Some Assembly Required

As a hand tool woodworker, I don't like to S4S my wood.  I have a local company for a fee that will procure and provide width and thickness S4S wood for me.  In terms of length, they prefer to keep the boards at the length they get from their lumber supplier.  There is a set up fee for reach new dimension.  As such, I tend to determine what thicknesses I need as cutting to length and width isn't too difficult.  So, the widest board I need usually dictates what widths I will typically get.

Below is the starting pile to make a Shaker style chimney cupboard.  Though in theory it is kiln dried, I still like it to sit in my shop for 2 to 6 months before I use it.  This will be my next big project.  I'm very excited as I've wanted to do this for quite a few years and I finally feel that my skills are at a level to accomplish this.  My guess is that it will likely take me 200 hours to make this piece.  We shall see.

By the way, the photo shows the space I need to woodwork and it also shows how clean I typically keep things.  I am not obsessive about things but I do like to keep things tidy.  The wood arrived on short notice so I didn't do any special cleaning prior to the photo.  In a prior post I gave some other photos of the shop space (really it's garage where I park our cars).  Off to the right are a few more genuine woodworking tools (as opposed to home handyman tools) and a card table that collects junk.  Off to the left is a metal shelving system where I get about two and a half shelves to store this and some other wood.  Thought I would love my own separate wood shop, I can't complain about the space I have.  Life is good.

PS Just in case are wondering, the cost for this was $1000.  I'm guessing about half wood cost and half labor. If I divide this by the estimated 200 hours it will take me, my cost per hour of hobby fun is $5 per hour.  I have other hobbies where the cost can easily be a factor of 5 or 10 higher pre hour.  As such, I don't mind the money spent on the wood.  I do need to save it for it though.  Also, if I were really lucky, I would be able to make three projects this size a year and I doubt that's the case.  From a budgeting perspective that means if I can save $250 a month for wood, I easily cover my costs.  To help me do this, I can count on one hand the number of times per year I go to Starbucks or eat lunch out at work.  I enjoy those things as well but I enjoy the wood more.