So very tired…

I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned it before, but I’m a shiftworker. To be more specific, I’m a permanent graveyard shiftworker. It’s by choice, I actually like the hours, benefits and extra days off, but it can be tough on the body sometimes.

I try to always stay up after my last shift for the entire day. So I’ll start work at around 9pm, work through to 7am and then stay awake the entire day and hit the sack after 11pm so that I get my sleeping pattern back to normal. And I get a bonus day off by not sleeping through an RDO.

The key is to stay busy, as soon as you sit, you sleep. So today being my last shift, as soon as I got home and packed the kids off to school, I headed into the shop. I wanted to get a head start on a wireless arcade joystick for a friend. Well, I ripped my boards down, cut them to length, cut my finger joints into the ends, I thought I was flying along. Then I tried to assemble that little box I made…I couldn’t though.

Problem One, I cut the boards too short. Problem Two, I completely stuffed the fingers by cutting them in the wrong spots. Problem Three, by being so tired I was being careless on the tablesaw. I had to admit defeat before I hurt myself. So I switched the power off and had a look around.

I was clearly too tired to build something, so I thought I’d try cleaning something instead.

Initially I was annoyed that I was too tired to be productive, but after a little while I realised just how much I was getting done. I managed to take care of a bunch of little jobs around the place that I’ve been putting off for ages.

I installed some simple shelves in my hanging cupboards. Now I can make much better use of the room inside them.

• I fixed the drawers in the units below them so they slide properly. I’ve put this off since I first built them. So lazy…
• Removed all the useless junk from around the shop and threw it straight out (hooray for hard rubbish collection!)
• Emptied the old dust vac, (that is a massive job I’ve been putting off for months.) I really need to invest in a better vacuum and proper dust collection system.
• Burnt off a wheelbarrow load full of scrap pine (and plywood…sorry environment, but hooray, that was such an eyesore)

• Polished up the tablesaw again.
• I moved the Drill Press from its rolling stand and put the big belt sander on there instead. This way I’ll be able to roll it outside whenever I’m doing a lot of sanding and can keep the dust out of the shop. The drill press will live on a bench top soon enough.
• Repositioned the lathe to the back wall. I haven’t used it for a long time, it’s not very good quality and I really suck on it, but now that it’s back in a usable position I’d like to fire it up again.
• Gave the entire shop a deep clean and left it looking like new. Well maybe not new, but definitely better!

It ended up being almost a solid 7 hours of cleaning and organizing and has done wonders for the workshop, it’s a much nicer space to be in now and I’m all set for an actual project when I come out here tomorrow.

So next time you find yourself not concentrating or struggling for inspiration in the shop, just start cleaning! You and your shop’ll be better for it!