Failure... how it relates to my shop and how I view it

I just got done listening to the latest Making It podcast, and as always their jam session on the topic of the biweekly cast hit home.

I'll let you listen to the entire cast, but their topic this episode was Failure. As an artisan, that is a HUGE hurdle to overcome, and honestly one which I struggle to overcome in a major way.  Right now my kickstarter campaign fulfillment has slowed to a crawl.
To my backers, I'll be posting a major update this weekend, once I get some progress made and photos to publish. Not to make excuses, but I've had one really difficult hurdle to make it over and this week I managed to get that accomplished. Now that it is passed I've found it difficult to kick back into gear again.

Overall in my woodworking artisan path, I've had several setbacks, losing my shop space several years back, slowly building my own shop, and even things as simple as a design that just didn't work out.  Bob had a comment where he said the only failure is the one which you just give up on. And it hit me there have been a bunch of project level failures along my path. Their spin on it was that so long as you learn from your mistakes and can manage to not go down that pathway again, you didn't fail, you just took a detour.  I "suppose" that is true if you look at the big picture. I find it hard to let go of some of those mistakes however.

Towards the end of the 'cast they were discussing how craftsmen throughout the ages have made do with what nowadays would be considered substandard tools, yet made incredible pieces. That really hit home for me. My shop is filled with what most woodworkers call the 'starter' toolset.  I've always had to buy just 'enough' tool to get the job done. Is there a better tool out there to do ____ task? absolutely, but Ive always had to finagle and work around my tool and skill-set limitations.  Most of those setbacks are just things I did wrong that I had to work around, some were and are more serious and I continue to cope with the situations that arose. Right now the big issue I'm facing is the power situation to my shop. I've been 'down' for almost a month because I had several circuit breakers which failed. I'm no electrician, and it took me that long with the holidays new job and just plain miscommunication with the company I hired to get the tech in to do the repairs. Now that it is fixed I can turn the lights back on AND run the DC, the table saw and whatnot. For awhile I couldn't do that, I could have light, or tools, but not both.

Another sub-topic they mentioned was that 'we' build or make things for different reasons vs those who went before us. We make things because we want to, vs have to. That is true to a point in my case. I make things, cutting boards, bowls, etc... as a hobby which has turned into a side job. I have made, and will continue to make things for my family which we Need and can't afford otherwise. Ie, I've made beds for all three of my boys as they were growing up, plus my wife's and my own bed. They're not fancy, but they hold up the mattress and haven't fallen apart yet. I'm typing this post sitting at a student desk I built a few years back for my eldest son. He moved out and left it behind, and it is far from fancy. But it does the job, it holds our computer, printer and clutter.  The list could go on with a bunch of things I've made in the house. They're not commercial quality, but they are used every day.  Someday, when a few more bills get knocked down, I would like to redo several of the rough and ready projects I've made, but that's a reflection of my growth as a craftsman vs any inherent problem with the piece itself.


On the personal front, my job which I mentioned in my last post is going great! I've settled back in with the office and drivers at the terminal. I Love what I do, and I'm having a blast each and every day. It has its stressful moments, but that's the Trucking industry for you.  After two years of courier work, which was rewarding to a point, I really feel like i'm back making a difference in what I do.  Currently the shift I'm working on is a bit tough to get shop time around, but that's due to change in a couple of weeks, I hope.  The biggest boon from the job is now set up, my family has health care again after a hiatus because we simply couldn't afford it before even with Obamacare.

OK off to work. catch up with you folks later!


Thanks to Jimmy Bob & David for the spark for this post.

Alive and well... Bangles & Solar Project, Several Shout-outs

Hi folks,
 Just in case you wondered where I've been. Work and life have reared their ugly heads and eaten a lot of my free time. Sparing the gory details, suffice to say I have been out in the shop, just not taking time to blog about much.

BangleBowl2014

One fun thing I threw my hat in was the 2014 Banglebowl contest started by Zac Higgins and Kyle Toth . Zac and Kyle threw the idea together and Marc Spagnuolo was kind enough to host the contest on the Woodwhisperer site.  They had over 50 people submit photos and/or videos of their bangles, which can be viewed and voted on here: http://www.thewoodwhisperer.com/bangle-bowl-voting/ …

My entry is a Paduak bangle, about 2 3/4 " in diameter and 1 1/2 " wide. It is just a smidge over 1/8" thick.

I've been getting involved with the woodworking corner of the twitterverse. Both Zac & Kyle are part of that community. Thanks guys for spearheading this contest, and for sharing your expertise and how to videos!

I had a blast learning to turn this bangle, and I'll be doing many more segmented pieces over the winter.

Solar Project: 

I finally got some work done on my solar wall project today. I ran out of daylight, but thanks to my son Patrick, I got several important tasks accomplished. First we removed the old shop door which I had simply screwed to the face of the shop when I first started the solar project last fall.
No pics of the process, but we removed the door, and the hardware for it. Then we put some tyvek up, and cut the t-111 to fit the wall. The large arch will be 12' across the top 20" high, and then with 3' legs on either side of the original shop doorway, as I mentioned in my earlier post.

Here's the general plan. Today we wound up with the right and left green vertical sections applied to the wall. I have the 2x4's cut to box that in, which I'll apply tomorrow if it doesn't rain. I'm going to focus on getting the outer (green) section up and functional by the weekend. The yellow section is eventually going to be redone. I'll wait to do that on the next warm day so that opening the shop wide open won't be a problem. In a pinch however, I may simply enclose it as another panel, gaining about 8 sf of gain out of it.

Check back later, I'll add photos of what I accomplished today. In the meantime, I'm going to go back out and find my kreg jig. I need to get all of the 2x4's drilled so I can attach them tomorrow.

Online Content Shout-Out

I thought I would give an additional shout-out to several online Content Creators I have learned a lot from of late. Please take a moment to check them out! (in no particular order)

Mike Waldt's YouTube woodturning channel Mike is a talented turner, who puts a lot of good teaching in every one of his videos.

Matt Vanderlist -Matt's Basement Workshop

How can I mention Matt without leading into:

Marc Spagnuolo's theWoodWhisperer.com 

Marc and Steve Ramsey have again teamed up for a Woodworker's Fighting Cancer build. 

Marc's version is here: http://www.thewoodwhisperer.com/videos/multi-function-toy-chest/

Steve's version is here: woodworking for Mere Mortals 2014 Toy Box build

Build either version, send Marc a photo of it and you'll a) have a cool toy chest for your kid/grandkid or to donate or give away, PLUS  Marc will donate $5 and corporate sponsors will match that donation. This year's organization is  the Cancer Research Institute. 

I'm not sure if I'll have time to build one, looks like a quick project though!

Matt Cremona is a hobbyist woodworker who has a very cool youtube channel. Check him out, you'll learn a lot!

Frank Howarth is a stay at home dad with an incredible talent for woodworking and making videos. Subscribe to his youtube feed, you will Not be disappointed. Be sure and check out his playlist of stop-action videos here.

I mentioned Matt & Marc, and  no list would be complete without mentioning Shannon Rogers. His http://www.renaissancewoodworker.com is always an inspiration.

One excellent teacher who needs your support right now is Cap'n Eddie Castelin. His videos pack a lot of knowledge in them with a dose of humor and a bit of self promotion. Cap'n Eddie's facing some serious health problems at the moment, so keep him in your thoughts and prayers.
His youtube channel is here, and his website is http://eddiecastelin.com

I'll save more for later...  Those should keep you busy for awhile.