Do you ever NOT want to work in your shop?

Buenas dias from Costa Rica

Once again it is a beautiful sunny 75 degree day here in Sarchi. The winds have picked up quite a bit to where it sounds like bombs are going off on your roof. They use corrugated tin roofs here in C.R, Christmas went well with the cantata we held at our church. The people really enjoyed getting involved with it even if they only had 3 weeks to prepare.

On a personal note we had a wonderful Christmas has a family, which brings me to the topic of this post. Do you ever Not want to work in your shop? I pose that question after what I experience over these past few days. Right now I can say I don't want to be in my shop. It is not because I don't have a love for woodworking, I wouldn't have a shop if I didn't. It is also not due to my working with only hand tools, If you read Tom Fidgen's blog theunpluggedwoodshop.com you can read how he mentions that you really have to love working with hand tools when you begin to re-saw wood. The reason I don't want to be in my shop is I am just burnt out right now and don't have any motivation to open that door. As I contemplated why this was so I cam to a number of conclusions or  observed a number of variables that contributed to my exhaustion from woodworking. This all has come about from my building the Christmas presents for my family, which I wasn't able to finish on time. But it wasn't just that the environment in the shop also contributed to my lack of desire or motivation to continue.

Regarding the presents them selves, which weren't beyond my ability, was first of all the timing of the arrival of the wood. I was limited on where I could get the wood due to finances. A friend from church who has his own shop had bought my router table. all my bits, and a number of routers. He paid my cash for some and traded my with wood for some other stuff. He would bring some wood over when I needed it and deduct that from what he owed me. Unfortunately I couldn't get in contact with him until a week and a half before Christmas. When he finally brought over the wood it was way to wet to work with. I left it out in the sun and two days later was at a lever I though I could work with. Unfortunately that wasn't so and the wood was very difficult to work with and very stringy when I planed it. The pieces warp but I had anticipated that, at least I though I did, and let the wood sit after an initial planing. The second contributing factor aside from the wetness was the timing as mentioned before. I was trying to rush the process though I felt I was taking my time yet I realized I wouldn't get all of it done in time. The closer I got to Christmas the faster I began to work, which brought more frustration and sloppy work. Finally on Christmas eve I had worked all day until it was time to go to church, having not yet finished what I had hoped to finish. I came to a point where I realized there was no way I would get it all done on time so I opted to work on just a few of the projects. My plan was to come back to the shop after the evening service and work through the night if I had too. I thank the Lord that He didn't allow me to do that, a friend from church who had not been at the evening service called to invite my family and I to his house to celebrate Christmas eve, which we accepted. We had a really wonderful time and I know now that if I had tried to work all night I would have produced a horrible present for my kids. So I managed to get two projects finished to put under the tree and planned on getting back into the shop after Christmas. One of the projects, a simple Chinese checkers board looked fine when I had finished the building of it, I still have to finish it, but once I brought it into the house the board warped horribly. Our house is an open air house here in C.R. so the moister and temperature of my shop and house are pretty much the same. the board read 14% which is normal this time of year but still warped. That brought about even more depression regarding my perception of my abilities. I though, "wow I can't even build a stinking Chinese checkers board, what in the world am I doing trying to build fine furniture by hand?"'

Along with those circumstances my shop looked like, as Tom Fidgen put it, a bomb went off and I just was not motivated to work in that shop. There is quite a different feel when the shop is clean and well organized. that help motivate one to work well.

So here I sit in my ranchito with my shop only 30 ft. away, yet I have no desire to enter it. I am thankful for having other hobbies I can enjoy one being coffee. I have 9 coffee plants in my back yard and am in the midst of the picking season. I have already picked my plants four times havesting about 3 lbs. of coffee. Right now having dried the green beans in the sun I am removing the last covering from the green bean before it is ready for roasting. I am also watching Tom Fidgen's videos from his member web site . It is a very peaceful relaxing environment. Hopefully tomorrow I will open the door to my shop, begin cleaning and organizing it and get back to work but I thought I would share my personal experience when things are not as rosy as they are depicted on the web, in magazines and such.

On another note the funds are looking well for January to where I should be able to purchase the wood for the shaving horse and rocker, hopefully drier than what I got last time. If it is wet and needs to sit a while I still have the Christmas projects and a tool I am hoping to build for the chair project, a travisher. I just can't afford a new one and so I picked up some O1 steel 3/4 wide, 3/16 thick, by 18 inches and hope to make my own. Watched a few videos on youtube so pray for me on that one.

Well, my friends take care, keep up the good work, and God bless

Mark