Got some good woodworking done today, something I’ve been looking forward to doing once I was on retirement time. Happy to note that Parkinson’s wasn’t bothering me at all and I can still work the table saw and other power tools pretty easily for a 73 year old. Even moving and lifting to its feet the Ryobi table saw wasn’t a problem.

As you can see I’m doing all this outside. I keep the table saw in an outside tool shed because it’s much too heavy for me to take up and down stairs, and there is really no place inside for me to be doing any woodworking. This means I have to do any woodworking during the part of the year it’s warm enough and not raining.

I had two things I wanted to at least get cut so I could stain and seal them later, and what you see in this photo is, or will be when I’m through with it, a lid for the storage bench at the front of my basement art room I needed to make after I got the new hot water tank; which required adding a bunch of new pipe and regulators to a space I was using to store art supplies. The lid will keep all that new plumbing in its own space and I can store my supplies on top of it.

I needed to buy nothing. The wood was from my stack of spare pieces from other projects. The power tools I’d bought long ago. The minor skill set I have for this work I got long ago while working for a couple of guys who had their own custom speaker shop, plus while working in a custom plastic shop. That odd skill set I have now was a benefit of the way I ricocheted around different jobs and workplaces when I was a young man, before I settled in to PCs and software development. I am no carpenter, but I can do most of the Harry Homeowner stuff around the house that needs doing and maybe a bit more.