TomD
"I don't know how representative a sample of woodworkers I know, but......Every amateur woodworker I know, that actually makes stuff, got into it for the same reason, to make stuff they couldn't buy."

Right, like Mission sandpaper cabinets.

" These persons range from a recent Society for Period Furniture Makers Cartousch winner Fred Stanley (who lives up the way a piece) to some newer members of our club."

Yous seem to have a pretty awesome club membership...

"The ones I know well enough to know have supportive families."

Supportive is one thing, that is a long way from saying they get it. Though keep in mind if the chippies are that good, the brand, look and expensive thing everyone gets, kicks in. Keep in mind, you don't even get us, and are constantly questioning the way stuff is, which is great, that's what makes you so interesting, but it would be hard to get from it that everyone is on the same page.

" Like McKay, their homes are filled with stuff they have made, if they have been in it long enough to have made much stuff. Their older children have requested stuff to be made, and typically they have made stuff for their children from an early age. In many cases their children have worked with them in the shop from an early age. These woodworkers have made stuff for neighbors, friends and acquaintances and maybe charities."

Same thing, freebies are great, stuff made by dad is great, does not mean they get it. I made a trimaran, I'm sure in theory one of my kids would like it if it was a little more manageable, might even sail it. Basically though, there isn't a member of my family who knows the name of a single part of the boat, give or take. None of them get it, or are anywhere near where I am. Same thing with tools, you can leave your tools to your family, and they will spread them around, but tool collecting indicates that within a few years they all get used to open paint cans, or as impact tools.

"You all would be astonished by Fred Stanley's modest shop where he makes extraordinary Period pieces."

Well not really. I used to keep around the list of tools required to attend the College of the Redwoods. And Chris S. has a book one point of which is that you can do it all with 41 tools, if you believe that. There are a lot of things any of us can learn from pros, but one thing one doesn't learn is how to be an amateur. Amateurism can be at or above the level of pros, and in the wood field mostly is. But it isn't pro lite. It is a different activity. You have the freedom to do whatever you want to do, and if you take up on that, you are not chasing approval or conformity.

"In my world there is a robust demand for the woodworking skills I have developed. I have not seen the lack of appreciation for the product of these skills that some of you have expressed. Many in our club sell stuff they make, a clear demonstration of demand. I have never lacked a "market" for things I make, or more globally, the skills to make them."

Well there is a commercial demand for Rap music and crotch grabs. I know a lot of guys who sold their first piece in some cases before they made it. I'm thirty to forty years down the road, depending on the starting point one counts, and I really don't care that people can sell stuff.

"Our house is filled with furniture and accessories , more than 75 at last count. My older children are now requesting stuff for their homes and children. I have made stuff for inlaws and relatives, friends, neighbors and acquaintances, and charity. For the past many years Christmas presents, and gifts in general, were stuff I made. I have lost count of how many cutting boards, paper towel holders, pens and pencils and toys I have given away-hundreds. Friends, neighbors and charities request stuff with regularity, but I now turn away most of these requests to focus on stuff for my children and grandchildren. Maybe I live in a strange world but the skills of a woodworker are appreciated and in demand here in E. TN."

Your doing a good thing, right, but you see your value in your utility, which is reasonable enough. If you look at the culture, utility is a long way in the past. I remember talking to some connection to our family who was in cheerleading. At her level they don't do it for a team. It is her main activity, she has never cheered an actual other person. But when you think of it, what is football? Is it real, or what is it a stand in for? Is it fake battle, and cheerleaders, are fake women of Troy waiting for their men to stop fighting, and in the next generation the product is further abstraction to the point where the cheerleaders just cheer among themselves. At least they aren't playing video cheerleader. The average stock is held for 22 seconds, whole markets for stuff like commodities now have derivative trading volumes that are larger than the real market. Most "serious" sailors sail their boats around 3 markers. Now I'm with you, one of my favorite books is building a house full of furniture. If I had built that sandpaper cabinet (kinda odd in itself, I gotta use my molding planes to build a cabinet for my router bits), I would have thought it was practical...