Alongside my general musings, sharing thoughts on exercise, mental health and life changes, I have shared 85 different projects I have made out of wood over the past five years, since I started The Woodworking Scientist back in November 2018!
I have greatly enjoyed sharing all the different projects I have made over the years, from the very small and quick, to the large and time-consuming; pieces I fussed over for many days to get as perfect as possible to give as a gift to someone important to me, and pieces I threw together out of left over wood scraps in only a few minutes as a simple jig, holder or item for the workshop. Whatever it was, I am really proud of everything I have created so far (including another 40-odd projects I haven’t shared yet!) and I have greatly enjoyed my woodworking adventures to date.
I started woodworking as a way of coping with my mental health struggles, dealing with depression and anxiety by having a physical thing to focus on, giving me a clear sense of achievement when I finished making something. I developed this hobby as one of many coping mechanisms, a technique a therapist previously referred to as “spread betting”, where you don’t rely on one single thing to help you deal with stress, as you lose the coping mechanism if something changes that prevents you from doing it, such as only having exercise as a coping mechanism which is then lost through an injury or illness.
When I first started woodworking, I was only able to make things when it was daylight and dry weather, using a fold up workmate-style workbench in the back garden, with very limited tools. As we’ve moved to houses with more room and I have *ahem* taken over more of the garage to create a dedicated workshop space, the amount of tools I have has grown, as well as my abilities, including being able to make larger and more complex, intricate and varied projects. I am by no means an expert, but I have definitely developed the ability to imagine things and then turn that mental image into a finished project with a sufficient degree of accuracy for the workpiece to function or to look like I want it to!
I do a lot of sketching of things I want to make and have filled nearly 3 notebooks with my scribbled plans for a wide range of different projects! I have lots of ideas, some for new things for the workshop to make it easier to make things, or to add decoration or additional lighting to the space; or fun, decorative, or functional items for the house and garden too – the only problem is finding the time to make all the things I have planned out!
Thinking back over the past 5 years, there have definitely been a lot of life changes – I started a new job, moved house twice, changed job roles following promotion into management (of a team of scientists, specialists and experts), supported family and friends through a number of life changing events, and most recently this year became an uncle!
In terms of my woodworking, the project I am most proud of is probably the trunk I made for Dad for his 60th birthday – it was a massive project to make, including the planning needed, the various component parts I made separately and then assembled, compounded by the 2020 pandemic impacting on my ability to travel to source the various bits of hardware I needed. I was so proud and pleased to complete the project and to give it to Dad when we were finally able to meet in person again in August 2020.
I shared a full breakdown of the trunk project across EIGHT blogposts!
Part 1 Planning and sourcing wood
Part 2 Framing
Part 3 Lid
Part 4 Panels
Part 5 Corner braces
Part 6 Hardware
Part 7 Initials
Part 8 Final assembly and staining
And there is still lots more to come on the blog – I have a large number of projects still to share, so I intend to get a whole load posted over the next 6 months. That way I can catch up with sharing what I’ve recently finished making, rather than being a significant chunk of time behind!
This is probably a good opportunity to also note that I am moving house again, so I will have all the fun of setting up a new workshop (again!). I will share my thoughts and plans in future blog posts once we’ve got through all the stress of moving everything and that will also give me time to share a load more previous projects on my blog, as I will be spending a lot of time getting everything set up in the house before I am likely to be back out in the workshop for a bit, so I can sit down and do some blogging as a break from moving furniture about in the evenings.
Once the house is sorted, I will share my process for setting up the new version of my workshop. I am using the house move as a chance to reflect on where everything goes and already have plans for a new and improved layout within the workshop, taking into account the amount of shop furniture I now have, new tools, as well as a better approach to my general project workflow. It’s going to be a very busy but exciting next few months for The Woodworking Scientist! 🔨
The Woodworking Scientist 
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