Wow, time flies! I just realized that it’s been over a month since my last post and thought I should do something about that. Although I’m not currently doing any woodworking projects, I’d thought I’d bring you up to date as to what I’m planning over the next couple of months. I mentioned in my last post that the major take-away from the mini-desk build, is that my “shop” is way too cluttered to function properly. So, over the next month, I plan to make use of the indentured servitude help from my home-from-school-for-a-month son to clean out and reorganize the various basement spaces as much as possible. Some of the larger things I’ll be getting rid of include a 5-drawer legal size filing cabinet, a disassembled daybed and various stuff that never made it to eBay and probably never will. Then comes the boxes of miscellaneous “stuff” (yes, it looks like I’ll use that word a lot here) from the kids’ rooms that at the time made sense to box up and put away, and now I think it can be sorted through and condensed (my 17-year old doesn’t need those boxes of crayons after all!). There’s also an kids toy box that’s made out of southern yellow pine that I’ll probably take apart and reuse somehow.

Whatever I don’t outright get rid of will go into the midget storage area (so-called because of the under 5 foot ceiling height) and maybe a small area under the stairs. Once that’s out of the way, I’m going to try and build the fold-flat worktable featured in the Oct. 11  of Wood Magazine. This looks like a great solution for my small shop space and budget. Then hopefully it’ll be onto a bench hook and shooting board for the workbench, and I think I finally came up with a way to do a crosscut sled for my crappy table saw.

Sometime over the holidays I ordered the Paddle Cutting Board package from Bell Forest Products with no one in particular in mind to give it to, or a time frame to finish it in, but just give a shot and see how it comes out. I really wish I had a band saw now, so hopefully I’ll be OK with my jig saw. I would like to start this by February, but we’ll see how goes. That’s when my day job starts to get very busy as we go into tax season.

I have a lot of long term projects floating around in my head as far as stuff I’d like to make or the house, but nothing on paper until I get other things squared away in the shop. I suppose some of the plans will change along the way, as most woodworking projects do. I hope to finally join up with the WoodWhisperer Guild soon as well, so I can keep up with those projects, learn new techniques and get more involved in that community. It really is incredible how open and supportive the woodworking community is. There are so many fellow woodworkers out there that I’ve gotten to know over the past year or so that I have helped me along in my journey that I consider friends, and I hope to actually meet them in person one of these days!

So, that’s all I have for now. I’ll put up more posts as I start cleaning up the shop and doing actual woodworking, or maybe even if I feel like posting a non-woodworking related thought or two. Who knows?

See you all next year!