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What About the Spouse??

Jim Young

Jim Young

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507
Location
Northville, MI
Yesterday my wife was asking about carving. I told her I had a beginner set of carving tools and that she could play around a little. Well, she talked me into going into the basement (shop, get your minds out of the gutter) to show her the tools. She played around a with a piece of cherry and seemed to be interested even more. I told her that basswood would be easier to carve if she really wanted to try something. Shortly after that we were off to Woodcract to pick up a book and a chunk of basswood.

So now I'm getting mixed feelings on this whole deal. What happens if she really likes this?? She will surely figure out how much I've been spending on my shop tools once she starts to want more. On the other hand she may be more willing to let me spend $$ on tools knowing that they will benefit her too. Im sooo confused.
 
I'd encourage her, I very much doubt that the two of you will overlap in likes in a bad way, and once she starts making stuff from wood, she might just understand why you spend as much time in the shop as you do.

One nice thing about carving is for most pieces it is fairly portable, in fact you can make up a good lap bench for her to carve on, so she can do so just about anywhere.

I'd be thrilled if my wife were interested, but she is not, not even sort of :rolleyes:
Then again, we do spend 10 to 12 hours plus a day together working, so maybe having separate hobbies is a good thing..........?

Cheers!
 
I think lady woodworkers are HOT :headbang:

Encourage her JIm, if my wife wasn't so much into this quilting that she does I'd certainly try to coax her into coming out to the shop and make something.
 
jim, i can say with out a doubt the best students i`ve had have been female.....they pay more attention to detail then most guys and have a built in eye for balance-n-proportion......get her some chisels and a hunk of mahogany instead of basswood......i think it carves better....tod
 
My wife's not into woodworking and may never be, but she does know what I spend on tools as almost everything is talked over. Some things like saw blades, some gadgets are not discussed but she can see the check book just as easy as I can so most things get talked about. She is VERY lenient as she knows some things need replacing and others will help me build better projects (hopefully). Even though it was easier at the begining to get things because I didn't have anything. My wife is mostly into cross stitch, needle work, quilting, etc so she has her expenses, even though not as much as mine right now.
 
Mines been wanting to help out with sanding and staining, to get me caught up some.
I gotta be careful when I direct Her to where something is. I might have another tool stashed close by that She will spot.:eek:
 
There is a Hegner in my shop that belongs to the LOML - all hers - bought it with her own $$$. So, she knows how expensive tools can be - she also has good taste in tools! I wish she would use it more! I feel guilty spending my evenings in the shop after being away from her all day.
 
My wife is a turner, though she does dabble at some flatwork. She's got two lathes and tons of turning tools, a duplicator, and accessories, a better sandpaper supply than I have, and her wood stash is, if not more expensive, larger than mine [and I have a few thousand bd/ft of some nice wood]. A trip to Gilmer is bad enough. A trip together with her is...bad.

But I wouldn't have it any other way. Oh, not necessarily woodworking. But the passion she shows for it. It could have been sewing [almost as expensive] or boat racing. Doesn't matter.

Your wife sounds like she is exploring. She may decide to move on to something else, maybe not. If my wife decided to get into carving and I didn't have the tools already, I would put off buying my next widget to buy her tools. Even if that meant a year down the road she decided to do something else. Life is short. Might as well do things we fall in love with and encourage others to do so as well.

Take care, Mike
 
Spouse

Jim,

Let her try it. Who knows she might like it. I wished mine would get involved with me in some of my hobbies. I also carve and i really enjoy it. Belong to a club and also go to a couple of gatherings a year.

Bill :thumb:
 
Steve Clardy said:
Mines been wanting to help out with sanding and staining, to get me caught up some.
I gotta be careful when I direct Her to where something is. I might have another tool stashed close by that She will spot.:eek:
Click to expand...

Careful, Steve. That's how I got started--just sitting around in the shop watching hubby work and doing a little sanding and staining. Now I have my own scroll saw, Matchmaker, and lathe and I'm out there as much as he is!
 
i think it would be fine

if mine was out here as long as there was enough room for both of us. i have her help me out some when ist more than i can handle alone safly. she has her sewing and asks me for comments from time to time and so do i her as well. if she likes it then it must be ok cause if she dont, i wont be happy either.. we have both learned to be critcle of each other to a point sometimes you dont say what you really think..as for you stve you shuld let her give ya ahand, that way you can get things arranged for the NBS:thumb:
 
Interestingly enough, my husband isn't very interested in woodworking. He likes that I have tools for when he needs them, to bang around the house, but most of the home repairs I do - I replaced the windows last year. He knows how to do a lot of stuff, but just doesn't prefer it. This is also the reason that I started doing it - it had to get done, so I did it myself. He is always willing to help me on a delivery or inspect a work in progress and he is very enthusiastic and supportive about what I do. He would rather mess around in his garage with his motorcycle.


All the power to her.
 
Jean has been helping a lot lately...

but more to get stuff for the house built than out of actual interest. One point of caution I can offer, if you have any special boards, that have maybe been waiting YEARS for just the right project, you might want to tuck those away out of sight, lest they get put to a less worthy application :D

Maybe you don't suffer from that particular affliction though.
 
My wife used to do some of the craft type things until she nicked her thumb on the bandsaw. She has gotten pretty intimidated since then and the fact we have kids now it takes away the extra time she used to invest in the shop some. Still, she will get me to cut her some things out so she can paint them.

I agree with others, and would tend to encourage her. My wife pretty much knows what has been spent as she has bought several of the major tools for me. Anything that gets you to spend more time together is a good thing in my book.
 
LOML is terrified of woodworking machines and she doesn't like basements either :dunno:. I'd like to try getting her interested in handtool stuff, but the interest is all on my side. She will sometimes sit near the top of the basement stairs to chat and to watch what I'm doing - but if it involves any whirring motors she's off like a jackrabbit! I'm using the electron burners less and less these days, so maybe I can lure her from the stairs to the bench one of these days. Heck, I'll even re-sharpen the tools for her if she wants to give it a go !
 
John Downey said:
but more to get stuff for the house built than out of actual interest. One point of caution I can offer, if you have any special boards, that have maybe been waiting YEARS for just the right project, you might want to tuck those away out of sight, lest they get put to a less worthy application :D

Maybe you don't suffer from that particular affliction though.
Click to expand...

Man I know that feeling. I had a 2 foot square chunk of mohagany, 4 inches thick that I was obviously saving for something special. When I was away, the ex-wife grabbed it and used it for a sign for her father. And with such an expensive board you would think that it was for something important right? Wrong. It hangs outside his drinking shack and says "Juggies wanted."
 
My first wife (20+ years ago) was into woodworking, and we both helped some friends build a 4-car garage, workshop bigger than the garage, and house. She didn't really have a good handle on figuring out how to accomplish some tasks, but once you showed her how something was done, she got it.

My current wife has no interest in doing any woodworking, although she does support my doing it. She also just got her first woodworking tool, a Fulton plane, thanks to a tip from Rob Bodenschatz. ;) Here she is doing her best hand modeling work:

CIMG0350 800T.jpg

:rofl:
 
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