Lost my enthusiasm
#46
(07-12-2018, 10:53 PM)appletonrc Wrote: Heck, if you truly loved playing with the tools.. .do what you love?  Who says you have to actually make something.  That is what normally happens but it you just want to spend a hour messing around in the shop with nothing to show for it, that's seems fine too.  Some of my time making a little shelf to hold some screw drivers can be just as enjoyable as making a nice coffee table...

You don't have to have a ROI to justify your tools.

And if you are done.. that's fine too.

Worth repeating.  Otherwise, most of us can easily have bought furniture or fixtures for far less than the expenditures on our shops - but that’s not the intent.  For me, I’m in it for the grins. 
Smirk
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#47
(07-14-2018, 06:07 AM)doobes Wrote: I've had some time to postulate on the issue, and I think for the short term I'm going to maintain status quo. Most likely, I will work in the shop on those miserable wintry days when it's not fit out for man nor beast.

I can vouch the same for summer. Hoot owl is for the birds! So, we have spring and fall to make chips fly.
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#48
I don't feel bad about what I've spent on my woodworking tools. Some day they will be resold probably, I bought very few new, and they will be depreciated badly (I hope). I have built and/or rehabbed most of our furniture, trimmed out our house from scratch (FIL home sawed the lumber), and built a stairway, and kitchen cabinets. But even without those accomplishments (patting myself on back), they have kept me interested in something positive. I know there are a lot of other things that could be absorbing money with little return, and a lot of cases would cost plenty more.

I get a sense of accomplishment knowing I've made some things that I wouldn't be able to afford or justify otherwise. Yeah I am cheap.

That is my story and I am sticking to it. Never mind me having so many routers.
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#49
Was at an old customers house today, and as I walked through the double car garage to gain access to the attic, I noticed he bought more tools. There were tools on counters, tools in boxes, stuff and tools in boxes, boxes on shelves with tools, tools stacked up in piles. As I was leaving I commented on how I would like to browse and see what tools he might sell. He said; "I don't sell- I just buy".  Even with bad health and age and probably not working in the shop for a long time, he's keeping the tools: Good man.

I then thought of how difficult it was for us to convince my aging MIL who hadn't driven in years and then 92 to sell her car. Her refusal was non-negotiable. I then realized that her car represented her last hold on independence and freedom.  I guess tools can have the same affect on a person.
 
Or maybe it's just a wacko psychological disease Sigmund wasn't privy to yet.
Laugh
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#50
I guess I am what people today call a "maker".  I prefer the title "I can build things"

I have setups for woodworking, welding and fabrication, leatherworking and upholstery.  There are very few household or shop items that I cannot make.  I am also a heavy equipment mechanic, work on my own vehicles, have a 100 year old house that needs work, dabble in tree work and chainsaw milling so I also work incessantly on chainsaws of my own and others.

I find myself wanting to make less and buy more.  I know I can make it better though and that usually comes at a cost of more time and usually more money.  I hate buying crap products though.  Sometimes I know I would be way ahead to just buy instead of make.

Basically I am getting sick of projects but really I have no idea what else to do.  I am in the process of making a frame for my Studley tool chest poster.  It is a 26x18 poster.  Why didn't I just buy it?  Frames are expensive though and I have materials and tools.  I envision another foray into metal crafting in the future too involving a lathe and mill. This will more than likely turn into custom gun and knife making.

Gun work is a mixture of woodworking and metalworking. Leather too if you do slings and holsters and that stuff. Knife making involves metal work and leather if you do leather grips or leather washer tang handles plus sheath making. Now I am overwhelmed with something I have not even started. 

Why do I do it?
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When something has to be done, no one knows how to do it.  When they "pay" you to do it, they become "experts".
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