The smell of fresh pine sawdust filled the air, with more floating up as I
sanded the last rough corner of the stool. My toddler was happily sanding her
own block off to the side.
Woodworking was a new hobby I'd picked up. My old ones, coding, reading,
writing, had
Having recently picked up woodworking after building my own office desk, this hit rather close to home.
I'm a software engineer who does woodworking, and I approve this message.
But my favorite explanation: you grab your hand saw, and it works. You don't find out that the latest npm japanese-hand-saw-tooth package is incompatible with plywood, and you need to downgrade the package or buy new plywood to make a cut.
Been remodeling a house that we just bought and this has been a my experience as well. I just enjoy making things. Software, home automations, wood, anything. The joy of building. I think that's what it is.
I've been software developer for +7 years, and I must say I also love woodworking. Since is something completely out of my scope as developer, it requires patient and is pretty relaxing working with your hands like this. No client changes, no meetings, instant feedback... and no dependency managers.
My friends/family: this is amazing, you could sell these!
Thank you for the compliment, but no. Absolutely no. I make plenty of money at my day job. I enjoy making sawdust and wood chips, and want to keep enjoying it.
Sewing for sure, especially machine sewing. I feel like I've got as much time invested in fighting and maintaining our sewing machines as in our Windows machines. 😛
And then there's that whole transition between pattern (spec) and outcome that is oddly reminiscent of far too many of my software projects!
Curiously, what sort of fights do you have with your sewing machine? I just started getting into sewing a couple months ago. I'm currently using a borrowed machine and haven't had any major issues yet. I was hoping to buy my own soon and wanted to know if there were specific features that commonly cause problems.
When I was on the fence about teaching English any longer, a friend of mine encouraged me to try software development because "[I] know languages, and [I] like to build things." I still feel a lot more comfortable with a saw and clamps, but I think he's right.
I haven't yet started blacksmithing, but it's the next logical progression. Other than a (very!) occasional boat and the odd bit of furniture or cabinetry, I seem to spend most of my time making tools, jigs, and fixtures.
Because you think "Oh, I made a mistake, I'll be sure to fix it later". You never fix it later. You mostly just add layers of shit on top of it and pray nobody asks you in the future "Hey, WTF were you doing there?"