Cohousing-L Mailing List: RE: Woodworking Shop

[Fleck (foam4u]

Hi Bill,
I got lots of good ideas from this. I'm wondering about two of the bones of
contention with any shop - cleaning and safety. How is your group handling
that?
Anne at Jackson Place Seattle

-----Original Message-----
From: cohousing-l-bounces [at] cohousing.org
[mailto:cohousing-l-bounces [at] cohousing.org]On Behalf Of mark harfenist
Sent: Wednesday, February 18, 2004 11:55 AM
To: Developing cohousing - collaborative housing communities
Subject: Re: [C-L]_ Woodworking Shop


On the one hand, your shop will never be large enough, complete enough,
convenient enough, affordable enough....on the other hand, you'll make
do with whatever you've got, and something is better than nothing.  A
few random thoughts, based partly on my own prejudices and partly on
our Bellingham Cohousing experience:

A shop is a shop is a shop.  If you've spent a lot of time working in
one, you pretty much know what works and what doesn't, what tools you
need, how to lay it out, etc.  Don't be tempted to think that things
will work any differently in a cohousing shop.  They won't.  Build the
best shop you can based on all the design parameters you already know
to be true, then deal with the inevitable shortcomings.

Noise is a real issue, especially if your shop is small (requiring, for
example, that you open a door to feed longer stock through table saw or
planer).  If possible, make this clear to residents before they choose
their unit locations.  Encourage shop users to locate near the shop,
since they'll do less complaining about noise.  Be proactive in talking
to any neighbors, on or off site; they'll usually be satisfied with
having some input into the scheduling of noisy operations.

Our shop is often in use during the day, and sometimes at night.  I
recommend trying to get as many members as possible personally invested
in the shop; for example, by offering introductory courses in tool use,
by leading novices by the hand when necessary, and by making it
possible for teenagers to use it on a limited basis.  The more members
who get invested, the fewer conflicts about noise, mess, funding,
danger and so on you'll face.  Besides, making stuff (and altering the
physical environment to suit our purposes) is vastly more fun than
buying stuff at [insert your favorite mass-market home furnishings
emporium here].   The more members who have this opportunity, the
better.

You speak of a "woodworking shop." You will probably find that some of
your members have differing agendas from yours; for example, there'll
be those who anticipate spending long hours lovingly refinishing
furniture, people who've always wanted a potter's wheel and think this
is their chance, members who envision themselves doing lots of
welding...plus the bike repair contingent and the ski and snowboard
waxers and tuners.  To some extent, all these activities are
incompatible; notably, there are those who create dust and those for
whom dust is the enemy.  There are also very real distinctions between
fine woodworkers and those for whom cutting and sanding a single shelf
qualifies as a great. life-altering adventure.  Remember that, while
the former are likely to be the driving forces behind building,
equipping and funding your shop, the latter will be the overwhelming
majority of users.  You'll need to keep them happy, or they'll get very
irritable about expenses, noise and other impacts, and they'll stop
agreeing to fund all those classy upgrades you're hoping for (in our
case, dust collection and heat).

The tricky part is that the furniture refinishers, potters and metal
workers are for the most part (warning: personal prejudice approaching)
somewhat unrealistic in their expectations.  In other words,  these are
treasured, but faulty, illusions about "what I'd do if I only had the
space, someday."  I recommend that, unless you've got members who are
already potting, welding or refinishing on a regular basis, that you
separate out these functions and suggest that those interested agitate
for their own, dedicated spaces.  This will likely be controversial,
since we hate facing up to our illusions about ourselves (myself
included).

The other half of the balance is that you really do want a multi-use
space; this is a part of what I said earlier about getting as many
members invested as possible.  Our shop includes a bit of space for
bike repairs and ski/snowboard maintenance, and this has worked
reasonably well despite the inherent conflicts (think: dust in ski wax;
dust in wheel bearing races).  In fact, every so often someone does
actually strip a piece of furniture in our shop (although it is more
common that pieces get half-stripped, then sit around taking up space
for months on end).

One final set of thoughts:  like much else in cohousing, you will fare
best if you've got one or two people who are really into your workshop,
and will serve as its conceptual and functional guardians.  These
people need to strive for that magical balance between maintaining
their own passions about woodworking (or whatever) and willingness to
accept the fact that things will probably not work out precisely as
they had so passionately anticipated.

Hope that helps, and best of luck with it.

Enjoy,

Mark


On Sunday, February 15, 2004, at 05:04 AM, RatliffBill [at] aol.com wrote:

> At EcoVillage of Loudoun County, Virginia, we are looking at
> constructing a
> woodworking shop, or perhaps rehabing the basement of an old barn on
> the
> property for that purpose.  We are interested in learning if other
> cohousing
> communities have a woodworking shop.  If so, given the size of your
> community, what
> size shop seems best, location, tools to have in it, how much it is
> used, etc.
> We would love to hear your feedback!  Many thanks.
>
> Bill Ratliff.
> _______________________________________________
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> Cohousing-L [at] cohousing.org  Unsubscribe  and other info:
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