When the creative juices dry up

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Jim Boyd

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Aug 4, 2005
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Location
Montgomery, Texas, USA.
When the creative juices dry up I'll mope around for a couple of weeks then clean the shop[:o)] This happens about every 6 month or so and I just finished up. Looking at everything I have accumulated I decided to take a break from pens and play with some of my other toys. Here is a link if you want to take a gander:D Now my problem is deciding what to make[xx(] I have about 1/2 dozen grandfather clock works, a Norris A6 kit and plans for a rolltop desk. It will probable take me a month before I figure it out :D Any of y'all ever have this problem[?]
 
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Originally posted by Jim Boyd
<br />..... a Norris A6 kit........
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Hmmmm,

Gots money to burn do we? Don't those kits go for around the $500.00 tag?
 
Coooool. Somethig for me to aspire. My wife wants here garage space back abd as final given - nay, demanded - that I build my own workshop. So I picked up some ideas from your shop.

Also, I noticed that your creative juices haven't dried up too much. Being from Texas, I like the Texas Lone Star pen in your photo collection. Care to share the details on how you created it? I usually paste a star sticker on a piece of wood and band saw it it. I then dremel out a matching hole and glue it into a blank. Not as crisp and exact as yours. I know how to cut out 10 matching pieces and cit and glue up a star using that method and that 'appears' to be what you did. Any comments or secrets you want to share?
 
Nice shop Jim. You look to have even more pegboard than the massive amount I have in my shop! What's that in the tray bins below the clock?
 
Jim,
I fell into a rut about 3 months ago. What I have done is put a stereo in my shop and I will play the soundtrack from "Phantom of the Opera". Try it. It really works![:D]
 
Originally posted by Ron Mc
<br />Jim,
I fell into a rut about 3 months ago. What I have done is put a stereo in my shop and I will play the soundtrack from "Phantom of the Opera". Try it. It really works![:D]
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I can stream mp3's into the shop and whenever I hit a <s> creative </s> block I " Wash away my troubles wash away my pain with the rain in shambala, wash away my sorrows wash away my shame with the rain in shambala"
For some reason it does not take long for that song to put me in a better mood and things begin to happen.

If I feel destructive I grab the skew and blast Sad but true!
 
Dang, Jim, You got some neat stuff!! If it helps any, your pictures depressed me when I compare my shop! Doesn't matter though as I still can't stand up to the lathe without getting back cramps where they cut me open. Oh, well, I'll get back to my humble little shop one of these days. [8D]
 
Travis here is a link to how I made the star. Bruce that rack with bins is another slope I've been down[:D] Some better pics are here. Mudder that kit was actually quite a bit less. I got it with the intent to see how it was done and making a couple of my own to possibly sell. Don't think that is going to happen[:o)] Ron, I think I'll stick with ol' timey rock-n-roll[;)]
 
Hand Planes! That's what I thought. Then I thought, no, shurely no one has about 40 hand planes. Then I thought, Don't call me Shirley.[:o)]
 
Well I wandered out to the shop after church/brunch/nap and just did come back in. I'm between some bigger projects so I just kind of played around today. Turned some natural edge bowls from some logs I had collected after the last hurricane season. The wood was surprisingly dry and each of the three developed some major cracks while finishing, so I glued them up and clamped them. Then I decided to glue up some walnut and maple to make some platters. While finishing up that I found some glued up pecan I started last summer. After spending a few hours turning that stuff, and many trips to the grinder to sharpen again, I remembered why I hate turning pecan. It would have been easier to put some bricks on the lathe to turn, pecan is the hardest wood I think I have ever turned. Got some nice lidded boxes started, hope to finish them later this week if I don't completely wear out my tools! Probably should get on with some other major WW projects soon, with softer wood.[;)]
 
Originally posted by btboone
<br />Hand Planes! That's what I thought. Then I thought, no, shurely no one has about 40 hand planes. Then I thought, Don't call me Shirley.[:o)]
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I have 77 planes......

Of those, 11 are Stanley 55's and 7 are Stanley 45's. I have an A45 (aluminum) and an A5.... I also have a 97 in good shape. I also have my sights set on the elusive #1 but the guy who has it wants a small fortune for it.
 
Jim you have good taste, Incra setup on the router table, nice. I have the whole Incra router system and their fence on my table saw, I have their table and fence on my drill press and a few other assorted bits and pieces of their equiptment, I love it. I see you also have a surface sander, I've been dreaming of one of those babies for a long time, one of these days. With a shop like that your creative jucies shouldn't be a problem, the problem would be in desiding what the heck to build next.

Wayne
 
We all go through creative slumps from time to time. For the last month or so, pens have taken a back seat to a new metal surface treatment project I've been working on. Before that, orders were slamming me. I also got a new press that requires researching the new techniques it can be used for.

I recently realized how soon the Atlanta Pen Show is coming up, and I realized that this new technique could work well on a pen if I designed for it. I started noodling with a new pen design for the first time in a while last night, and that certainly helped. Hopefully, I'll get back in the swing of things here shortly.
 
I liked the shop. Hell mine is somewhat of a diaseter so...

I do have one comment that you could fix or make right. The 4-gang outlets coming done from the ceiling are a problem to me. would help ya to but in a nice plate, costs a couple of bucks from the big box stores, at the ceiling. Than run flex conduit down to the gang box and attach it it that way. Just a way to keep things nicer in case something goes flying off somewhere. Basicly you cant have Romex open like that, tis a saftey problem.

And damn I wish I had a shop like that.


Dean
Columbus OH
 
Originally posted by TheHeretic
<br />I liked the shop. Hell mine is somewhat of a diaseter so...

I do have one comment that you could fix or make right. The 4-gang outlets coming done from the ceiling are a problem to me. would help ya to but in a nice plate, costs a couple of bucks from the big box stores, at the ceiling. Than run flex conduit down to the gang box and attach it it that way. Just a way to keep things nicer in case something goes flying off somewhere. Basicly you cant have Romex open like that, tis a saftey problem.

And damn I wish I had a shop like that.


Dean
Columbus OH
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I have been thinking about taking those down and putting in some more lights. They are basically a 10ga extension cord. There is a plug on the other end and the wire is wrapped one time around a rafter.
 
"Ron, I think I'll stick with ol' timey rock-n-roll" PERFECT!! Put in the sound track for Rocky Horror Picture Show! Please don't tell me I'm the only one that remembers this movie.[;)]
 
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