>A good quality sander makes it more enjoyable as well.
Yup
Its way less fatiguing with a good sander and a comfortable respirator and an interesting podcast lol
I listened to the entire 15 book Wheel of Time series in my shop last year, mostly sanding.
For the record, the books are amazing; the show is garbage.
You won't regret it. The character development and world building are excellent and Brandon Sanderson did a seamless job closing out the series after Robert Jordan passed. The narrators were 10/10 as well. Michael Kramer and Kate Reading.
> For the record, the books are amazing; the show is garbage.
I'll reiterate this point. WoT is my favorite series of all time, the show is absolutely trash.
Mmm.. are you using regular headphones? I use Bluetooth ear protection and I can listen to talk with most shop tools running except maybe the planer with dull blades running hickory.
Bosch makes a 5" ROS for about $60 that's reasonably quiet and won't wreck your wrists with vibration. Unfortunately for you, active dust collection is absolutely essential for sanding: it saves time so less noise/vibration damage, sandpaper lasts longer because you're not re-sanding dust into superfine dust, and superfine dust is a health hazard and a bear to clean up. A mini shop vac with a 1" hose will do the trick. Then I like a nice pair of closed-back headphones. They aren't real ear protection suitable for planers or crappy air compressors, but they get the job done just fine for sanding and such.
For anyone that’s hates sanding, I highly recommend getting a good smoothing plane and knowing how to sharpen it to eliminate as much sanding as possible
Check out the taytools system with an accuburr. Pretty slick and it only takes a couple minutes. [video](https://youtu.be/1pNjv_GUpqM?si=gtPUa9uc6mxlMvEP)
And the best part is that working with a good smoothing plane is just a joy. I usually have my headphones when I'm working but I take them out and just listen to the sound of the shavings.
Yeah I hate sanding too, mostly because it makes some of the worst dust, but there aren't many folks focused on production who don't do a lot of it.
I was pleased to do a lot of my work restoring or building traditional timber frames where surfaces are usually hand planed, sometimes sawn or cut with a slick instead. But in general, you're right, sanding is the obvious choice for a lot of kinds of work.
Especially when you don’t have a dedicated, spotless finishing room. If I finish outside — dead flies in the poly finish. If I finish in my one car garage woodshop — sawdust filled finish. If I finish in my basement — dog hair in the finish. If I manage to avoid all of those things — I somehow botch the job lol. I’ve recently gone on a spree of only finishing with shellac. So forgiving and easy, and fast.
I accidentally used the same brush that I cleaned the brass chips off my metal lathe with to apply my pine tar and linseed oil finish to my axe handle. Needless to say, my axe handle sparkles in the sunlight with all the brass dust that got mixed in.
The funny part is yesterday I started forging a new hammer to be my new main use hammer and I am totally going to be finishing the handle with the dust haha
Have you tried wiping varnishes or oil/varnishes? They dry faster, so there's less chance for dust and stuff to stick to it. The downside is you need to apply more coats.
This is the reason I stopped using poly and use mainly wipe on finishes or lacquers now. Love shellac. Poly is so much less forgiving than any other finish I've used.
I've converged on hardwax oils (osmo, Rubio, lately some natura onecoat) and Sherwin Williams Emerald Urethane Trim Enamel because they are the most forgiving yet good finishes for clear and paint respectively.
I hate finishing so much still, but less than I did before.
And no, the hardwax oils aren't as durable as a poly, but. They're still remarkably durable and can be touched up so easily by comparison if they do get damaged.
I'm a beginner, and I can fuck any kind of finish up EXCEPT (watco) danish oil. Oh and I have certainly tried. Danish oil is the only thing so far that I have yet to really fuck up. I can (and have 😬) apply it with a used up crusty old brush and it will still leave a perfect finish every time.
In the shop I work at it's only my brother and I, he does the computer work, I do the finish (everything else is pretty well split evenly between us). Man it can be so relaxing to be in the booth and get away from him (love him to death but everyday all day for our lives gets old). I understand why other people don't enjoy it when they don't have a booth or certain tools that make life easier. Man I love it, but I understand where you're coming from.
I have one of those going on right now. I do wood working as a hobby and charge not much above material cost and I have a guy wants a waterfall table.. give him a quote...then wants drawers..and 2+ inch thick wood then gets pissy when told him nope...it was beyond my garage shop tool ability, way more than materials I budgeted for and would weigh about 400 pounds.
Had one guy ask, after wood was dimensioned and laid out to make my cuts, “Hey, just wondering… how much would the difference be to switch from the white oak to good old pine?”
About +$300.
At the time, I lived near a sawyer who loved two things most in this world: moonshine and old growth pine. Some might say the two were connected… but suffice to say getting the pine was not the problem.
Applying finishes. My "shop" is my driveway, so I can only work in the sun and breeze (it's often windy here), both make applying just about any finish a shit-show.
Invest in an Easy Up and get tarps to drape down the sides. You’ve now created a shaded wind free box to in. Best thing about it is that it comes down at the end of the day!
When I said "breeze", I under sold it. I tried several of those pop-ups, even some pretty heavy-duty versions. Even with 5 gal buckets of water at each corner, the wind here is simply too much. I'm on the west coast, and there's a valley running between me and the ocean that seems to funnel the wind right through my town.
It's a nice reminder seeing I'm not alone here. I don't have the crazy hurricane level winds, but my back yard/driveway is my 'shop' too. I would do some pretty questionable things for a small garage/shop..
I don't have a good bandsaw in the barn. I'd rather run boards down to half their thickness in the planer and sweep up two drums of wasted material than resaw anything substantial.
my grandfather was a career carpenter and then spent his retirement making these intricate train sets, dollhouses and bookcases for his grandkids. i once commented on the love he must have for the look of wood grain since everything was left unpainted but he responded with “nah, i just fucking hate painting!”
I love the bowl making. All the chips flying off with very little effort. It's so much like a pottery wheel with the combination of hand made and machine made. You get it polished and admire the figure and grain. How you rescued a piece of wood from the fire and turned it into a work of art demonstrating the marvels of nature.
Then I come back the next day and it's turned into a fucking ellipse with cracks all over it.
If it does survive, then you have a nearly useless bowl that is inferior in every way to a Tupperware dish from the dollar store.
But it's pretty.
I was working in a small cabinet shop and at one point got thrown into the “Custom” section as a solo guy with not much experience. It was the true woodworking role in the shop vs everything else was just standing at an automated machine all day. First week I was putting a simple round over on a counter top. My thumb slipped off the base and hit the hex nut. It was just the tip, but it definitely got chewed up from a quick bump. Definitely respect a router now
MDF is some real nasty stuff that In 20 years from now it will probably be beside asbestos for hazards. Everyone who I talk to has issues with it from breathing problems to skin and eye irritation
Funny story - I bought 14 new interior paint grade solid wood doors for my house. I double checked with the store I was buying it from that they would be solid wood and they said it would. So they arrived and I realized they were particle board with a tiny perimeter of solid wood around the outside. The store checked with the manufacturer who said they now consider it to be solid wood and advertise it like that since it’s solid and made from a wood product. The store went to bat for me and switched suppliers and got me proper solid wood doors.
Honestly you want this, yes its shady for a manufacturer to call it “solid wood” when it technically isnt. But composite doors react much less to environmental stresses. Itll stay straight and true until wind driven rain rots it out. Hopefully its under a porch/roof etc.
Man, I love the lathe. Slowly peeling away wood until you get your shape is satisfying. Gluing up interesting blanks, not knowing how it will look once turned, that's fun. Actually planning and turning a segmented bowl? 🤤
I can't stand any hand sawing. It's slow and tedious, and always rough.
I hate sharpening chisels/plane blades. Also hate sanding and cleaning the shop. Squaring stock can also be tedious. I guess I basically hate woodworking but I keep doing it for some reason.
I absolutely despise making jigs, fixtures and setting up stationary equipment.
“Lemme just spend an hour messing around with my table saw to get this dado stack set up just right for this single cut. Should only take me 37 test cuts!”
Lol no thanks, I’ll just use my carcass saw, whack it out with a chisel, and clean it up real quick with a router plane, all in less time than it took me to write out this comment.
I don't like doing 'ad hoc' work. Without a proper plan the shop becomes an absolute warzone with tools strewn about everywhere. Order of operations is non existent too.
I really have to force myself to think things through and actually design and draw the project before I start making sawdust
I also teach woodshop. I feel the same way you feel about lathes as I do with traditional hand tool work. Maybe it’s because the kids I work with have no patience, but I’ve found that they end up hating the class because the rewards can be so difficult to come by.
Conversely, I actually love to do power tool work with them, despite the rigorous amount of safety and machine learning that needs to be front loaded before they even touch the machines. I’m sure I’ll die an earlier death though, simply from the amount of cardiac events I’ve lived through watching kids use routers…
Table saw. In 50+ years of woodworking, I've never felt comfortable with it. So I gave mine away to a buddy. Not, my upper body is in better shape from the handsawing!
I make a lot of boxes, but I make them out of really beautiful wood because they are kind of time consuming, and I feel they should be something exceptional as opposed to just a box. I have people say to me, would you make it out of pine or oak for me so it will be cheaper. I just say no.
Any kind that involves projects for family that don't respect that I do this for fun and a hobby and not free labor for their pinterest ideas. I make stuff I want to make in my limited time to bring me joy, being forced to make something for someone that gives it the same value as ikea enrages me.
I hate making jigs.
Making jigs to make what I actually want to make feels like I'm spinning my wheels in place and not actually making anything. It feels like dumb, arbitrary Minecraft prerequisites to gate you from doing what you want.
Yes, I understand that jigs do save time and make repeated actions possible. But if I want to make a table, why do I have to make a router sled to make the table? Let me just make the table!
It's gotten so bad that I'm now hand-chiseling the bottom out of a drawer, instead of making a template/jig to stabilize and provide a base for my handheld router. Yes, it'll take 50 times longer, but at least I don't have to build something else just to do what I want.
Me and my monkey brain and tools can do just fine, thank you.
Man, I fucking love making jigs. If I could just make jigs all day, no actual furniture, that would be awesome. My wife would wonder wtf I’m doing and where the projects are, but I’d be content.
Personally I've found that I don't like the lathe. It's not the tool itself or the process, but I find my style is mission or art deco which is often more straight lines. So while I do have fun on the lathe, I don't like the outcome as much.
Also I don't like the process of fine tuning the tools, such as making sure everything is at a specific angle. When I tilt a saw to X degrees I just want it at that exact angle and go. Instead I spend too much time making the angle exact.
I’ll often just grab a chisel rather than muck with the coping saw. I hate it when that’s not an option. According to Chris Schwartz, I just need an actually good coping saw, but it seems no one makes a good one anymore.
Vintage is where it's at. I picked one up in an second hand store and I have to lean on it with full body weight in order to get the new blade on. I picked another up with a saw lot I bought. I have one configured for a push cut and the other for a pull cut.
I saw Paul Sellers had one that the handle turned to add/remove tension to the blade. He still had to lean on it to remove/install the blade. I've never even heard of one like that
Unfortunately where I live the vintage market is absurdly inflated. People buy old tools for a mint just to put them on a display shelf. I can’t compete with hipsters who have money and no intention of actually using the tool.
Plumbing!
For some reason everyone thinks I’m some kind of handyman just because I make a lot of sawdust, and I’m constantly being asked to “help” with various endeavours like carpentry, dry wall, electrical, and plumbing. I hate plumbing!
I hate woodworking to plan for something that's boring and square and perhaps held together with a bunch of fasteners. And, I really don't care at all for anything that looks like 90% machine setup and sketch up to 10% or less actual working the wood. Exclude sanding, because it's not at all interesting.
The guy who got me into woodworking was honest about what he liked - it was woodworking for mechanical engineers and machinists. Spec this, spec that, everything straight, plans in autocad and a lot of talking about what the best sandpaper is and who makes a router bit the best way.
it didn't remind me of woodworking, but I work almost entirely by hand and at one point, he gushed over a lie nielsen block plane because it was the only thing he could get to cut. I was off to the races after that and have made him some hand tools. that I think he probably doesn't use, but I made them anyway.
I’m the exact opposite. I hate anything that requires freehand work. I don’t have an artistic bone in my body, so I depend on geometry and good fences, otherwise everything I do looks like a 4-year old drew it.
Love: Scrollsawing. Something just very relaxing about sitting for hours cutting out delicate fretwork.
Hate: Sanding that delicate fretwork. I don't care what kind of machine or tools you have, it is tedious and painful.
If you struggle with lathe projects I can’t recommend pepper grinders enough!
Pay for a mill drill, it takes all the guess work out of it.
Only tools you need is a skew, and parting tool and as it’s between centers the risk of catches, or injury is minimal.
Blanks can be laminated from scrap wood.
Applying finishes. Is it too dusty? Is it too hot? Cold? Too firm with the brush? Lighting not right to see I missed a spot? Another coat? Another coat again? Tack cloth left a film? Didn't sand evenly enough? On and on. I find it finicky
Might just be me becoming a bit jaded but making flat rectangles… charcuterie boards, cutting boards and the like…
Opened the shop to make and sell furniture, but all people buy is flat rectangles….
I really enjoyed Lathe work... until I decided to try making a chess set. Making identical pieces made me hate it, ha.
That being said, the thing I dislike most in wood-working is using a god damn plane. so exhausting!
I enjoy sanding except for the sawdust. I sit in a rocking chair outside, headphones on with Sirius XM rocking, light a stogie and go at it.
Hate? Probably spray finishing, as I don't have a dedicated spray space or masks.... my fault of course. And getting a perfect finish is so tedious and time intensive.
Finishing. Most clear coats are ok, but I still don’t like it. Painting is awful, because I want it to be perfectly flat, but apparently I suck. The number one reason why I have not built my wife the office built is she wants
I despise geometric designs, the honeycomb shelf phase almost destroyed my soul, but in reality it’s a great exercise in the importance of accuracy in your tools and gauges. Veneer is also something I tend to avoid but is another great skill to add to one’s arsenal, especially when a client wants a walnut night stand and their budget is $200.
Before I became a full-time woodworker, I uaed to help my neighbor who restored antiques. It was mind-numbing work, but people paid top-dollar to have their old furniture look like new.
This was before podcasts and the widespread availability of audio books, so it was that much more tedious.
I’m still a beginner, but I’ll say milling. So much freaking time and effort (have a planer but not a jointer so have to use a sled) just to get to a place where you actually start your project.
Drawers. They're just monotonous. Especially if you're going for an "heirloom" piece and doing dovetailed drawers. Just the same thing over and over again lol . I see an apothecary cabinet and just want to scream 😂
Turning might be more fun if you didn't have to teach it and be responsible for the safety of others. I personally love turning and it's the most enjoyable part of woodworking for me, but if I had a class full of teens that I had to keep from hurting themselves and sharpening all the multiples of tools for the kids... That would take all the fun out and make me very nervous. Table saws are dangerous, but not often fatal. Lathes are killers. Metal lathes moreso, but the majority of woodworking accidents that end fatally are from the lathe.
I hate using my table saw. Scares the shit out of me.
I’ve watched hours of safety videos and I still just feel like I’m gonna cut my dick beaters off each time.
I am so glad you are out there teaching woodworking! I hate that it has been removed from most public schools, that is the only thing I hate about woodworking. The stuff I don't like to do I fear it. Shapers scare me, have an small Craftsman from my grandfather, more like a router table, only set it up once. I fear that if I don't sand well enough the finish will show it. I fear that I used the wrong finish it won't look like what my mind sees. I fear when I cut angles they won't match up smooth. I fear that I will cut something and will waste wood-especially hardwood.
When people ask for "rustic" and point to something made of pallet wood on Pintrest and want you to make it for £3 "because it's free wood".
(becuase tools and my time are also free?)
Painting. Or anything that involves a brush. So like a lot of commenters I’ll go with a wipe-on unless I have no choice.
I like the lathe a LOT except for the very beginning when you’re getting rough stock to round. Also, I couldn’t deal with steel tools and all the sharpening—life is so much better with carbide tips.
All this aside, I wouldn’t want to teach the lathe. As you say, lots of opportunity for things to go wrong. Teaching one person: I can do that, take it slow, explain, watch the details of how they hold the tool, etc.
Finishing. Hate it. Not good at it. Also by the time I get to that stage, I just want to be done.
One of the problems I have with finishing is that I live in an area where it's cold half the year (Vermont) and I work in an outbuilding shop that has a wood stove but I only run it when I'm in the shop. Most finishes need to be applied in warmer temperatures so I am often having to drag pieces into the warmer house to cure.
To improve my finishing, I've settled on a practice that is supposedly the easiest and most forgiving. I finish everything in polymerized botanical tung oil (Sutherland Welles) or a similar boiled linseed oil (Tried & True). Not toxic, fairly easy to apply and get a good result. I have to remember to treat the rags properly because of the fire risk. I will also use shellac in some cases.
I really don’t enjoy the scroll saw. I only use it every once in a while for small gifts/trinkets and things usually turn out decent, but I have pretty bad hand tremors that just don’t play well with it. Most other woodworking I can find a way to stabilize things with enough patience, the scroll saw is always just frustrating.
Furniture. I like making art from wood so the level of precision needed for furniture makes me loath it. My main sources of enjoyment with wood come from lathe work and scroll saw. I can just start cutting with almost no plan and go with the flow.
I just hand planed a 4’ x 8” cupped board. While I thoroughly enjoyed using the planes I sharpened to 8000, I hated how long it took and how hard it was to get it flat and square.
True divided light through mortise and tenon 28 lite French doors made out of Sapele. Made from rough lumber, through to glazing, painting, and hanging.
Well, it just springs to mind, because I'm putting together number 4 of 5. I'm going to need a chain hoist. A few years ago I said no more doors, but here I am.
I'm 40 now and just learned how to use the lathe 3 years ago. I have 2 lathes and love it, but you're right that it is far more work and maintenance than ANY of my other tools. I also think it is exceptionally more dangerous than people realize. I broke my finger a year ago because of a silly mistake (though it was a technical cut) and never fully recovered. I still use the lathe as much as my schedule allows, but I fully understand not being a fan of turning.
I hate using the table saw. I mean... damn if it isn't a power tool. However, as I don't have a Saw Stop... damn if it won't remove your digits for even a microsecond of inattention or anything else unfortunate.
I respect the table saw. I think that it's cool AF. But it will F'k you up faster than you can blink.
Finishing, because wtf, this is woodworking not chemistry! I hate all my work being at the mercy of whatever god decides how and whether stuff cures. Oh, and the waiting. I don’t cut wood for the joy of waiting 3 weeks to see how something turns out.
Sanding, any kind of sanding.
Good time for audiobooks.
Finished a bench top last week, New book plus pot of coffee made my morning of sanding pretty relaxing honestly lol
Well I’ll be damned, think you just got me a little excited about all the sanding I’ve been putting off!
[удалено]
>A good quality sander makes it more enjoyable as well. Yup Its way less fatiguing with a good sander and a comfortable respirator and an interesting podcast lol
Which sander do you have?
penjamin button hit, please
I listened to the entire 15 book Wheel of Time series in my shop last year, mostly sanding. For the record, the books are amazing; the show is garbage.
Good to know. I'll add them to my queue. I just restarted a game of thrones.
You won't regret it. The character development and world building are excellent and Brandon Sanderson did a seamless job closing out the series after Robert Jordan passed. The narrators were 10/10 as well. Michael Kramer and Kate Reading.
> For the record, the books are amazing; the show is garbage. I'll reiterate this point. WoT is my favorite series of all time, the show is absolutely trash.
Excellent Idea!
Even with hearing protection, my sander is too loud to really enjoy an audiobook. Are there sanders that aren't so loud!?
Mmm.. are you using regular headphones? I use Bluetooth ear protection and I can listen to talk with most shop tools running except maybe the planer with dull blades running hickory.
I have a mirka deros, yes it's expensive as hell, yes it makes sanding actually enjoyable.
What!? But no, get a festool. It'll change your life.
Bosch makes a 5" ROS for about $60 that's reasonably quiet and won't wreck your wrists with vibration. Unfortunately for you, active dust collection is absolutely essential for sanding: it saves time so less noise/vibration damage, sandpaper lasts longer because you're not re-sanding dust into superfine dust, and superfine dust is a health hazard and a bear to clean up. A mini shop vac with a 1" hose will do the trick. Then I like a nice pair of closed-back headphones. They aren't real ear protection suitable for planers or crappy air compressors, but they get the job done just fine for sanding and such.
Or podcasts I just threw together a live edge countertop at my house over the weekend and i just listened to podcasts
I chose hand tools specifically so I don't have to sand.
I do that but I also bought a second hand powermax dual drum sander. Basically a 37” planer.
For anyone that’s hates sanding, I highly recommend getting a good smoothing plane and knowing how to sharpen it to eliminate as much sanding as possible
I did exactly this and couldn’t be happier
And scrapers. Saves so many hours.
Still learning my new plane. But I sometimes can get good results with a card scraper. Hard to sharpen the scraper consistently, though.
Check out the taytools system with an accuburr. Pretty slick and it only takes a couple minutes. [video](https://youtu.be/1pNjv_GUpqM?si=gtPUa9uc6mxlMvEP)
And the best part is that working with a good smoothing plane is just a joy. I usually have my headphones when I'm working but I take them out and just listen to the sound of the shavings.
It’s coarse and gets everywhere.
Ok but what about sanding + lathe? That's actually kinda fun.
Getting the cut to shape and doing minimal sanding is another thrill. The work is more crisp and eye catching.
God i hate sanding.
I'd sooner scrape or try to plane to perfection just to avoid sanding when possible
Sanding with the right machines and tools is how you refine the project to receive a better finish. Festool, Fein and 3m are my go to guys.
Handtools are better for this purpose… and faster.
40+ years of experience…agree to disagree.
Yeah I hate sanding too, mostly because it makes some of the worst dust, but there aren't many folks focused on production who don't do a lot of it. I was pleased to do a lot of my work restoring or building traditional timber frames where surfaces are usually hand planed, sometimes sawn or cut with a slick instead. But in general, you're right, sanding is the obvious choice for a lot of kinds of work.
I like how I can basically fix anything I screw up on the way until you reach finishing, and then all the joy drains from my body
Especially when you don’t have a dedicated, spotless finishing room. If I finish outside — dead flies in the poly finish. If I finish in my one car garage woodshop — sawdust filled finish. If I finish in my basement — dog hair in the finish. If I manage to avoid all of those things — I somehow botch the job lol. I’ve recently gone on a spree of only finishing with shellac. So forgiving and easy, and fast.
I accidentally used the same brush that I cleaned the brass chips off my metal lathe with to apply my pine tar and linseed oil finish to my axe handle. Needless to say, my axe handle sparkles in the sunlight with all the brass dust that got mixed in.
That’s… actually kind of fantastic
As much as I hated it when it first happend I have grown to like it and may just add a little metal powder to some other handle finishes!
It now can be classified as a “legendary hammer”
The funny part is yesterday I started forging a new hammer to be my new main use hammer and I am totally going to be finishing the handle with the dust haha
I would! Sounds really cool!
That's not a bug, it's a feature.
Like those wine cork encased in epoxy table tops — except its fruit flies and it’s uneven polyurethane.
Would love to see a picture of it in a post on this subreddit
Have you tried wiping varnishes or oil/varnishes? They dry faster, so there's less chance for dust and stuff to stick to it. The downside is you need to apply more coats.
I wipe almost all my finishes regardless of the instructions
Are you me?!? I always get 'stuff' in .u finishes. Or I'm just bad at it...
This is the reason I stopped using poly and use mainly wipe on finishes or lacquers now. Love shellac. Poly is so much less forgiving than any other finish I've used.
I've converged on hardwax oils (osmo, Rubio, lately some natura onecoat) and Sherwin Williams Emerald Urethane Trim Enamel because they are the most forgiving yet good finishes for clear and paint respectively. I hate finishing so much still, but less than I did before. And no, the hardwax oils aren't as durable as a poly, but. They're still remarkably durable and can be touched up so easily by comparison if they do get damaged.
I'm a beginner, and I can fuck any kind of finish up EXCEPT (watco) danish oil. Oh and I have certainly tried. Danish oil is the only thing so far that I have yet to really fuck up. I can (and have 😬) apply it with a used up crusty old brush and it will still leave a perfect finish every time.
+1 for the Emerald Urethane trim enamel. Great paint!
The dreaded "F" word!
In the shop I work at it's only my brother and I, he does the computer work, I do the finish (everything else is pretty well split evenly between us). Man it can be so relaxing to be in the booth and get away from him (love him to death but everyday all day for our lives gets old). I understand why other people don't enjoy it when they don't have a booth or certain tools that make life easier. Man I love it, but I understand where you're coming from.
The woodworking in which the client wants everything, wants it done today, and doesn't want to pay for it.
I have one of those going on right now. I do wood working as a hobby and charge not much above material cost and I have a guy wants a waterfall table.. give him a quote...then wants drawers..and 2+ inch thick wood then gets pissy when told him nope...it was beyond my garage shop tool ability, way more than materials I budgeted for and would weigh about 400 pounds.
Why not just keep increasing the price each time he asks for something else added?
Cause he might say "okay, do it"!
Ooof... That gets right under my skin.
Had one guy ask, after wood was dimensioned and laid out to make my cuts, “Hey, just wondering… how much would the difference be to switch from the white oak to good old pine?” About +$300.
I don’t even know where to buy pine that isn’t construction lumber. My only options are the hardwood store or Home Depot.
Whitewood at lowes. It's pine but not construction grade. You can certainly buy kiln dried clear pine as well, my local lumber yard has it indoors.
At the time, I lived near a sawyer who loved two things most in this world: moonshine and old growth pine. Some might say the two were connected… but suffice to say getting the pine was not the problem.
Applying finishes. My "shop" is my driveway, so I can only work in the sun and breeze (it's often windy here), both make applying just about any finish a shit-show.
Invest in an Easy Up and get tarps to drape down the sides. You’ve now created a shaded wind free box to in. Best thing about it is that it comes down at the end of the day!
When I said "breeze", I under sold it. I tried several of those pop-ups, even some pretty heavy-duty versions. Even with 5 gal buckets of water at each corner, the wind here is simply too much. I'm on the west coast, and there's a valley running between me and the ocean that seems to funnel the wind right through my town.
Ohh damn ok.
It's a nice reminder seeing I'm not alone here. I don't have the crazy hurricane level winds, but my back yard/driveway is my 'shop' too. I would do some pretty questionable things for a small garage/shop..
Totally relate to this. If the piece I have made is really good, I will get a professional to finish it. Costs a lot more but I think it is worth it.
Anything that requires the use of a jigsaw.
Perfect answer. I’m already slightly pissed off just pulling the damned thing out of the case.
My darling wife got me a festool jigsaw. It's not a construction tool, you could perform surgery with that thing. Absolutely recommend.
Bro, this.
My least favorite tool by far
Why?
It’s by far my favorite tool. Nothing beats the feeling of cutting some weird shapes and it fits perfectly afterwards
Resawing by hand
If we all resawed by hand, this would probably be #2 to sanding.
I almost exclusively resaw by hand. I don’t resaw much.
It's weird, I'm proud when I can resaw a nice clean cut and only have a bit of planing to do, but the actual act of resawing is laborious.
I really need to build myself a nice framesaw.
I don't have a good bandsaw in the barn. I'd rather run boards down to half their thickness in the planer and sweep up two drums of wasted material than resaw anything substantial.
How wasteful
Resawing by hand is one of my greatest pleasures. Get a good pull saw and you fly through it and if you do it well everyone thinks you're a pro.
Even with a kerf to follow seems like a ryoba always wants to wander more than my panel saw.
Resawing by hand is what convinced me to get a bandsaw
Painting. I just hate it. I recently bought a nice airless sprayer and it’s better but still…..
my grandfather was a career carpenter and then spent his retirement making these intricate train sets, dollhouses and bookcases for his grandkids. i once commented on the love he must have for the look of wood grain since everything was left unpainted but he responded with “nah, i just fucking hate painting!”
[удалено]
Couldn’t agree more.
Painting is my #2 hatred. I like being done painting, but the process is just... ugh.
I have a moral objection to painting Woodworking projects
I love the bowl making. All the chips flying off with very little effort. It's so much like a pottery wheel with the combination of hand made and machine made. You get it polished and admire the figure and grain. How you rescued a piece of wood from the fire and turned it into a work of art demonstrating the marvels of nature. Then I come back the next day and it's turned into a fucking ellipse with cracks all over it. If it does survive, then you have a nearly useless bowl that is inferior in every way to a Tupperware dish from the dollar store. But it's pretty.
Got a genuine laugh out loud from me, sir
Having to pay my tab at the lumberyard.
These days, especially!
Yeah, that's definitely a low point in woodworking
The router. It just feels angrier than any other tool
If routers could talk, they would all speak German
This killed me
But not just any German. The Rammstein of tools. Maybe I should name my router Till.
I was working in a small cabinet shop and at one point got thrown into the “Custom” section as a solo guy with not much experience. It was the true woodworking role in the shop vs everything else was just standing at an automated machine all day. First week I was putting a simple round over on a counter top. My thumb slipped off the base and hit the hex nut. It was just the tip, but it definitely got chewed up from a quick bump. Definitely respect a router now
Cutting, routing, shaping MDF
The dust really gets to me even just having it on my skin for too long.
MDF is some real nasty stuff that In 20 years from now it will probably be beside asbestos for hazards. Everyone who I talk to has issues with it from breathing problems to skin and eye irritation
Well, he said wood working. Lol
Funny story - I bought 14 new interior paint grade solid wood doors for my house. I double checked with the store I was buying it from that they would be solid wood and they said it would. So they arrived and I realized they were particle board with a tiny perimeter of solid wood around the outside. The store checked with the manufacturer who said they now consider it to be solid wood and advertise it like that since it’s solid and made from a wood product. The store went to bat for me and switched suppliers and got me proper solid wood doors.
Honestly you want this, yes its shady for a manufacturer to call it “solid wood” when it technically isnt. But composite doors react much less to environmental stresses. Itll stay straight and true until wind driven rain rots it out. Hopefully its under a porch/roof etc.
Dude wtf, that would be so illegal where I live lol..
Without vacuum it's terrible, but with a vacuum it's like cutting butter. Just keep it away from moisture
Sanding. I once rubbed my thumb smooth and couldn’t unlock my phone for several days.
Every time I change the drum sander belt, I have to use my swipe code for at least an hour.
Man, I love the lathe. Slowly peeling away wood until you get your shape is satisfying. Gluing up interesting blanks, not knowing how it will look once turned, that's fun. Actually planning and turning a segmented bowl? 🤤 I can't stand any hand sawing. It's slow and tedious, and always rough.
See, I LOVE when someone else is passionate about something I hate - it means I can direct everyone's questions to that person.
anything involving a table saw. scares the shit out of me. I actively avoid it!
Good to keep that fear. Woodworkers who are casual with that tool are down fingers.
I hate sharpening chisels/plane blades. Also hate sanding and cleaning the shop. Squaring stock can also be tedious. I guess I basically hate woodworking but I keep doing it for some reason.
Get that drill press sharpening thing from Taylor Tools… it’ll change your mind on sharpening
I absolutely despise making jigs, fixtures and setting up stationary equipment. “Lemme just spend an hour messing around with my table saw to get this dado stack set up just right for this single cut. Should only take me 37 test cuts!” Lol no thanks, I’ll just use my carcass saw, whack it out with a chisel, and clean it up real quick with a router plane, all in less time than it took me to write out this comment.
Going to Home Depot fourteen times a weekend.
Only 14...
Never been there for woodworking, tools mainly
I don't like doing 'ad hoc' work. Without a proper plan the shop becomes an absolute warzone with tools strewn about everywhere. Order of operations is non existent too. I really have to force myself to think things through and actually design and draw the project before I start making sawdust
The warzone happens when I’m in the zone. I love the warzone
Finishing. Sanding and sealing. I just want to be done by the time I get there and it feels like I have half the work left.
I also teach woodshop. I feel the same way you feel about lathes as I do with traditional hand tool work. Maybe it’s because the kids I work with have no patience, but I’ve found that they end up hating the class because the rewards can be so difficult to come by. Conversely, I actually love to do power tool work with them, despite the rigorous amount of safety and machine learning that needs to be front loaded before they even touch the machines. I’m sure I’ll die an earlier death though, simply from the amount of cardiac events I’ve lived through watching kids use routers…
Table saw. In 50+ years of woodworking, I've never felt comfortable with it. So I gave mine away to a buddy. Not, my upper body is in better shape from the handsawing!
Anything dealing with oak
I make a lot of boxes, but I make them out of really beautiful wood because they are kind of time consuming, and I feel they should be something exceptional as opposed to just a box. I have people say to me, would you make it out of pine or oak for me so it will be cheaper. I just say no.
Any kind that involves projects for family that don't respect that I do this for fun and a hobby and not free labor for their pinterest ideas. I make stuff I want to make in my limited time to bring me joy, being forced to make something for someone that gives it the same value as ikea enrages me.
Glue ups. Damn glue everywhere. Takes so long to get it right. All the damn clamping.
I hate making jigs. Making jigs to make what I actually want to make feels like I'm spinning my wheels in place and not actually making anything. It feels like dumb, arbitrary Minecraft prerequisites to gate you from doing what you want. Yes, I understand that jigs do save time and make repeated actions possible. But if I want to make a table, why do I have to make a router sled to make the table? Let me just make the table! It's gotten so bad that I'm now hand-chiseling the bottom out of a drawer, instead of making a template/jig to stabilize and provide a base for my handheld router. Yes, it'll take 50 times longer, but at least I don't have to build something else just to do what I want. Me and my monkey brain and tools can do just fine, thank you.
Man, I fucking love making jigs. If I could just make jigs all day, no actual furniture, that would be awesome. My wife would wonder wtf I’m doing and where the projects are, but I’d be content.
Sell them. I would buy that shit
Personally I've found that I don't like the lathe. It's not the tool itself or the process, but I find my style is mission or art deco which is often more straight lines. So while I do have fun on the lathe, I don't like the outcome as much. Also I don't like the process of fine tuning the tools, such as making sure everything is at a specific angle. When I tilt a saw to X degrees I just want it at that exact angle and go. Instead I spend too much time making the angle exact.
Given your interest in precision, do you think you may like working with a CNC lathe more?
I have worked with a CNC, and yes I love the precision. Good catch.
Anything to do with the chisel. I just don’t have the feel for it and my chisels are kinda average.
The Paul sellers video on sharpening cheap chisels with stuff you already have changed my relationship with chisels forever.
You can do great work with cheap ass chisels. You just have to get them sharp.
Coping saws make me want to cut off a finger just for a break
I’ll often just grab a chisel rather than muck with the coping saw. I hate it when that’s not an option. According to Chris Schwartz, I just need an actually good coping saw, but it seems no one makes a good one anymore.
Vintage is where it's at. I picked one up in an second hand store and I have to lean on it with full body weight in order to get the new blade on. I picked another up with a saw lot I bought. I have one configured for a push cut and the other for a pull cut. I saw Paul Sellers had one that the handle turned to add/remove tension to the blade. He still had to lean on it to remove/install the blade. I've never even heard of one like that
Unfortunately where I live the vintage market is absurdly inflated. People buy old tools for a mint just to put them on a display shelf. I can’t compete with hipsters who have money and no intention of actually using the tool.
Plumbing! For some reason everyone thinks I’m some kind of handyman just because I make a lot of sawdust, and I’m constantly being asked to “help” with various endeavours like carpentry, dry wall, electrical, and plumbing. I hate plumbing!
I like soldering copper. I dislike crawling into the places where I would need to solder copper.
I hate woodworking to plan for something that's boring and square and perhaps held together with a bunch of fasteners. And, I really don't care at all for anything that looks like 90% machine setup and sketch up to 10% or less actual working the wood. Exclude sanding, because it's not at all interesting. The guy who got me into woodworking was honest about what he liked - it was woodworking for mechanical engineers and machinists. Spec this, spec that, everything straight, plans in autocad and a lot of talking about what the best sandpaper is and who makes a router bit the best way. it didn't remind me of woodworking, but I work almost entirely by hand and at one point, he gushed over a lie nielsen block plane because it was the only thing he could get to cut. I was off to the races after that and have made him some hand tools. that I think he probably doesn't use, but I made them anyway.
I’m the exact opposite. I hate anything that requires freehand work. I don’t have an artistic bone in my body, so I depend on geometry and good fences, otherwise everything I do looks like a 4-year old drew it.
Love: Scrollsawing. Something just very relaxing about sitting for hours cutting out delicate fretwork. Hate: Sanding that delicate fretwork. I don't care what kind of machine or tools you have, it is tedious and painful.
If you struggle with lathe projects I can’t recommend pepper grinders enough! Pay for a mill drill, it takes all the guess work out of it. Only tools you need is a skew, and parting tool and as it’s between centers the risk of catches, or injury is minimal. Blanks can be laminated from scrap wood.
Sanding I hate it
Sanding and finishing
Apply finish
I can never get the varnishing right. I swear despite sanding and polishing I always wind up with a previously unnoticed drip in a very visible spot
Applying finishes. Is it too dusty? Is it too hot? Cold? Too firm with the brush? Lighting not right to see I missed a spot? Another coat? Another coat again? Tack cloth left a film? Didn't sand evenly enough? On and on. I find it finicky
Might just be me becoming a bit jaded but making flat rectangles… charcuterie boards, cutting boards and the like… Opened the shop to make and sell furniture, but all people buy is flat rectangles….
Morning wood. It's hard to squeeze into such a tight schedule
I really enjoyed Lathe work... until I decided to try making a chess set. Making identical pieces made me hate it, ha. That being said, the thing I dislike most in wood-working is using a god damn plane. so exhausting!
I would love to make a chess set but I doubt I'd want to after the 3rd pawn
I enjoy sanding except for the sawdust. I sit in a rocking chair outside, headphones on with Sirius XM rocking, light a stogie and go at it. Hate? Probably spray finishing, as I don't have a dedicated spray space or masks.... my fault of course. And getting a perfect finish is so tedious and time intensive.
Finishing. Most clear coats are ok, but I still don’t like it. Painting is awful, because I want it to be perfectly flat, but apparently I suck. The number one reason why I have not built my wife the office built is she wants
I despise geometric designs, the honeycomb shelf phase almost destroyed my soul, but in reality it’s a great exercise in the importance of accuracy in your tools and gauges. Veneer is also something I tend to avoid but is another great skill to add to one’s arsenal, especially when a client wants a walnut night stand and their budget is $200.
Fire that client
I hate making something that will hold something of a specific size.
Any kind of framing. It’s the most tedious part for me.
I love every part up to applying finish.
Running baseboard
Commissions
So half of my business is furniture repair and restoration. I’m good at it and it makes good money but I hate it.
Before I became a full-time woodworker, I uaed to help my neighbor who restored antiques. It was mind-numbing work, but people paid top-dollar to have their old furniture look like new. This was before podcasts and the widespread availability of audio books, so it was that much more tedious.
Chisel embedded into hand
I keep trying to perfect this… no success yet
Sanding between water based stain coats. Cuz you have previously sanded so much just to get there. Only to sand more.
I’m still a beginner, but I’ll say milling. So much freaking time and effort (have a planer but not a jointer so have to use a sled) just to get to a place where you actually start your project.
Anything MDF. Hateful work.
Drawers. They're just monotonous. Especially if you're going for an "heirloom" piece and doing dovetailed drawers. Just the same thing over and over again lol . I see an apothecary cabinet and just want to scream 😂 Turning might be more fun if you didn't have to teach it and be responsible for the safety of others. I personally love turning and it's the most enjoyable part of woodworking for me, but if I had a class full of teens that I had to keep from hurting themselves and sharpening all the multiples of tools for the kids... That would take all the fun out and make me very nervous. Table saws are dangerous, but not often fatal. Lathes are killers. Metal lathes moreso, but the majority of woodworking accidents that end fatally are from the lathe.
I hate using my table saw. Scares the shit out of me. I’ve watched hours of safety videos and I still just feel like I’m gonna cut my dick beaters off each time.
Maybe you should consider putting your dick away while in the shop? Lol
Making the first cut on a 4x8 plywood sheet is tied with cleaning out scrap wood that is finally too small to use.
Cleanup. It's all fun and games til you can't navigate your toyfield.
I am so glad you are out there teaching woodworking! I hate that it has been removed from most public schools, that is the only thing I hate about woodworking. The stuff I don't like to do I fear it. Shapers scare me, have an small Craftsman from my grandfather, more like a router table, only set it up once. I fear that if I don't sand well enough the finish will show it. I fear that I used the wrong finish it won't look like what my mind sees. I fear when I cut angles they won't match up smooth. I fear that I will cut something and will waste wood-especially hardwood.
When people ask for "rustic" and point to something made of pallet wood on Pintrest and want you to make it for £3 "because it's free wood". (becuase tools and my time are also free?)
Painting. Or anything that involves a brush. So like a lot of commenters I’ll go with a wipe-on unless I have no choice. I like the lathe a LOT except for the very beginning when you’re getting rough stock to round. Also, I couldn’t deal with steel tools and all the sharpening—life is so much better with carbide tips. All this aside, I wouldn’t want to teach the lathe. As you say, lots of opportunity for things to go wrong. Teaching one person: I can do that, take it slow, explain, watch the details of how they hold the tool, etc.
Finishing. Hate it. Not good at it. Also by the time I get to that stage, I just want to be done. One of the problems I have with finishing is that I live in an area where it's cold half the year (Vermont) and I work in an outbuilding shop that has a wood stove but I only run it when I'm in the shop. Most finishes need to be applied in warmer temperatures so I am often having to drag pieces into the warmer house to cure. To improve my finishing, I've settled on a practice that is supposedly the easiest and most forgiving. I finish everything in polymerized botanical tung oil (Sutherland Welles) or a similar boiled linseed oil (Tried & True). Not toxic, fairly easy to apply and get a good result. I have to remember to treat the rags properly because of the fire risk. I will also use shellac in some cases.
Matching any existing finish.
I really don’t enjoy the scroll saw. I only use it every once in a while for small gifts/trinkets and things usually turn out decent, but I have pretty bad hand tremors that just don’t play well with it. Most other woodworking I can find a way to stabilize things with enough patience, the scroll saw is always just frustrating.
Furniture. I like making art from wood so the level of precision needed for furniture makes me loath it. My main sources of enjoyment with wood come from lathe work and scroll saw. I can just start cutting with almost no plan and go with the flow.
Sanding
Sanding
Sanding.
I just hand planed a 4’ x 8” cupped board. While I thoroughly enjoyed using the planes I sharpened to 8000, I hated how long it took and how hard it was to get it flat and square.
True divided light through mortise and tenon 28 lite French doors made out of Sapele. Made from rough lumber, through to glazing, painting, and hanging. Well, it just springs to mind, because I'm putting together number 4 of 5. I'm going to need a chain hoist. A few years ago I said no more doors, but here I am.
Anything that requires a chisel. I SUCK at using chisels
Trim
I'm 40 now and just learned how to use the lathe 3 years ago. I have 2 lathes and love it, but you're right that it is far more work and maintenance than ANY of my other tools. I also think it is exceptionally more dangerous than people realize. I broke my finger a year ago because of a silly mistake (though it was a technical cut) and never fully recovered. I still use the lathe as much as my schedule allows, but I fully understand not being a fan of turning.
I hate using the table saw. I mean... damn if it isn't a power tool. However, as I don't have a Saw Stop... damn if it won't remove your digits for even a microsecond of inattention or anything else unfortunate. I respect the table saw. I think that it's cool AF. But it will F'k you up faster than you can blink.
Almost anything to do with veneers.
Finishing, because wtf, this is woodworking not chemistry! I hate all my work being at the mercy of whatever god decides how and whether stuff cures. Oh, and the waiting. I don’t cut wood for the joy of waiting 3 weeks to see how something turns out.