is 68 too old

[Wildman]

Is 68 too old to be rebuilding parts of the workshop or should I start "Shedding" my tools? No one to take it over once I'm gone.

 

[n0legs]

Talking daft there my friend :lol:
If you feel physically able to do it and you enjoy it, get out there and get it done.
My fathers the same age as you and he hasn't slowed down one bit, he's making plans for this and that for the next 20 years.

 

[finneyb]

Is 68 too old to be rebuilding parts of the workshop or should I start "Shedding" my tools? No one to take it over once I'm gone.

Do what you enjoy doing now. If you enjoy rebuilding do it. I know a almost 90 years old turner who cannot drive due to poor eyesight, yet can give a turning demo!!

Brian

 

[RogerP]

I'm 4 years older than you and STILL buying tools.
Never mind the years, it's just a number, and you're likely to be going for a long time yet!

Enjoy yourself and stop fretting.

 

[Jacob]

I'm 70 and still planning my next career. More woodworky things even though the last several careers weren't brilliant. Never ran out of work but didn't get filthy rich.
My wife says it's time I got a proper job but I'm definitely too old for that! I think she ought to get a paper round or something and stop moping about at home all day thinking negative thoughts.

 

[Wildman]

All my life I have carried the nickname of the man who builds workshops the trouble is athritis is troubling me and having lost a good many friends this year I began to wonder about the mess I'd leave for my wife to sort out when I'm gone, whenever that may be. I suspect she would just lock the doors and let it all rust away and that bothers me.

 

[monkeybiter]

I suspect she would just lock the doors and let it all rust away and that bothers me.

Worry about that when it happens. Even the best tools or those with most sentiment attached only have a value to the people who own them. Without people they're just iron and wood. Get your fun while you can.

 

[Baldhead]

Do what you feel is right for you, I've a brother living in Bideford, when I visit him I see lots of old fellows who look the picture of health, it must be something in the water?

If I 'pop my clogs' before the wife I've given her my password for this site, I've told her to tell everyone I've gone and can someone local come and look at my tools for approx values, it's only then that she will realise I paid a lot more for them that I told her, still I won't be around for the 'ticking off' :lol:

Take care

Baldhead

 

[DiscoStu]

I'm 40 and think you're talking rubbish! Do what you want to do. If you enjoy it then crack on. Most of us wish we had the time to do that stuff. My FIL is 85 registered blind and he still turns and enjoys himself. He still buys new things.

 

[Ali]

Agree with everyone else, if you still enjoy it then don't give it up. As long as you feel physically up to it, then do it. Obviously there are some workshop/diy tasks that can be physically hard such as moving heavy materials/machinery, but those tasks would even be hard for a 30 year old - so try to get another pair of hands or ask/pay if you ever have a task that is too strenous.

crack on, and as for the "no one to take it over once I'm gone" - get started on a little apprentice if you know what I mean :wink: :wink:

 

[Random Orbital Bob]

+1...you've earned the right...don't give it a second thought...steam in and whats more post the progress pics here....you may have lost some friends but there's a heap more waiting to be found right here

 

[lanemaux]

Wildman , heed the forum. The forum is wise in such things. Age matters not to the Jedi woodworker , let the fence guide you ... always. Kidding aside amigo 68 just means you're well fitted to hang out with our most prolific posting people. I'm on meds up to my eyebrows , wear specs to tell the difference between light rum and vodka and walk down 15 stairs in 30 steps with both hands on the rails if you please. And you got a full decade on me. I simply choose to ignore the milage put on me by that young goofball I once was. We may slow down , yet we must press on.

 

[Slinger]

Wildman, no problem, just give your wife the key & my telephone no & I will sort it out for her (I'm 79 this year).
Slinger

 

[AES]

Wildman,

I'll soon be 70, and have just come back to my workshop after a spell in hospital and Rehab. One of the first things I did was to knock up a couple of metric square nuts for someone - took me longer than it should have, but to be expected after a major back operation, and though a simple thing, hardly worth the description "job", it was a real pleasure both being back home and back in the shop "making stuff". I really missed it (and this Forum) while I was away, so I agree 110% with all the other comments here - go for it, and keep at it, for as long as you can/as long as it gives you pleasure.

BTW, like you I have no one to pass on my (still growing) collection of tools but don't let that bother me at all - when I'm no longer here my wife can sell my stuff if she's still around (she's 3 years my senior) and I've also been toying with the idea of willing the lot to something like Men's Sheds - if we ever get something like that going here in Switzerland.

Just like someone said above, age is just a number, and as a further example, I still do a bit of self-employed project work now and again as an aircraft engineer (I just turned down a job in December because of the appointment for my op) and fully intend to do some more later on, as soon as the Physio has got me fully mobile again.

Just enjoy the shop, and as far as you're able B - GG - R the expense would be my advice.

Good luck.

Krgds
AES

 

[graduate_owner]

Ask yourself - do you enjoy being in your workshop, or is it something you feel you ought to do because you have invested money in kit? If you enjoy it, go for it. What else would you spend your pension on? If you need other things and they are more important to you or your family then buy them first, but if you want more kit and you're enjoying using your existing kit then why not?

I've used the word 'enjoy' 3 times in that last paragraph and I think that is the key word. Remember it will be too late to enjoy yourself when you are dead, and everyone's a long time dead. (Happy thought).

I'm 65 and still buying tools. My shed is full of wood etc that I have bought / acquired / been given / otherwise accumulated. My wife hopes she will die first so she doesn't have the worry of clearing out, although I am gradually using up my collection.

K

 

[adidat]

my granddad built two sheds and converted a stables into a cottage at the prime age of 89!

adidat

 

[richarnold]

Just remember Stradivari didn't make his finest instruments until he was in his 60's, and was still at the bench at the tender age of 93
Plenty of time yet :lol:

 

[powertools]

Well i'm 63 and have just started a new business and am about to embark on having a house built on my large garden that will include my ultimate hobby workshop much of the work I intend to do myself and when finished I will then sell the existing house.
I have to confess that sometimes I wake up at 3am and start to think that it is all lunacy but the problem is that my brain still seems to think that my body is still 33 and because my brain controls my emotions I have to go with that and carry on and do the things I still want to do I don't want to be on my death bed thinking that I should have done things that I didn't try to do.
My theory is to carry on with life the way your brain wants you to and as much as your body will allow you to and not worry to much about the day your life comes to an end.

 

[Silverbirch]

Completely agree with all the above.
I keep reading that "sixty is the new forty", so by that reckoning, you`re only about 45

 

[doorframe]

I feel better now reading all the above posts. I turn 50 this year and it's been getting me depressed. I hope I have the spirit of you lot when (if) I reach your grand ages.

PS. Wildman, I agree with everyone else. Go for it!