It’s the interval of time between Olympic Games (well, between two summer or two winter Olympic games, to be accurate). Or the time it takes an average college student to get a Bachelor’s degree. Or the length of time you spend in high school… if you don’t get held back. Or the interval between World Cup soccer tournaments. Or one presidential term for the United States of America.

It’s four years. And, today, Tom’s Workbench has been up and running for four years.

Sure, we officially got off the ground in January, 2008. But, it was four years ago today that Marc Spagnuolo published the first article for his very old ‘Wood Talk Online’ website. It described the symptoms a Wood-A-Holic might experience. You know, to this day, I still experience those symptoms.

Through these four years, I hope that I have made you laugh, I may have made some of you cry and I certainly wanted to make you look beyond your mistakes and see the great project you are building.

Through these four years, I have made so many friends along the way. People like David Life who never let his disability stand in the way of doing awesome woodwork. People like David Wert who are serving our country thousands of miles away who miss their families, friends and shops. Woodworkers such as John Lucas and Niki Avrahami who left their knowledge for  us before they shuffled off their mortal coil.  My supporters Bell Forest Products and Eagle America tools.

And, then the friends… OH the friends! Marc Spagnuolo, Matt Vanderlist, Matt Gradwhol, Shannon Rogers, Ron Hock, Eric Poirier, Kari Hultman, Dyami Plotke (Yes, the article still needs to be written!), Dan Bean, Doug Stowe, Gail O’Rourke… Dude, I will NEVER name everyone I have to thank… Please, everyone,  accept those thanks!

My plans? Heck… I plan on coming back strong… for at least four more years.  Yes, you are stuck with me and you will have me to kick around!

Well, today’s post is late.  That’s because my wife an I just got back from a wonderful evening in downtown St. Petersburg celebrating our – wait for it- 18th anniversary. The woman is a saint.  Dinner last night at The Moon Under Water was great (If you get there, try the green curry and get it HOT!  It burned, boy BOY was it good), and breakfast at the Hangar Restaurant and Flight Lounge overlooking Albert Whitted Airport were amazing. And, if you ever need to stay downtown, the Renaissance Vinoy Hotel is a charming piece of history and  a great place to kick back, relax and enjoy yourself.

But, that’s not the only thing that happened this weekend.  No sir. There was a lot more that happened, and here’s a look at some of the activities:

First, after my out of square experiences of the past weeks, Chris Wong of Flair Woodworks and I worked out a trade. He had a slew of Jevons 3D assembly squares, and I had a slick that was taking up space in my tool chest. After dealing with the vagaries of international shipping (He’s in Canada, I’m here in the United States), we were able to work out a deal.  Those babies are good to go and ready to find a spot in my shop.

The next fun thing was that I got a lot of milling done on the shelves for the bookcase project I’m working on. How much work?  Well, let’s just say that a day in the shop is like a day at the beach for me…

The next really cool thing was that I got an e-mail from one of my readers named Bill Murphy. He’s a St. Petersburg based woodworker who wanted to share a project he had built.  This is a jewelry box he had built from maple and purpleheart for his wife.  Bill, I don’t want to go too far out on a limb here, but that’s some freakin’ awesome work!

Bill also let me know he is a member of the St. Petersburg Woodcrafters Guild and he wanted to invite me to come out to an upcoming meeting.  Looks to me like I’m going to have to spend some more time in the Sunshine City!

Whew, I’m spent, and I’m gonna need a few days off to recover from this weekend’s fun. I do want to give y’all a heads up – this Wednesday, I’m gonna have a pretty big announcement about an offer for Tom’s Workbench readers.  Stay tuned!

If you’ve been around the twitosphere, you’ll notice that I have had a number of Tom’s Workbench t-shirts made up.

The front features everyone’s favorite mischievous monkey:

And, on the back, I am PROUD to salute The Wood Whisperer and Bell Forest Products, the two sponsors who helped make these shirts a reality. I can’t say enough about the support they showed me, and how both have helped the online woodworking community throughout the years.

These babies are the real deal – 100% cotton Gildan gray shirts with both the front and back logos in black ink.

Now, I have a limited number of medium, large, extra large and just a few XXLs left.  And, if you would like to wear a little bit of Tom’s Workbench history, I think I can be convinced to part with ’em at $12 each. That includes shipping and handling in the U.S.  And if you don’t call the U.S. home, well, we’ll just have to see how much that shipping runs!

Just send me an e-mail at tom@tomsworkbench.com – including your size –  and we’ll go first-come, first served basis. Hold off on payment until I can confirm I have the right size.  Just be sure to list “Yo! Shop Monkey T-Shirts Here!” as your e-mail subject line. That’s so Iggy doesn’t get too confused, alright?

There is only one problem with these shirts…

They don’t come in monkey sizes!

Oh, well, my simian friend will just have to wait until we see a reprint…

UPDATE:  I’m now out of XXL’s… And, for those who asked, the shirts were printed by an online company called Blue Cotton.  They did a very good job for a decent price… in case you want to print your own shirts!

He’s short. He’s furry.  And, he’s a fairly decent writer.

No, I’m still going to write Tom’s Workbench… you don’t get off the hook that easily!

Instead, I want to take this space to wish a very happy anniversary to my wife, Rhonda.

Yes, on a hot July Saturday afternoon 17 years ago tomorrow, we exchanged our vows at a Catholic chapel that was originally built just outside of Washington, D.C. in 1741.

She is the silent partner in the Tom’s Workbench team who offers encouragement, good advice and the level-headed reasoning that I frequently lack.

I love you, Rhonda and I couldn’t have done it without you!

As sung by an American Legend himself, Ray Charles.

Everyone in the States, have a happy and safe Independence Day.