Instead of therapy?

[Mark Singer]

This morning I responded to a post in the Turners Forum....I have a small lathe ...it collects enough dust that no one ever considers me a Turner:rolleyes: ... The Thread started by Doug Jones was interesting and although I usually post on how to do something ....not why we do it...or how we feel about buying stuff to support it.....it is a reasonable question. As I worked on my Wenge table today the question lingered in my mind.....We are all very fortunate to have a passion! If you want to buy a tool....do it! It is much cheaper then seeing a shrink....or roaming aimlessly through shopping malls searching for that perfect thing you really don't need...Make something!
We are all fortunate and revel in your good fortune! Buy a tool this week! But use it! For those that didn't see my response I included it below....a bit sentimental....not like me you might say....never the less straight from the heart!

I really never intended to sell anything or build furniture on commision....it just seems to happen. The Wenge dining table I just sold, I thought would be my personal last one.....a client wanted it and as they say, everything has a price....the love hate relationship I had building the Teak sofa with the mitered dovetails was for an architect friend, I couldn't say no! I worked for about half of what I should have because he was a good friend. I have been asked to participate in the local Laguna Art Festivals....I don't want to give up my summers....I like having fun and I don't have the time. Yesterday my wife said to me "It will be nice when you finish Jeyong's (My client) furniture ....it wil free up your weekends" ....my response was they are free and I am having a great time . I probably could design and build furniture full time and do ok.....my delema is I love Architecture also! I have worked hard all my life at things I Love....and as I say with every post "All Great Work begins with Love.....then it is no longer Work"...this has been very true....I have tried to do my best.....and it has turned into more work .....if I didn't like what I am doing , I would be miserable....because I have a lot of it. Instead I feel I am reaping the rewards of working at things you love ...the rewards are more work:confused: yes and while there are things that really seem like work on these really large pieces like a 750 pound 12' long wenge table....I wouldn't trade it for anything.....I wake up each morning excited....details fill my head ...solving yesterdays little problems .....trying something new....a lot of my friends my age are bored and envious...they never aquired the skills and now in retirement they are lost with no passion....

Almost forgot....tools! When you use them as much as I do there is no guilt.....they brought me to where I am ....I love them ....but not polshing my planes and putting them in a glass case....they are on my bench, or in the cabinet waiting for there turn at bat....the most expensive machine I own is The MM Elite S Jointer / Planer / mortiser and after the first project I used it on it was paid for! I try to get things that will improve my woodworking and I avoid gagets ....Hand tools are a joy and everytime I pick up a saw or rasp....I think of my Father....he built my first workbench when I was 5 years old....I guess he is to blame for the mess I am in..."Thanks Dad ! I am loving every minute...wish you could help me again"

[Norman Hitt]

An "EXCELLENT" post, Mark, very aptly put, and couldn't have been said better. Got my start from my Dad also, and at the same age. I think of him still, almost everytime I'm working in or on the shop.

[Corey Hallagan]

Hi Mark, great post. I don't have all the tools I would like to have but I do have enough to what I want. I don't have the size of shop I would like but the shop I do have is my haven. These days I find myself obsessing over more than anything else....the wood. I have become a wood fanatic. I can just sit and admire the grain in a piece of wood whether it is a pen blank or a board. It's all about the wood and the project that it will get used on. And I think more about doing a better job on the current project than the last and learning something new. Probably sounds stupid but these days but I find myself thinking about that more than tools. Of course I don't always fight the urge to buy a little doo-dad, a jig or a new blade, bit etc. but without the wood, none of my tools no matter what their quality, size or cost, they mean nothing.
Corey

[Wayne Watling]

Mark,

Very nicely put, others could only wish for your dilemma..

If one has a passion for WW then WW has to be close to the top of the list as worthwhile things to do with ones time and cash. I didn't say 'spare time' because this is not something that is done in ones spare time if 'passion' exists. If passion exists then WW takes its rightful place near the summit on the mountain of ones life activities, a place at least on par with any other significant activity or thing in ones life or perhaps even at the level of a 'calling'.

Thanks for your inspiration..

Wayne

[John Michaels]

Very well worded post. Thanks for sharing.

[Don Baer]

Mark,
Having met you at Sam Maloofs I know your passion for fine wood working. Having met your son I understand your desire to pass on the love of fine woodworking. I am also lucky in that my younger son enjoys the same passion I have for creating things. He has recently found the joys of turning and I am very proud of the talent that he is starting to show in that form of the craft. I understand your fondness for the crafts taught to you by your father and am glad that your sons is also sharing in the same passion. Yes it is a form of therapy and it is a passion.
You have a passion to create things which you are fortunate enough to be able to do both with your woodworking and you architecture. Your have the gift of being able to teach you craftmanship.
Thanks for your contriutions to this forum. I look forward to your posts and continue to learn from you who I consider one of the masters here at the creek.

[Mike Cutler]

Nicely stated Mark.

I'm not certain that "my passion" is for woodworking, per se, but for the end result. The woodworking is the "journey",so to speak.

I've resisted so far doing it for money. I've been offered a few commissions, but I've politely turned them down. For now, this is for my sanity, and to make for my wife something she cannot find. Maybe someday though.
Definitely cheaper than therapy... I think.;)

[Richard Wolf]

I know from where you speak. I thank God every day I get up, that I make my living working wood.

Richard

[Mark Pruitt]

Mark,
Ditto all you've said, and you've said it well. When there is as much joy in doing it as in seeing it done we can indeed count ourselves fortunate.

[Jim Becker]

As I said in the original thread, excellent post, Mark!

Woodworking, flat or round has long been my "mental health" activity (and the reason I got started in it)...and I sure need that even more now with a couple kids in the house. I don't get in the shop as much as I'd like but the "big orange power tool" I use to play in the dirt has also been therapeutic. I don't know that I'd want to actively sell any of my work, but if I did, it would still have to be something I'd enjoy doing and something I'd learn from.

[Tyler Howell]

Many have asked why I don't hire out my home remuddling projects. Some I've agonized over and others have gone on for years.
Like many have stated, because I like it. It pleases me. I get to buy new tools, learn new skills and meet new people who help in the process:cool: . There's a lot of wading through chaos for weeks and even years at a time but it's (almost always) worth the effort.
Do it if it makes you happy;) .

[Hank Knight]

Mark,

You are truly fortunate. The people I have known who have led the happiest, most fulfilling lives are those who's work is their passion. It's not about money or fame or success. At the end of the day, it's about whether you can look back at your life and feel satisfied with what you have accomplished and have enjoyed some pleasure in the accomplishment.

I encouraged my daughter from the time she was a child to follow her passion. She took me at my word, and after living the life af a starving artist for several years after undergrad school, she's now enrolled in the Masters of Fine Arts degree program at American University in D.C., and she's having the time of her life. She wants to teach and she will be good at it. It's exciting to hear her talk about it. I must say, however, after watching her struggle to live on her meager income before grad school, I began to secretly doubt the wisdom of my advice. She's got it together now, though, and she should have smooth sailing from here on. I wish for her the enjoyment of life you have, Mark.

Cheers.

Hank

[Mark Singer]

Hank,
That is a great story and you are a great Father for supporting her in her efforts. I had struggled for many years and know first hand the feeling of what she is going through.... I wish her my very best!

[Martin Lutz]

Mark -- Awesome post. My father was a Master Carpenter and I too think of him every time I am in the shop. Especially when I come across a little challenge - What would Dad do? It would be great to work together again. Right now my woodworking is not my main source of income but it is truly a passion. Thanks for bringing some sanity to my day.

[Rennie Heuer]

Mark -- Awesome post. My father was a Master Carpenter and I too think of him every time I am in the shop. Especially when I come across a little challenge - What would Dad do? It would be great to work together again. Right now my woodworking is not my main source of income but it is truly a passion. Thanks for bringing some sanity to my day.

It is no surprize to me that when God came to earth He chose woodworking as a vocation.

[John Stevens]

I'm not certain that "my passion" is for woodworking, per se, but for the end result. The woodworking is the "journey",so to speak.

Glad to see I'm not the only one here who feels this way. When it comes to hiking or cycling, I enjoy the journey even more than the destination. But for me, woodworking isn't a hobby, it's a small-scale industrial process and part-time job that is rewarding in its results, not performance. If it ever becomes cost-effective for me to buy the stuff that I make, I'll happily trade all those hours in my basement workshop for hours with family, friends, dogs, a good book....

[Howard Rosenberg]

He obviously had a lot of insight into you to make you your first bench when you were five.

It's remarkable that you've taken that initial curiosity and have gone so far with it.

Thank you for your sensitive and sensible post.

Howard Rosenberg

[Dave Ray]

Mark, you touched a lot of nerves with this well written, from the heart article. Passion for your work, no matter what that might be, generates a passion for life which in itself translates to the health and well being of the people in your life. This is a good thing. Your passion has been evidenced in the magnificent pieces we have seen from your shop. Additionally it has been demonstrated repeatedly in your tutorials and well written, well thought out answers to various questions in this forum.

[Mark Singer]

I really appreciate the well written comments....my thread is really ment to be about all of us, and the passion we share, for woodworking at any level. With each new project whether it is a pen, a jewlery box or an entire bedroom set we have the opportunity to be passionate and many members really are.......and we should. You should be excited about each new piece....and the excitment will then be manifested in the piece...Think it out completely....visualize the project. Take it in steps and at each phase do your very best. There is always the oportunity to put a bit of yourself ....your ideas , details in your work. Make it personal. Whatever level of woodworker...try a new technique....add skills and techniques to your standard fallback list..... make your next project your best yet....do it with passion ....express yourself in your work....then work becomes joy!

[Mike Cutler]

Glad to see I'm not the only one here who feels this way. When it comes to hiking or cycling, I enjoy the journey even more than the destination. But for me, woodworking isn't a hobby, it's a small-scale industrial process and part-time job that is rewarding in its results, not performance. If it ever becomes cost-effective for me to buy the stuff that I make, I'll happily trade all those hours in my basement workshop for hours with family, friends, dogs, a good book....

John. I enjoy my time in the shop, don't get me wrong. I find the greatest satisfaction though when something is done. I look at what it is, and what I started with, and that is what trips me. It was like racing bicycles. Training could be fun, but races were where you put it together, or failed. Wood working is the same for me, but I've been a type A my whole life.

I spent close to thirty five years as a runner, and a cyclist. My back finally forced me off the bike. When you can't feel your feet, or anything below the knees after a race, or a training ride. Well, it's time to rethink things. Woodworking has helped me bridge that gap so to speak. 10,000 miles per year takes a lot of time on a bike. I had to find something to fill that gap.:eek: ;)

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Mark.........Great philosophy! Living life with passion......I can't imagine living life...........performing a task...........working on a WW project without passion. I'm afraid at times my passion for something bores others. WW...........definitely a form of therapy from the stress of my real job.

[John Stevens]

My back finally forced me off the bike. When you can't feel your feet, or anything below the knees after a race, or a training ride. Well, it's time to rethink things.

Same here! Loved cycling, whether it was TTing, training, riding an easy century, scoping out new equipment, learning about exercise science...but had to quit in the spring of '03 when my sciatica got too bad. Glad WW filled that gap for you--I know where you're coming from.

[Mike Spanbauer]

Well said Mark!

When you love your work and invest in it passionately, it's no longer work. Woodworking is that connection for me between working w/ my hands and engineering something exciting while providing an artistic outlet. There are few things that offer such rapid gratification and months instead of years, and offer such beauty when finished as a fine piece of furniture / WW creation.

My father instilled a similar sense of awe of wood in me, I respect it every moment I'm in the shop.

mike

[Bob Childress]

Mark, you old philospher you! Great points all around. I might even go further and say that while woodworking itself is a passionate pastime (or livelihood, depending on the circumstances), the therapeutic benefits can be derived in many ways.

For example, building a piece of furniture that you are proud to use and display is satisfying on several levels: the satisfaction from actually working on it, the satisfaction of completing it, and the gratification when (if) someone admires it.

But another, and in my mind equally valuable, therapeutic event can be had just by visiting the shop and sitting down alone and contemplating a new project, reliving an old one and deciding what one might do differently, or even just staring into space pondering the existential angst of woodwork in general.

Yet another therapy can be simply banging out a jig or a shop accessory that you've been "meaning to get around to." These may be only 15 minute projects, but they offer almost instant gratification and have their place in the WW universe.

One reason I enjoy this forum is that so many members display their passion in different ways, but it's all passion nonetheless. Whether we are masters like Mark and many others here at the Creek, or aspirants, like me, who just want to learn and produce some worthwhile projects and enjoy doing them, we have found something in WW which inspires and challenges us.

[NB: Unlike some, when my Dad took me to the shop as a child, I was a reluctant helper. Hated it. But, since I was there, figured I may as well watch and see how it worked. Couldn't wait to get old enough to avoid shop duty. Well, I'm sure my Dad is looking down and having the last laugh.:) Don't blame him. Thanks for draggin' me out there. Still using that old combo square and a few other things.;) ]