Issue 130

Know Thyself

To my dismay, I was looking at my garage this last weekend. To the best of my recollection, it has never held one of my cars. It does have a chop saw; drill press; panel saw; radial arm saw; two table saws (my lathe is in the basement); a few routers; two router tables; several cordless drills; corded drills; a biscuit joiner; boxes of various hand tools; clamps; worklights; piles of hardwood, softwood, and sheet stock; shelves of finishing supplies; hardware of every description; as well as screws, nails and such that defy description and four large chunks of granite that my son and I stole from the Dumpster of a building site. (There are unimportant things like a lawnmower and snow shovels, too.) So, you might think that, with no vehicles to contend with, I would have it set up to do some serious woodworking. Nothing could be further from the truth … hence my dismay. And it forced me to come to a self-realization that I am … it has to be said … messy. For some reason this epiphany did not surprise my wife, nor the co-workers I mentioned it to Monday morning. But, because of this revelation, I have a new goal to complete by the first week in September: Operation Set Up Shop. I’ll keep you posted, but I am looking forward to being able to walk from side to side and front to back of the garage by September 1st.

So I don’t know what I’m doing writing to you all; I gotta get busy!

Sincerely,

— Rob Johnstone, editor: Woodworker’s Journal