lately

lately, loyal readers may have noticed that i haven't been posting very much to this blog ...

big changes are afoot here  ....  as of now, i am stepping

back a bit from almost 40 years of custom furniture making ... 

i am not 'retiring' per se, but after a four month warning to the guys,
 i no longer have employees in the wood shop, and i am giving
most of that shop space over to our son will and his business,
seeders instruments ... 

his business is growing, and there was no room in the current 

shop configuration for him to expand.  i informed my employees back on 

memorial day that i will soon be back where i started in 1979, working by myself on

things i can handle by myself, with the occasional assistance from sam or will 

rather than the wife, kit, who helped me in the shop a bit back in the 70s.  no more 14' slab tables or (probably) pool tables.  no more payroll and payroll taxes. no unemployment tax and simple iras and health insurance. no paid vacations, and all the responsibility that goes along with having three or four employees.

i will certainly miss them and the 'socialness' and brainstorming sessions in our workspace, 

but at 71, my 'executive function' seems harder to summon, and the naps on the couch after lunch seem a bit too short.  fortunately, i have had plenty of time for golf and paddle tennis and tennis over the last few years and i am in shape for more of that.  hopefully the body will hold up.  

so, 18 years in this space, a few over 20 in the last shop ... what a mess i have created.

but i'm working through it now ... cleaning ... reorganizing ... rethinking ... it is an amazing process.

i wish i had had the time, money and brain space to put the thought into
the shop back in 2000 that i have put into it in the last 3 months ...
over my entire time in business, it seemed there was always 

another project to design, a job to get, a schedule to organize, etc. etc. and i just let

my employees wing it in the shop.  i have been pecking away the last few months, nights and weekends ... organizing the lumber, the veneers, the clamps (!), redoing the dust collection,

etc. etc. etc.  i have moved my office out to the finish building,

 and Will started moving his tools and benches into the main shop last monday .  

we have done a lot, but there is still lots to do ... looking forward to it!

so far ..

before .. it almost looked ok til i got into it ...

i got rid of the radial arm saw, (free to a good home), and redid the exhaust for the 

chop saw, two sanders and sent a branch to the cnc upstairs ..

cleaning out the closet and moving the office ... 

probably the biggest effort so far ...

old office

before we could move the office, we had to make a place to move it to ..

the finish room seemed the obvious choice .. 

serious editing involved

 

on the opposite wall, we needed some new, bigger windows .. a new desk,

and we moved two computers and got them all talking to the laptop at the cnc

tetris jigsaw puzzle of will's upstairs banjo shop

first, we had to deconstruct and clean up 18 years of dust in some places

step one ... move some benches around to make room for will's stuff

this was at the end of last week .. much more organized now

i had to dust off and move the models out ..

i'll probably keep about 15 or so and give the rest away ..

so, if you think you might need that short piece of cherry or burl, or some of 

those old photos you took in the 80s and 90s, take my word for it and 

start thinning the herd now ... it won't get easier .. trust me .. 

more to follow as we progress ... 

and, we are still working ... 

more on that later ..

 new skylight

stop in if you are out and about ... 23 goodwood lane.
on your left, one mile up danby mountain road from route 30

ceilings are all repainted ... starting on the walls

ready for wall paint in the former office ...