Whew!  Made it through Christmas and delivered all our orders on-time and without any shipping issues. Now that I have a little time to breathe, I will spend a couple of hours a day this week to “putter” in the workshop. This means activities such as sweeping up all the chips and blowing dust off of everything. It also means I get to tackle a couple of major projects. First is to rearrange the shop layout. This does not involve moving too many machines around but more about rearranging all the tools, jigs, fixtures, etc. that are hung on the pegboard walls that surround my studio. As I design new spinning tools such as our True Creations portable kick spindle, I prototype and hand build the first couple. Then I make a complete set of jigs and fixtures so the product can be made efficiently in batches. Often the jigs take longer to build than the product itself, however, the time return over the long run more than justifies the investment. However, since I add new sets of jigs and fixtures every year, I do need to take the time to rearrange the walls to hold them all.  This has become my end of the year tradition.

The second major project is a clean-up, adjustment and tune-up of all my major machines. Let’s see, that means 5 lathes, a bandsaw, a table saw, drill press, duct collector, sharpening system, etc. all receive some sorely needed TLC. Guess I better get back into the shop and get working!

I hope you all have a healthy and prosperous 2015!

Jim