2023 Woodworking Goals

 I've never put together a woodworking goals for the year thing before.  Certainly do it for work.  I thought it might be nice to put something together for 2023 and then at the end of the year see where I land.  It's not a life and death list but a nice to have.

In terms of the big projects, I have three:  Christian Becksvoort's 15 drawer chest, Limbert No 355 bookcase, and Stumpy Nubs saw benches.  In terms of seriousness of doing these, I already have all the needed lumber in my rack so the money has been spent.  If I can get these three done in 2023 and nothing else, I will consider it a successful year.

I am a huge fan of Becksvoort's work.  I fell in love with this 15 drawer chest a long time ago.  I have some left over cherry from a Shaker Chimney cabinet I built in 2021.  The dovetail focus in 2022 was to get me ready to build this.  I feel ready and can't wait to start.

Another piece I really love is Limbert's No 355 bookcase.  I just love the three sides to hold books.  I have genuine mahogany (aka Honduran mahogany) that has been in my shop for 11 months so I am ready.  Both Fine Woodworking and a book (image above) have all the critical info I need to build it.  I build in late 2022 a small project from mahogany just to see how it behaves with hand tools.  I like the way it works so this will be fun project.  Biggest "problem" is to figure out how I want to finish it.  Bigger picture, I want to have my living/dining room combo room covered in book shelves.  Not sure if I want to do it in cherry or mahogany so this project will help me get a feel which wood to do all the book cases down the road.

There are many saw bench styles out there.  I choose the Stumpy Nubs version so I could purchase the plan and help support his work.  I really like his YouTube channel so I'm happy to spend some money with him to get the plans.  They are well written plans.  Better than I needed.  I was all set to do this build in mid 2022 and purchased quarter sawn white oak for the build.  Unfortunately, many of the kiln dried boards were still very wet (I now bring my moisture meter with me to check).  I cut them to rough length to help them air dry.  They have dried fairly well over the last 6 months but some portions still a bit too wet.  Hopefully by the time I get to this project the moisture content will have reached shop equilibrium.  If not, I will push the project out. I went with the oak as these benches will likely also serve as furniture for larger family gatherings, ao I wanted them to be nicer than just shop furniture.

Before I can get to these three projects, I need to get a few things done.  Firstly, I need to finish the subwoofer box for my nephew.  I'm fairly far along in its construction.  I need to remake one of the pieces as I glued and screwed one of the interior bracings to the outside - doh!  Easier to make a new one than fix this.  I could saw and plane it off and plug screw holes up.  However, it won't look as nice and I want to do a good job for my nephew.  Once this is done, I can glue up the carcass.  Then, it's just cutting and fitting and screwing on the top and bottom.  Then, finishing it with shellac.  Either I or my nephew will cut the holes in the top for the sub-woofer drivers.  I likely will need 4ish weekends to get this all done.

After that, I need to clean up my grandfather's workbench and do some shop organization to get it in place.  That will likely take a weekend or two.

Then, I will likely get the bandsaw set up.  It's still sitting on the shipping pallet.  It weighs 400 lbs and I am not going to try and muscle it onto the mobile base.  I purchased a 1 ton "winch" from Harbor freight and a sturdy metal tripod feeder top with pulley.  This should work well, and be easily dismantled and stored away.  Just need to get some metal tubing which I will likely infill with wood for the tripod legs.  

The other thing that will get done in 2023 is I am taking a class at Mount Diablo Adult education that starts in early Jan.  I've signed up and the wood is purchased.  We will be making a shaker table.  It will give me some additional experience learning how to use woodworking machines.  I mostly prefer hand tools but want to learn how to do donkey work on machines.  After 7 years of working with hand tools, I can do everything by hand but am trying to get some additional skills in machine work.

The last thing I would really like to do is take a summer woodworking class at the Krenov school if I can get in.  It fills up quick.  Longer term, I want to go to woodworking school for (ideally) two years when I retire.  Trying to get all my ducks in a row to be a strong candidate for the Krenov school.  Living in California, getting into the Krenov school would be a great thing.

If I can get all this done, it will be a successful year.  There at lots of other things that may or may not get made.  I have about half a dozen tools I could make in which I already have the parts and materials in house.  We shall see if I can find the time.  I'd also like to make another Paul Seller's keepsake box.  The first one didn't go that well and I know I can do better and have practiced the things I need to do to make it better.  Plus, it would make a great Christmas gift.