Is your hobby woodworking or building your shop?

[Patrick Kane]

For years, I spent 0 time on shop improvements and all my time on commissions or personal furniture. Then, I had a point where I was inbetween tool upgrades and couldn’t do much woodworking without a jointer and table saw. This down time lead to a solid month of free time spent rearranging my shop, laying rubber flooring, changing the ductwork, adding more lights and hanging slatwall with hooks and shelves. It was a lot of time to make these alterations, but the space is so much better to work in. I do think some folks spend wayyy too much time on shop cabinets and organization, but to each his own. My Vice is I can’t stop listing after new machines.

[Andrew Hughes]

I have a shoe string budget so I spend time woodworking and finding wood to use. I do spend a fair amount of time cleaning and organization.

[David Stone (CT)]

Great question and topic. Even after 35 years in the hobby, I toggle between "woodworking" (meaning making furniture or doing stuff in connection with renovating my old house) and upgrading my shop, and expect I always will. Most recently, I've been building a sliding deadman to add to a workbench I made 20 years ago, partly using the capabilities of a used basic shaper I bought as a pandemic project. I've been learning some new skills and it's all good.

[Mike King]

Flawed poll. Missing acquiring tools.

Mike

[David Stone (CT)]

Great question and topic. Even after 35 years in the hobby, I toggle between "woodworking" (meaning making furniture or doing stuff in connection with renovating my old house) and upgrading my shop, and expect I always will. Most recently, I've been building a sliding deadman to add to a workbench I made 20 years ago, partly by learning to exploit the functionality of a used basic shaper I bought as a pandemic project. It's all good.

[Albert Lee]

I enjoyed the accomplishment of making something for a client and get the $$$$ for the piece to cover the tool cost and my time... however my accountant kept on telling me to stop working as a slave.

I love good machinery and the quality of it.

unfortunately woodworking itself, come in last.

[David LaRue]

Dennis,

Yes. My shop is for everything I do: Woodworking, storage for tile work, painting tools (HVLP, Airless, Air, and Rollers, and brushes), small and large engine repair, mechanics toolset, metalworking, plumbing, electrical, small appliance repair, building pinewood derby cars, building a better dust collection, better lights, upgrading old dust making tools, getting hooked on the green tools. My shop is my place to go to offgas from my day job in information technology which does not have start and stop time 24/7/7. I have to have my shop clean and ready to do the next project.. planned or not. For example I need to replace window screens on the porch that blew out this weekend before guests get here tomorrow. So my shop is not just a woodworking shop, and I really don't build furniture much, nor do I feel the need to. My shop is what it needs to be. I really don't know that I would call myself a woodworker, but rather someone that works with wood.

[Rich Engelhardt]

Flawed poll. Missing acquiring tools.

Exactly!
I love the buying process.

Agonizing over the question of "did I make the right choice" by spending hours on end - while waiting for the delivery of whatever I bought to be delivered - by pouring over endless online reviews of the tool/item.
Spending days/weeks/months & sometimes years - searching for the best possible price on something, then making a snap decision to buy something else.
Checking then rechecking my bank balance - while waiting for the delivery of the item I bought - to see how far in the hole my purchase will put me. (maybe the shop elves (the ones that some one here at SMC said looked like Jessica Alba) have deposited a thousand dollars into my bank account).
Trying to find the best combination of - price - customer service - delivery charges - by scouring all the possible places to purchase.

& the other side

The horrible low that comes about when to tool is delivered & I open the box only to see - I have to put it together. I don't want pieces! I refuse to accept the fact that I have to spend hours assembling my new found toy! Where are those Jessica Alba shop elves?

It's like "The hunt". They call it hunting because it's all about the hunt and not the kill.

[Gary Petersen]

Heh! I'm probably more on the building a shop phase of my hobby. I'm eight or so years from retirement and have decided that woodworking is one of the main things I want to do with myself after I retire so I'm building out my shop and learning how to use the tools I buy now, while I have more disposable income. Most of the actual wood pieces I build are gifts for others but some larger pieces for use in our home as well.

Gary

[Tom Giles]

First phase - I had to build my shop building. Built 90% by myself

Second phase - I had to acquire equipment. I bought used and repaired

third phase - build shop fixtures/jigs

finally fourth phase - projects

enjoyed each phase. So woodworking for me is much more than projects

[Jim Becker]

Flawed poll. Missing acquiring tools.

Mike

^^ True dat!!!

[glenn bradley]

This thread made me smile. My dad has had numerous hobbies and all seem to consist of getting nearly ready to do something, doing one or two and then changing hobbies. He definitely likes getting ready to do something more than doing it . This has had the effect on me of creating an urgent need to complete things.

I have spent the last couple years fighting through the process of getting a shop built from scratch. I have enjoyed the challenges and the process but am pretty much done with the joy of "getting ready". Alas, there are a few more things to do before I can start making things that aren't shop fixtures but it is very close.

My previous shop was half the size and contained all the stuff in the new shop including the dust collector which is now outside the shop proper. I was making a lot of custom shop fixtures and jigs to get things done in a small space. I don't know how I ever got anything done. I was in a pretty much constant state of building something for someone.

I have gracefully backed out of being an active furniture maker for others. I plan to spend the next few years making things for our own forever-home and for friends and family. Somewhere during the next 20 years I will start to slow down and do less and less. I plan to spend more time sitting in , eating at and sleeping in furniture I've made than making new items. I find the whole idea somewhat comforting.

[Thomas Wilson]

It seems to me that the most popular topics for woodworking are books, magazines, and forums have to do with workbenches, toolchests, shop layout, dust collection, and tool acquisition. These are all activities which are related to setting up or upgrading the shop. That indicates where greatest interests lie. On this forum, “projects” are relegated to a little-viewed sub forum and never seem to get much more of a response than, “Good job.”

Looking back on my own posts, the vast majority have to do with setting up my new shop right now. It is a capstone of a lifetime hobby. In the past in my tiny, dusty shops, I worked more on moving stuff around to make room for an operation or assembly. In those days, I mainly built stuff we needed or someone else needed. There was pressure to build rather than organize. Now, I suppose I am retracing steps to set up the workspace the way I would have had it with less pressure and more money. The point to me is that I am really enjoying this phase. I have found reading and writing about it worth my time. I am nearing the end of the set-up phase of my new shop and have a long list of projects to do. We will see if I am motivated to write about the various built-ins and Christmas presents on the list.

[Pat Rice]

It depends on who you ask, I would say woodworking is my hobby and my wife says my shop is my hobby. Lately she is more correct as I have spent all of this year totally redoing my 21 yr old shop. Woodworking has been my passion for 35+ years and with the progression of time it has evolved. As others have stated in the early years I had very little money and worked out of single car garages. Many projects were home remodeling related. Now in my 60s I have more disposable income which has allowed me to greatly upgrade my tools and equipment. With my shop remodel almost complete I want to turn back to making things and expand to nicer furniture projects and non-shop related things. I keep pushing myself to expand my skills and knowledge and I am enjoying this journey.

[Leigh Betsch]

It depends on what I'm building at the time you ask.