Who am I, and what is this about?

In short, I started woodworking as a hobby sometime in 2005 after working half a decade in a very intense desk job. I still work at the same type of day job. I know what you may be anticipating at this point – the story usually results in some life changing woo, a tiny house and a hobby farm. This doesn’t go in that direction. Rather, I learned while woodworking that I didn’t especially enjoy the long list of future upgrades that I’d be aware of, the need to constantly set up machines, the current dogma about what’s good and what’s not – in the context of experienced amateurs. It all seemed a little bit hollow and there were a lot of “that’s a waste of your time” statements about deviating from consensus.

I silently, and without too much thinking, gravitated toward working by hand any time it was possible and have, over time, gone my own route. I make tools, I’ve made a few guitars, I’ve made cabinets, and sparingly, furniture and cases. Experimenting is part of the process – to find out how to make something in a way that has the satisfaction both in the making, the productivity and the results. This has opened a world of pleasant physical sensation where doing routine work is pleasing, and it helps build skills for doing fine work when fine work is needed. And it develops a discretion and feel that you cannot get by ceding all of the things that are not “worth your time” to someone else or some other machine.

The experimentation leads to growth, but not just for the sake of experimenting. Can you harden and temper steel without a commercial furnace? Yes. Can you make more plane irons than you know what to do with using little more than a belt sander, a drill and a few files? Yes. Do we become fascinated with doing everything “by hand” and change the target to disregarding results and just considering things made by hand better by rule? No – this isn’t about re-enactment or excluding use of power tools. Sometimes it makes sense, even if you’re doing the rough dimensioning of things by hand, to use power tools in the process – try working hardened steel by hand instead of ceding to a belt grinder to do rough bevel onto a paring chisel. I have no interest in compromising results where they count, but if you do, that’s fine. Why?

It’s not about developing consensus, creating a following or influencing anyone. And this blog certainly isn’t originating to incorporate affiliate links, sell anything for profit or get sponsors. Those are all diversions from the main point – making, experimenting, improving and tolerating failure to get to success. Some of the topics will go very deep into the onion and if there are postings in the middle of the experimentation process, you will see what that means. We are looking to be participants in the entire process as makers. As the site grows, there will be summary discussions, but without the ability to go deeper, they become meaningless and trivial. So, we’re not going to be bound by what interests the masses or how to grow the group and get more consensus – we’ll go where the curiosity leads, and leave the revenue generating, SEO and and click-driven direction changing to others.