Noah B Woodworks

I survived the Christmas weekend with family. It went fairly well. I was able to make an ornament for my little sister, and everyone except for my dad got their presents. With the holiday season behind us, I can turn my attention towards improving my shop and methods once again. I’ve got some PTO coming next week. I’m working Sunday (today), and Monday then I’ve got the rest of the week off, which is fantastic. I’ll most likely be waking up early those days to get out into the shop to do something productive.

In preparing for Christmas I discovered that it is really easy to create epoxy works with the CNC. The CNC was pushed to do some better things in the last week or two. I finished the relief carving for my dad and relief carving on the CNC is no longer uncharted territory. I need a longer 8th inch ball nose router bit. The quarter inch shank rubbed against the top of the relief carving, but luckily it wasn’t bad enough to ruin the carving. My brother had some good ideas for how I could make the one I made for our dad better but I think the CNC really shines when it comes to inlays, either wood on wood or epoxied.

With all of the extra time off for New Years, I’d like to finalize my camera setup by doing the massive 20+ hours of 3D printing it will take to print the camera housing. I’ll be very happy once that task is completed. After my most recent YouTube video I published earlier this year, I’m thinking I need to pull back and focus on the work. I’m not very good at talking to the camera, and that is okay. I’ll get around talking to the camera by doing a voiceover and shooting B-roll. It’s better to piece things together and take a “show don’t tell” approach. I’ve been reorganizing and freeing up space in the shop, so the larger and nicer box lights can live in the shop for more consistent and better lit shots. I also could get better at maximizing media. Thanks to work, I’ve got a nice iPhone with a nice camera on it. I could shoot vertical footage with that and start making Instagram reels again. I’m just feeling like I need to put myself out there more, but it can be challenging if you’re inconsistent, which I tend to be at times.

At some point, I think it would be cool to create a streaming setup for the shop. Internet is the issue, I’d either need to run an ethernet cable out to the shop or purchase a Starlink subscription. Another barrier is camera setup. I’m a broadcast engineer in my professional life, so setting up a small studio would be a cakewalk, but they’re expensive. I’d like 2-3 PTZ (pan tilt zoom) cameras that I can control with a joystick controller, all running into a video switcher that is connected to the stream. The workflow would look something like: I need to use the table saw to make this cut, dial in the camera closest to the table saw, switch it on the switcher, make the cut, and continue woodworking. The idea is that there is camera coverage on every tool. I wouldn’t have to move anything around or fuss with tripods, it would just be point the camera, switch it, and go. I’m a long way away from doing anything like this, and it is definitely not a priority. In my head it makes sense though. I’m almost always in the shop at a specific time every week, so if I can leverage that consistency into something interactive, that seems like a solid strategic move.