How ya'll doing! And happy Monday! Tis a new week, errr, at least it's a new work week now for many. And for some it's a new double work week as we head out to our day jobs and we return home to perform work at the bench. Whether your doing your extra work for fun, or for a supplemental income, it's a great way to spend the rest of your daylight after your day job!

That being said, I'd like to poise a few questions to the membership and any guests who may be lurking.

 

1. Do you have a day job?
2. Are you retired?
3. Is your woodworking mainly for pleasure?
4. Is your woodworking used as an income?

 

We have a varied demographic of woodworkers here I noticed, some of us are retired, many of us still have to work to make ends meet, and some of us have full time day jobs and woodwork! I have no need for your answers other than, I am just completely nosy. I am just curious.

 

And, since we are all friends here, it's been awhile since we asked this question, if you care to divulge, what type of work is your day job? Or what did you retire from? We have known each other for years here at The Patriot Woodworker, and we only know each other in the context of woodworking, I am curious what we all do for a living!

 

Me? I am a Land Surveyor. I measure the land and build roads and bridges and layout civil infrastructures for construction. Here is a job that I am the Chief Land Surveyor for, you can view my project at http://rcprojects.org/newportroadinterchange/

And for question number 2, no, I am not retired, not yet!!

Question number 3 and 4, my woodworking is a hodgepodge of pleasure and business. Lately I have not been able to see my shop as much as I would like, with three kids all of who have projects and activities themselves, it all adds up to a weekly calendar that could and probably does rival POTUS's schedule!

 

And of course, last but not least! I and a handful of helpers, run this wonderful community focusing on the art of woodworking, and helping our veterans, and we are all volunteers, nobody here including me, is compensated.

So, I hope to get to know ya'll a little more through this topic!

Happy Monday!

Good morning John!

#1 & #2

I drove a truck for a number of years for Coca Cola until I blew out my spine in 1996 and had to have 3 surgeries with a whole lot of metal installed into my spine. After recovery and rehab from those surgeries, I retrained and got my Residential Appraiser's License and ran my own home appraisal business for 11 years until the markets crashed. So I am not officially "Retired" but I am officially "Permanently Disabled". 

#3 & #4
My Dad was a "Wrench Turner" so I learned from him since I was a small boy about how to work on cars, motorcycles and bicycles as well as doing photography including developing B&W film and making prints in the "Dark Room". When I was about 10-11years old I was in Webelos (one step above Cub Scout and one step below a Boy Scout) and our leader Mr. Puerto had a full wood and metal shop at his home. So we got to make a few things and I fell in love with woodworking. I took Wood Shop in school in 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th grades before the shop programs got cut. I didn't get into doing any other woodworking until after my wife and I got married and I had to do "Home Maintenance". After my work injury in 1996 at Coca Cola I started puttering around the garage and made a couple of wood items for the house and my neighbor asked if I could make him a small 2 person bench to sit on his front porch. So I did that and then one thing led to another and I have been making things out of wood for our home, church, my wife's classroom and some things to sell ever since to feed the addiction as well as to make sure my wife has Christmas money. 

Have a great Monday John!

 

As for your question, I am medically retired, so the only "job" I have is my wood turnings. It does provide a small small bit of income, but mostly it is a hobby, at least until it starts paying for itself.

I have been working as a remodeling contractor since '97. Over the years, I have worked for a couple of other contractors after they approached me with attractive offers, but giving up control of design and process never worked out for me, I am at my best on my own. 

 

Being the contractor in charge, I am selling and designing the projects. That is how I have sold my custom work. Over the years I began to sell more custom work without having to sell whole remodel projects. So my business evolved from remodel contractor to more cabinet/millwork shop where I would also do the install. Most often I don't like other contractors touching my work, I'm...let's just say "picky." (Others say I am anal retentive but whatever.)

 

My body is pretty beat up at this point and feels a lot worse than I think it should at 50. I considered hiring employees again and expanding as a shop operation. That is not appealing to me, so I am transitioning to teaching to pass on my experience. 

 

While I have made a living from the shop, there is still nothing I enjoy more than pushing it all aside and just making something for fun. Even if it is small and simple, the freedom of just building for pure enjoyment still makes me really happy. 

 

What a splendid way to start Monday morning- getting to know more about the folks who most of us know only through an avatars and project posts. I hope everyone chimes in so we can get to know our "relatives" a little better!!!!!

 

After 3 years in the Navy ('63-'66 I was a kidde cruiser- went in when I was 17). I tried college but the anti-war mentality towards veterans drove me out. Worked at local Army Depot repairing Nike Hercules missile radars for 3 more years. The electronics instructor's position opened up, at the local Vocational school. Started there in 1970 and stayed until 2003 when I "retired". I still go back and substitute for the Electronics and the IST program.

 

Woodworking has always been a hobby- I took the Building Construction course in high school and wanted to be a SeaBee but the Navy turned me into an Electronics Technician. My grandfather had a small woodshop with home made tools so I guess my some love for woodworking must have been inherited. 

 

Almost everything I make is given away as presents to family and friends. Every now and then I do get a request to make something and get paid to do it. 

1 minute ago, lew said:

What a splendid way to start Monday morning- getting to know more about the folks who most of us know only through an avatars and project posts. I hope everyone chimes in so we can get to know our "relatives" a little better!!!!!

 

After 3 years in the Navy ('63-'66 I was a kidde cruiser- went in when I was 17). I tried college but the anti-war mentality towards veterans drove me out. Worked at local Army Depot repairing Nike Hercules missile radars for 3 more years. The electronics instructor's position opened up, at the local Vocational school. Started there in 1970 and stayed until 2003 when I "retired". I still go back and substitute for the Electronics and the IST program.

 

Woodworking has always been a hobby- I took the Building Construction course in high school and wanted to be a SeaBee but the Navy turned me into an Electronics Technician. My grandfather had a small woodshop with home made tools so I guess my some love for woodworking must have been inherited. 

 

Almost everything I make is given away as presents to family and friends. Every now and then I do get a request to make something and get paid to do it. 

Pretty interesting background, thanks for your service and thanks for sharing!

 

Thanks so much guys for jumping in! We come here daily, we chime in about woodworking and the occasional off topic subject, and we just never really bother to ask, hey what do you do for a living! It used to be a taboo question to ask, but hey we are all friends here.

I have always said, we may be small here on TPW, but I have yet to see a bad vibe or a distasteful remark made here on this forum. For that I am very proud of us. Through the grapevine, we have a reputation of a solid and mature community where on the face of our community, we do what we say we are going to do, and we walk with honor and integrity. And that is a reflection of you all and the projects we are involved in. So thank you for that.

Thanks to the few gents who posted in this topic and let us know a tad more about your life, I greatly appreciate it. 

Hi John,

I retired after 37 years as a speech and language pathologist. I worked with folks who suffered traumatic brain injuries that may have affected their communications abilities and, with children who had speech and language difficulties due to various reasons like genetic disorders, mental handicaps, cerebral palsy, autism and/or other various disorders. 

Woodworking used to bring in a decent amount of extra income. My wife, Phyllis and I built beds, kitchen cabinets, chairs, tables and boxes of all sorts. At one time, we had a contract to build POS counters for several NAPA stores in AZ and CA. We also did a good refinishing business for individuals and schools. Our most challenging job was for a music department who had baby grand and an upright piano that had been defaced by carved initials and other graffiti. We were really proud of the black lacquer finish we attained on the baby grand. We used automobile bodywork techniques including Bondo and gloss auto lacquer. The upright and it's bench were not so heavily damaged that we were able to sand and finish without resulting to paint. 

While I have always enjoyed woodwork, now I just do woodwork totally for my own enjoyment and give away the out put. Occasionally some one wants to pay for a job. Some I do and some I don't do.

Phyllis is retired also. She quilts a LOT and does quite a bit of cross stitching and we travel a bit and enjoy are sons and their families. We are content.

 

 

 

 

 

 

On 4/11/2016 at 7:47 AM, John Morris said:

• Do you have a day job?
• Are you retired?
• Is your woodworking mainly for pleasure?
• Is your woodworking used as an income?

 

1) Sort of.    You remember that weasely guy on late night infomercials who told you that you could get rich by buying and selling "notes"?    But you had to send him money to get his book before you could even find out what a "note" was?   Remember him?

Well I do something sort of like what he described but not whatever snake oil it was that he was selling.  It's more like legal mail fraud. I buy and  collect. I don't sell.

 

2) Sort of.  What I do can't really be called work.

 

3)  yah it is

 

40  Oh baby  my hero Perry White, from the original black and white Superman   sagely opined  that " the surest way to take the pleasure out of anything is to make a business of it."   And I tried once.