(01-01-2018, 11:03 AM)ckx707 Wrote: Happy New Year! Continuing the tradition that efmrrt started back in 2013 here is my annual update.
Looking forward I'd like to focus on the following woodworking goals for 2018... mostly carried over from last year:
1) Define a routine for more consistent shop time
2) Complete the walnut night stands
3) Turn a few Christmas ornaments or decorations as skill builders and gifts for next year
4) Turn handles for the Czeck Edge awl and marking knife kits I purchased
5) Turn a bowl
6) Build a plant stand (request from the wife)
7) Build bunk beds for the boys
8) Build a cheese slicer with my daughter
I'll continue the annual tradition of kicking this thread back alive to share updates on goals from 2018 and the goals we will focus on for 2019.
Here is my progress (or lack thereof) against last years goals from above:
1) Define a routine for more consistent shop time
For a variety of reasons last year was a bit busier than most and shop time became less rather than more consistent.
2) Complete the walnut night stands
Partially due to the limited time in the shop and partially due to a focus on other smaller and more needed projects I didn't make much progress on this at all. The basic frame components and joinery is complete and I just need to smooth plane and assemble the frames, bevel and surface prep the tops, and build the drawers but I'll need to get on this in 2019.
3) Turn a few Christmas ornaments or decorations as skill builders and gifts for next year
4) Turn handles for the Czeck Edge awl and marking knife kits I purchased
These are still great ideas to build some skills at the lathe but I didn't even attempt to turn anything other than bowls this past year.
5) Turn a bowl
I spent a majority of my shop time chasing this goal throughout the year and managed to rough out more than a dozen bowl blanks throughout the year. A few of the blanks from last winter are now dry but I'm 0 for 2 in attempts at finish turning. I started with two of the less than perfect roughed blanks and the first one just got too thin on the bottom as I struggled to get a decent surface finish off the gouge/scraper and the second one was likely doomed from the beginning as the inside of the bowl dipped down into the tenon area such that I'd never be able to get a smooth bottom without cutting through as shown in the last picture below. I learned a ton and am confident that I'll produce a decent bowl eventually but that will also have to remain on the list for next year.
6) Build a plant stand (request from the wife)
Also delayed to 2019 but becoming a higher priority as the wife's collection of plants is taking over our sunroom. At this point I'm planning on tiered design using black iron pipe for the verticals and some spalted maple planks for the shelves.
7) Build bunk beds for the boys
Done. My daughter wanted to hand down her loft bed so I ended up adding a bottom bunk and moving it to the boys room. Quick and easy project but the boys love it and it allowed us to convert the other bedroom into an office.
8) Build a cheese slicer with my daughter
Done. This was a fun little project to get my daughter involved and the piece of crotch walnut we used turned out to be beautiful.
While I didn't check off all of the goals I did complete a few more bonus projects that came up throughout the year:
A monster truck rack and sandbox for the boys...
...and planted 200+ trees (each brown dot is a tree)
For 2019 I plan to focus on the following short list of priorities and hope that I can get out in the shop a bit more and knock out a few other projects as well:
- Complete the walnut nightstands
- Finish a turned bowl
- Plant stand