Amateur woodworkers - Do you do woodworking to relax?

[Aram]

Sometimes.


I like to challenge myself on projects I build, and I make plenty of mistakes. Many times that means reworking or starting over. It's gratifying when it goes well, and energizing, but hardly relaxing.

But some of the hand tool work allows me to settle into "the zone," with music on the stereo and hours going by without me noticing. That part is relaxing.

[WaterlooMarc]

Like many I started down this rabbit hole as a means to an end. Broke in college as a matter of fact. Over the years my involvement has ebbed and flowed. Currently at 40 with an almost 6 year old and a 6 month old I don’t get very much time in at all. But I always come back to and it always occupies a part of my thoughts almost daily.

Relaxing, I’d say overall yes. When I’m in my shop I don’t have people pestering me. My phone doesn’t ring. My email doesn’t ding. There’s definitely many parts of the process that are stressful and even maddening and I’ve quit countless times over the years in anger over a stupid mistake. But I keep coming back.

I enjoy my job but it doesn’t provide me with many tangible results. Put up a good month, get a pat on the back and have a beer but come the next month it starts over again and there’s nothing tangible left. Woodworking provides me the opportunity to create and see tangible results. (Even at my glacial pace) I need to to feel like a productive human being.

Both my grandfathers were excellent carpenters and decent woodworkers. While I wasn’t old enough before they passed to learn from them I have inherited a number of their tools. Whether I’d call it relaxation is debatable but I get a great sense of satisfaction from being in my shop and building something using their tools.

Sawdust, cold beer and peace and quiet go a long way after a crappy week.

[tablesawtom]

I am a builder by nature, built what I needed, even as a kid. By now I was into my second year of my 4 year Tool @ Die apprenticeship at the time. One has to under stand  apprenticeships, I was working along beside and for journeymen 55 hours a week. And their job was to get work done and to teach me at the same time. I had 14 teachers and there job was to teach me how to build and in what order and how to plan the job. In other wards I have had 50 years of how to build and usually I built into existence the first one ever built.

Any way we went to a  store to buy some furniture and was told I by a sales person that I couldn't afford real wood and that I had to settle for some made out of particle board.
I don't know where he go that idea from. I told him I could afford to buy anything I wanted but just because I could afford to buy his crap didn't mean I was stupid enough to buy what he was selling. Wwe did buy some furniture that the wife liked, but not from that store. Afterward I looked at what we had purchased and said to my wife that I could build what we had just bought.She kind of said yeah right.

I am a job shop tool maker and not a factory tool maker, there is a difference. I build because that is who and what i am.

I build because I enjoy the steps, I build because my mind is alive. I build because I am the happiest when I have a big projet giong. I don't think to much of the finished product because I know where the flaw are. usually I think they look nice in about 6 months. I just want to know what is next.

I am pretty pathetic aren't I ?

[toolmiser]

I've been doing woodworking since I was a freshman in High School. I am not good at sitting around, but practice more as I get older. I've made and repaired most of the furniture in our house, plus made the kitchen cabinets and manufactured all of the trim. Problem not is we don't have the need for more furniture, and resale isn't a profitable thing.

I also enjoy the tools-finding them, especially old ones.

I don't drink much, smoke, gamble, play golf, or other things that consume time or money. I may not make any money on woodworking, but it keeps me a little active both mind and body. My former neighbor would always say we would make things too complicated. I think he was jealous, we wouldn't be able to pay someone to make a nicer (whatever), but I could craft it. Some people might accuse me of being "snooty", because I can make some nice items out of wood that are a little nicer than needed.

[Mags®]

Relaxation,... No... Sense of accomplishment, yes. I do it for the challenge and to keep my desire from building things like houses and such down. My mind being idle is a dangerous thing.

[®smpr_fi_mac®]

I'm a builder by nature, like some of you. I didn't really learn that until about age thirty one, when I got my job at NASA, building satellites. I'm in a zen state at work. I know it sounds weird, but I actually love my job.

I've always loved woodworking, but not until the last decade had the means and space for a real shop.

Is it relaxing for me? Yes. Is it stressful? Also yes. Is it satisfying for me? Incredibly so, especially when some oohs and aahs over something I built.

I get stressed mainly when I build something for the missus and run into a deadline. When I build something for me, it's all relaxation.

My wallet is often stressed because I all too often bite off more than I can chew and turn hundreds of dollars of lumber into scrap lumber and sawdust.

Is it relaxing? Not as much as drinking and video games, but is ultimately more satisfying.

[hbmcc]

Ever since I retired, I've been doing woodworking to add stress to my life! Why else would I screw up so many projects?

Have you been fired yet?

[Tony Z]

I started as a means to relax. First projects were rough, but through the years, my work became more acceptable (to me).

At the moment, I have several items on the list, but with these, I will be saying no-I don't need another job. I am deliberately taking infinitely longer completing things, to discourage requests, work an hour, puts for three! I've revisited my sharpening techniques, been building "devices" ala Robert Wearing, rediscovering my handplanes and really refining the way I use scrapers (thicker much, much better!).

[Arlin Eastman]

I still consider myself an Amateur.  I would say I have two reasons to do flat woodworking,

1.  To learn how and when I do to make my wife some nice furniture she never had while in the military.
2.  To teach what I know to others so they can do whatever they want to do.

I have neither the time nor the money to do all of what is needed but little by little it will happen especially when I get the funds to pay for the Non Profit business license to get a building and staffed.

One of the reasons I have a lot of questions and love to watch pieces in work.

[John Mihich]

For me I do relax in the design stage.  I like thinking about what I'm going to do and draw it out; I find that fun.  In the shop I like being able to do a lot of the project at one time.  It bugs me if I have to let something sit for a while. 

I have something going all the time I tried cutting back but I am always being asked to make something.  I prefer to make something I design rather than someone else's plan. 

I added a laser to my group of tools last year.  I love adding to things now. 

And more importantly - my wife likes me in the shop.  She knows I am staying out of trouble.