Take a breath - January at HQ

January is when a woodworking business remembers it’s human.

September thru to the end December is chaos. Absolute chaos. Everything needs to be finished yesterday, everyone wants it before Christmas, and the workshop runs on caffeine, adrenaline, and quick thinking. Then January hits… and suddenly it’s like, oh yeah, we’re allowed to breathe again.

The first few days are basically just wandering around the workshop, looking at things and nodding. Benches get “cleaned” (stuff is moved from one pile to another), tools get sharpened because they probably should’ve been sharpened last year, and machines get switched on gently — like they might still be angry with us.

It’s also very hot. Glue goes off in about three seconds, timber does whatever it feels like, and everyone’s productivity drops sharply after about 1pm. January afternoons are less about heavy machining and more about sanding, measuring twice, and standing very still in front of a fan.

Work slows down a bit, which is actually dangerous. This is when ideas start happening. “What if we tried this joint?” “What if we redesigned that piece?” “What if we finally used that stack of offcuts we swear we’re going to throw out one day?” January is when experiments happen — some great, some… character building. 

Towards the end of last year we installed a big nesting CNC. Part of my job this January has been to get my head around it and the best way to use it to make us more productive. We’ve already made some serious headway with it. Can’t wait to run it all year. 

By the end of the month, people start coming back. You get the classic “we’ve been thinking about this for a while” conversations, which usually means since Boxing Day. The pace picks up, but without the Christmas madness, which is a nice change.

January isn’t about smashing records. It’s about easing back in, making decent things, and remembering why we like working with wood in the first place. Slightly sweaty, slightly dusty, but back at it.