John Phipps Gives Viewers a Peek Into His Christmas Workshop

Over the years a few of you have written to compliment me on how neat and organized my workshop is. This Christmas is a great time to correct that misperception. Remember, you only see what I let the camera show you. So, like a teenager shoving all his stuff in the closet when his mom tells him to clean his room, I push the mess just out of the camera frame. These pictures are the more natural state of my workshop.

I’m not proud of my sloppy habits and while hard to believe, I used to be much worse. It makes projects harder and much more time consuming. Puttering around in this sawdust sanctuary soon taught me I was wasting about 40% of my time recovering from the clutter of the last adventure. It is not due to virtuous character that I have come to try once a week or to clear some horizontal surfaces of the debris of creation.

Many of farmers can rightfully boast of orderly shops but I always suspected they, or more likely their employees, were underemployed. Of course, they might be using that 40% of my shop time I send looking for stuff.

Like many other woodworkers I inflict homemade gifts on family and friends. Consequently, this season, like several before, I am literally messing around in my shop making wooden gifts to delight and perplex friends and family. This was my first effort about 45 years ago - a wooden nativity jigsaw puzzle. Years rolled by and tools rolled in. One of the more popular objects d’wood has been this peacock candelabra. The door wreath got favorable reviews. This year I made candy cane wooden trays. You may have caught glimpses of them on previous shows. As is usually the case, I had to ruin a few to get it right.    

But Santa’s work is never done, so I’m beginning storage hutch for my daughter-in-law for her family collection of TV devices, DVDs, and board games. I’ve got my noise-cancelling headphones playing my Christmas playlist, ample lumber, and as soon as I find my tape measure, I’ll get to work.