Over Working: Friday Update
There is a fine line between working hard and over working, and I crossed it this week.
Before I dive into the story, I wanted to share a story you may have missed because I put it out off schedule. The Display Cabinet Retrospective and corresponding video. Oh, and I have an update on My Work with pictures of the cabinet. Thanks for checking those things out and appreciating the cabinet that took me 7 weeks to build one last time.
Okay, diving in to this week.
Last weekend my wife had a girls trip to the beach, which meant I had the kids for the weekend. The good news is the weather here in Oregon is improving. Winter has finally let go of it’s grip, the sun is shining, the rain subsiding, and outdoor activities are accessible again.
It was a perfect opportunity to go wear the kids out so I could have evenings in the shop. Friday, we had a short walk around the block and a swing session in the backyard. Then dinner and bed putting me out in the shop by 7:30 to finish off the tapers on my end table legs and glued the top together, but I took it easy because it was Friday night.
Saturday started early with my son having a potty accident at 5:00 requiring carpet cleaning some areas in his room. Early start but it turned out to be a beautiful day. We walked for 2+ miles in the morning, came back for lunch, had a little movie time to rest, and went back out for another 2+ miles and an hour at the park. On top of that I mowed the lawn, planted some plants, and did the indoor weekend chores (laundry, vacuuming, cleaned the kitchen, etc.). After dinner it was bath, story, and bed to put me back in the shop at 7:30 where I finished off the top, cut it to size, cut my stretchers, created the sliding dovetails in the legs and stretchers, and hand cut the sliding dovetails to fit, wrapping up around 10:00. I was happy because the table was now together and all that remained were the final details.
Almost done. This is the dry fit so I could remediate any issues before glue up. The most notable change will be a round over on the top and outside corner of the legs.
Sunday started at 5:00, again. I was not happy about it this time but I was up. We had an early walk after breakfast and picked up the house before mom returned home. At this point I was tired, so I decided to take a break and a night off knowing that Monday I’ll come back at it full force to finish the little things.
Fast forward to Monday evening, after work, after putting the kids down. The house was quiet. Ashley was gone, working out, and wouldn’t be home until after 8:00. I sat on the couch around 7:30 to take a small rest before heading out to the shop. The next thing I knew I woke up to my phone going off at 8:15. I must have fallen asleep as soon as I sat down. That was a sign, I was too tired to work, so I took that night off, and Tuesday as well to recover.
I put the project behind by a couple of days but I needed it.
The weekend was just too much. I pushed myself too hard, and I paid the price. Luckily, I was smart enough and I recognized I needed a break instead of pushing through and creating an unsafe situation where I could potentially hurt myself. The most dangerous situation with power tools is not unsafe practices, it’s fatigue. An unclear mind will cause you to make mistakes and mistakes at the table saw can be life altering.
So I spent my time researching. I launched a video last weekend on the display cabinet, which did not do as well as I had hoped. So I went to Reddit and researched. I asked questions, joined forums, and made connections. I received advice and reviews I hadn’t before and in turn made investments to improve my video quality. This week I purchased two new microphones. One for voiceover and another for in the garage, a lapel mic. I found out how to change the video color to fix the washed out look. I tweaked titles, worked on thumbnails, and did some maintenance on my descriptions.
Will any of it matter? I don’t know. But I won’t find out unless I try.
By Wednesday I was feeling better and began again on the build. Fixing a couple of mistakes I made, yes, even experienced woodworkers make mistakes, and moving on to the details.
Wrong orientation in the sled resulted in a straight cut where there should have been a taper. I caught it, but still had to fix this problem. Luckily it will be in the back and no one will ever know.
The mistakes were silly. I had one leg I put into my tapering jig the wrong way. Luckily I caught myself mid cut, but that resulted in a small cut I had to feather in to the rest of the leg. The second mistake was cutting the top before I made the base. After I made the base the top was slightly too small, 1/16 of an inch, but I could not adjust the stretchers because they were dovetailed, so I had to make the legs slightly smaller to compensate. Easy enough with a hand plane to fix.
The final details were all pretty straight forward. Round over the top and outside edges of the legs. Cut a channel for z-clips to affix the top to the base. Sand everything. Apply finish. And glue it together.
I had hoped to have the table completely done this week, but my body said no. So I have a few things to wrap up this weekend before it’s ready to come inside.
As far as I got. All the parts fit and are sanded. I need to assemble and finish, 2 hours tops to completion.
A Look Ahead
It’s time to get back to client work. I have a giant Lazy-Susan. That will likely take me at least a week to do. Then I have a few smaller commissions in the backlog before it’s time to move on to my own projects again.
Oh, and Ashley already said she likes this little end table so much she wants two more for the family room. Good thing I made jigs. All the math is done, lessons learned, and the next two should go fast.