Maple Grove Woodworks » woodworking blogs http://maplegrovewoodworks.com One woodworkers showcase Sat, 29 Jan 2011 15:08:26 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 Seasonal Woodworkers http://maplegrovewoodworks.com/seasonal-woodworkers/ http://maplegrovewoodworks.com/seasonal-woodworkers/#comments Wed, 17 Feb 2010 16:27:00 +0000 Dennis_MGWW http://maplegrovewoodworks.com/?p=187 A lot of people tend to be seasonal woodworkers, especially for the hobbyist.  Many people head to the shop in the fall and don’t come out until it is time for the summertime fun to begin.  I generally tend to be a little different than the rest of the crowd.  I like to head out to the shop in the early spring, when the weather starts to warm up a bit, and then I will be out there until late fall, or early winter, when the weather gets too cold to work comfortably.

I live in Michigan, and the winters tend to make the shop (currently my garage) a bit colder than I would like.  I have a portable kerosene heater, but the garage is not insulated, and most of the heat goes up through the rafters and out the ridge vent.  On a really cold day I can only get the temperature up to about 45 degrees (Fahrenheit).

This is not to say that I don’t work in the wintertime, because I do, it is just that I don’t get out there as often, and it is for shorter time periods.  This situation will be rectified once I start building my new workshop….someday.

This winter has been extra crazy.  My time in the shop has been very limited, and every time I have been out there it has been for just a “quick a minute” project.  There have been a lot of these types of projects and to save time I have been very lax in cleaning up after myself.  This has gotten to the point where I can’t find any of my tools, my bench and worktables are literally covered with tools and lumber cutoffs.  I ran out there to grab a tape measure the other day, and it took me 10 minutes to find it.  It was very frustrating.

This weekend the weather is going to warm up a bit, above freezing anyway, and I think I am going to go do my spring cleaning a little early this year.  Once everything is cleaned up I might actually do some real woodworking.  I have a couple of projects that are about 1/2 complete that I would like to finish up.

As I was writing this, I recalled that I blogged about this very thing back in November.  Could this just be a bad habit I have gotten into?  I hope not.  If it is, I am resolving to break it.  No more leaving my shop in disarray. There, now that I have blogged it, it won’t happen again….Right?…  :)

]]> http://maplegrovewoodworks.com/seasonal-woodworkers/feed/ 0 Woodworking or Wood…Reading? http://maplegrovewoodworks.com/woodworking-or-wood-reading/ http://maplegrovewoodworks.com/woodworking-or-wood-reading/#comments Fri, 28 Aug 2009 17:41:00 +0000 Dennis_MGWW http://maplegrovewoodworks.com/?p=12 I was going through some old woodworking magazines the other day when it occured to me that there have been times in my life when I have done more reading about woodworking than actual woodworking.  A few years ago, I was subscribed to all of the following magazines:

  • Popular Woodworking
  • Wood magazine
  • Fine Woodworking
  • Shop Notes
  • Woodsmith
  • American Woodworker
  • Woodworkers Journal
  • Workbench magazine

Kind of crazy, I know.  It was only for about a year that I was receiving all 8 magazines at the same time.  I also bought a lot of books and videos on the subject.  I also have several episodes of New Yankee Workshop and every episode of DIY Woodworks that I recorded on VHS.  I wish I would have had the DVD burner back then. :)

This was all before the subject of woodworking had really hit the internet like it has now.  Now there are all kinds of free videos, blogs, podcasts, and plans right at the tips of our fingers.

I now only subscribe to two of them; Wood Magazine and Fine Woodworking.  Although I occasionally pick another one up at the newstand if I see something interesting.

Here is a great link to a list of all of the magazines that I know of. I didn’t even know some of these existed.  Check them out if you are looking for a good read.

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