Woodworking is Not for Everyone.
I wish I was wrong on this, but I don’t think I am. And the title of this blog is not to highlight discrimination in terms of race, gender, ethnic or religious beliefs. Those things are real and affect people everyday and I’m sure within woodworking too. Specifically I wanted to highlight the harsh reality that to practice the craft of woodworking you need a surplus of time, space and money. I know you can whittle a stick with a knife, that doesn’t interest me much, I’m not eight years old anymore. Regardless of how much you strip the craft back there is a cost.
I read in old books that people would use a spare room in the home as a workspace. Sounds nice enough, but I can’t imagine coming home from work, whacking a chisel with a mallet without being told to keep it down by my family or even the neighbours. If I was renting I can’t imagine the landlord would want a woodworking shop set up in the front room. So that means a garage or a robust garden shed.
This would indicate you’re at least a few rungs up the property ladder and have access to a suitable garden or garage. Don’t get me wrong here, I’m not trying to garner sympathy for my situation. I’m hugely lucky to have access to half a single garage at home and my professional woodworking space during the week. What I’m trying to highlight is that part of the reason why woodworking is often popular with the retired or comfortably off is you need to be in a very stable situation with some disposable income.
To attract more people to the party we’d actually have to improve living conditions for everyone. Good luck with that, that’s a riddle that’s not exactly easy to solve. There’s a reason that kids all over the world love football (soccer if you must). All you need is a ball and the outdoors. A few friends and you get going with some kind of crazy match. People will play the game barefoot with improvised balls made from plastic bags and cord. You just can’t do that with woodworking.
I’d dearly love there to be a return to more hands on, practical subjects in schools. When I attended school there was a metalwork shop and a woodshop but we never actually used them to learn a craft or practical skill. It had moved over to Design and Technology by that point. Nothing wrong with that, it’s a fine subject, I enjoyed it. I wonder though, would kids enjoy a shop class these days? We teach Art, why no craft or practical skills? Perhaps children would reject it? Perhaps I should just shut my mouth as I have no way to offer a solution. I just hope as a craft, notwithstanding amazing young people from all backgrounds coming through and making waves, the reality is that I don’t see woodworking becoming part of the national consciousness again unless you’re reasonably comfortable, have space and likely old.
If you want to get into woodworking but don’t have the time, space or money just yet, please stick with it. You can enjoy woodworking as a spectator and dare I say as a consumer. Not all sports fans play sports, how many people who watch a cooking show make what they see or go onto become better than the chef they watch? Sometimes it’s fun just to enjoy watching, reading and learning about the craft.