Time in woodworking

Many things have been written about different aspects of woodworking: woodworking techniques, machinery, finishing, style, etc. However there is one very important factor that is often overlooked when approaching any job, and that is time. 

During the course of my career as a woodworker, I have had very different perspectives on the nature of time. When I was a (very young) hobbyist woodworker, I did not really consider time to be a significant factor in my projects, as I rarely had any sort of deadline, and any time I spent on a project was pure recreation. Yet I often found myself surprised by how long it actually took to accomplish tasks, and lacking patience, I was always wishing that I could get things done faster so that I could get to my results sooner. This was particularly true in the area of wood finishing, as I did not have much knowledge of or access to different finishes. My mind would leap from project to project, but the time it took to complete each project kept me from either finishing the previous one, or being able to begin the next. Time was therefore an obstacle.

As my skills increased, and I found that I could earn money in the local crafts market, I soon discovered that there was a direct relationship between how much time I spent on salable items during the week, and the amount of things I could bring to the market, and thus the potential earnings for any given week. I began to figure out that there were very different quantitative values between different types of work; some items took a long time to make, but did not sell for very much, while others that took less time ended up selling for more at the market. Since my practice was still very much a hobby, I did not take much of a lesson from this observation, and continued to make whatever my heart desired and simply hoped it would sell, regardless of how long it took for me to make it. 

The second major phase of my woodworking career gave me a more structural understanding of time as a commodity: Time = Money. This was during my employment at a woodworking company, where I saw my hours spent at work transformed directly into a paycheck at the end of the week. I also began to learn that my time had a double value: for me, and also for my boss, because we were both making money from it. Therefore the total monetary value of my time was significantly less than what I was receiving in exchange for it. However, I decided that this discrepancy was accounted for in other ways, namely, the experience and skills I was gleaning. In addition to physical skills and knowledge of construction, I was learning that there was a critical path between the amount of time spent on any given project, the quality of the resulting product, and the amount of money the company made from that product. For the business to be successful, it all had to be kept in balance. 

As an independent woodworking professional, I am learning even more things about the nature of time. It is a critical factor in any project, and the more other people are involved in the project (clients, designers, GC's, and other tradespeople), the more important the scheduling becomes. One's personal schedule must be streamlined as much as possible, and you begin to weigh productive hours against time spent cooling your heels or twiddling your thumbs, as a direct loss of profit. Time is a billable cost for any project, but it is the most unpredictable factor in any estimate. The keeping of accurate records is the best way to predict time requirements, but even the most disciplined people still often find themselves surprised by how much time they spend on even the most familiar tasks; time varies. This is why the safest billing practice is to keep the time as separate from the rest of the bill as possible. 

I have learned that the keeping of accurate records of one's time is an ever-more valuable tool in the running of my business, and that it can yield some very surprising results. For example, I learned that the amount of time I actually spend building things in my workshop, finishing, and installing them "in the field", is far less than the amount of time I spend sending emails, shopping for and picking up materials, talking with clients, drafting, and other "non-productive" activities. This realization has helped me achieve not only more accurate billing practices, but has also, ironically, resulted in a sense of freedom. I realized that since I spend less than half of my working hours in my shop, and in the shop I spend a certain small percentage of that time on any given task, I can therefore enjoy each task without stressing or worrying that I am going to spend too long doing it- that is, within reason. Certain tasks can still have a fairly critical effect on the total time spent, and general efficiency is still very important if one is to make any kind of a living doing woodworking. However, I do not need to feel guilty if I choose to level an edge with my hand plane instead of with a router, or if I want to spend a little extra time laying out my joints carefully and cutting them by hand to achieve a more perfect fit, because the amount of extra time spent doing these things really isn't going to affect my billable hours. In fact, the time spent doing these types of things is perhaps the most valuable time of the entire day, because it is exactly these subtle differences that add quality, and therefore value, to the things I make. 

As an individual, I have always struggled with time management, but lately I have begun to have a much deeper appreciation of time as something of intrinsic value: time has a very palpable effect on everything, but when it comes to things made from wood, this effect is mainly positive. For example, the time spent waiting in between coats of super-fast catalyzed finishes, while optional, is frequently time well spent. Almost all finishes improve when sufficient time is given to their application. The same is true for designs and ideas. The more time spent thinking about a design, a procedure, or even how to fix a mistake, it's almost certain it will turn out better for it. One has fewer accidents when work is performed calmly, thoughtfully, and not in a rush, and I have come to realize that the quality of the work will be better simply by taking more time with it, no matter what the operation. It is the ability to withstand time that defines quality materials and workmanship. The effects of time on a piece of furniture yield not only wear and tear, but also an indefinable quality that cannot be substituted, no matter how skillfully one tries to mimic it. For time there is no substitute, and in the end, time is probably the most finite, and therefore valuable thing that we have as human beings.

!!!

-Mike 

Comments

[Derek Franklin]

"Time is Gold", a very familiar quote from our folks. I totally agree that it is and without giving importance to the time that we have here on earth might lead to us, not accomplishing things we ought to accomplish. We might also look back in our good old age and see that we have accomplished or reached only the least of our potential.

Derek Franklin

The Action Machine