Commissioned

I don't remember why but sometime while living in an apartment, the first one since graduating from college, I bought my first wood working tool, a skilsaw. I suspect that it had to do with sizing a chunk of basswood for hand carving which I used to do on those long weekend nights before I knew many people. But I can't guarantee that I didn't buy if for some other reason that I've since forgotten.

When I was leaving my second job post college for the third one, I do remember buying a table saw, my first big purchase of my still developing woodworking hobby, simply because the company I was going to work for were paying for my move. I decided to get a washer, dryer and a table saw for them to move while they were at it. Eventually during those years of working at the third (and final) job, I got into remodeling more seriously and picked up other tools of the trade and started developing a love of more fine woodworking. 

After I left that job for the stay-at-home-dad/retirement/giving back to my community gig that I have held for the last 12+ years, I started transitioning fully into furniture building, mostly for myself and for select close family members. I have built a lot of my own cabinetry from pantry, to office, to garage plus an assortment of stand alone furniture pieces for our house. It is a hobby I enjoy doing though I can only devote a few months a year to it due to my "shop" being an unconditioned garage that is often too hot or too cold for the bulk of the year. 

Along the way, I have had others occasionally ask me from time to time to build something for them but I have gently turned them down. Usually I use the excuse that my schedule doesn't allow for it but in reality, it is because I don't want the headache of having to price a piece of hand made furniture and perhaps even worse, lose a friendship because it wasn't built to their desires or didn't hold up well, after I charged them a hefty price for it being custom built. 

Earlier this fall however, while walking into church one morning, the priest greeted me by saying he heard I was a good woodworker. What followed in the weeks to come was accepting a commission to build an altar for another church in our parish. Because I am more than happy to provide free labor for such a worthy cause, I didn't have the headache of having to price it though at some point I will need to provide an estimate for the raw materials. I still have personal doubts of building such a prominently displayed piece of furniture though I have built several similar sized pieces over the years. It is not something I want to get wrong.

Which is why this winter in the coming month, I need to spend some time actually designing said altar to make sure I have a solid plan for building it come spring and warmer temperatures. I haven't really done much design work in the 12 years since I quite the 9 to 5 gig and a lot has changed when it comes to CAD (Computer Aided Design) modeling so I have a bit of a learning curve to conquer as well. So it will be interesting times for me as I push into an area of furniture craftsmanship that I have not yet broached before.