Buying Hand Tools. Part 1 - Time
Sometimes not woodworking is worth so much more than anything you’ll ever make.
Before you do anything we have to slow down. As I’ve alluded to before, this discussion is not for someone itching to splurge a wad of cash, this is about taking simple steps and building a foundation. Feel free to deviate at any time and adjust to suit your situation.
Before you do anything, put down the tool catalogue, don’t buy that book and pause the magazine subscription. Stop and look. Make some grown up choices rather than bouncing around like child high on sugar.
Do you have the time for this? Woodworking that is. It’s a serious question! If you’re looking down both barrels of retirement then you’ll likely have plenty of time. If you’re still working you can still enjoy what woodworking has to offer but you might need to cool your jets.
Here’s my situation and I adore it. I have a family I love, my wife and I prioritise our children and we do our best to create the best situations for them. We don’t always get it right, but we always try. As most parents know, the reduced paid hours that can be worked, extra mouths to feed and labour in running a home takes a toll, especially on the bank!
Daily - 8 hours sleep, 9 hours at the workplace, 0.5 hour commute, 2 hours of general chores, 1 hour family meal, spend a quiet 1 hour with my wife after the dust has settled, 1 hour of exercise (walk etc), 0.5 hours personal hygiene and 0.5 hours of reading or watching something I’m interested in. I have a half hour free if I’m lucky and most often I’m not lucky.
The weekends, sure, now and again I get a free run, but that’s rare. We do things as a family and there are week jobs or other stuff I needs to attend to that inevitably run over and have to be dealt with during the weekend like grocery shopping etc. Now I might have the daily tally slightly skewed but you get my point? When are you going to have this Woodworking dream come true? That premium plane won’t create more time, that lifestyle guru touting mortgage free living won’t pay your bills (you pay theirs) and that book on anarchy won’t put clothes on your children’s backs.
If like me, you have limited time, keep you expectations in check. Avoid the bait of this new alternative lifestyle that “craft” brings. I’m not telling you to not start this adventure or to avoid making a change, just make sure it’s right for you.
Just building a small shop space, a sturdy bench, possibly restoring a few good tools, buying a few and making somewhere to store them might take a couple of years. Don’t think that you’re going to be making many pieces of furniture, no matter how crude they are unless you have a surplus of time, time frees up or you wish to be selfish with your time.
Still with me? Good from here on out my experience and approach to these initial steps into woodworking are totally free any will not be behind a paywall.