Most of the toy-making workshop has now been moved to the Q-hut.  We have one more trip to finish relocating the last of it but all the tools are here as well as most of the bits and pieces.  Plus a number of good toy samples with which to compare our first efforts.  We are pretty much through the big step ONE. Call this the heavy-lifting stage.

I, for one, am glad that stage is over.

Step two is putting it all together.  That means finishing the electrical work, building shelves, setting up the vacuum and air-filter system, attaching bench-based machines, sorting and inventory.  You know……..the usual kind of thing to get everything operational.  Call this the order-from-chaos stage.

But we have to start at chaos, of course.

“Where should I put this?” “In the little room.” “But there’s garbage still there.” “Take the garbage out!” “To where?” “I dunno.” “I am hungry, anyway.  Let’s have some lunch.” “What’s that machine do?” “I dunno.” “But you are the experienced wood-work guy here!?”  “Yeah. True. But the bar is set pretty low and I don’t know what that is.  So, sue me. Looks like a calibrating thingy.  Kinda.”

And on and on.  All day.  But as that background noise continues to drone, things slowly get put away and a few decisions are made.  We are progressing.  Kinda.

“That shouldn’t go there!” “Why not?” “It just shouldn’t.  I like my drill presses in corners.” “OK.  Sounds fine to me but, ya know, we have to make sure we don’t think of this as our own personal shop.  It is a community shop, remember.  Can’t be done as if it belongs to just a few of us.  You know, emphasis on community workshop?” “Does that mean you want the drill press somewhere else?” “No.  Just sayin’.” “Then put it in the damn corner for now, OK?”

It is clear that we are going to have to establish some kind of order but order is anathema to us.  No one likes order.  ‘Course, we don’t like chaos, either.  What we like is ‘natural, common sense’.  The problem is that common sense isn’t common.  Or, it seems, natural.  It is also, at best, subjective and, when exercised in a group of naturally different and uncommon people, very much inclined to recreating chaos.

“So am I the only one eating lunch or what?”

We have decided to start by building shelves for storage and small tools.  That, most assuredly, cannot be done by committee.  So one of us will build a set of shelves.  Whoever that is.  And he will likely start as soon as the power is hooked up and we can use the saw.  Which, by the way, is packed away right at the moment but which we will get to.  Soon.  I think.  And whoever is going to work on the power will get to it as soon as…….well…..as soon as we have lunch.