Adam Godet sits down with Owen and Ben to discuss honoring the customer's vision when doing commission work and how to protect your hearing long-term in the woodshop.Questions
From Laurel, British Columbia:
Working in collaboration with my clients is an important aspect of how I approach commissions. I recently worked with a client on the design of a piece of furniture he had a high emotional attachment to. Toward the end of the build he insisted on adding one final detail. While I feel this diminished the overall design, I added it because, well, that’s what he hired me to do. In the end the client loved the final product, paid more than what I quoted, and wants to commission me for an even bigger piece. What advice do you have for finding that just-right balance between what the client wants and maintaining design values?
From Bernie, Mozambique:
I’m a hobbyist woodworker based in Maputo, Mozambique, that does the occasional commission project. I work in my one-car garage shop probably about 2 hours on weekdays and about 6 hours daily on the weekends. I have a DeWalt jobsite saw, a lunchbox planer, a chopsaw, and a couple of routers as my “loud” tools. I am concerned about my hearing with such loud tools but also love hearing music and podcasts (STL!) while I’m woodworking. I find it a pain to always have to pause my music and put on my hearing protection when the loud machines come on. Ideally, I’d like to have bluetooth earbuds or earmuffs which offer an equal if not better level of hearing protection than my plastic earplugs have. Any suggestions?
On a sidenote, I think it would be a great topic for you guys to do an episode about how to manage a home workshop when in close proximity of neighbors. My workshop is about 5 meters from my neighbors’ house, and I feel bad sometimes at how loud my power tools can get but have not figured out how to make my woodworking quieter. I’m not ready to go all in with hand tools, but I am also mindful that my neighbors probably want to shoot me sometimes, especially when my planer blades start to get a bit dull.
Please keep up the amazing work you guys are doing, and keep inspiring new woodworkers everywhere to keep going deeper in the craft.
From John:
I’m thinking of cutting some ash logs I have into end-grain rounds for use as tabletops. I’m familiar with managing wood movement in normal face-grain tabletops. What do I need to watch out for in drying and using end-grain slabs? Since they are mostly end grain, I imagine they’ll dry out faster and I’ll need to make sure to use something like Anchorseal to control drying.
How about in the tabletop itself? Do I manage movement as I normally would, or are there any other factors I need to consider? I’m planning on flattening the slabs with a router sled followed by hand planes and scrapers.
New England American Craft Tour Announced!
Mentioned in this episode
Nancy Hiller’s Two-Heart Chair
Nancy Hiller’s Book
Making Things Work: Tales from a Cabinetmaker’s Life
John Hartman, Fine Woodworking illustrator
Shop Talk Live: Getting Geeky with ISOtunes
Michael Fortune’s Design Process and Isometric Paper
Every two weeks, a team of Fine Woodworking staffers answers questions from readers on Shop Talk Live, Fine Woodworking‘s biweekly podcast. Send your woodworking questions to [email protected] for consideration in the regular broadcast! Our continued existence relies upon listener support. So if you enjoy the show, be sure to leave us a five-star rating and maybe even a nice comment on our iTunes page. Join us on our Discord server here.
Log in or create an account to post a comment.
Sign up Log in
Facts Only
* A client insisted on adding a final detail to a furniture commission, despite the worker feeling it diminished the overall design.
* A hobbyist woodworker uses DeWalt jobsite saw, lunchbox planer, chopsaw, and routers as "loud" tools.
* The woodworker seeks hearing protection that offers equal or better protection than plastic earplugs, ideally via Bluetooth earbuds or earmuffs.
* A user plans to cut ash logs into end-grain rounds for tabletops.
* End-grain slabs are expected to dry out faster, requiring control measures like Anchorseal.
* The plan is to flatten slabs using a router sled followed by hand planes and scrapers.
* A woodworker is concerned about noise levels from power tools affecting neighbors who may wish to shoot them.
Executive Summary
Full Take
The narrative presents several distinct tensions: the negotiation of creative control versus client demands, the conflict between the desire for immersive work environments (music/podcasts) and necessary physical safety, and the practical challenges of material science in woodworking. The pursuit of "just-right balance" in commissions highlights a fundamental friction point in craft economics—the space where subjective artistic integrity meets transactional expectations. Furthermore, the concern over noise management reveals an underlying systemic challenge: how individual craft practices interface with communal living spaces, suggesting that workshop operation is not just a technical issue but a social negotiation of acoustic rights and property boundaries. The push for better hearing protection points to a gap between current safety measures (earplugs) and desired user experience, indicating a need for more integrated, adaptive solutions in tool-based labor. This collective discussion implies that the pursuit of craft mastery requires addressing not only technical execution but also the socio-environmental context of the work environment.
Bridge Questions: What frameworks can help establish non-negotiable boundaries between artistic intent and client modification? How can the community develop shared best practices for workshop acoustics that account for varying degrees of proximity and tool selection? What are the long-term implications for craft education when safety, aesthetics, and environmental respect must be simultaneously integrated into skill development?