This has been a great woodworking year for me. Let’s talk about what went down and what is coming.
2024
At the beginning of 2024 I was working on the seat of my first chair, unsure of what I was doing. I was only two months into that six month project. It was slow going but I was building up a head of steam…
I had committed to building furniture for use, rather than tools, the shop, etc. I did end up doing some unplanned shop work (wiring up new lighting, adding better flooring, and creating storage, all because we moved) but it didn’t slow me down much.
I wrote fourteen articles here, about eleven projects, plus a bizarre standalone short story. Here are my favorites:
By the end of 2024 I had a nearly complete blanket chest of my own design. New techniques no longer took me ages to get up to speed on. I had earned a quiet assurance in my abilities.
2025
I will start writing more. I currently publish polished articles monthly, and will add quickly written articles published weekly. Once I start writing those articles I will limit some articles to paid subscribers, though I’m not sure which.
Projects for the coming year:
Complete work on the blanket chest of my own design. It is huge and might warrant multiple articles— one for the custom design, one for the carcass, one for the drawers, and one for the finish. This would be a good for those weekly articles going to paid subscribers. I will finish it in January.
I will make a curved table for the entryway of our new home, to match the curve of the wall and the spiral of the stairs. I drew up the initial design and it didn’t look right so I shelved it. I will continue experimenting with the design till it hits.
I will make one to five more stick chairs, for myself, my wife, and my family. For my chair it will likely be the same design as my first chair, but saddled. For my wife I plan to make a side chair (no arms) that she can use while sewing. The rest will likely be subtle variations on the second chair (different amounts of sticks, different configurations of the stretchers, slightly different woods, different hands, etc) since that chair is pretty good for dining.
I will make a few picture frames. I hope to get the process down so that I can make a few in an evening. This may just mean building a little spreadsheet to tweak the variables rather than having to make a drawing every time.
I may invest in more shop upgrades: hanging wall cabinets, sharpening station, wood organization.
I might make one more tool: a Roubo saw for resawing.
Commission Book
This is my most ambitious, contingent plan for next year.
I want to make at least one commission and get into the habit of frequent commissions. This is not for the money but for the added constraint to help me improve my skills. (Also my wife is surely to get annoyed at all the furniture I’m filling our place with.)
This will require non-trivial effort as it will involve amending my current work contract, the creation of an LLC, creation of various business accounts, “fun” taxes, etc. I hope to have these requirements done in late February to mid March.
If you want in on the commission book please reach out. I need to sort out many details still, but it’ll happen next year. I am happy to make yard sticks, picture frames, chairs, tables, and other furniture. I am not yet willing to make instruments, rocking chairs, most hand planes, or similar high precision work.
When the commission book is closer to materializing I’ll create a website with a portfolio and the process for commissioning work.
Next Year
As with all plans these are just intentions. I set little stock in plans being accurate. Prefer instead to gracefully roll with the punches.
Here’s a blessing for your coming year:
Rebuke the idle. Encourage the fainthearted. Help the weak. Be patient with all. Do not repay evil for evil. Seek to do good to all. Rejoice always. Give thanks always. Hold fast to what is good. Abstain from all evil. Honor all. Love fasting. Relieve the poor. Clothe the naked. Visit the sick. Bury the dead. Help in times of trouble. Console the sorrowing. Do not to give way to anger. Do not nurse a grudge. Keep death daily before your eyes. Keep constant guard over the actions in your life.
Eat your bread with joy, and drink your wine with a merry heart. Enjoy life with the wife whom you love, all the days of your life. Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for there is no work or thought or knowledge or wisdom in the void, to which you are going.
Hark, no more shall be heard in the city a sound of weeping or a cry of distress.
No more shall there be a baby who lives only a few days, or an old man who does not live to the full: the young man shall die a hundred years old.
The people shall build houses and inhabit them; they shall plant their own vineyards and eat their own fruit. They shall not build and another inhabit; they shall not plant and another eat; for like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be, and the people shall long enjoy the work of their hands. They shall not labor in vain or bear children for calamity. They shall not hurt or destroy in all the land.