TWO STEPS FORWARD

I fully expected to be well on my way towards some completed entertainment center doors by now, but all I have is a pile of materials, and a full schedule. If I'm going to stay excited about my woodworking projects for the long haul, I need to face some realities. There are two things about working in the garage that I always forget, the first of which is that it takes A LOT of time.

I don't have the amazing shop, or the high end tools that I would like to have, and even if I did, I wouldn't have the space for that kind of stuff in my 1 car garage that houses three boats, a refrigerator, a washer and dryer, and a workbench. As a result, I end up doing most tasks by hand, and making a lot of things as I go. For example, during my last project (an entertainment center), I had to build a miniature router table to finish the job, and since I didn't have a table saw, I had to cut every piece with a jigsaw and true the cuts with a handplane. (I have a circular saw, which would have been perfect, but my poorly wired garage can't handle the 15 amps it needs to run).

For my next project, (entertainment center doors) I need to build a sled and featherboards for my new hand me down miniature table saw, and should really update my workbench so that it has some real clamping power. The reality is, my new project will take at least twice as long as I expect it to take, if not longer, because of all the extra stuff I'm going to need to do along the way, above and beyond the project itself.

The second problem is that I don't have A LOT of time. When I'm working on a project, I'll usually spend an hour or two a couple weeknights a week, and maybe a full day on a weekend once in a while. This, combined with the first problem, means that if I'm not careful, I could be working on my next project for a few months, and it is hard to stay excited about something simple for that long.

So, what am I to do? I think, first, I need to find ways to be more efficient by finding permanent ways to squeeze more capabilities out of my tiny garage. Secondly, I need to use my time more wisely and put some normally wasted time to good use getting these projects moving. If I can get through these doors I NEED to build, I'm hoping that the genuine excitement I have for my other projects will keep me motivated for a long time to come.

I'm definitely asking Santa for a bigger garage this year.......