A Different Kind of Hobby

I imagine that when I say that I'm going to be talking some about my other hobby or woodworking, many people would think of something along these lines..... and maybe envision me trying to come up with something that looks like this.....

Well; lets start by saying that even if I had that amount of skill, that wouldn't be the direction of my work anyway. And if that starts you thinking New Yankee Workshop and Norm Abrams, again, let me redirect your thinking more towards...

Something along these lines! Of course, as always; I'm all about the hardware! Although, I must say, that I've been in the process of "setting up my workshop for some years now. Last year, our move made things a lot harder. We went from a 3 space garage to a 2 and maybe 1/4 space garage. Plus, my wife moving out of classroom teaching has created a situation where her stuff has taken over quite a bit more of the space in the now smaller garage! So how does this fit into the theme of this blog being tech oriented?

In case you haven't notice, the modern wood-working shop isn't what it used to be! Sure there are still folks out there who use the mallet, chisel and plane, but most use power tools for the vast majority of their work today. There's even guys who make their own 3D routing machines..... for all intents and purposes, a 3D printer that's been Jumbo-sized! I'm a little bit of a hybrid guy, who build stuff, fixes stuff, but mostly adapts pre-existing items into something useful for me and my family. I've done everything from refinishing a 1941 Magnavox Chairside radio and turning it into a cabinet for remotes, taking a credenza in bad condition turning into my computer work area and storage to building a cabinet for out A/V equipment (OK.... mostly assisting my friend Pat).

This Jack-of-all-trades concept and move to tighter quarters has necessitated me to rethink my tools and storage there-of. One of the things that's helped is to switch to a single manufacturer integrated line of tools. A year ago, I took my birthday money and scored big at a local pawn shop, finding a set of Porter-Cables 20v "Linked" cordless tools. This allowed me to have virtually every tool I need, but uses the same batteries and thus necessitating only a single charger. Later I added  another couple of tools from this line and am now pretty close to having the set. 

Yesterday, I was able to land a Porter-Cable plunge router AND the heavy-duty trimmer for a total of $54! This is way nicer than what I had and now, I'll be able to mount my old router to an extension on my table saw, thus giving me a router table without using up more space. 

One of the things that draws me to this hobby is that there's strong tradition of building equipment that are needed and help enhance the use during shop time. Over the years, my wife has had me build a number of functional pieces of furniture for her classroom. I won't kid you and say that they were fine-furnishing, but I will definitely have fun building a shop from which those things can happen. So get ready for more wood-working posts to go with my traditional tech!