How do you become successful at part-time woodworking?

Time consuming. Applying the face frame to the lower bookcase. Photo taken from this blog post.

I am curious about this. How does one transition from woodworking as a part-time, doing projects for friends sort of thing to a sustainable full-time job?

After finishing the Scott bookcase, I have a few thoughts:

1. During this project, my day job suffered.
2. During this project, responsibilities in my personal life suffered.
3. I did not make enough profit on this job to justify #1 and #2.

Now, keep in mind that this project was for a good friend of mine and I did not approach the price of this job as I would someone else, but still I would have had to charge at least three times as much for this bookcase as I did and at that price, I am not sure I would have gotten the commission.

Also, to charge that kind of money, I would have had to change my process so that the work would have been of higher quality. In doing so, the project would have taken longer and therefore added to it's cost.

Anyone visiting this blog have ideas on this?

Between projects

Becoming a mess. When I'm between projects stuff often accumulates in my shop.

What am I going to do next? I had originally planned to be finished with a crown molding and ceiling treatment for my dining room by now, but the Scott bookcase came to fruition and the dining room project was put on hold. Next I saw the opportunity to add a built-in cabinet to my daughter's bathroom and that will be my next woodworking project. But for now, I have some things to take care of around the house - items that were also put on hold by my most recent project. So I may be a little scarce around the blog in the next few weeks as I get these chores finished.

One thing I am working on is a downloadable plan for the coffered ceiling project I completed in my living room. This project has generated the most traffic on my blog and I know there are many people out there who want to tackle something like this, but are intimidated by it (I know I was a little unsure of myself).

To do this, I will call on some people I know what have offered Internet items for sale and I will post my thoughts on this process, so look for this in the future.

Scott bookcase: moving day

On the move. The bookcase in transit to it's new home.

The big day for the Scott bookcase has arrived - moving day. This project started sometime around the middle of January and it has been a fun three month project. This is my first project where I have utilized Google SketchUp during the design process and this project has helped me refine my process for building case pieces.

Crisp. The color is pure white - no tint at all. It really is fitting for a traditional piece like this.

The post project critique.
As is the case with all of my projects, I write my own critique of what went well and what I need to improve upon.

On the plus side: This is about my fifth bookcase and I am getting better and faster making them (you can find photos of two others here and here). My last two bookcases have been painted and I used many of the same techniques on the Scott bookcase as I did with my daughter's bookcase.

Due to it's stable nature, I used birch plywood in as much of the project as possible. The edge even shows in a few areas. An untreated plywood edge is really a "no, no" with me, but since all of this bookcase is painted, the edge is actually treated - with paint. Any voids were filled and sanded and these areas were fine.

The simulated panels continue to be a sought after design aspect. Several people familiar with this project pointed this feature out as very pleasing. The overall shape and proportion of the bookcase worked very well. This is rewarding to me because the initial design just did nothing for me - it lacked a visual hook that I like to work into my projects. This hook comes from a base that is wider than the top.

Things to work on: I need to continue to work on my process for cutting large panels. I had one situation where a board was cut wrong and I attribute it to a bad choice in the straight edge I used. Another thing - I am going to have to come up with another way to cut dados. I have been simply doing repetitive cuts with my standard table saw blade, but that can leave a dado that doesn't have a flat bottom. This requires fussing with to make it right. I guess I should just break down and purchase a nice dado blade set. And finally, if I continue to do painted pieces, I need to invest in some sort of spray equipment for paint.

Overall, this project was fun and my client is pleased with the results. I will have one more post on this project - I want to get one final photo of it set up in my customer's home and that should be up in the next two weeks.

To see all the posts on this project, click here.

________________________

Have a question or comment? Leave yours by clicking on the "Comments - post yours here" link below. And if you like this post or this project, you can subscribe to my blog by clicking here.

Honey, I need a new jointer...

A new set of knives. In this photo I am about half way through installing new knives for my jointer.

For about an hour tonight, I thought I was going to have to start saving up for a new jointer. I have this old Craftsman jointer - have had it for years and it was time to swap out the knives. You see, I nicked them with a staple that was stuck in the edge of a board. When this happened, I simply attached a board to my fence - the board covered the damaged area of my jointer knives and as they became increasingly dull, I would simply add another board to the fence. Prior to tonight, I had three boards attached to my fence.

On top of this, it has become impossible to get a straight edge with my jointer. That's this machine's primary purpose, you know. The last time this happened, I aligned the infeed area of the jointer and the problem persisted. I changed the knives out and the straight cut returned. So, I am in the process of doing this again.

After removing the first old knife, I set a new one in place - and it is too big. When I ordered these knives, the online catalog said that the originals were no longer offered, but a similar replacement set was available. Cool - I ordered them. The replacements are similar all right, but they are significantly longer. Everything came to a stop and I prepared to return the replacements to Sears. The idea of having to buy a new jointer popped into my head - I'm thinking that my current one is so old that I am going to continue to have problems with replacement parts. A bad mood settled in and I went upstairs to watch This Old House on PBS (which helped my bad mood a little).

Later, I began adjusting the new jointer knife. I aligned it's height and positioned it as best as I could and nervously turned the jointer on for a split second. I was surprised that the new knife cleared the inside of the jointer, so I guess everything is going to be OK. Which is really good because I just can't afford a new jointer right now anyway. Plus, I had decided that my next jointer would be one of those big honkin' Delta models that Norm used to use, which is extra expensive :o.

________________________

Have a question or comment? Leave yours by clicking on the "Comments - post yours here" link below. And if you like this post or this project, you can subscribe to my blog by clicking here.

Scott bookcase: Primer and paint

Adding the finish. After final sanding, I begin applying primer to the bookcase.

One of these days, I’ll have a knock down spray booth for my shop. This is a goal7 because applying primer and paint by brush is a lot of work. It is funny though, a premium paint job completed by a professional painter will often include a final brush on coat of paint so the finish will have a hand made look to it.

I have found through this project that spraying on a finish is the preferable way to go. Getting an even coat of thick primer with as few brush marks as possible is difficult. In addition, as you can see in the photo above, to eliminate runs, I am applying primer only on horizontal surfaces (note the lower section laying on its back on the work bench).

The process is to apply primer, allow it to dry, sand it with light to moderate pressure, and then apply a second coat of primer followed with a light sanding. This process is time consuming. That is why using a sprayer would be better, I can spray a controled amount on both horizontal surfaces as well as vertical ones and achieve better results in less time.

Currently. Here, paint for the bookcase is slowly being applied. On the upper section (on the floor) note how the top and the crown meet. This finished off very nicely (click the photo for a larger view).

I’ll continue this process this week and hopefully have the final coat of paint on by the end of the week.

To see all the posts on this project, click here.

________________________

Have a question or comment? Leave yours by clicking on the "Comments - post yours here" link below. And if you like this post or this project, you can subscribe to my blog by clicking here.