I have an office job (M&A attorney) and my principal place of employment is in town. I like being at the office; I go 4-5 times a week. But I do work from home from time to time (especially evenings and on weekends), so it’s important that my home office is both functional and cozy. My home office also doubles as my gaming room (what cretins would call a “man cave”). It’s a 12×13 ground floor bedroom.

Oh, and it was my hand tool woodworking shop for almost a decade.

When I had a workbench in here, I was always frustrated that it wasn’t level front to back. Depending on where which bench, the front was anywhere between 1/8″ and 1/4″ lower than the back. Meaning tools would always roll forward and off the bench (terrifying if it was an awl or chisel and I was barefoot, which I tend to be in my shop). Convinced I was a bad craftsman, I banished the thought from my mind (putting aside that when I moved the same workbench into the new workshop, it was basically level).

But then, the other day, I decided to hang a wall shelf and what do I notice? There is actually a 1/4″ downward slope in the floor across just 24 inches. I know for a fact the TV easel is square to the base; I built it myself. But you can clearly see the TV leans to the right compared to the wall hung shelf. Just look at it, face on. And the right side of the easel is exactly where the front of my workbench was when this was my shop.

So all this time, I thought maybe I over-flattened the front edge of the benchtop. Or perhaps I just measured the shoulder on the back legs badly when cutting the joinery. But, in fact, it was some mason in the 70’s fault. Not mine.

And that, my friends, is real perspective.

JPG