Good Morning! I am Jake, retired after a long and storied career in public service. For the first time in my adult life, I’m not “making a difference”.  That, I find, is quite difficult for me. 
 

My dad and both grandfathers were carpenters. When my dad wanted to teach me his trade, I was too busy drinking and chasing women. Then I got smart and only chased drinking women.😂 Needless to say, he went to his grave with his wisdom and knowledge.  All I got was an empty wallet. I have been self taught for the most part, still have all my fingers and only a couple of bruises from doing stupid stuff with power tools. 
 

in 2020, after moving to our “forever home” in my wife’s hometown, I had the Amish construct my dream workshop. They built the shell on a full foundation. It is 24x32x10’ tall. I did the garage door, insulation, wiring, walls, ceiling, lighting and HVAC.  For the most part, there is very little I would change in the design. It has plenty of natural light.  It houses my cabinet saw, surface planer, jointer, dust collector and my newest tool, a CNC machine. 
 

I took a good look around this forum before joining it.  People here seem genuine, kind and very helpful. The projects posted were very nice and the community quite friendly.

 

i look forward to learning and being a productive member of this community.  
 

Jake

Welcome Jake.  Glad you found us.  Look forward to your participation.

Beautiful shop, welcome aboard.  Jump right in, either on jokes thread, general woodworking or post projects you've made.

Welcome! I am so envious of your shop and all of that space! Looking forward to seeing more of your work!

Welcome aboard. Nice shop . I just built a new shop and in some ways wish I had done all new cabinets but if I did that I would still be struggling . Good luck with your setup. I have already done a bit of rewiring and still more to do.

Welcome to the forum, it's always good to see new members. Nice shop, I found when I retired i needed a way to stay out of my wife's hair at times and the shop is a good place to do so.

Edited November 3, 2025Nov 3 by Fred W. Hargis Jr

Jake, welcome aboard.  You are spot on about these Patriot woodworkers.  A fine bunch of people.  

Thank you for such a warm welcome.  I am genuinely blessed with my space. I don’t need to “share” my space with vehicles, or household junk that should be in the garbage. 
 

@Gerald I did have to do some minor wiring. My surface planer was manufactured in the 1940’s and has a monstrous motor to power it. I needed to add a 30 amp 110v circuit. With removal of some metal and one piece of plywood, I was able to run a special circuit for it.  Hindsight is always 20/20, I should have alternated electrical outlets on 2 circuits. Instead, I have each wall on its own circuit and the ceiling on two circuits. 
 

I need to get my dust scrubber onto the ceiling here soon and do ductwork for my dust collection. I loose so much suction using flexible hose, versus mounted ductwork.  Just like everyone here, my miter box saw is the biggest culprit of dust. I will post some of my work in the appropriate area of this forum. My question to the group is “any CNC folks out here?” While some people don’t consider CNC work actual “woodworking”, I’ll leave that debate for another day.  

Greetings and welcome to The Patriot Woodworker Jake from the donut, 'er corn (and soybean) fields of West Central Indiana. We're practically back-door neighbors. Glad you found us and came aboard. Quite envious of your new shop. I love the color scheme and the 2 foot? overhangs. Plywood interior walls are great as well.

 

On 11/2/2025 at 9:20 AM, SigmundJake said:

I took a good look around this forum before joining it.  People here seem genuine, kind and very helpful. The projects posted were very nice and the community quite friendly.

Kind words and thank you. We do our best to live up to your assessment.

 

Looking forward to your ongoing participation with us. 

5 hours ago, SigmundJake said:

My question to the group is “any CNC folks out here?” While some people don’t consider CNC work actual “woodworking”, I’ll leave that debate for another day.

If you haven't already, peruse our CNC forums. We have several regular contributors doing some great things; @4DThinker, @honesttjohn, @difalkner, @KevTN come to mind. I'm probably forgetting others.

 

TPW CNC Forums Here

Welcome aboard, Jake. The more, the merrier! Love the shop.

   John    Can't believe nobody has mentioned donuts yet.

2 hours ago, HARO50 said:

Can't believe nobody has mentioned donuts yet

 

On 11/3/2025 at 1:34 PM, Grandpadave52 said:

Greetings and welcome to The Patriot Woodworker Jake from the donut, 'er corn (and soybean) fields

Read between the lines🤣

Trying to tidy this forum up😝

10 hours ago, Grandpadave52 said:

Trying to tidy this forum up😝

 

 

Good luck with that......

11 hours ago, Grandpadave52 said:

 

Read between the lines🤣

Trying to tidy this forum up😝

Sorry... senior moment! 

13 hours ago, HARO50 said:

Sorry... senior moment! 

For sure as it is blank between the lines.😇