[Shimmy]

I carve on the coach and listen to TV.Made from a cutting board.The curved cut fits my bellie.I put the vinyl on my chest and I catch 99%.and then the dustbuster for the 1%.

[Lightningbolt]

Nice thread! I really like your lap board Shimmy which is amazingly similar to my own in dimensions, except yours has a slightly higher side wall (and a decorative one at that!) The curved belly cut and vinyl really make it complete. Sweet!

I haven't yet needed to have a vise in the bedroom like Bob L but I'm not beyond doing such a thing! There's just something nice about having some of my working tools around me in my living space that makes me feel good and keeps me not only thinking about a project but heck, I can even work on it no matter where I am. No, I'm not hitched up but all of the lady friends that I "woo" like my living space being so reflective of who I really am.

Not to put anyone on the spot but just reflecting on the general direction of modern American culture during the last hundred or so years has most of us in living spaces that are too sterile, too "plastic", too "showy", and too boring in my humble opinion. Perhaps I was born a few centuries too late because I find more in common with pre-industrial housing that was mostly right the opposite of the things listed above and to shape a piece of wood in front of the hearth was more of the rule instead of the exception... or at least it was with the working class people that I most admire.

I think that I'm gonna design my next house to be all "shop" on the lower level, then put a small bedroom on the upper.

[Lynn O. Doughty]

Okay here's what you do........

Don't use any "protection" to keep the chips off the floor. Better yet make sure you carve over the carpet and really grind in those little pieces of wood when you get up to get another beer or take a trip down the hall. Then, after a couple days of that, take a trip to Lowes making sure the wife comes along. When you drive into the parking lot kind of look over at those nice portable buildings and mutter something like "Boy! that one would sure make a nice place to carve! We could put it out back next to the swing set!" If you get no response just make sure when you get home you grab your knives and that chunk of wood and head straight for the recliner, after making a stop at the fridge for cool one. I'll bet you a dollar you'll have a nice place to carve in no time. Of course this doesn't work all the time. Sometimes, after she lands a few good wacks with the rolling pin, it might be time to consider a new hobby.

[lorax]

I started out like Thomp, with a sheet on the floor. Then when we moved to a house with a basement I had a wonderful basement to carve in. Then I bought a 17" Grizzly bandsaw, and after a few months of listening to that she decided it was time I have a shop. So a small fortune later, I have a beautiful carving shop, with a TV mounted on the wall, lots of bench space and, of course, the bandsaw. It's the long way, but patience pays off you Jedi.

[Bartster]

dennis,


i have a freind whom is on this board, that when carving in the house uses a big needlepoint hoop and an old pillow casejust sets it in his lap and carves into the hoop when done all the chip[or most of them] are in the bag.


bart

[Robert Cahill]

Dennis,
My wife made me an apron and I do like the article said except I took a spring clamp and hooked the apron onto a TV tray .When I get up I take the apron off from my neck first. My wife had no objections to my carving in the living room but I do vacuum up any chips when I'm done.

[kiwibarb]

My significant other lets me carve in front of the tv - so to be polite, i put a sheet over the couch and infront of me on the floor. It doesn't catch every thing, but does a really good job. Joe would rather I was making a mess in the living room and be with him than being elsewhere. He even admires what I am doing, and cheers me on by coming with me when I go scavenging for wood.
He is definitely the best man in the world.!!!!!

[mikeg]

I've got a big carving apron that I wear when carving in the TV room. It catches 99% of the chips since I carve small stuff. The other 1% is easy to pick up since it's a hardwood floor. I usually prefer to carve there since I can be near my wife. Sometimes though I'll carve in the office on my desk.

mikeg

[bulldog]

I tend to hold things close to my face at chest level. I have a huge apron that a pouch can be formed in by turning up the bottom and fastening the sides with velcro. The problem was that the chips would slid every where except into the pocket. I took an old twin bed sheet and cut a hole for my head and then lay it out around me when I'm sitting in the recliner. It looks stupid, but it sure does a better job of catching stuff than the apron did. The little gal still ain't happy about the whole arrangement.
KEEP BARKIN

[bulldog]

HEY loraX :
Thanks for the insight. I been goin about this all wrong. I need new band saw anyways. If I make more noise and slop up the house more than I normally do She'll let me have my own shop?? Hmmmmmmmm, It's worth a try. LOL
KEEP BARKIN