As you may have heard, there is a new woodshop lead. It is me. I’m the new woodshop lead! Exciting, huh? I would like to say a couple of things.
First, thanks for having me.
Second, there are a few things that I have thought of that I think need attention and I will attend to these things as I find time.
Third, you should know that I will do everything I can to keep the shop running smoothly, but there will be times when I just cannot attend to issues immediately. My day job has me out of town 2-3 weeks every month, and that is not going to change. So, if something breaks on Monday and I’m not back until Friday, I won’t be able to do much about it until Saturday. I understand that isn’t ideal, but it is what it is.
I have had a couple of individuals say that they would like to help out, and I do appreciate the offers. If you would like to help with things that need attention, please reach out to me, either here on the forum, via email through the forum, or via phone/text. There are absolutely opportunities for you to help out with things. In addition to day-to-day items like cleaning or organizing, repairs and other maintenance can be done by anybody who is qualified. I would appreciate you letting me know if you do perform any maintenance, if even just so that I can say thank you. If you aren’t “qualified” to perform maintenance, but would like to help, say so. I think most of us are teachable and there are many of us who like to teach. I’ll also say that if you haven’t done machinery repairs or other maintenance, please don’t take equipment apart to experiment.
I will try to stock somewhere consumables such as bandsaw blades and planer/jointer inserts. I will also try to keep a Saw Stop brake cartridge on hand, but I will probably lock it up as they aren’t cheap. If there are things that the space needs, please let me know so I can start a shopping list.
I will try to get a “Woodshop gathering” on the calendar for the next couple weeks, probably on a weekend. I would like to have a roundtable discussion about things that I would like to accomplish as the new lead. I also would like input from the rest of the woodshop users on things that need attention, improvements that can be made, etc. Please note that I am not promising to implement every idea that is brought up, but if I don’t know about them, I can’t say yes, either.
I am going to start another thread with the ideas that I have in mind. If you have comments, please let me know. This isn’t meant as a place to bash other leads or the way they did things; let’s keep it constructive.