Woodworking Magazine Blog

I quite enjoy looking at other woodworkers' work, but nothing makes me spit out my coffee faster than reading that a certain project took 300, 600 or even 900 hours of work. It makes me wonder: Are they boasting, admitting their shame or just stating fact?  

If I worked for 600 hours on a single project I would probably be fired (and also be ready to check into a mental hospital). I mean, 600 hours is 15 straight weeks of eight-hour days. To be sure, there are some projects (anything with large amounts of marquetry) that could suck up the hours based on the sheer number of parts. But the projects I'm bemused by generally are quite nice, but not overwhelming in complexity. What I have found from examining work like this is that they are overwhelming in perfection.

This is the part where you can start calling me a hack.

When I build, I log my hours of shoptime on my cutlist. I don't log the time I wait for glue to dry overnight or time waiting for lacquer to set up – just the time I'm in the shop and putting tool to wood. And building for the magazine slows me down – I have to stop and take lots of photos regularly (about half of the photos I take get thrown out for space considerations). So I know what I spend on a table when it comes to time.

For example, the table on the cover of issue No. 2 took me about 20 hours to build the first time. The second and third tables took me 17 hours each, and each table has a hand-cut dovetailed drawer. The Creole Table is shaping up to be a 20-hour project, too.

Part of my time savings is due to the fact that I don't fuss over interior surfaces. All of the interior parts will get trued by a jointer plane (this speeds assembly) but they'll never see a smoothing plane or scraper or sandpaper. I speed the fitting of mortise-and-tenon joints by always undercutting the tenon shoulders so they'll close tight the first time.

And I never do anything until I absolutely have to. I don't assemble a joint until it's do-or-die assembly time. Assembling and disassembling will slow you down and sometimes increase the chance that you'll damage a part. I don't break down a tool setup until I have to (this saves tons of shop time). And I keep many tools set up to do one thing only. My jointer plane is never set up as an oversized smoothing plane – it's always set up like a jointer plane. I don't use my powered jointer for rabbeting or bevels or other things that I have tools for. The powered jointer trues the faces and edges. Period.

Having a complete set of tools helps, obviously. And beginners are going to struggle and spend a lot of time setting and changing tools because of their financial and tool limitations. I understand that and empathize – I was there myself.

The point I'm trying to make is that you shouldn't feel like a hack if you don't spend eleventy-billion hours on a project. You shouldn't feel bad if there's tear-out on the underside of a shelf. The pets and insectoid pests in your home don't much care when they spot it. If you get pleasure from treating every surface like it's a show surface, that's fine; woodworking is more of a hobby than a profession for most. But know that there is also great virtue in getting things done so they can be used and enjoyed.

— Christopher Schwarz