First of all I hope that all of you are well and NOT affected by this pandemic of Coronavirus disease (COVID-19). Yes I do understand this is a very serious disease and the spread of it is affecting astronomical numbers of people some of whom do not survive. I’m very well aware of what something like this disease can do. A good friend of ours, a young lady whom Pam and I thought of as the daughter we never had, passed away in 2009 at the age of 39 from the Swine Flu. She was the co-breeder of many of our basset hounds and also handled them in the show ring for us. We’re still recovering from that loss.

On a much lighter note it’s intersting to see all the woodworking plans that many are posting on Social Media since they can’t report for work. Many seem to be forced to work from home or to take time off from their jobs due to the state of affairs. Instead of stocking up on toilet paper and sanitizers these woodworkers are stocking up on wood and other things for their planned projects. I’m looking forward to see the projects that these woodworkers are able to produce during their time off. I’ve noticed these posts from woodworkers from all over the world, not just here in the USA.

Some companies are even stepping up with special deals for woodworkers during this time of “social distancing.” I received an email on March 19, 2020 from Woodsmith Plans. They offered one free plan to anyone who’s stuck at home and looking for ideas on what to make. I wouldn’t be surprised if others made similar offers. On Monday, March 16, 2020 Ben Strano from Fine Woodworking heald a live chat on Facebook. He answered several questions ald linked to articles in the magazine with the answers.. Those FREE links are available through the Fine Woodworking Magazine Facebook page. These links were only active for the following week. I wouldn’t be surprised if Ben decides to do something like this again. You can follow their facebook page for future updates. Grizzly also announced that they are offering FREE SHIPPING on non-freight orders over $35 until the end of April 2020. While that won’t help with large items or machinery it still may help some of you. Some major tool companies have 15 percent off their major tools for a while. Again I expect that others will follow. Of course those who sign up for emails from Rockler already can benefit from this same discount. If you happen to see any additional deals let me know in an email. I’ll add them here.

Pam and I are staying home as much as possible and are already tired from the isolation   All our dog shows have been cancelled for at least the rest of March and one big show scheduled for April just cancelled today. We’ve also been informed that all the places where we have annual passes including the San Diego Zoo, Safari Park, Sea World and even Disneyland have closed and will remain closed until this pandemic is over. I’m sure that other places we go to get out of the house and get in some exercise will be closed or cancelled as well. Even the events we enjoy watching on television, especially NASCAR races and Dodger baseball games have been postponed or cancelled. This includes all the related TV shows as well. It’s also possible that some of the TV shows we watch which are in production may be postponed as well. We decided to subscribe to Disney+ to help fill in the gap of missing TV programming. We’re really liking all the variety of shows on this channel.

I’m hoping that all this will result in increased production out in my workshop and on my YouTube channel. This week I finally published the pizza cutter project video on my YouTube channel and will be working on more. I’ve started one on the Rockler lathe dust collector and have some clips for a review of my SawStop after thirteen years of use. I’d also like to produce a video on the light I’m using on my lathe. It really came in handy on the pizza cutter handle turning project. I may produce a video on the trophy I’ve been making but I’m not sure if I have all the video clips that I need. Obviously my first plan for projects out in the shop is to finish up the trophy. Since the dog show where it was to be awarded has been cancelled and we’ve been having a lot of rain I delayed applying the finish on that project. There was no need to rush and have possible issues with lacquer that didn’t set up. I also despirately need to do some cleaning out in the shop and garage. A lot of that project has been delayed far too long and needs to be done. As far as woodworking projects are concerned my top priority is finishing up a table to go next to my easy chair in our family room. I started that project almost two years ago and put it on hold when I cleaned out the garage and shop so that we could park or van inside. There will not be a full video of that project because most of it was done prior to the creation of my YouTube WB Fine Woodworking channel. I may show some parts of the build. Yes, I do have plans to work on the workbench project as well. It’s still in the shop. I have some other shop projects that I’d like to do as well. 

The mini-split for the workshop/garage is still not installed. That’s something we were holding off on due to the need for electricity for the trophy project snd a big dog show that was scheduled for this coming week. We had a friend who was planning to come from Florida for the show and stay at our house. We didn’t want to be in the middle of having it installed while all that was going on. Hopefully our guy will be available soon so we can get that project out of the way. He did install a new heat pump for our home.

I’m also going to install a TV in my shop. When we bought a new television for our family room I had planned to hang the old one in the shop. It’s been sitting out there collecting sawdust for several months. After thinking about how big and heavy the old unit was and the fact that it was at least 11 years old I changed my mind. Another deciding factor was the current prices of smart televisions that are available today. The TV will be very useful for watching YouTube videos and other woodworking content. Since televisions today come with many apps and others can be downloaded from the Internet I can get a lot of content out in the shop without having to add another DirectTV box out there. It’s amazing what these new units can do. Unless something doesn’t work as planned I want to hang the TV over the table saw. That way it will be in a convenient location and not take up valuable wall space. We’ll see if that’s possible. I[ll try to create a short YouTube video on the install.

Have a great time out in your shop. I’d love to see any projects that you are able to get done if you’re home during this pandemic or otherwise. Send me the Social Media or YouTube links. You can always email photos if you don’t have any other way to show your work. Stay healthy and enjoy.