Temporarily dried up

[FoggyTown]

Wow. Retired life is a bitch when your only real hobby is woodbutchering and you can't think of a new project that feels interesting or is even uninteresting but necessary in the home. Bummer. I suppose I could go and get some new thingjimmy (like a scroll saw or mini lathe) and play around with it until the Wood Muse blows in my ear again - but I don't have the room to add any more shinies. I've already tidied up my shop. NEXT!!!!

FoggyTown Most of my projects' best features started out as mistakes.

[Bill]

Try woodcarving. It's a hobby than can keep you busy for hours on end, and if you have a bandsaw, you can get started with a minimal investment.

There are carving clubs in almost every town of any size and they are usually very quick to bring new carvers into the fold.

HTH Bill

[Russ]

Do something else for a bit. Something totally different. The wood muse will return in time.

[Swingman]

Go fishing ... with a cane pole and a cork is even better. Try it, you'll go back to your hobby with a new slant.

(Now, if I can just find the time to practice what I preach ...)

[Leuf]

Do some more projects for the shop. There's always something that can be organized better, and then you would have room for that new tool.

If you're really desperate, start looking through JOAT's posts for ideas...

-Leuf

[Dave Gordon]

Extend your workshop, then buy a new shiny!

[J T]

Mon, Sep 3, 2007, 5:38pm (EDT-1) [e-mail] (Leuf) doth mumble: If you're really desperate, start looking through JOAT's posts for ideas.

Say what you will, I'm retired too, but 'I' don't have any problems coming up with new projects. Of course, I 'do' have an imaginagion, and I'm not afraid to use it..

JOAT What is life without challenge and a constant stream of new humiliations?

- Peter Egan

[ROY!]

How about some charitable work to keep you going? Items which can be inexpensively made but are useful and donatable to Seniors' Homes, Children's Hospitals, Dog and Cat Sanctuaries, School Fundraisers, etc.

ROY!

[Puckdropper]

FoggyTown wrote in news:1188850086.031705.282160 @y42g2000hsy.googlegroups.com:

Here's some of my current projects:

- Rebuilding a set of deck stairs (almost done, just gotta install them)

- Building an end table (using T&G flooring for the top)

- Hanging a louvered door

You could see if a local Ntrak club needs a couple module bases and build a set for them. (The club I was in would happily pay for the cost of materials, I imagine most would.)

has the requirements, it's simply a 2'x4' piece of plywood with a 1x4 base.

Puckdropper

[Toller]

You just aren't trying. The things that mount in the side of my rowboat to take oarlocks broke. Sure, I could buy plastic ones for $7 just like the originals, but I made them out of mahogany tonight.

It was either that or replace the broken window cranks, or start on the wood couch, or replace the wood molding in the kitchen, or... The mahogany oarlock holders seemed like more fun.

[Leuf]

Forgot to mention: Sharpening! Surely there's something in the shop that's supposed to be sharp but aint. If not, I can send you some chisels in dire need ;)

-Leuf

[Mike O.]

My wife has a whole list for me.

I could send it to ya....

Mike O.

[charlieb]

You're kidding right?

Boxes - you have to have things that need a box.

Chisel rack(s) and/or hand plane holders.

You have some small handsaws - back saw, dozuki dovetail saw, tenon saw ...

a bow saw - sculpt some of it if you want to get creative.

All small projects that don't require much wood, take some thought so not boring, can be done with handtools, power tools or some combination.

How about having a go at a coopered door - ain't hard at all. You don't have to make anything for it to go on - it looks nice all by itself.

a mini lathe - the JET VS will keep you busy and you can turn prunings. You'll also develop the ability to hear a running chainsaw from a mile away.

charlie b

[nailshooter41]

SNIP

Boy oh boy, is that the truth. I hadn't turned since early high school, and being totally burned out on flat work I got a Jet mini to test out back in '97. I turned for hours and hours at a time, sometimes all weekend when I go that damn thing.

I finally took a year off last year and let the damn thing sit a while. I have turned everything I could think of out of anything I could get my hands on. Lamps, treenware, pens, mallets, Christmans ornaments, jewelry, bowls, weedpots.... the list is endless. It is fun to raid the firewood pile and turn something out of it.

Conceptually, woodturning to me is not woodworking in the normal sense. It uses an entirely different set of skills and imagination. No two turners (that have been turning for a while) turn anything the same way with the same tools. That's the fun of it as there really aren't any real hard, fast rules to observe.

Robert

[Robatoy]

On Sep 4, 2:29 am, " [e-mail]" wrote: snip

...other than to make sure that bowl is on there real tight and not to take too much of a bite at too high a speed.... or so I'm told.

[FoggyTown]

Yeah, yeah. We know. You're just so bloody marvellous!

FoggyTown Most of my projects' best features began as mistakes.

[Frank Boettcher]

Not a problem here. The biggest surprise about retirement is that I don't seem to have the time to do all the projects I want to do. So many of them are going at once and the challenge becomes finishing something.

Now let's see

1. finish the shop expansion
2. finish the china cab and side board
3. finish the bedroom furniture for bedroom two
4. finish the kitchen remodel.
5. repair the facia and soffit, paint the house.
6. finish the double bass repair (oh, finished that last week)
7. finish the lighted mailbox and driveway post (Oh, finished that last week too, feels good to actually be finishing some things).

8.start the bateau fast skiff 14 or indian river skiff.

1. Start the hall tree
2. start the ......I'm sure by the time I get here there will be something by this number.

However, you can take up some other hobbies.

Frank

[Frank Boettcher]

Lot to be said for that. Several good friends are turners. Their mistakes are art. My mistakes are junk.

Frank

[Morris Dovey]

| Wow. Retired life is a bitch when your only real hobby is | woodbutchering and you can't think of a new project that feels | interesting or is even uninteresting but necessary in the home. | Bummer. I suppose I could go and get some new thingjimmy (like a | scroll saw or mini lathe) and play around with it until the Wood | Muse blows in my ear again - but I don't have the room to add any | more shinies. I've already tidied up my shop. NEXT!!!!

OK. Not sure I have a cure, but you're welcome to follow the links on the page below to look at some of the little side projects I've worked on to see if any of them strikes a resonating note...

-- Morris Dovey DeSoto Solar DeSoto, Iowa USA

[Patriarch]

Frank Boettcher wrote in news: [e-mail]:

My mistakes are creative firewood. ;-)

Patriarch