate my shop in a 97 year old firehouse.
# Posted By Edmund
| 1/2/10 1:54 AM
I RESOLVE TO FINALLY HOOK UP ALL MY TOOLS TO MY DUST COLLECTOR AND BUILD MY GRAND DAUGHTER A PLAYHOUSE.
# Posted By TROY TRAMMEL
| 1/2/10 2:32 AM
I resolve to learn Google SketchUp, which may take me all year long! :)
# Posted By Jeff
| 1/2/10 8:02 PM
I resolve to learn to hand-cut dovetails, build shop storage, organize my shop, and buy a lathe and drum sander.
# Posted By Ben
| 1/4/10 12:07 PM
I resolve to getting more power installed in my workshop as well as getting more organized with some shop cabinets.
# Posted By Jimmy
| 1/4/10 12:16 PM
I resolve to turn this hobby into a full time job. As a former automotive designer in Michigan, the state with the worst economy and highest unemployment rate in the country, I've taken my design skills and applied them toward woodworking. Being that the economy is the way it is, people cannot afford traditional burials and are opting for cremation more and more here. I've been making custom cremation urns now for about the past year and a half for friends and family, and now local funeral homes are beginning to request my services. I hope this pans out so I can support my family at the level I once did.
# Posted By Michael Ward
| 1/4/10 12:33 PM
I resolve to put things (tools, fasteners, materials) away between projects so that I can spend more time doing projects and less time looking for things.
# Posted By Greg
| 1/4/10 12:47 PM
I resolve to finish at least one piece of nice furniture this year, and not just get sidetracked into small tinkering woodworking, playing with my lathe, and household DIY projects.
In fact, I'd like to get one done in Q1 of this year.
*draws his line in the sand*
# Posted By Ry
| 1/4/10 12:54 PM
i resolve to use all the existing scrap and extra wood i have on interesting projects before i buy more new wood
# Posted By todd
| 1/4/10 12:54 PM
I AM GOING TO BULD MY DOGS A DOG HOUSE WITH HEAT LAMP TODAYT
# Posted By PAUL WAYNE DOMINY
| 1/4/10 12:54 PM
I resolve to organize my shop/garage. More importantly, I resolve to get more active in my woodworking. I've been slow this past year.
Finally, my daughter has taken an interesting in lathe work (pen turning). I resolve to help her follow that interest.
# Posted By Craig
| 1/4/10 12:55 PM
I resolve to rebuild all of the cabinetry in my vintage Airstream this year.
# Posted By Steve C
| 1/4/10 12:59 PM
My main woodworking resolution this year is to rearrange the shop to be more efficient, cut down on clutter, and to minimize the number of tools I have in the shop that don't get used.
# Posted By Rick
| 1/4/10 1:03 PM
I resolve to learn cabinetmaking so that this year I can actually redo our Kitchen like I have said I would for the last 10 years!
# Posted By TheCraigJ
| 1/4/10 1:09 PM
I resolve to clean up all the little lingering projects so I can move on to bigger and better things.
# Posted By Mike Whitlow
| 1/4/10 1:20 PM
I resolve to pleasantly help when needed with hubby's woodworking projects.
# Posted By Happy Dodso
| 1/4/10 1:30 PM
I resolve to finally clean up my workbenches, and get all my tools organized.
# Posted By Drew Marold
| 1/4/10 1:34 PM
As a newcomer to the woodworking hobby in 2009 - I resolve to LEARN in 2010. LEARN how to organize and keep a clean workshop. LEARN how to sharpen turning tools to improve my efficiency and final results. LEARN how to make something new (not sure what yet). LEARN proper finishing techniques, and LEARN the fastest route to the nearest Rockler store (I seem to always miss my turn...)
# Posted By Jeff Hetherington
| 1/4/10 1:36 PM
To spend my Rockler giftcards in pursuit of finishing up my shop and getting it functional!
# Posted By Eric
| 1/4/10 1:55 PM
I resolve to finally start (and finish) the picture frame for my mom that I decided to start three years ago. I resolve to learn new joinery techniques and finally hook up the dust collector I bought two years ago.
# Posted By Mackenzie Moore
| 1/4/10 2:24 PM
I already cleaned up the workshop, but will now need to set aside more time to finish my projects (such as building new cabinet doors for the camper) and need to work around naps and early bedtimes of my two little helpers.
# Posted By Brian Miller
| 1/4/10 2:40 PM
I resolve to run proper electric to my shop, instead of a heavy-duty extension cord. I resolve to learn what can be done with all the fancy tools I own. I resolve to build something to be proud of.
# Posted By Keith
| 1/4/10 3:43 PM
Ah, where to start.. clean up and organize the shop, make those jigs I've be saying I need to have - and bought the plans/parts for, stop buying tools (that not very likely since there is a Rockler close by) and FINISH all the projects that I've already started :-)
# Posted By Russ
| 1/4/10 5:05 PM
I resolve to clear the punch list and close the building permit on our house this year.
# Posted By Paul
| 1/4/10 5:19 PM
I resolve to finish tne shop area in our newly erected barn.
# Posted By Russ
| 1/4/10 6:17 PM
I resolve to become a member of the League of New Hampshire Craftsmen!
# Posted By Lance
| 1/4/10 7:19 PM
I resolve to spend more time in the shop and to finally move out the things that don't belong there.
# Posted By ChelleR
| 1/4/10 7:38 PM
My resolution is to address the power issue in my shop. It would be nice to be able to run a tool and a light at the same time.
Im seeing a trend here.
# Posted By Adam
| 1/4/10 8:22 PM
I resolve to heat my shop in such a way as to make it comfortable without becoming a fire hazard.
I resolve to take better care of my tools so my banker (read: wife) will let me buy more.
I resolve to make my workshop even more accessible to family and friends that enjoy woodworking but have neither the space nor the money for their own shop.
I resolve to NOT have four or five projects going on at one time.
I resolve to add more electrical outlets in my shop (and more fuses in the panel)
I resolve to keep everything in it's place so it's in it's place when I want to use it.
I resolve to keep these resolutions!
# Posted By MICHAEL S. MORPHIS
| 1/4/10 8:46 PM
I Resolve: Build the 14x20 storage addition to the rear of may shop.
Move all the excess lumber to said addition.
Tweek the shop layout for smoother flow of work.
Complete the rest of the drawers on the cabinet wall of the shop.
Continue to mentor 2 young men in woodworking.
Maintain my passion in woodworking gifts to others.
# Posted By CAHillard
| 1/4/10 11:00 PM
I resolve to get the dust collector routed around the shop this year, instead of moving the hose around the 10' lengths of PVC pipe I bought a year ago. I resolve to build the small lumber cutoff storage rack to get the piles up off the floor, and then to come up with projects for them to deplete the cubbies before they fill up, using their fullness as a gauge to determine when I need to get my butt in gear on quick, scrap-based ideas. I resolve to use the CNC mini mill and mini lathe I bought 4 years ago to create all manner of clever woodworking things that would be incredibly difficult by hand, and to let my imagination run wild in this area, not afraid to just try crazy things anymore. I resolve to get my shop cleaned, because it is clearly a health hazard at the moment. I will build the under-router-table drawer box, fix my lathe stand (too tall, doesn't yet store tools), finish that cabinet I built and fill it up, and get rid of what I never use, possibly giving it all away in bulk through craigslist or LAReUseIt (email-list for giving things away instead of filling up the landfills here in LA).
I am getting in shape, big-time this year, so I have the energy to do all of these things that I promise to do. I'm making those log cake stands for my mom and my friend. I'm finishing up my wood drying racks. I'm going to chew through the pile of logs I've saved up on my lathe, turning out turnings I can sell. I resolve to start an Etsy store as I've kept planning to do, and to explore as many avenues of revenue in this trade as I can, and to keep my eyes open to see if it's possible to make it a full-time thing. I want desperately to be my own boss one day, doing what I love. I resolve to do all that I planned to do, or die trying.
# Posted By Gary Fixler
| 1/5/10 12:40 AM
I resolve to get my business moving, with Rockler products of course!
# Posted By Matt Gradwohl
| 1/5/10 1:26 AM
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