James Watriss
>I saw a lot of the over-enthusiasm from the other side of the counter, back when I was working at the woodworking stores. The magazines, and Norm, all make it look so easy. And they encourage this idea, that anyone can buy a gee whiz gadget, and make something masterful, at first pass. What the magazines and tool vendors are actually doing is selling something that just requires a different skill set... learning to set up some of the more involved jigs can take a long time. And it's possible to go through a large amount of scrap until you've gotten it figured out. But people jump right in, thinking it's just that easy. And they botch a project, ruin some beautiful wood, and drop the hobby. It always made me feel kinda guilty, working behind the counter, and taking people's money. I gave them as much advice as I was able, but some people don't hear. There's no mistaking the burning eyes of the zealous converted. They just know, they've see it on TV themselves... this finished project is right around the corner. And it'll be easy.

I've also seen some folks over-estimate the abilities of their tools... like the guy who bought $150 of wood for a jewelry box for his wife, but tried to cut the miters with a "contractor grade" circular saw. They've worked with pine before... wood is wood, how bad can rosewood or bubinga or padauk really be?

I guess it's just 2 different mentalities sometimes. Some people see this gorgeous thing in a magazine, and they want to be able to say that they made their own. And I think that's really cool, because (my view) being able to say that you made your own implies the desire to show off the skill set, and not just the object. But some people really just want the end product, and they think it will be cheaper to make it themselves. The Luthiery bit sounds very familiar, and it really does sound like people who see the finished product in their minds, but they let that vision obscure the things that they'll ave to do along the way. "It'll be so cool... it'll be so cool... it'll be so cool..." Everyone hears the line about how it only cost some company $10 to make something that sells for $100, and they take it to heart. How hard can it really be?

And I've had customers come back, who managed to get over that learning curve hump, but they walked away with a lot more humility, talking about the time they spent $400 on tools, $100 of fancy wood, and most of one weekend, to make what would basically be a $30 part for their project. But they learn, they go forward, and it's a great first step. And they're able to build whatever the next thing happens to be that they want.

Personally, I guess I'm more of an egotist sometimes. I just have too much fun figuring out how to build things, to the point where it gets in the way of profitability sometimes. I enjoy owning the skills, because I see them all as useful. Hard to maintain sometimes, but useful, because so many of them become complimentary. I want to see just how far I can go in this, how much I can learn, and just how capable I can become. I've played with making planes, gone through all kinds of sharpening methods, made a bunch of my own jigs from scratch, so many different shooting boards, etc, etc, and I learn something new every time I do something, and learn the proper skills. Inevitably, there's a eureka, and something that seemed so involved becomes clear. I live for those moments, but they are expensive to find.

At this point, I have to be careful... I'm so wound up with the woodwork, but I also want to learn some basic machining skills, to make new tools. And having used a vacuum press, I want to learn about carbon fiber and other composite materials. Working with metal, wood, composites... I was always good in school, but I want things to be practical and applicable. I want the skills to build anything. I want to know just how far I can take my own abilities. It's not about building... whatever it is. It's about building me. Like I said, egotist.

That said, everyone makes mistakes. And if one of the skills I have to learn is how to use a glue that will help me fix my own mistakes, so that I don't have to ruin or rebuild an entire part, then I think that's a useful skill, and one worth owning.