A subject for discussion

[The Bowler Hatted Turner]

I thought I would start this as a discussion subject, no insult is intended to anyone.
 I worked with wood for most of my adult life, apprenticed as a joiner/woodmachinist (although leaving before qualifying as my Mother is kind enough to point out only on every occasion she can   )I had a very good grounding in the trade, part of which included woodturning. I have worked 7 days a week for as long as I care to remember, only taking days off for family and holidays etc. Everything I make has been to make money to pay the bills, so, how come some people choose to do this as a hobby?
 On the days out with the family or at odd times when I had time off I would choose to spend my leisure time outdoors, climbing or hillwalking or sometimes at the beach fishing. It has always puzzled me that others choose to spend time in a noisy, dusty, usually cold workshop, you don't see many people doing bricklaying as a hobby do you? or plumbing?

[julcle]

Ah !! Who was that arty bloke that put a pile of bricks in the national Gallery ?

[Paul Hannaby]

John,
I will answer your question with another question. If you had no need to work to pay the bills, would you still do woodturning?

[bodrighywood]

Think of it John, your idea of recreation and / or relaxation was something that was different t your every day work. Turning for any hobbyists is usual very different to their every day work as well. Also gives people a way of creating things, something many find hard to do.

Pete

[seventhdevil]

i choose to make money out of my hobby which i enjoy immensely. i could not do any other sort of work as i don't enjoy it as much. i'm also trained as a joiner and furniture maker and love being in a messy workshop creating whatever i can think of or whatever i'm asked to. see some of my projects here,
http://arbtalk.co.uk/forum/woodcraft-forum/60100-all-my-woodwork-so-far.html



turning is my job, it is also my hobby, turning is my life...

if i could also make money from ten pin bowling or watching my favorite tv programs, i would...

[burywoodturners]

I think this is an unanswerable question, why do sculptors sculpt or painter paint? stone age people left their decorative marks on their pots, marks of no practical use, so why did they do that?

The question is really why are we creative and what would the world be like if we were not?

Ron

[malcy]

I am a chemist by qualification and although now retired, I have always loved working with wood and especially woodturning. This is obviously different to chemistry, and was always a hobby and way of relaxing, even in a cold winter workshop.  In my job, I was paid to be innovative and creative, and I now like to continue with this but now in woodturning. Learning something new is always near the top of the list, and that is another reason I love this as a hobby. Why do amateurs do anything if they are not professional and earning a living? It is for the love of what they do, to relax and do something different, and creatively use their time. Otherwise they would sit and grow old, and probably not very gracefully. Malcolm.

[The Bowler Hatted Turner]

Not sure what answers I was expecting on this thread.
Don't get me wrong, I thoroughly enjoy my turning whether it is a work object or a hobby project I really can't wait to get in the workshop in the mornings. But I do wonder what if I had not been introduced to turning?and I also think on cold and miserable days why would anyone work like this by choice?
    Paul I can't answer your question as unless I had worked harder at school I would have a similar predicament with earning potential. Its difficult to explain but its like having jobs instead of a career. I have always had a good work ethic (well since leaving school anyway)and my mantra is " the answer is yes I can, now what is the question?" To be able to afford to get married and put a deposit on the house I held down 3 regular jobs (I'm sure I'm not the only one there)and luckily I am one of those blokes that can turn his hand to most things, a nut and bolt is still a nut and bolt no matter where it is. I would like to say yes I would still be turning but apart from it being introduced  at school, and not very well at that, if I had chosen a different trade we would never had met.
         Ron I have a theory about the marks left on stone age pots, similar to braille they could identify different pots in reduced light. remember the stone age paintings of hands on TV a while back? I think that was just a father showing a son that until his hand it the same size he cannot go hunting with him. I do however feel that the more civilised we become the more art we need to see or do. At the beginning I think all of these skills or type of skills were needed to survive and evolve. I think the first bowls in wood were produced by rubbing  wood on "chicken heads" which is a rock formation that could wear the wood away, slow but effective .

[edbanger]

My answer to your question, When I left school I did my apprenticeship as a furniture maker and studied at the London College of Furniture, when I qualified I could not get out of the dust quick enough,  I moved in to sales and from there set up my own company and employed people, I'm now 55, I walk, (did the tree peaks 2012) play golf, fish follow football there are may other things that I have tried.

Each year my wife buy's me an experience for my birthday and last year it was a two day wood turning course which I went on back in November , I fell in love with it as the first shavings rolled off the gouge. I set up a workshop and started turning the Sunday after Christmas I spend 40 hours a week at least turning, as soon as I get home from the office I'm out in the workshop, all I have have to give up to do this is the sitting in front of the TV with a bottle of wine, I still do the other stuff, But I love the creating and the sense of achievement seeing something unfold from a piece of wood.

Some people will do it as a way to earn some extra cash, but many will do it for the simple reason that they just love doing it.

Ed

[Les Symonds]

.... how come some people choose to do this as a hobby?

John...for me, the answer is simple. In my work as a special needs teacher, working with kids with very challenging behaviours and learning difficulties, I make a difference to their lives and do my best to get them settled on a more meaningful course before they embark on their adult life. However, the work can be enormously stressful and at the end of the day I can be emotionally exhausted. For years I've gone hill-walking on weekends, or immersed myself in DIY to keep myself occupied outside work, but then I got into woodturning and realised that I could be creative in my home-life every bit as much as I could in work. I love the freedom encountered in mounting a big lump of wood on the lathe and setting about it with no predetermined plan - just to see what becomes of it.

There is, of course, the added benefit of the fact that I can now earn a bit of money at it, and this will certainly come in handy when I retire in a few years time, but that is not the sole reason why I turn, it's just a bonus, all-be-it a very welcome one!

Les

[Derek]

I have always enjoyed working with wood from a early age starting with just knocking in nails into wood and calling it a sail boat. So as I got older and settled down I was able to equip my workshop and carry on that enjoyment.
The main reason why is simple "Because I thoroughly enjoy it and have fun making all sorts of things"  and in the process I make a little which is my woodworking fund to help keep it going

[The Bowler Hatted Turner]

Les you have my undying admiration, I could never do your job.Well done and keep it up, you deserve a medal.

[Eric Harvey]

I was a dental Technician by trade,so worked with my hands making stuff,but was taught carpentry from the age of 4 by my father who was a Cabinet maker till the war started(but thats another story),so have made wooden stuff most of my life as a hobby.I got into woodturning for something to do when I`m up to it,as a genetic lung disease and ME caught up with me in my late thirties (I know I shouldn`t be turning with all the dust and so on),and life can get a little dull when your not up to much health wise,so for me woodturning is a good way of forgetting my illness for a few hours here and there,and to create some lovely pieces of woodturning occasionaly,hopefully(beauty in the eyes of the beholder of course),anyway thats me and why I do it,oh did I mention how much fun it is doing it,cheers,

Eric.

[Bryan Milham]

John,

Many years in the Army fixing things, I always had a tool in my hand. Eventually promoted to a pen and desk I needed something to replace my toolbox.

A home, DIY, woodwork tools, collection grew, woodwork machine (Coronet major) with lathe.

Enjoyed creating things - and the rest, as they say, is history.

It's now my way of relaxing, but I can understand your question, as it's your way of earning a living, a hard oftime unrewarding way.

[TWiG]

or sometimes at the beach fishing., .................   usually cold workshop, 

You have almost answered your own question here !  some people catch fish for a living !! and a cold workshop is a far more comfortable environment than outdoors most of the time !!! ....... I guess different people get pleasure from different things  ..... but there is a big difference in doing something for fun than for a living .