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Thread: Does Your Significant Other Like Woodworking

  1. #16
    Join Date
    Dec 2008
    Location
    Cary, NC
    Posts
    551
    My girlfriend has her 9x16 shop off her livingroom. She enclosed a screened porch and now has 2 lathes, a sharping station, a small bandsaw(the larger bandsaw is in the garage along with the drillpress). She mostly does turning with some carving thrown in. We spend quality time talking about and doing turning and looking at wood. I feel lucky.
    Joe

  2. #17
    Join Date
    Sep 2013
    Location
    Wayland, MA
    Posts
    3,655
    She designs, I build. I get the tools I need to build what she wants. Works perfectly.

    (of course it's not quite that simple)

  3. #18
    Join Date
    Jul 2007
    Location
    Earth somewhere
    Posts
    1,061
    She did, and then she did 2 months with me as my offsider on a restoration job I'm on. She pretty much hates the work now and is more than happy to go back to admin work.
    Sent from the bathtub on my Samsung Galaxy(C)S5 with waterproof Lifeproof Case(C), and spell check turned off!

  4. my wife loves (to claim my) woodturnings

  5. #20
    Join Date
    Apr 2009
    Location
    fayetteville Arkansas
    Posts
    629
    My wife's woodworking interest goes like this, "Now I'm not trying to hurry you but after you finish building the bathroom cabinets, next I would like a new dining room table, and then a round coffee table, and I hope to do all new kitchen cabinets someday, and a large hutch for the living room, and....and.... and.... and...." I'm almost 61, not sure I will live long enough to finish all of her list.

  6. #21
    Join Date
    Oct 2007
    Location
    Falls Church, VA
    Posts
    2,335
    Blog Entries
    1
    My bride doesn't really have any interest in the process but she likes the results. I make sure to be very attentive to anything she might want that I could make and I try to deliver. It has paid off big and, anyway, she's worth it.

  7. #22
    Join Date
    Oct 2007
    Location
    Falls Church, VA
    Posts
    2,335
    Blog Entries
    1
    Yeah, my wife has to be supervised too. I like to tell the story of the only time I ever hit her. She was using the chop saw and I only looked away for an instant. I turned back just in time to see the blade descending towards her thumb. I had to act fast so I just plain clocked her. Saved the thumb and she didn't mind. It was a cheap lesson for me. I watch her a lot more carefully. It was also on my mind when I lobbied for a Sawstop.

  8. #23
    Join Date
    Apr 2005
    Location
    Rockville, MD
    Posts
    1,269
    When you marry the Swedish cabinet makers daughter, who walked through sawdust ankle deep as a kid, she knows wood about as well as most woodworkers. She doesn't do the woodworking, but designs for, appreciates greatly and understands woodworking needs. One of my Christmas presents was a Lie Nielsen hand plane. I never have to worry about asking her if I can get a tool that I want. Her response is usually "is that a good enough quality tool", because she knows that it's usually easier to work with quality tools. I inherited and refinished, most of her fathers hand planes, which we both cherish. As long as we can reasonably afford something, she has no problem with purchasing it to do a better woodworking job (or make it easier for me) as she likes the results...as I do.
    Real American Heros don't wear Capes, they wear Dogtags.

  9. #24
    Join Date
    Sep 2006
    Location
    Deep South
    Posts
    3,970
    My wife is the chief designer of our CNC router wood carving business. She knows the software and the equipment. She is also very familiar with the carving properties of a lot of different wood species. She does a majority of the hand painting. She can also run the router if she has to but I usually do that. At least she hasn't learned how to cut out and prepare the blanks (yet). Hey, I have do do something to earn my keep.

  10. #25
    Join Date
    Dec 2003
    Location
    SF Bay Area, CA
    Posts
    15,332
    My wife has school smarts (PhD in electrical engineering...math guru) but no "street" smarts and not at all comfortable with tools. So I get my garage/shop to myself and she does a fair amount of the design and I somehow make it happen. She picks the colors, I paint. It works.
    Wood: a fickle medium....

    Did you know SMC is user supported? Please help.

  11. #26
    Join Date
    Apr 2013
    Location
    Issaquah, Washington
    Posts
    1,320
    We live in a three story Barn that I have been renovating for 23 years. The first time my now wife visited she looked down into the shop from the 2nd Floor Living Room and asked "Is that an Aniversery Issue Delta Unisaw"? Understand, I have a custom extension table on the right side and slider on the left so only about 4" of the bottom of the saw is visible. She then identified each tool and manufacturer that was visible and noted that, for the most part, she had the exact same tools. I was pretty sure I had either finally met the "right" woman or one of my friends had gotten to her and was setting me up. It turned out that she was an rather accomplish hobby woodworker/remodeler.

    She performs the majority of the work on our rental properties and has the same attitude as I regarding tool purchases (it has to pay for atleast 50% of its cost on the first project). She has a great design eye and appreciation for quality design and craftmanship. For the last couple of years she has been doing mostly sewing (she designs and makes her own patterns).

    Only downside is.....she absolutely sucks at returning tools to their "homes". By chance our studios/shops are as far away from each other as is physically possible. She is on the South end of the 3rd floor and I am on the North end of the 1st Floor (need to install an intercom). I consider myself extreamly fortunate to have her in my life.

  12. #27
    Join Date
    May 2009
    Location
    black river falls wisconsin
    Posts
    931
    My wife has sliver phobia. but she has good eye for design so my woodworking projects have improved with her input.

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