What do you do it for?

[matt]

I'm really not sure what drives me. I do enjoy it but I don't jump at opportunities to make stuff for other people which suggests I enjoy the end product rather than the journey (i.e. I want what I have made in my house rather than someone else's).

I like designing stuff - I think that's it. However, it goes beyond the the piece of furniture - it's the whole room. The end product is that the furniture invariably has to be made to fit in to the bigger picture.

I also like being able to make it myself but I don't have the passion that makes me want to master a particular joint etc that I don't actually need to use (yet). If I can join a cabinet with screws and glue then I will. If I need to use biscuits and glue then I'll take the time to do so. Providing it has the required strength and aesthetics then I'm happy.

I'm not a purist but I do like to things properly.

 

[Wanlock Dod]

For me it's a hobby that you can do when the weather is foul, although to be honest I rather not need to be wrapped up like a michellin man to do it at this time of year.

I find it nice to have some kind of creative outlet.

Wizer said:

I decided recently that I want to concentrate less on furniture making and more on woodworking. i.e I want to muck about with wood without the pressure of having to produce something that is both beautiful and functional.

I came to a similar conclusion, and this was, I believe, why I started turning more, rather than trying to make furniture a while back. I just make the stuff that I fancy making, without worrying whether or not it's the right size, or style or whatever. I just do it, sometimes it's good, sometimes it's not, but I enjoy it regardless

Cheers,

Dod

 

[pinkyinboro]

i do it for the money!!

 

[Benchwayze]

i do it for the money!!

Oooohhh you mercenary you!

There are many ways of earning a better living, but few better ways of earning a living. :wink:

 

[Woodmagnet]

i do it for the money!!

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: =D>

 

[Routermonster]

I do it as a hobby, and I thoroughly enjoy it, and it's a stress-reliever. It's a change from spending hours on motorways every week and sitting in front of a PC (er ... like now? ).

I've always liked working with my hands, and I have been a DIY enthusiast since I got married - more years ago than I care to remember, mostly working with cheap power tools and a few hand tools. Usually, it was out of necessity, since we often couldn't afford to pay someone else. I did enjoy myself, and managed a few pieces of furniture too.

I became interested in hand tools about three or four years ago, as opposed to using a router for everything, and my skills have improved, although I'm like Wizer and BB - I don't feel I've achieved much in the way of 'proper' cabinet-making as yet. But there's nothing like using a well tuned-up plane, listening to the swish as feathery shavings curl off and drop to the floor ... very therapeutic!

Les

 

[woodbloke]

Difficult...I just like to work with wood and always have done. I'm a hobbyest now and can't really visualize any other sort of hobby activity that I'd enjoy so much - Rob

 

[RobertMP]

I liked woodwork at school and even still have a couple of things I made. After 30+ years of manufacturing custom made commercial lighting where I did the CAD/CAM and managed/worked in the factory I just fancied getting away from metal and working with wood.

I miss the accuracy of CNC machinery and will always choose a machined process over a hand tool one where I can - so I guess I'm now a hobby wood engineer more than a hobby carpenter.

I know if something I've made is good (friends will always say something is good whatever it was!) and it is a good feeling to be proud of something you have created.

There is no pressure now to get the job done or start on a new project so sometimes I have to motivate myself to get on with it but the results are worth the effort and it stops me getting bored.

 

[paulm]

I like the process of taking an unpromising rough lump of wood that might otherwise end up on somebody's fire or bieng left to rot, and converting it into useable timber and seeing the colouring and figuring and sometimes the smell depending on what timber.

Sometimes I even make something from the timber :shock: :lol: and that part of the process, particularly if on the lathe, is very satisfing too, the sound and feel of the tools cutting the timber, the big piles of shavings and the speed with which you can produce something finished.

The best bit is often putting on the finish, usually oil or wax and the way that totally transforms the timber is immensley satisfying.

So it's really the whole process of working with wood and tools for me and if there is something good at the end of it then I guess that's a bit of a bonus on top

Cheers, Paul

 

[frugal]

My day job is managing a team of blokes who keep a computer network up and running for a massive UK company, and since I stopped being technical I get to the end of every single day having worked my ass off with no sense of having achieved anything worthwhile.

My job, as hard as I work at it and as diligent and perfectionist I am to do the best possible job I can, will never create world peace, cure famine or disease or satisfy my need to feel as if I have achieved something worthwhile with my life.

This is exactly what I was thinking. I manage a team of 15 software designers for a UK mobile telco. At the end of the day I look back at the number of meetings I have attended and the number of bits of paper I have dealt with and I wonder what difference I have made.

As I have the artistic ability of a haddock painting, sculpting or music are right out. Woodwork means that I can create something that is not only useful but also beautiful. I know that what I create will never win any design awards (that is just not the way my brain works), but what I do create are good to look at and functional.

My other hobbies are knitting, which gives me something to do when I am inside for an evening and running to get me outside.

The other reason that I really like woodwork is that I am a terrible introvert, and as such I get really down if I can not spend some time alone. Being in a busy office all day, and then coming home to my wife and two kids, I need to solitary time to recharge, going out to the workshop gives me that time.

 

[wizer]

.

The other reason that I really like woodwork is that I am a terrible introvert, and as such I get really down if I can not spend some time alone. Being in a busy office all day, and then coming home to my wife and two kids, I need to solitary time to recharge, going out to the workshop gives me that time.

That's sums up something I never thought about myself. But reading that, I'm the same. I love to be on my own and the chaos of the house or work is too much sometimes. Having my own place to escape to is fantastic. Tho, I wish it was at the end of a very long garden at times

 

[OPJ]

I turn for fun and because its completely different to the day job (though that does supply an ammount of free wood )

building furniture is something ive been compelled into because swimbo and i have moved in together and we cant afford to buy everything we need so its that or ikea.

its not so much fun (yet) as i'm not very good at it - but i'm not going to let those book cases beat me

Do you dine on wooden plates then, Pete??? :wink:

I dream of doing this (furniture) whenever I can afford to get on to the property market.... Unless you make it all out of softwood, you're probably not going to save much anyway! :roll: Still, there's surely nothing like having your own furniture in your own home.

I'm looking forward (in a good way!! :shock to seeing this bookcase at some point. I'm guessing that you've probably made them too wide for the strength of the MDF... In which case, you may still be able to save it!

 

[MikeG.]

There's so often the danger of thinking 'Everything would be different if only I had (insert name of next must-have tool or machine)'.
Cheers :wink:
Paul

Did you really say this Paul?!!!! :shock:

Does this mean that the end of tool gathering is nigh??

Mike

 

[Paul Chapman]

There's so often the danger of thinking 'Everything would be different if only I had (insert name of next must-have tool or machine)'.
Cheers :wink:
Paul

Did you really say this Paul?!!!! :shock:

Yes :lol: I don't have any machinery and apart from a lot of planes, a lot of Yankee screwdrivers and two excellent, hand-made saws, not that many hand tools - so it was said in all sincerity :wink:

Cheers :wink:

Paul

 

[MikeG.]

Great news!!

There are a few others here whose tool harvesting must surely be just about complete.........?

-

As for the substance of the question..........this is an almost "if you've got to ask, you'll never know" sort of situation. Personally, I have never thought about it at all. It is just part of me......something I have always done.

Like many, it started in poverty in my first flat. Knackered kitchen, wall in the way.........do you pay hundreds of pounds (late 70's!!) for a builder you can't afford, or do you spend £20 or £30 on tools and get on with it? Simple really.

Within a year or two I was making Welsh Dressers and bureaux in pine, and selling them through the local paper as a way of getting through the cricket off-season without starving.

A year or 5 after that I started making my "Flintstone" series (although it was never called that at the time), and sold them through adverts in a Sunday supplement and then through Liberties of London. This was all out of an 8' x 10' shed. It was then that I learnt that space was more impotant than kit, which I still hold to today.

Shedding for me has always been more than just furniture. I invent stuff, I fiddle with things, I tiffle with broken things.......I have done more and more metalwork over the years, although it is always a relief to get back to wood afterwards. Currently I am playing with aluminium.

I empathise with those who retreat to the shed for p&q.........kids, work etc. I've never understood how some people manage without a shed!! Where do they go to hide? My neighbours call me "Mike Five-sheds"...... But shedding for me isn't a habitual, x hours a week sort of thing. I am a projects person. I get obsessed with something, and thrash away at it until it is done.....then move on to something else. Again, outcomes rather than processes are the key to my pleasure, which may be why I will never be a turner (I think!!......although there is a corner of the shed awaiting a lathe...!)

So why do I do it? You may as well ask why I get up in the morning.......

Mike