Wednesday, March 5, 2014
Zen and the art of unitasking
How many windows are open on your computer right now? Are you giving your full attention to any of them? As you read this, is you mind wandering to Facebook? If you are in your office working on a spreadsheet, do you find yourself bopping over to Twitter “just for a sec” to check in? Do you get calls from a co-worker right when you are in the middle of writing a report and open up a new window to respond to his or her question and then try to get back to your report, only to find yourself checking your email along the way? Do you believe you’ll never get everything done unless you eat lunch at your desk? We all do it. It’s called multitasking. But we have the power to overcome it.

A new movement of sorts is beginning to spread: unitasking. It’s not really a new concept, but it’s one that might actually encourage us to better ourselves. The idea is simple: to reduce or eliminate the myriad of distractions that surround us. Of course, the number of tasks that we need to accomplish remains the same, but we approach them from a different perspective. We organize jobs and tackle them in an orderly manner.
Woodworking: the model of unitasking
Woodworking provides us with a perfect opportunity to unitask. For starters, it removes us from one of the biggest sources of distraction: the internet. For the most part, the very nature of building something with wood requires us to proceed in an ordered manner. It’s pretty hard to apply trim to a dresser before building its framework.
And yet, multitasking has become so pervasive, even expected in today’s world that I sometimes try to apply it in the woodshop. For instance, maybe I am faced with a bunch of repetitive cuts and decide to take a break from them and move over to drilling a bunch of holes into which the cut pieces need to fit. While drilling, I start to think it might be a good change of pace to begin routing out some moulding. Oh yeah, I have a TV in my shop and Norm Abram is on. I get drawn into watching “just a few minutes” even though I’ve seen it before. It doesn’t take long to see where this is heading. At the end of the day I haven’t accomplished any one task, but have many unfinished pieces that I will be faced with tomorrow.
Unitasking 101
If you are like me and are simply tired of trying to do everything at once, take action to improve not just your woodworking, but to seek fulfillment in all of your activities.

Create an email folder for non-essential messages and drag your Aunt Polly’s email into it. In other words, that forwarded email recommending you view the latest funny viral video on YouTube. Or mark it for later reading. This will keep you from aimlessly surfing, until you have finished the stuff you really need to get done. When you have completed everything you have to do, reward yourself by catching up on those dancing hamsters.
Free your inner woodworker

If you encounter a problem, deal with it immediately. It’s probably tied to the task you are working on, so just think of it as part of that same procedure. Try not to put in on the back burner.
Let others know you are prioritizing. People respect honesty and directness when they understand you are engaged. If someone enters your shop with a request for you to do something, (i.e. “Honey, can you mow the lawn?”) politely tell them you will, after you complete the task you are working on. The lawn won’t become a jungle if it has to wait a little while longer. I find it very difficult to get back into a procedure if I stop midway through. I feel like I have to rebuild my momentum.
Unlearning multitasking
Of course there will always be times when we must multitask. It’s unavoidable. Obviously professional woodworkers will be faced with time-contraints and be in a more critical environment, but even they can gradually build a unitasking approach. I like to think of unitasking as a technique to strive toward to help us stay focused. It’s similar to woodworking: we know what we want and slowly gain skills that allow us to obtain it.
Tuesday, February 18, 2014
1 History Of Woodworking Tools Woodworking Plans
History Of Woodworking Tools
Woodworking Plans
Do-it-Yourself Patterns and Crafts, Woodworking kits, Furniture Plans Plus Much, Much More. Will Show You How to Make 16,000 Different Woodworking Plans. Use The Plans For Fun, Functionality or Profit!History Of Woodworking Tools. Wood is 1 of the most lovely, tough and versatile materials that you can perform with while on a do it your self project. The beauty of a cabinet door that is completed in wood cannot be matched by any other material whether natural or man created. As with any project, you would demand a detailed set of plans when you work with wood and wood based supplies. This is why it is recommended that you use a detailed set of woodworking plans as soon as you program to extensively use wood based materials to total the project that you have embarked on.
Now let us examine why woodworking plans are essential in any wood primarily based do it yourself project. To begin with, these plans assistance you remove waste. If you commence a woodworking project without a firm plan, the chances are that you would finish up applying far more wood that you originally intended to. Most of the wood based projects would demand substantial assemblies and sub assemblies.
When you commence your project, you would be ideally working with person members of wood and finishing them individually ahead of assembling them. If you do not have the correct woodwork plans, you could end up with mismatching wood members at the time of assembly. This could bring about costly price and time overruns in the project. All these problems can be avoided by using a nicely laid out set of wood plans.
The other benefit that you could have if you use woodworking plans are that you would be ready with all the tools and implements that you would demand for completing the wood primarily based project. Normally we come across that we do not have access to a unique tool in the middle of a woodworking project. This predicament could lead to a loss of time and in some cases you may possibly even have to abandon the project in case a unique tool is not readily available. All these troubles can be avoided if you have a detailed strategy at the onset. History Of Woodworking Tools

History Of Woodworking Tools Info.
Constant Advertising - The romance of woodworking will will need to be balanced with the constant marketing and advertising significant to retain the operate coming in. In time, phrase of mouth brings in a lot of operate if you create a excellent recognition. Till lastly then, you will want to get the phrase out routinely. Following the work arrives in you have to have exceptional manufacturing systems so you can full the tasks promptly and continue to hold the cash flowing. If jobs consider also very long and the dollars movement stops, it can turn into difficult to shell out the expenses. Talking of cash flow, you ought to create and adhere to common assortment methods. This is 1 area exactly where by many woodworkers fail. The payment for the perform will want to be as significant as the carry out by itself. If you are lax in accumulating, you will run into prospects who fall brief to shell out you and this will cause genuinely critical revenue movement concerns.The Little organization - Even nonetheless you like woodworking, you will need to do the dwelling organization if you are to make a dwelling at it. Great outcomes commonly demands an in-depth information of each woodworking and business enterprise management. If you in no choice have each, I suggest you hesitate to leap in until you have honed your enterprise skills.
Seeking back once more I recognize that my lack of know-how in the course of my startup really a handful of decades back could have been offset with some popular facts and one more individual to advise me.Sadly I had to discover most components by trial and error.
Just about every and every single and each week, I take the time to go via the comments that my viewers make about my woodworking web page. 1st of all I want to them for taking the time to comment, I unquestionably value all of the comments and recommendations. This prior week there was a comment from a gentleman, who expressed a require to get into woodworking. As a man who is passionate about woodworking, I want to welcome him to the fold. And I want to provide you him all of the recommendations and encouragement probable in his endeavors.History Of Woodworking Tools
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Monday, February 10, 2014
New project started a modified version of a 5 board bench!


Wednesday, February 5, 2014
Update of Workshop Layout
A viewer asked that I post a video of my shop, but since I’m not really into live action videos (and the shop is in the midst of being rearranged), he suggested that I label the drawing that I posted of my workshop layout in the post about designing my custom PBB. Well, I have changed the layout and am currently working on carrying out my new plan (as I have time). Below is the current plan with a brief description of what all is there.
The center piece of the shop is my PBB (A). My trusty 30+ year old Craftsman 10” Contractors Table Saw (B) with home built base, is still used for rips when I need to do a bunch at the same width and they are longer than 60”. The extended base of the saw also contains the router table (C) I discussed building here. My venerable Parks-Belsaw 12” planer/molder (D) is not used as much as it once was. I inherited my fathers Dewalt lunchbox planer (G), which has much less end-snip, and since I attached a digital depth gauge, it gets used a lot.
Another traditional and old tool, is the 6” Craftsman Jointer (E). It also gets used a lot. My latest non-traditional tool it the Router Power Bench (F) that I am currently finishing up. Pictured next to the lunchbox planer is my project cart (the drawing shows it with two shelves, but it no longer has the top shelf). A shaper (H), rarely gets used and may be gotten rid of some day. The dedicated mortiser (I) is also not a high use item either, but does come in handy from time to time.
The traditional workbench (J) was built by my father, but has not yet made it from the “barn” since I have not yet made the space for it ready. The clamp storage area (K) has wall mounted racks and a roll around rack so I can bring the clamps to the work when need be. Next to that is the desk and small parts storage area (L). Beside the PBB is a cabinet with cubby holes (M) for power hand tools that are mostly used at the PBB. This is not yet in place because I have to remove the current occupants of the area. Also along this wall will also be either cabinets with doors (N) or another cubby hole cabinet that I have.
My tool box (O) for hand tools (mostly mechanical in nature) is next to the door to the mechanical room that houses the HVAC and water systems for the house. Around the corner is more storage. Under the window are base cabinets with bench top drill presses (Q) mounted. A floor model drill press (R) is opposite against a column. Opposite the drill press is the band saw. These last two items have not yet made it to the shop either.
In the corner next to the door is a very heavy lathe (T) that I also inherited. It too is not yet in place. Built in to the long counter top are my Dewalt Miter Saw (U) and Craftsman Radial Arm Saw (V). The miter saw sees lots of use, but not very much for the RAS. My big Oneida Dust Collector (W) comes next, followed by the oscillating drum sander (X), and a narrow belt sander (Y). My plywood cart (Z) is pictured in front of some mobile tools that are stored under the lumber rack (AD). These include, a large belt sander (AA), and a 24” shop built drum sander (AB), my mobile project assembly cart (AC), a little used and not pictured ShopSmith. On the wall is a yet to be built panel clamping station (AD).
If I ever get the shop nearly done, I might shoot a video, but that is a very big MIGHT.
Sunday, January 26, 2014
A Short Video Tour of Dorset Custom Furniture
Dorset
Heres a very brief visual and oral history of Dorset Custom Furniture. Weve been working on it for a while now and it was harder than I thought. What to include? What to cut? .. a whole new process ... Duncan Lake of Junction 133 Productions got it all together for us. Hes been a friend of Sam and Wills for a long time and did a great job ... Hes back at his day job for the season now, videoing snowboarders out west ... Looks like fun ...
ps ... this video shows best if you click it to full screen
Sunday, January 19, 2014
Today Pictures of home woodworking shops
Pictures of home woodworking shops must try
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