The joys of putting a shop together
January 12, 2008 – 5:09 pm
Some would say that putting a new shop together would be exciting. I guess it would be but I am finding it to be confusing, frustrating, expensive and yes, exciting.
I was going to start my day off at Woodcraft ’cause they were supposed to have a free Demo of workbenches and basic hand tools, to get familiar and hopefully make an intelligent decision on buying them. After waiting for close to an hour for a demo that wasn’t happening, I got frustrated and went to Home Depot to get some drywall supplies. I guess the promise of a free demo was just to bring many customers into the store so they could sell them something. It worked, there were more people there than I had ever seen there. I, for one, did not buy anything. Lee Valley will be getting my credit card number.
Back to the shop. There are many projects, or “upgrades” that need to happen. They are: wire for 220V, insulation, drywall, air conditioning, and lighting. Not to mention all of the cabinets, work stands for tools, workbench, etc. So I decided to finish the one wall that was drywalled by the previous owners of the house because I figured that would be a good wall to put a wood rack on. Got to get things going in a positive direction. So that is how I continued my day, learning how to put mud on drywall that was not put up very well.
I’m sure it will get better. I just don’t like my shop looking like a disaster area.
Ok, I’m done bitchin’. Back to work…
I promise that this “woodworking” blog will contain woodworking one day instead of home improvement. (Don’t be hatin’, Marc) 
inside joke
Eric (morningwood)
2 Responses to “The joys of putting a shop together”
Just relax and enjoy the process, my friend. lol. Who am I kidding. This is the sucky part!
Have fun anyway!
I think the first part of the project should be replacing those cats of yours with a dog. lol
By TheWoodWhisperer on Jan 13, 2008
This is one of those “Zen of Woodworking” situations. One of the dangers that I’ve found with this hobby is falling into a rut where I get too focused on rushing through things to get to the end result. I find that I’m much more happy and productive when I make a conscious effort to “enjoy the ride” as well as the destination. Setting up a shop is the same way. When I get in that rut, its usually time to step away for a couple of days until I REALLY want to get back in the shop. Then things seem to have rebooted and I’m back on track.
I’m with Marc on the cats, though. Can’t have too many passive aggressive forces in your life. Tools, drywall, wood AND cats is too many….
By AstroGuy on Jan 15, 2008