{"id":105,"date":"2002-03-01T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2002-03-01T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.woodcentral.com\/-\/?p=105"},"modified":"2026-03-14T00:24:54","modified_gmt":"2026-03-14T00:24:54","slug":"14-what-is-the-importance-of-your-shop-to-you-what-makes-it-special","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.woodcentral.com\/-\/14-what-is-the-importance-of-your-shop-to-you-what-makes-it-special\/","title":{"rendered":"#14: What is the importance of your shop to you? What makes it special?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Though woodworkers are a diverse group, the one common denominator is that they all have a place to do their woodworking. So, this time around, I asked our visitors, “What is the importance of your shop to you? What makes it special?”<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

“My shop is my kingdom. I am the absolute ruler of this small territory of earth. It is where I become artist and creator. It is my salvation and escape from the couch. It’s where I become the envy of many who enter it. Even with all these wonderful things, at the end of the day I become a lowly janitor.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Shop ambience is the most critical element. I don’t discipline my employees. Instead, I challenge and reward them. Mistakes are analyzed and new procedures evolved in a positive light. My employees respond by hanging around after work and talking things over, and they volunteer for overtime. Run a professional shop and you’ll get professional results. You could be working in a goat shed and still do great work if the ambience is a good one.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“My shop is the only place I actually ‘like’ to work. I can work 6-7 hours straight, and the only thing that makes me check the time is my stomach or a call of nature. I find peace and pride there. It’s a place I designed for myself, as opposed to my house, which was designed for me.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“My shop is many things a schoolhouse where I learn new things, and a think tank where ideas are created. It’s a place of reverence when a figured board inspires me; it’s a retreat from problems of the day. It’s a gym when hauling 100 bd. ft. of Cherry into the rafters and a steam room any day in August. It’s the only space that is truly mine, where I can leave a mess, talk to myself, or pass gas without stepping on anybody’s toes.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“My wife and I lived in a one-bedroom apartment for over a year so we could buy a house with a shop for me. It’s the place that I get away from the high-tech electronics world I am attached to 12 hours a day. It’s a place I can relax and ‘do it my way,’ a place I know I am in charge, whenever my three-year old grandson is not there.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I live in an ordinary neighborhood, in an ordinary house, doing an ordinary job. But in the shop, extraordinary things happen. Nothing gives me more pleasure than having my two boys poke their heads in to show off what I am building to their friends. No one has a shop just like mine. No one produces items just like mine. In a world of mass produced blandness, my shop is an island of handmade pleasure.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“My shop is the perfect playground. It provides a unique place to meet and experience challenges of patience, creativity, ingenuity, and problem solving. Another benefit is my six-year old son’s new interest in what is going on there. A Sony Playstation may be fun, but it won’t deliver the same benefits as time spent together in the shop.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“A bad day in the shop is better than a good day at work. I try and tell myself it’s not what comes out of the shop that’s important, as much as the time spent there. That’s the point, just being out there.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“When I am in the shop, I can relax by making something with my hands. Working with wood gives me an outlet for the small creative ability I have.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“In my shop, my time is my own. Whether I can turn out quality work or not, I am in fellowship with Chippendale, Maloof, and others, just being a woodworker. It is a special place, always on my mind regardless where I am or what I’m doing.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I feel a deep satisfaction when a project is successfully completed. I also think of my father when I use the tools he handed down to me. I always thought he could build anything. I remember how shocked I was when one day, after delivering a china hutch I’d built, he told me he couldn’t do that kind of work. I had always assumed he could do anything, and never gave it any thought before that.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“My shop, too, is a place of memories. I remember the day 35 years ago when my good friend allowed me into his shop to learn to build. I remember the patience John had if I cut too deep, or flat-out screwed up. I just eulogized and buried the man who started me so long ago, and I will miss him.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“As a professional, I don’t spend any discretionary time in the workshop. That’s just work. The last thing I’m interested in doing is going to my workshop to make yet more blasted furniture. If I wanted to do that, I guess I’d be an amateur. As a business, it goes up and down like crazy. One moment I’m hot, and the next, the phone doesn’t ring for months. Sometimes I get the urge to give it up and do something easier, but I don’t know what else I’d do, really.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I think my shop is part of my personality. I work all day, almost every day there. It’s difficult to not think that time out of the shop is wasted time.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The shop makes me feel like a kid again, free from worries and ready to try new things and explore. My husband and I are lucky enough to be living our dream, with a shop big enough for both of us; but the biggest kick is working with our grown son building his furniture, and brainstorming. Now, if I could just get dinner delivered!” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“A shop is like a rose garden. I didn’t make the wood, but I brought out its beauty for appreciation. Even if what I make is not as good as the wood artists, there is always the next project.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Sunday morning, the power went out just as I got out of the shower. I went to the shop, and with a roaring fire in the woodstove and the curtains on the basement windows wide open, I worked hand planing a rough piece of mahogany. Absolute calm and quiet reigned. No radio, no power tools, no artificial light…only the quiet swish of the plane on the wood. It don’t git no better than that.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“After selling a home, we lived for a year with all tools packed in storage. I realized through that year of hell that my workshop is essential for my sanity. It isn’t about just getting out there to enjoy the atmosphere. It’s about being able to do for myself the things I am able to do.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I think my shop is part of my identity. Many of my hand tools are old, and at least one plane made the trip across the plains in my great-great-grandfather’s wagon. I often think about the people who used these tools before me, and hope I am doing them justice. I’ve been asked what I make in my shop, and the honest answer is that I turn big pieces of wood into smaller pieces. My shop is like whittling on the old front porch, except I am more likely to use a plane or a scraper.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Now that I’m retired, my shop is where I am productive. I make things for the house, and it gives me a great deal of pride to make something out of raw wood. In that respect, my shop is a part of what I am.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I work as a family doctor, and life seems more tolerable after a bad day if I can go to the shop for a little ‘sawdust therapy. My wife appreciates the fact that my hobby keeps me home, costs less than playing golf, and produces something useful for the house!”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“It is a space I created to my liking when I built the addition onto our home. I own everything in it and can change it around whenever I want to. It is relaxing and fun to be in the shop; there is no rush. Being retired, I can take all the time I want to.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“My shop is my oasis. Saturday and Sunday mornings, I make coffee and imagine what it will be like in a couple of years when I retire. I built the shop for myself, but I’m not finished yet, because I get distracted doing projects. My son, a professional woodworker, and son-in-law, a pediatrician-type woodworker, say I never will be finished. I sure hope not!”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

#14: March\/April 2002<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What are your thoughts on this? Add your comments below!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Though woodworkers are a diverse group, the one common denominator is that they all have a place to do their woodworking. So, this time around, I asked our visitors, “What is the importance of your shop to you? What makes it special?” “My shop is my kingdom. I am the absolute ruler of this small … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":1700,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,158],"tags":[83],"class_list":["post-105","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-news-views","tag-shop"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woodcentral.com\/-\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woodcentral.com\/-\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woodcentral.com\/-\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woodcentral.com\/-\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woodcentral.com\/-\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=105"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.woodcentral.com\/-\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woodcentral.com\/-\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1700"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woodcentral.com\/-\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=105"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woodcentral.com\/-\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=105"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woodcentral.com\/-\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=105"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}