How fast do you work?

[drumpriest]

I am not a pro, but I do a fair amount of projects. I am just wondering how quickly people work. It seems as though I could never be a pro at the pace I keep. I try to work efficiently, minimize setups, that sort of thing, and I have a few specialized tools that make some things a breeze (domino?), so I wonder how fast other people tend to do things.

As an example, I just built the last drawer for my latest project, nothing fancy to it, just a 4" drawer dados for the bottom and back, dominos for the front piece, and it'll get a false front. I think it took me about 2 hours to do this drawer. Granted if I were doing several of the exact same drawers, it would go more quickly, as the setups would all be the same, but still, I didn't even break out the Leigh jig or anything and it still took that long.

Just thought it might be an interesting (if not well defined) topic of conversation.

[leehljp]

I am a slow slow worker on bigger projects - book cases, cabinets etc. I always get to a point that I need something that I do not have, and I wait until I can get the "right" piece before going forward. Example: hinges or color stain that I can't find locally etc.

For me, those items mentioned above will often seem to be the right match at first, but once I get started and to the point of putting parts together, I begin to get the big picture. If it is not what I envisioned, I wait. And often LOML gets her input. If it doesn't look right to her, then I wait until I get that which pleases her too.

We re-tiled and re-painted our kitchen in the States in 2005/06. We bought tile and used color swatches to get coordinated paint available at Lowes. The paint matched the swatches well, but when applied in the kitchen, it just did not have the pizzaz we thought. So we got different paint and re-painted.

My building projects are like that. But some do go well from start to stop without a problem. But I rarely hurry. The joy of woodworking for me is not just the finished product, but the journey getting it "right".

I made a router center that took 2 years from start to finish. I saw some wood that I wanted to use, but when I went back to the store it was all gone. I looked for several months to find "that" wood and then started the project; same thing happened in building the top.

I made a hutch for LOML that took over 2 years. I saw some wood that I wanted and they didn't have enough. I bought that and it took me nearly 8 months to get enough of the beautiful pine, one board at a time to start building. When I started to put the rail and stile doors, LOML didn't like the hinges so we searched for several month,s and finally I ordered some from LeeValley. Then the knobs were not right but we did find the knobs we wanted in Tokyo some months later, (we lived in Osaka at the time.)

It is great when everything goes together the way we envision it from the beginning.

[Pappy]

The luxury of this being a hobby is that I am not under any time restraints, excepting gifts for holidays and birthdays. Even then, there have been more than a few IOU's with pictures of projects in progress over the years.

On the few 'commissions' I have accepted, it was understood that I work at my own pace with no hard deadline.

[Richard in Smithville]

I'm not overly slow but there's no way I could do this to survive. I like to go at my own pace but it really drives me crazy when I get stopping by and asking for something when I am in the middle of something else. On top of that, I usually have other things( usually non woodworking) on the go too.

[Hellrazor]

It depends what I am working on. When I am doing carpentry work, I move along at a good pace. When I am woodworking, I tend to slow down in order to make everything "perfect".

[Ed62]

I don't want to work fast. For one thing, I'm afraid if I try to speed things up too much, they're will be a dimished safety factor when I'm doing my thing. Not only that, but it would have a tendency to take the joy out of WW.

Having said that, if I'm doing a framing job, it's an entirely different story. Then I feel a little pressure to get 'er done.

Ed

[cabinetman]

Being under time is money theory, I try to minimize my thinking about it. Rushing only leads to mistakes and it is a major cause to shop injuries. Since there are many times I would be working on more than one job at a time, I found that having the paperwork in order and following a work schedule makes the flow better. I make sure I have all the materials and hardware when I start.

After evaluating the procedures involved with the project, experience tells me the order of importance of each step. So by organizing the project, it makes it go smoothly, which seems faster. Certain steps like which pieces to cut first, to maximize material, or to set up the initial stages utilizes my time more efficiently.

For example, if part of the job is machining parts for drawers, and it includes assembly time, I may do another part first that may require glue ups or allowing for something to dry.

I also found that having no deadline, or having all the time in the world, leads me to lose interest and procrastinate even more.
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[jhart]

On woodworking projects, it seems like I'm slower than molasses in the dead of winter in northern Minnesota.

[Uncle Cracker]

I like to work as slowly as the project will bear, as I know when I'm done, I'll have to go back to my real job...

[charliex]

I'm like Joe. Also if it starts to feel like work I'll slow down even more or take a break.

[poolhound]

After evaluating the procedures involved with the project, experience tells me the order of importance of each step. So by organizing the project, it makes it go smoothly, which seems faster. Certain steps like which pieces to cut first, to maximize material, or to set up the initial stages utilizes my time more efficiently.

I also found that having no deadline, or having all the time in the world, leads me to lose interest and procrastinate even more.
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I resonate with both these points. Having a laid out plan of attack really helps. Unfortuantly I dont always do this and end up being more inefficient than I need. Yesterday I was working on a dead simple project to add an extension to one of my benches. I thought it would take a few hours but.... 8 hours later I had run into numerous issues and its still not finished and I am headed into the garage right now to try and get it done. I already see a visit to HD in my near future :-)

[cwithboat]

I am a novice, so because I am often entering into a task I have little experience in, I tend to think about it for quite a while. Even so I end up with errors, so its slow but steady. Just like this pair. Photo by LOML.

[Russianwolf]

I work slowly during the actual construction of a project, but once it's all done with just the finishing left (sanding, and top coats) I can't move fast enough.

All my projects are taken under the "I'll give you an estimated date, but it should not be considered a deadline" philosophy.

[SARGE..g-47]

Relatively quick... about 45 minutes to sit down and design it on a note-pad and make a cut list. Up to a week to find grain matches in larger carcass work as I mainly do, but at that point I pretty much roll on execution as I am somewhat familar with procedure at that point. In 8 months I have built a bed.. a matching 6 drawer chest.. a small entertainment center for my son and just finished a matching TV stand for the bedroom suite under progress yesteraday. I took a week-end waiting on finish to cure and make a new work-bench top and added another front vise as I make my own jaws.

But.. with that said, I slow down when a step requires it (as home-made knobs and mouldings) and don't try to make up the time as there are no written dead-lines. I just finished a project yesterday and am fiddling in the shop today. I will build a new base on my scroll saw stand.. make a new curve bow with adjustable strap.. a new wooden mallet.. and a new burnisher with a router bit shank. If that takes till Tuesday... so be it.

But on Wednesday.. a design for matching chest on chest goes to the note-pad and search for grain match. Once I have that done... back to work till the finish line is reached.

[jackellis]

I usually work slower than a snail. When I get impatient and start to hurry, I make mistakes, usually dumb ones.

I've been working on a replacement cutting board (first one has started to split along the glue lines) for over two months, a few minutes at a time when I have it or feel like it.