You’ve heard the old axiom (promulgated regularly by the female gender) that "the only difference between men and boys is the cost of their toys." I don't want to own up to it, but I see some accuracy in that statement. When boys grow up, instead of playing with toys, they adopt hobbies, which are expensive things men accomplish in their spare time to resist working around the home. This outlay is not only counted in cash, but also in time away from the family. So common is this time-expense that it creates widows of our wives. There are golfing widows, hunting widows, fishing widows and even bowling widows—to name a few. I’m not saying that we shouldn’t have hobbies, but they have been known to cause some connubial upheaval.

If your hobby is woodworking, you are not exempt from creating this turmoil. Your woodworking widow may not quite know why you would gladly acquire quality time away from your family in order to cut up big, expensive pieces of hardwood into small pieces, shavings and sawdust to track into her home.

One way for hobbyists to contend with this problem is to get the missus drawn in. Well, if this technique works for you, you are exceptionally fortunate. For the most part of our wives believe our hobbies repugnant. They may pander us for a time, but if their hearts aren’t in it, we may find that our schemes ultimately start to boomerang on us. This, though, is not unavoidably true for the woodworker.

That’s correct! As a woodworker, if you’re agreeable to involve your wife in the planning of a project, because the result is vital to her, you are in the enviable place of not inevitably having to involve her in the project herself. What can a golfer present his wife after 18 holes?—nothing but a husband who spent too much time on the 19th hole. Fishermen and hunters can take home fish and ducks, but they might not be valued, since they devour them more rapidly than their wives can clean and prepare them.

As a woodworker, though, you can give your wife something meaningful—something she has always wanted: gorgeous bedroom furniture. A bedroom suite is an enormous assignment, but if your wife is a long-time woodworking widow, you NEED an enormous venture, and its conclusion can be vastly rewarding. One of your rewards might just be that your wife will use the results to express her heartfelt gratitude.