Welcome to 2017

Happy New Year y’all!

To start, a bit of a recap, as 2016 was an interesting year all round.  Global events aside, of which there were quite a few, but there were plenty of developments in the local arena as well.  

2016 saw the demise of Masters after running a very curious head-to-head campaign with Bunnings.  It also saw the Woodworking Warehouse disappear, and the bones of both got well and truly picked over.

I took some long service leave and the family had a tour of western USA for a month – awesome trip!  We got a new shop-dog, who is proving a lot of fun.  Keeps stealing things from the shed though – mainly offcuts, but occasionally I find all sorts of things scattered in the backyard.

While I technically started in 2015, The Toymaker (OzToymaker) started last year, including a modest Etsy store, which has been really interesting to develop.  Still small at this stage (and it may stay that way), but it has been a different outlet for my activities.  The rush to Christmas was particularly interesting, with sales going from one or two per week, to one to two per day, up to one or two per hour in late November/early December. 

I continued to write articles for The Shed magazine, although I may take a sabbatical from that soon.  Still, my favourite build from last year was the dog house – pleased how that came out.

Really, too much to recap an entire year, but let’s just say it has been interesting.

So on to 2017, and there is sure to be lots coming this year as well.  My daughter has her 10th birthday, and a few months later, Stu’s Shed will also turn 10.  That is a lot of blogging!

I’ve been doing some work with Sass & Spunk Styles in 2016, and expect there to be a lot more happening in that space in 2017.

I’m sure there will be some new additions to the workshop, and some departures.  I really need to move some tools out, that are not getting sufficient use, and some new ones in.  I’m hoping to upgrade the drum sander soon (yes, that has been the plan for some months now), and there is the potential of adding another CNC to the workshop, but will see how that goes.  As to departures, that is not finalised yet, but there are definitely some machines at the top of the list for consideration.   The gain in space in the workshop would definitely be welcome.

2017, let’s see what you have to offer!