Rusty
Its been a full week since Ive worked in the shop. Like anyone else who hasnt done a regular activity in a while, I feel rusty. Due to other nonshop…
Its been a full week since Ive worked in the shop. Like anyone else who hasnt done a regular activity in a while, I feel rusty.
Due to other nonshop tasks on my to-do list since last week, plus a three-day trip out of town, not only have I done no work out in the shop, Ive gone whole days without even setting foot in there.
Got back from my trip late yesterday and have been playing catch-up with e-mail and other at-the-computer tasks. Finished most of those last night and this morning, broke for lunch a few minutes ago and took a stroll out there. Everythings right where I left it, but for some reason it couldnt feel more like a tomb if I was wearing a fedora, leather jacket and carrying a whip. Its not quite the Mary Celeste feeling I described a few weeks ago, but darned close.
For one thing, although my current project is out and in the exact state it was in when I stopped a week ago, Im finding it difficult to remember just what it was I was doing when I set down whatever tool I last used. For another, there are one or two tools out on my assembly table that are mysteries, and I cant quite recall just why I had them out. It always takes me a few minutes to get up to speed when going out to the shop on a new workday, but this goes way beyond that. Its like I need the woodworking equivalent of warm-up exercises before I can get back to work.
When I feel this way, I usually warm up by doing some shop cleaning just to get back into the swing of being back out there and getting things done, but the work I was last doing was already very clean that is, it wasnt dust or scrap intensive so there really isnt much to clean up. There arent that many tools out, either, so its not like I could busy myself putting stuff away.
I think what I need to do is treat the shop like a weekend getaway spot. Back in the days when I worked in a publishing office or radio studio Monday through Friday, thats the way the shop always was on Saturday mornings and getting started after a week off was easy. Now that I normally work out in the shop every day or nearly so that feeling kind of slipped away. Its probably about time to get it back.
As luck would have it, tomorrow is Saturday.
Till next time,
A.J.
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.
