Did anyone see the woodworking article in the Wall Street Journal this morning. Talks a little about how the hobby is growing but mainly focuses on executives and professionals using it as a way to forget about the stresses of the corporate life. Fine Woodworking Magazine is mentioned as being the leading hobbyist magazine.
There are a few errors. They said that Lie-Nielsen hand made planes sell for as much as $350. Wish I could pick up a #8 for that.
CK Stuart
Replies
CK,
I believe that the Wall Street Journal got it wrong when they said that stressed executives are turning to Woodwork as a way to relieve stress. I believe that those executives are hooked on stress and they love it!!! They are turning to woodwork for even more stress. Upon getting into woodwork they have to:
-select a method of sharpening
-determine what brand of table saw to purchase,
-determine whether they should go with the Lie Nielsen Shoulder PLane or the Lee Valley, and should they get the small, mid sized or large.
-determine whether they will go Neanderthal or Norm.
-adjust their jointer properly
- learn to flatten the backs of their plane blades and put their planes in fine fettle
etc etc etc
These are very stressful decisions and action that have to be made when getting into woodwork. So I believe the Executives are getting into woodwork because it offers the opportunity for increased stress.
Heck, sometimes I am relaxed and I get on Knots, and I see that someone has posted a message asking a simple question, and then I read 42 different answers. Think of the stress that one can get from writing to Knots. Soon the executives will take over the Knots website because we have developed such an efficient method of generating stress, even in places where it did not previously exist.
:-)
Mel
Measure your output in smiles per board foot.
Having been in those situations for many years I found that the woodworking provided as specific type of relief. Whereas the stress at work involved long term issues where it was impossible to finish the day and be able to point to something that was started and finished in that time, in the shop I could point to something physical and tangible at the end of a couple of hours, even if it was only a supply of kindling. The pressure to make it perfect was still there.
Another contrast is that with woodworking, you aren't managing someone else's work, you are doing it with your own hands, your own wit. It is sort of a way to touch something real in the real world as opposed to theoretical. Similar to the whole idea behind a "Fight Club."
And the only customer is you, or maybe you and your wife and family. No need for stakeholder analyses, impact assessments, etc. Is there anything more pure than ths sound and feel of a plane on wood? And, hey, a stable full of Lie-Nielsens is still cheaper than a boat.
Amen brother.
Ken
Mel I believe that you should be required to answer all quetions in knots because you always provide great reponses( at least they make me laugh).Mike
Edited 8/10/2007 1:38 pm ET by MP72
Mike,
Glad to welcome another dues-paying member to the Woodworking Humor Guild (annual membership fees are $0). I belong to the Washington Woodworkers Guild, and a few months ago, a person posted a message about an article on how to control rage in the workshop. The author of the article had gotten so angry once that he slammed a hammer down on his expensive workbench. Then he decided to write an article on how to control such behavior. My thought is that if you are that prone to rage and to doing stupid things with tools, you should pick another hobby. I enjoy woodworking immensely, as you can tell by my tag line. I can see that you do too.
Have fun. I am glad you enjoy some of my posts.
MelMeasure your output in smiles per board foot.
Mel, with due respect, all of these "getting into woodworking" activities are less stressful than many office jobs. I am not an executive; I'm a designer/project leader working on large projects in hi tech. I'll tell you honestly that I take relaxing breaks from the work day to research woodworking (new tools/techniques) and can't wait for the weekend to have time in the shop. Everyone is different, but I find all these setup activities fun and relaxing. Perhaps partly because its not my day job. Perhaps because its working with my hands. Perhaps because its newer to me. (Been working computers for 20+ years and it does not hold the same appeal it used to.) k, to be more honest, I am a little stressed that Freud has not delivered the FT3000 to my local stores yet... ;) Andy
Andy,
I was just kidding. That's why I put the :-) at the end of my message.
I don't find the things that I listed as stressful at all. I enjoy them. I have worked at NASA for the past 28 years. Woodworking has been my hobby since 1968. I try to do well in my woodworking, but I am never in a rush since I don't sell anything. Luckily my kids like my stuff and they take it all. On Knots, I get a lot out of the technical discussions, but I really enjoy the comraderie of others who enjoy woodworking. I hope you enjoy Knots as much as I do.
Have fun.
Mel Measure your output in smiles per board foot.
Sorry Mel. Long week; not enough woodworking. :)
That's a funny post, Mel, but you should speak for yourself. What could possibly be stressful about woodworking? Just because there are 42 different ways to sharpen tools doesn't mean its stressful - it just means it takes a while to try them all. My philosophy is that anything that you can earn a merit badge in, in the Boy Scouts, should not be stressful.
Take care, Ed (just yankin' your chain)
ED,
CUT IT OUT. YOU ARE REALLY STRESSING ME OUT. :-)Good to hear from you again. Knots renews my faith in humanity. It is good to hang around (in a virtual way) with a bunch of folks who take woodworking seriously but love the humor and easy banter of Knots. After raising three kids, having them go through college and grad school, get married, move away, get jobs and buy houses, and after a an almost 40 year career in aerospace, it is hard for me to think of woodwork as "stressful". Here are the secrets to happy woodworking:
Eschew stress!
Make friends with a few Neanderthals.
Never say anything bad about Norm.
Don't let any Titebond III glue get on your Besseys.
Occasionally buy (and use)something made by Lie Nielsen or Festool.Enjoy.
MelMeasure your output in smiles per board foot.
Talking about high-stress situations, anybody who has ever looked into the publications/news business knows that everything always tends to be and emergency. I would not be surprised if Mr. Anders was a woodworker himself.
Funny. I, too, am a manager of project managers, IT-related. I think woodworking also has a component of the jobs I had in the past--analysis and design--that I don't get enough of in my current job.
Danny
Mel,
Think about it...in woodworking the executive gets to choose a project without a green, red, or gold review...gets to be paternalistic with wood selection (please, no diversification wanted), works from plans written on back of envelope, doesn't have to incorporate others ideas, can skip all training (qualifications not necessary), gets to dwell in the details. I mean, its old fashion management at its best...lol
Mel,
You crack me up.
Add to your list the possibility of a board with drying stress built in.
Ray
All,
A while back, I did some work for a brain surgeon, whose hobby was building flintlock rifles. He showed me one he'd built, where he'd engraved "WINCHETER" instead of "WincheSter" on the patchbox. He laughed about it, saying that he'd often come home from his real job, totally exhausted. "I'll just go down to the basement for an hour or two, then go to bed." Later, he'd look at his watch, and see that he'd spent several hours "working" on a gun, and yet, feel rested.
I guess the consequences of a mistake were not quite the same.
And on a not entirely unrelated note, I just read in a magazine, something to the effect that today's modern high tech "conveniences" have had the result of separating us from real experiences. To wit: the medium by which we are now communicating, instead of having real interaction with living persons, face to face. (The wife is watching Monk on TV while I'm writing this.) Perhaps the attraction to woodworking (and other hobbies) is just this: a connection with something real, where actions have real time effects, where success or failure is obvious (if only to the worker) here and now-- damn I wish that tearout hadn't happened- should've read the grain better- now I'll have to scrape.
Ray
Ray,
So you think that Monk is less real than woodworking?
Get real! Monk lives!!!!MelMeasure your output in smiles per board foot.
Interesting thread......
I haven't read the article, but I have a bit of a different slant on this discussion. I work wood professionally and believe me when I tell you that there is plenty of stress related to earning a living doing so. Having never been an executive I have no frame of reference only that the stress I feel at work is very real to me.
I don't think it's the type of job so much as it's the stress of having to earn a living in an environment that isn't necessarily in your control. Even though I'm at it 40(usually more)hrs a week I still come home to my own workshop to relax because I can do what I want the way I want without the external pressure.
-Paul
Uncle,
You state: "I don't think it's the type of job so much as it's the stress of having to earn a living in an environment that isn't necessarily in your control".
That was certsainly my experience, working in the Very Large "organisation" that is the British Civil Service. I took up woodworking as an antidote to the utter frustrations of producing good product (mostly IT-related) only to see it disappear without trace into the Ultimate Bureaucracy.
I was not alone in my frustrations but happily avoided the "solution" that involves running amok with a large knife and red eyes yelling, "Fools and charlatans"! (Then they take you away).
Work: a filthy invention of The Victorians, who also sent small boys up chimneys and worse!
Now I am retired and can do what I like. The woodworking saved me from going red-eyed or having to take the heavy-duty pills before I reached this nirvana.
It is a great feeling to be in your shed, where you are the law and all is rightness. The great feeling peaks just after you deliver a finished piece and you begin to plan the next. There are no fools or even a charlatan demanding a business case or a Microsoft Project "plan". Bliss.
Lataxe, free at last.
PS I recommend these tricks also, for reducing stress:
* Turn off the idiot box, especially Polecat News.
* Throw away all watches and calendars.
* Wear any trousers you like.
Lataxe,
You are wise, indeed. I look forward to the day when I can build because it's what I want to do. Hopefully that day is not too far off. I don't know how much longer I can stand moronic instructions from un-knowing hacks that permeate my day to day.
Cheers,
-Paul
Lataxe,
When you said, "It is a great feeling to be in your shed, where you are the law and all is rightness," - that really spoke to me.
I think everyone needs a place in the world where he or she can lay things down and not have to worry about someone coming along and moving them; a place to call one's own, in other words.
My wife calls my shop "Beetland" - this because I like beets and she loathes them. Her version of my perfect world would be a place where I could go and eat beets to my heart's content, living the bachelor life, eating out of cooking pans, barely using utensils. This after I once expressed the notion that my ideal way of life would be to own a very large pole building, mostly shop space, with a wee apartment for living quarters situated in one corner of it. A kitchen, bathroom, sleeping area and a couch. Fortunately, we were well married by that time and she couldn't back out of the arrangement.
Thanks for putting good words to that feeling. Zolton* Some people say I have a problem because I drink hydraulic brake fluid. But I can stop any time I want.
Mel,
Q: How is being Monk, like working wood for a living?
A: It's a blessing....and a curse.
Ray
Well if they are being stressed,it surprises me. A few years back I met lots of those guys in the Morgan Car Club and most of them stood around talking about getting screws plated like the originals. After several meetings, I realized they never turned a wrench or knew how to tune an SU carburetor. My guess is they will buy every sharpening device on earth to put an edge on a chisel and brag about the new 16,ooo grit stone they bought from Miki City Japan on their last trip to Tokyo. I read that article and grinned.
I enjoyed your piece, and as I thought it over, realized that I did none of those things before starting in woodworking. Eventually I recognized the need for those lessons, but had already learned the pleasures. Perhaps "Fine Woodworking Magazine" should be avoided until one has a fair level of competence, lest it seem forbidingly complicated. I suspect that you are making that same point.
When I started my work-shop was a hammer, saw, one chisel, and a length of 2x4 between two chairs for a work-bench. In 1959 I made my first serious purchase. a Stanley no. 5. I was just starting in medical practise, and the plane cost the equivalent of four office visits.
Tom
Tom,
I thoroughly enjoyed your message. Thank you very much. When I started woodworking, it was because I had married a girl who is a quilter. I needed something to do when she was doing her decorative stitchery. I hadn't read anything about furniture construction. I built a workbench on the porch of my apartment, out of scrap 2x4x and plywood from a nearby construction site (with their permission). I got some tools at garage sales, and I finally went to Sears and got a few power tools. I built all sorts of things that I now know are against the rules. But all of those pieces are still in use, and I still get compliments on them. Now I read much more, and I know most of the rules, and I do feel more constrained in a way, than I did when I started. But that just adds to the challenge. I became "Norm like" and even have a couple of plaid shirts. Of late, I have been moving to the use of hand tools. I never build furniture out of necessity. I did and do it for the sheer enjoyment of it. I have learned to carve the furniture, to paint it in the German style of Baurenmalerei, and the Norwegian style of Rosemaling. I don't try to fit into any molds or to break any molds. I just enjoy it.Your point about being intimidated by FWW is a very real one. I don't attempt most of the stuff in FWW, but I do use it for inspiration -- to help me break the bounds, and to let my mind wander. I have come to value FWW very highly. I tell lots of people that the cost of joining Knots is the best bargain in all of woodwork. The learning and the comraderie are wonderful. If you ever get somewhere near Washington, DC, please let me know. You and your family are invited for a BBQ in the back yard, together with conversation and the required ration of woodworking lies. It is good to meet you and to make another friend.MelMeasure your output in smiles per board foot.
It's a stress reliever for me, somewhere I can go and not think about anything other than what I am doing. The irony is that if you are stressed before you enter the shop, it will certainly only result in more stress when things go wrong.
I was CEO of a company until recently (taking the summer off before deciding what I want to do next) and before that I was a private equity investor. No shortage of stress in either, and as I got older I found that physical exercise just wasn't doing the trick anymore (although it certainly reduced physical stress by staying fit). On top of all that, the pressures of growing children, and the loss of one, and a high maintenance wife (she admits it btw) were making me a wreck.
I built a shop after dusting off some handtools my grandfather left me, that was about 10 years ago. Like all of you, I still see every fault in everything I build but it still gives me great mental reward. I have a Morris chair that I built in my home office, just sitting in it and running my hand across the armrests is enough to make me smile.
Woodman I am happy for you. When I hear of a guy that makes something and it may not be perfect but.. the guy just likes it -- you can't beat it. I have been building windsor chairs for a ... no I won't say. I am still trying to make that perfect chair-- no imperfections. As I reply to you I am looking at this chair I made years ago and its the only one like it in the neighborhood. I like it and I made it. Keep chipping away little by little you do get better at the craft.
Dan,
If the day comes when I make something that I think is perfect, well it might be time to hang up the apron. :)
No but I will look for it tonight. I do consider ww an antidote for my day job which is very stressfull. I've be managing project managers that manage subcontract architects and engineers designing and permitting cell sites since 20 pound bag phones were state of the art. Whoever said it's the hands-on satisfaction got it right.
In 2000 I took 10 months off and spent my 10 month severence package doing fulltime ww, some for me and some for paying customers. In that time I discovered that I'm too much of a perfectionist and can only make about a nickle an hour. Now that would be stress.
John O'Connell - JKO Handcrafted Woodworking
The more things change ...
We trained hard, but it seemed that every time we were beginning to form up into teams, we would be reorganized. I was to learn later in life that we tend to meet any new situation by reorganizing; and a wonderful method it can be for creating the illusion of progress while producing confusion, inefficiency, and demoralization.
Petronious Arbiter, 210 BC
Great article. Isn't it nice to be on the 'cutting edge' with the Big Money guys?
I enjoyed the comment about using exotic woods such as "Baltic Birch".
Frosty
"I sometimes think we consider the good fortune of the early bird and overlook the bad fortune of the early worm." FDR - 1922
Thanks
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