Woodworker out of necessity?

[Jason White]

Though I enjoy woodworking, I tend to do it more out of necessity than as a hobby.

I'm renovating my second house (by myself), and over the years have become a pretty skilled carpenter, woodworker, painter, electrician, and plumber -- again due to necessity (I don't earn enough money to pay contractors for 99% of the things my house needs.

So I'm wondering -- who among you does woodworking/carpentry more out of necessity than as a hobby?

Jason

[James Phillips]

If you are looking for guys that do woodworking for anything other than a love of the art, a message board dedicated to woodworking hobbiest is probably not the spot to find them.

Most of us here do it because we love it

[Charles P. Wright]

Though I enjoy woodworking, I tend to do it more out of necessity than as a hobby.

I'm renovating my second house (by myself), and over the years have become a pretty skilled carpenter, woodworker, painter, electrician, and plumber -- again due to necessity (I don't earn enough money to pay contractors for 99% of the things my house needs.

So I'm wondering -- who among you does woodworking/carpentry more out of necessity than as a hobby?

Jason

I do the DIY trade kind of things (painter, carpenter, electrician, plumber) for fun and because I prefer to keep my money for other things. Woodworking for furniture is a money sponge. The high chair I built my daughter was $300-400 after considering the router, router bits, wood, glue, etc.. The same thing from a store was $150. But it was a heck of a lot of fun, and a good sense of accomplishment.

[Randal Stevenson]

It is how I got started as well. I worked on my grandmothers house, since I was 14, doing maintanence.
When I bought my house, there was no way in location, to afford to hire stuff done (and I know quite a few contractors). I was able to learn from them and have always wanted to gut and redo my kitchen. That is when I started down the woodworking path. I still haven't done the kitchen yet, as I only have around 3 years left till the house is paid off. I keep wanting to do it, but I think that I should wait, in part so budget improves and I do it right the first time (and increase my skill level).

There are some things I still would like to hire done, and in one case have even tried (tried hiring a contractor friend, and he said I am more then capable of doing it, I just fear it). That is swapping out my electrical box at the meter, and increasing the service. I also used to fear working with gas, but helping rebuild commerical ovens for a while (at higher pressure), I no longer worry too much about the gas, more the venting of items (water heater, furnace).

I personally believe that James would be surprised by how many people get brought into woodworking out of necessity and fall in love with it.

[Dewey Torres]

At my last house in VA I did a LOT of work in the way of renovation so I was in the same boat as you. When the wife and I bought this house, one of the top priorities was to buy something we didn't have to work on. It has equated to a lot more shop time minus my garden shed project this summer.

[Derek Stevens]

Though I enjoy woodworking, I tend to do it more out of necessity than as a hobby.

I'm renovating my second house (by myself), and over the years have become a pretty skilled carpenter, woodworker, painter, electrician, and plumber -- again due to necessity (I don't earn enough money to pay contractors for 99% of the things my house needs.

So I'm wondering -- who among you does woodworking/carpentry more out of necessity than as a hobby?

JasonI started as a carpenter to support myself at 15. Fortunately, I loved that which I had fallen into to feed myself. Being from New England where I was told often growing up "if you dont know how to fix it, or can't build it yourself, you dont deserve to have it or don't need it." A hard lesson from a graduate of the depression, but one that stuck with me. I fix everything myself, furniture, vehicles, electronics whatever. Again, luckily, I enjoy doing just that. so, win/win

[Roy Hess]

I personally believe that James would be surprised by how many people get brought into woodworking out of necessity and fall in love with it. http://www.sawmillcreek.org/images/buttons/quote.gif (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/newreply.php?do=newreply&p=979215)This is exactly how I started as well. Married young, and could not afford half of what my young family needed. Built my Wife a coffee table for or first anniversary, my work shop was borrowed space at a neighbors. Then I became fairly adept at using the floor in the basement as my workbench. A saw horse or two, tools from Kmart and Sears, and I started to rebuild our first home (mostly repaired everything the first owner touched). Started to buy woodworking and home renovation magazines, and got better. After having a bad experience or two with tradesman, and having to redo their work, I said "that's it, I'll do it myself from now on". 32 years later, I have a dedicated shop in our 2 car garage. It the space I go to to clear my head of life's daily concerns. Now the Wife is after me to finish a built in China cabinet, and get off the computer!

Gotta run !!

[Jason White]

I cannot wait for the day when I don't have to fix anything and can just build nice furniture for my niece!!!

Jason




At my last house in VA I did a LOT of work in the way of renovation so I was in the same boat as you. When the wife and I bought this house, one of the top priorities was to buy something we didn't have to work on. It has equated to a lot more shop time minus my garden shed project this summer.

[Jason White]

Oh, I think you might be wrong about that.




If you are looking for guys that do woodworking for anything other than a love of the art, a message board dedicated to woodworking hobbiest is probably not the spot to find them.

Most of us here do it because we love it

[Jason White]

Then get off the computer!




This is exactly how I started as well. Married young, and could not afford half of what my young family needed. Built my Wife a coffee table for or first anniversary, my work shop was borrowed space at a neighbors. Then I became fairly adept at using the floor in the basement as my workbench. A saw horse or two, tools from Kmart and Sears, and I started to rebuild our first home (mostly repaired everything the first owner touched). Started to buy woodworking and home renovation magazines, and got better. After having a bad experience or two with tradesman, and having to redo their work, I said "that's it, I'll do it myself from now on". 32 years later, I have a dedicated shop in our 2 car garage. It the space I go to to clear my head of life's daily concerns. Now the Wife is after me to finish a built in China cabinet, and get off the computer!

Gotta run !!

[Jason White]

I think we're in the same boat. I enjoy doing all those types of things as well (though my wife would probably appreciate it if I had more free time to devote to her). Also, I'm not necessarily that good at everything like you are -- especially cars. They've gotten a little more complicated to work on since my old '69 Chevelle Malibu.




I started as a carpenter to support myself at 15. Fortunately, I loved that which I had fallen into to feed myself. Being from New England where I was told often growing up "if you dont know how to fix it, or can't build it yourself, you dont deserve to have it or don't need it." A hard lesson from a graduate of the depression, but one that stuck with me. I fix everything myself, furniture, vehicles, electronics whatever. Again, luckily, I enjoy doing just that. so, win/win

[Steven DeMars]

Though I enjoy woodworking, I tend to do it more out of necessity than as a hobby.

I'm renovating my second house (by myself), and over the years have become a pretty skilled carpenter, woodworker, painter, electrician, and plumber -- again due to necessity (I don't earn enough money to pay contractors for 99% of the things my house needs.

So I'm wondering -- who among you does woodworking/carpentry more out of necessity than as a hobby?

Jason

I think you are looking at it wrong . . .

First, think of the DIY projects as accomplishments that many would not even undertake. Price what a contractor would charge & look at as money saved / earned.

Second, you need to set aside shop time as an additional reward to yourself for the DIY projects completed. The house will not fall down if you don't work on it every spare minute.

Now if you have a wife with a never ending "we need to do list", don't blame your lack of shop time on the house and your earning power. Should you have a wife like such, the easiest cure to regain your "own" time is put tools in her hand every time you do. They determine about then that the shutters really don't need to be re-finished as soon as the yard is mowed.

The bottom line is you will never have shop time unless you make / demand it of yourself and those who monopolize your free time totally.

Steve

[Steven DeMars]

I cannot wait for the day when I don't have to fix anything and can just build nice furniture for my niece!!!

Jason

Please read my reply to your original post . . .

[Bill Houghton]

So I'm wondering -- who among you does woodworking/carpentry more out of necessity than as a hobby?

I started out that way. Then I got hooked.

I grew up in a car family, and thought I loved working on cars, but years of owning clapped-out beaters that I had to work on more weekends than I can remember - even if I could count that high - kind of cured me of it. I have yet to get that reaction to wood.

Bill, 1895 house, which we may finish renovating someday

[Gary Lange]

I remember installing three windows in my home I owned back in Illinois and I had never done that before in my life but by looking at how they did it in homes being built I did it and really felt good about my accomplishments. I also took out three glass sliding doors and replaced them with windows which was something else new to me. I guess it is just a case of not being afraid to try something new.

[Bob Genovesi]

Carpenter, woodworker, painter, electrician, and plumber -- Jason

Jason,

You're not a woodworker you're a homeowner....:D :D

[Jason White]

Yep -- can't argue with that.

But I'm a homeowner who got into woodworking (basic stuff -- trim carpentry, cabinet-making, built-ins, etc.) after doing a lot of serious carpentry/home renovation projects.

Just thinking I can't be the only one.






Jason,

You're not a woodworker you're a homeowner....:D :D

[Jack Camillo]

renovating my own houses out of necessity (can't afford contractors) is what led me to becoming a woodworker. Have gone from putting on decks to installing wood floors and to making fine furniture and accessories. Hope to now remain with the latter two.

[Mike Cutler]

Jason

No reason that the two can't go hand in hand. some of my "best" work has been projects that will remain with the house after I leave.

[James Phillips]

I personally believe that James would be surprised by how many people get brought into woodworking out of necessity and fall in love with it.

I did not think the question was about why you started, but why you continue....

[Jim Kountz]

I am a full time general contractor but I also offer my customers custom cabinets and furniture and spend a good number of days per month in the shop when Im not on the jobsites. So thats what I do all day. Then whether Im on the jobsite or in the shop all day in the evening when Im done "working" what do I do? Spend my time in the shop making more stuff!! Either for myself or some other project. Sometimes the two overlap and get in each others way. So my shop is for fun and profit. I make money with it and I also work in it for fun. Good combination I think, works for me!

[Mike Schueler]

Woodworker out of necessity, at first, for me. I grew up with 2 brothers who were skateboarding fanatics, and always building some bigger and better ramp; I couldn't cut a straight line with the ripsaw which frustrated me and gave it up for a LONG time. Took the college prep courses in high school and didn't take shop (extra classes I had were taken up with things like weight lifting etc).

Then went off and went to college, joined the Navy, more school, found myself getting married and we both moved to Florida to run a small (11 acre) farm with horses, a donkey, and beef cows. I bought the cheapest circular saw I could for fencing etc., and realized I had a big, empty garage with all of my tools and car care stuff sitting on the floor. I needed shelves and a workbench, and made them out of 2x4's and 2x6's, ready for the frustration of things not cut straight, wobbling, etc. I used a straight edge for the first time and found that I could make stuff that came together properly. I made a largish workbench that I was (and still am) damn proud of. Next, I needed some furniture....then some more tools....now I am pretty addicted, especially after working with different woods and finishes.

Long post, sorry for the life story.

[Neal Clayton]

I think you are looking at it wrong . . .

First, think of the DIY projects as accomplishments that many would not even undertake. Price what a contractor would charge & look at as money saved / earned.


that's my opinion. i'm also doing all this towards the restoration of an oldhouse. not a remodel, mind you, restoration in the true sense of the word. traditional wooden windows and doors to match the originals where needed, built with old growth lumber salvaged from in and around new orleans and then brought to my home shop after resawing, exact reproduction of paint ruined moldings, removing any and all instances of drywall and repairing the original plaster walls, etc.

could it all be contracted out? sure, but the price would be what i paid for the house (or at least approaching it). the only way all of that is feasible is to do it myself with hired labor being the only contracting involved.

[Rick Fisher]

I own and manage a medium sized company and do woodworking as a form of relaxation. Some days I head right to the garage when I get home from work, some days I dont.

Either way, an hour or two of noise and dust is relaxing for me.

[Charles Seehuetter Panama City]

I'm right with you Jason. Bought a handyman special (what I could afford) over 25 years ago and have been remodeling it since then. A couple of years ago I got back together with a gal I went through grade school and high school with who also loves woodworking so now we do it together. If any of you are interested, and have a lot of time to waste, you can see some of the work and get to know us here.


http://picasaweb.google.com/chuckinpc

[Rich Engelhardt]

Hello,

who among you does woodworking/carpentry more out of necessity than as a hobby?
That would be me.


not a remodel, mind you, restoration in the true sense of the word
That's my ultimate goal.
To retire from what I do now into the new career of restoration.

I look at it the same way I did when I quit retail after 20 years in that field and got into electronics 20 years ago.
I had a desire to fiddle around with computers, so I figured I could either spend my money on them, or learn how to repair them and play with other people's computers - and get paid for it to boot :D.

W/WW'ing, it's pretty much the same thing. I can play with tools to my heart's content & have someone else pick up the tab. ;).

[Sonny Edmonds]

I got dragged into the level I'm at.
Started out with my wifes house when we bought it back from a raving B-- witch that had it. She nearly wrecked it.
Well, Betty asked if it would be OK if she painted the Jack & Jill bathroom? I said sure, I hate to paint. Childhood memories of forced painting projects, inside every year, outside every 3 years. Stinking oil based lead paint!
Anyway, Betty paints the bathroom, but the doors both had holes in them and needed changed. (Every door had a foot hole kicked in it, remember, raving B--witch had lived there 5 years)
So out with the old, in with the new. Then tile the floor. Rebuild the shower. Bath done and looking nice, move on to the next room.
3 years later, the whole house immaculately remodeled due to our combined efforts of her managing and me laboring, and the shop completely out of control by now with tooling inherited and bought, I'm looking at doubling the size of the shop.
Ya see, I don't hire somebody and watch the tools drive away in some contractors pick-up after a shoddy job. I buy the tools, use them for the job, then keep them for another day when I will use them again.
Necessesity? Well, if I do it myself, and I don't like the results, I only have to look as far as the mirror to find the guy.
I got into making my own moldings when we couldn't find something we liked. I suggested to Betty that maybe I could make a pattern like what she had in mind. "Oh! I'd love that!" was her reply.
So when somebody wants some floor moldings, or crown moldings that are different, they sometimes gravatate to me.
Other than that, I make one-off items, and turnings, and specialised pens, and I do it for the fun and challange of doing it.
Just like the moldings and tile work and kitchen remodeling that has gone into our "new" house.
Just when the old house was done, she saw a home for sale that she had always loved the look of. "What would you think about moving?" She purred.
Might as well have kicked me in the stomach. That was my initial thought. I'd damned near killed myself remodeling the house we had. But, the neighborhood was going downhill, the market was on fire going up, and we sold the home in 3 days when we put it on the market. Our realtor was flabbergasted, she didn't think we would get our price.
And we moved where we are. In prime time.
I didn't get a bigger shop out of the deal, but I did get a nice big chunk of change to make the new shop just the way I wanted it. And really, it works just fine in a compacted, efficient mode, that allows me to do anything I want to out of it. And it is a square 20' x 20', not the oddball shape of the prior shop.
Out of necessity has been born my super-shop. I was always a dabbeler, and a maker of what was needed. Because of that was the way I was raised. Having been the catcher for my Dad when he was using the old Craftsman 100, and even straightening nails so Dad could reuse them in reclaimed lumber to build his shop where we lived.
I've always maintained my two pre-requisits:
1. I have to have a shop.
2. I have to have a room for my computer junk. (She calls it my office)

Necessity? Well, yeah. DIY has kept blood thirsty rip offs out of my life. ;)

[Kelly C. Hanna]

I am a full time general contractor but I also offer my customers custom cabinets and furniture and spend a good number of days per month in the shop when Im not on the jobsites. So thats what I do all day. Then whether Im on the jobsite or in the shop all day in the evening when Im done "working" what do I do? Spend my time in the shop making more stuff!! Either for myself or some other project. Sometimes the two overlap and get in each others way. So my shop is for fun and profit. I make money with it and I also work in it for fun. Good combination I think, works for me!

This is pretty much my story. I started out in 1970 in shop class, then the next year it was building trades. I learned a bunch about both hobbiest and professional in the two years.

I am a contractor as well and I spend a bunch of time in the shop after work both for work and for fun. I think there are more pros here than you think.

[Neal Clayton]

Hello,

That would be me.


That's my ultimate goal.
To retire from what I do now into the new career of restoration.

I look at it the same way I did when I quit retail after 20 years in that field and got into electronics 20 years ago.
I had a desire to fiddle around with computers, so I figured I could either spend my money on them, or learn how to repair them and play with other people's computers - and get paid for it to boot :D.

W/WW'ing, it's pretty much the same thing. I can play with tools to my heart's content & have someone else pick up the tab. ;).

heh, you may be my long lost brother or something.

started out in finance/accounting in college. realized i hated it 3 years in and worked for a software company for the next 7 years, and now take the proceeds from that and some property investments to make sawdust all day.

the only thing the economics education gets me is the ability to judge the investment markets with the proper grain of salt.

the only thing the computer experience gets me is the ability to build my own computers and home network without having to call dell and geek squad.

10 years from now i'll probably joke that the only thing the woodworking experience gets me is the ability to make a parting bead or new closet shelf without having to buy one from the local lumber yard.

such is life i guess.

[Rick Potter]

I, too, started out of need. New home that had been absolutely trashed by the previous owner, who had 13 people living there. I mean sinks, toilets, fixtures gone, a transmission being repaired in the living room, plugs crosswired on purpose to try to start a fire, tic tac toe on the acoustic ceiling, junk car in the back, fence knocked down, trees barked so they died.

The first thing we did was to remove all the carpet in the house so the baby had clean concrete floors to play on. Second thing was to buy some used tools. An Atlas 9" table saw, Sears band saw, and a Montgomery Ward RAS....all for $125 including an old workbench.

After spending a couple years fixing up the house, we added a family room, trading labor with guys at work. Then came my first WOODWORKING project, a built in floor to ceiling bookcase.

That started in 1966, now, two houses, and three remodels later, I have a nice shop we built two years ago and are three years into remodeling this house. Maybe two years to go. Just about to start on cabinets and trim.

So....I guess the answer is that I am mostly a do it yourselfer, but love to do some nice woodworking when I get a chance.

Rick Potter

[kevin vivaraies]

I started out as a painter to pay for college, then a care taker that had to learn on the job, then when my friend got his cottage and wanted to renovate, he asked if I could do it for him. I jumped at it. Did 90 percent of the reno by myself. I now own my own house that we are fixing up as we go.

I have plans for a basment hop so I can get into other areas of woodworking as a hobby, since I am a computer tech by trade. I love it cause you can always create something new.

[Danny Thompson]

I started out of necessity, but have become more and more interested over time. More interested in learning how to do things a better way. And trying to make the end result look a little less like hackery. The results are mixed, frustrating, sometimes costly, and very rewarding.

[Paul Johnstone]

I cannot wait for the day when I don't have to fix anything and can just build nice furniture for my niece!!!

Jason

I hear you man, I've been working on my house for about 6 years now. Hopefully just one more year left. I've squeezed some recreational woodworking in, but remodeling/fixing an entire house is tiresome and I would never do it again. It has consumed just about all my free time in the past 6 years.

[Jim Becker]

While woodworking (and home improvement) certainly is a real avocation/hobby for me, I would say that there are times I choose to do my own work for financial reasons as well as for the enjoyment of the task. My total kitchen renovation in 2003 is an example. It was hard work, but gutting and reconstructing the kitchen to meet our needs was worth it...we got what around here at the time would have easily cost $60K for $20K including the high-end appliances. I only sub-ed out the drywall (saved a week 'cause I could work from my home office and still supervise, not to mention I hate doing drywall), the gas line and the soapstone counter tops.

The same held true for the cabinetry for our addition. Not only did I get great enjoyment from the work, but it also saved enough money to provide a very nice sliding table saw for my shop... :) ...what's not to like about that?

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

Necessity was the mother of my trade skills.