Did we pick woodworking or did woodworking pick us?

[Greg Peterson]

A couple of recent threads posted here lately have kind of planted a seed of a thought for me, so rather than post this question in a reply on one of the threads I figured I would give the question top billing.

Nancy and Belinda posted separate threads but the topics are as related as hand in glove. I also thought that the they were in essence preaching to the choir. And as I was formulating this thought I went off on a tangent and began to wonder why I thought these two threads were redundant messages for the intended audience.

So, what is it about woodworkers specifically and SMC members in general, that makes the message of personal responsibility redundant? More precisely, are there characteristics of the craft/trade/hobby that require personal responsibility as a fundamental building block? Are these conscious or subconscious considerations?

As an example, many artists believe they have to live a life of misery/poverty to create great art. Many artists, not most, also believe they need to alter their reality to discover their art. Many don't want the constraints of a 9-5 job for fear that their creativity will be exhausted. I've met my share of musicians that fit this description to a T. And I can't deny that for some these are indeed valid considerations. Unfortunately that lifestyle is adapted by many as a means to an end; to create art they must subscribe to these lifestyle choices, whereas the successful artists tend to made these choices subconsciously.

So, did we pick woodworking or did woodworking pick us? And why?

[Caspar Hauser]

So, did we pick woodworking or did woodworking pick us? And why?

Nope, nope, money :p

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Greg,

I don't think you can make a generalized answer for any of these questions as I think the answers will vary from person to person.

30+ years ago I had a full time job that took up 3-4 hours a week of my time. My neighbor was a building contractor. He invited me over to his construction site where he was building a new home. By the next week I was supervising his siding crew with the understanding I could drop and run should my pager go off. I worked for him for 18 months building and remodeling.

When I transferred to Chicago, I bought home with an unfinished basement and finished it.

Most recently after breaking my back, I needed something for physical therapy so I built a miniature octagon gazebo for my wife's concrete geese. Then I built my first piece of furniture. Then came my woodworking shop that the LOML, who could have retired, but continues working today to pay for the shop. It's an expensive hobby for me and a passion. Every project I work on is a new learning experience built on the lessons I have already learned.

I do it for fun. When I quit doing it for fun, the youngest son wants my tools.:rolleyes:

[Tim Morton]

i think of woodworking as something that i can do that pushes every other thing in my life onto the back burner...it is very peaceful for me to be cutting wood.....

didn't really answer the question....but i can say it is the only thing that i do that does that.

[Greg Peterson]

Seems there are some common denominators among woodworkers.Ingenious, clever, intelligent, independent ....

I wonder if a certain combination of these characteristics channels individuals into woodworking.

I can't explain why from my earliest memories of school I could not wait to take band class and wood shop. I had no idea what instrument I wanted to play, I just knew I wanted to play music. Same for wood shop. No thought as to what I could make, just that I wanted to build something.

[Carlos Alden]

I like working with my hands. I went to school and got a degree in fine arts, then changed direction and went to graduate school for psychology and did a career in counseling. While doing some service work for the local schools I thought I might want to really pursue that as a career, so took some courses to augment my Master's degree with a credential for schools. Part of that included a course in career counseling, where we had to identify potential different career paths for ourselves. Here I was in my early thirties stumbling on the fact that I was really, really missing working with my hands making things.

So started fooling around with musical instruments - repairing, adjusting, modifying - and found I really liked listening to talk radio or music, letting my mind go elswhere, while my hands were working on something.

I fell into working with wood because it seems like such a naturally workable medium. When I built a mandolin a few years ago I was facing the dreaded tough areas, carving the arched top and doing the finish work, with trepidation. I discovered that these were the two most intuitive and natural steps, and it's because the material is wood.

And I also like to buy tools.:)

Carlos


Carlos

[Stephen Tashiro]

I think that people who do woodworking or metal working or name-your-material working are more focused on material objects than people who deal with things like literature and music. Woodworkers, statistically, would tend to be people who have a the requisite material possessions to pursue a hobby. Even modest workshops are more of an investment in architecture than many people make. So I don't think it's surprising that many woodworkers appreciate the life skills that facilitate owning things. Natural vanity would lead us to extol the skills that we already have. It also would leads us to believe that those skills should be fundamental to everyone's life.

I can't say that the "personal responsibility" thread resonates with me. I didn't pay much attention to it. (Show me an old geezer who advocates the repeal of Social Security and I might notice them as an advocate of personal responsibility.)

I certainly think about material objects. I think about them in terms of function. For example, I want a shelf to hold books, a roof to keep the rain out and so forth. What material is one to choose for these things? In theory, they could be built from metal but the materials and tools to do this are harder to get than the materials and tools for woodworking. The economic and physical properties of wood are what leads people like myself to woodworking. After all, is it practical for a person like me to build my bookshelves out of ceramics? masonry?

[Greg Peterson]

Tim - woodworking, walking my dog and working out at the gym grant me the mental retreat from the real world. For these three activities I count my self fortunate.

Carlos - I agree that there is an organic, almost primal aspect of working with wood. There is some tactile about wood that words can not describe. I think it was Sam Maloof that said something to the affect that 'wood should be inviting to the touch'.

Stephen - You strike me as an extremely pragmatic personality. This seems to be a fairly prominent attribute in the woodworking community.

[Jim Becker]

The answer is simple...."yes". :D

For me, woodworking came from both necessity and interest stimulated by programs like NYW. Honestly, I feel the same way about horses now. We picked that as an activity for our older daughter and now all of us have been "chosen" by the "wee beasties". LOL

[Greg Peterson]

I've little exposure to horses, but from what I have seen horses are a magnificent creature. Their grace and personality are just two of their endearing qualities. They command respect not so much because of their size and power, but because of their reserve.

[Larry James]

So, what is it about woodworkers specifically and SMC members in general, that makes the message of personal responsibility redundant? More precisely, are there characteristics of the craft/trade/hobby that require personal responsibility as a fundamental building block? Are these conscious or subconscious considerations?


Greg, quotes below are not a direct answer to your question, but describes woodworking as a hobby for me. Did I pick woodworking as a hobby? I can't answer that question, but for me it has a lot to do with problem solving. Is there a connection between problem solving and personal responsibility?



... “You do not annex a hobby, the hobby annexes you, to prescribe a hobby would be dangerously akin to prescribing a wife - with about the same probability of success.”

“It is an axiom that no hobby should either seek on need rational justification.”

“To find reasons why it is useful or beneficial converts it at once from an avocation into an industry - lowers it at once to the ignominious category of an exercise undertaken for health, power or profit. Lifting dumbbells is not a hobby.” ...

Excerpts from -
A Sand County Almanac, by
Conservationist Aldo Leopold (January 11, 1887 – April 21, 1948)
First published in 1949. My copy is from 1966 and always nearby.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aldo_Leopold

[Gene Howe]

Greg's question is easily answered. Without a highly developed sense of personal responsibility one would be holding a pen with his/her teeth.:eek:

To some of us, artistry in wood is a product of conscious decisions. To others, a product of training and, to others it's an innate sense of form. In my case, achieving art is very difficult as my first thought is function and art is an afterthought. That is simply a product of my own life experiences. Occasionally, I surprise myself with a truly beautiful product. But, as some one said, "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder." :D

[Greg Peterson]

Larry - The quote you provided really gets to the nut of my question. Its elegance can not be overstated.

“You do not annex a hobby, the hobby annexes you, to prescribe a hobby would be dangerously akin to prescribing a wife - with about the same probability of success.”