A project jump start
It’s rare, but sometimes work projects lead to fun projects. I love when that happens.
It’s rare, but sometimes work projects lead to fun projects. I love when that happens.
My wife has been asking for a sofa table for three years. I came up with a design a year ago and bought a beautiful natural-edge slab of 2"-thick cherry just for the project. That gorgeous slab has been leaning against a wall of my woodshop creating a spider hideout ever since.
Last time, I talked about needing to photograph a pneumatic sander for an article on air compressors, and that slab was the perfect photo prop. So, I killed the spiders, dragged the slab to my workbench, set up my camera, and started sanding. That slab looked great when I bought it, but sanding revealed stunning grain patterns I hadn’t even realized were there. I have other projects on my to-do list, but after seeing that freshly sanded slab my wife’s sofa table immediately jumped to the front.
Lots of win-win to go around here: My photos came out great, the slab looks even better than I thought, Sally’s thrilled I’m finally making her table, and I have a fun project to look forward to. And eliminating a spider hideout is always a win.
A.J. Hamler is the former editor of Woodshop News and Woodcraft Magazine. He's currently a freelance woodworking writer/editor, which is another way of stating self-employed. When he's not writing or in the shop, he enjoys science fiction, gourmet cooking and Civil War reenacting, but not at the same time.
