Hobby woodworkers need to hear this.

I was an engineer for most of my professional life and a metalworker on the side. When I retired, people asked me if I was going to start machining for pay. My response (I think I invented this; maybe not) was always "There is no better way to ruin a perfectly good hobby than to make a business out of it."

A hobby, you own. A business owns you.

I'm 58 years old on 20 acres. I'm in Personal Security at a Veterans Hospital. I have built a small 14'x20' wood shop this year. I have built bookshelves, doors, kitchen cabinets, benches and tables. Recently, on a one-week vacation, I spent 4 hours just sitting in the wood shop doorway, drinking a drink, Watching the chickens do their thing just thinking about what to make next. That is my hobby

I call myself a "proud amatuer" and I relish the fact that I can procrastinate on my projects as much as I want. I love the freedom to jump between whichever project grabs my attention at the moment, and I'm very thankful that I don't have to worry about selling anything, so I can build whatever I want to whatever standards I set

Having gone from programming as a hobby to professional I echo this sentiment.

As a teenager 40 years ago, I had 3 hobbies: woodworking, computer programming, and skateboarding. I was talking about becoming a pro skater and my dad asked: "Well, can you live off the money?" I never took that career path, but some other kid named Tony Hawk did and made out pretty well. I did take up a career in computer programming. Instead of making games I wanted to play myself on a Commodore 64, I was quickly writing COBOL programs for mainframes, doing work for the Army and NATO, and eventually managing a 500TB database with over 100,000 users. For some strange reason, I no longer write code as a hobby. Then there is the woodworking. Our high school had industrial grade equipment like Powermatic tablesaws and Oliver planers. We made things like kitchen cabinets. My dad probably still has the cedar dresser I originally made for myself. But after high school, I no longer had access to those high end machines, so I would have to make do with whatever the local Woodcraft had available. 20 years ago, I got married and purchased a house. I made most of my furniture at Woodcraft back then, both because it was fun, and because it was a lot cheaper. I no longer make things at Wood craft, but have a few consumer grade power tools and hand tools. These days, I make whatever I need. There are lots of times I need something in a certain sizes that I can't just buy, or I need to modify something I did. Woodworking is now both a hobby and a practical solution for things I need.

I used to play miniature historical war games. I always got compliments on my miniatures, and decided to try to go into a sideline painting people’s armies. It was horrible. I just didn’t want to paint. Half of the joy I got was researching something that I was interested in. After painting a couple of armies I came across an “ah huh!” Moment. I researched and painted the army that I wanted to play. I played with that army a couple of times, then went to the next convention and played in the competition with the army up for sale. Usually they sold. I got the joy back, always had a new army to use, enjoyed every aspect of painting, and sold it all within a year.

Something my granddad once said. 'It doesn't matter if you love or hate your thing. If you HAVE TO GO OUT THERE AND DO IT DAY AFTER DAY, it's a job'. Having a passion just helps with the motivation.

I am a "professional" woodworker and do woodwork with hand tools as a hobby. To me, the two things have nothing to do with each other. Professional woodwork is just a job. And many people in my job are not good woodworkers. In fact, I rarely have real wood in my hands when I'm at work. I like to think that I learned most of the actual craft in my garage. But because it's so different, I can do woodwork as a hobby and enjoy it. I even started doing it as a hobby after I had been working in the industry for a while. Your videos played a big role in that. So thank you and I hope things continue to go well for you.

I couldn't agree more with this. People have asked if I want to make this a profession. They look at me funny when I say, not a chance. They ask why. I tell them, I don't have a deadline and I have the freedom of artistic expression and the big one, no pressure regarding paying the bills Good for you with this video.

The nearest I ever came to professional woodworking, I was asked to make a table that a woman with unusually short legs could sit at comfortably. Her husband knew I did a lot of finish carpentry and cabinet repairs around my house and had the tools to do it. She had a cut down chair so that her feet could touch the floor. I scaled the table to match her sitting height, and now it's her sewing table. When they, her husband and she, asked what the table cost, I said, "a case of Sierra Nevada Pale Ale."

I knew I was going to be a carpenter when I was 12, I'm 70 now. I believe I can build about anything. Love wood from the rough end till the finished end of it. Built 4 mansions in Palm Beach. Can and did all the different parts from cabinets to stair cases. All types of molding. It was a great life. Hard at times. Easy to get hurt. Back problems. But I made a very good life of it. Now I carve for pleasure and build chairs once in a while.

It makes total sense that you started as a teacher. As a current prof, I keep noting how geat of an educator you still are! A real positive example.

When I started my channel, I was aiming for 1 video per week. After work everyday, I sat in front of my computer, editing and color grading footages, narrating the content, typing subtitles, translate them into another language, fixing time codes. It was like another full time job after my full time job. I stopped doing that in about 3 months because one I was getting burned out, and two holiday season started and I wanted to spend more time with my wife. Woodworking, photography, running 2 youtube channels should be my hobby, not a job. Now when I get the chance, I repair and restore my tools, go to woodworking and photography events, record travel logs, smoke brisket, rib, salmon, lamb leg, or just wash my car. These stay as hobbies, and I am a lot happier.

I was 'trained' to do woodwork when I was 16 by a master worker that restored old Victorian homes in San Francisco. I worked for him for several summers and learned a ton. I pursued a career in biomedical research but still it is a hobby I love. When I work on projects in my garage and people walk by, I get all sorts of offers to do jobs. I have accepted just a few, but the best part is the massive amount of money I have saved by doing this and the pleasure of roaming through our old (Victorian) home and seeing all the details I have added in, from restoring old doors, custom shelves, floor repairs...I do like your videos and follow you regularly.

My choir teacher in high school once told me: if you make your hobby your career, you’ll need to find a new hobby. I continued on, got my doctorate in classical guitar, have taught music for the last 15 years. Mr. Perkis’ comment has always stuck with me. Woodwork and lutherie became my hobbies

Rex, I can't tell you how much I appreciate this video. I'm a 58-year-old, full-time pastor of a small, rural church. To say my job is stressful is a large understatement. Years ago I took up photography as a hobby and ended up being a decent picture-taker. Enough so that I was convinced to supplement my income as a pastor with my photography. I did make some extra money, but it stole all the joy out of my time with my camera. Three years ago I started woodworking as a hobby to relieve stress and have fun. I LOVE it. I've been asked several times by family and friends if they could pay me to make something for them. And EVERY time, I've said, "no." I do make things for others, but I won't take money and I won't take on a project I don't think will be fun, because I don't want this wonderful hobby to get turned into 'work' and become stressful, like my photography did, which I rarely do anymore. Anyway, I love your channel and your teaching. Thank you very much for the content you put out. I rarely miss one. Tony

Rex -- I didn't know about your experience at UC Merced. But it explains so much about your work as a 'content creator'. You've never stopped being a teacher. Thank you for that.

This message is so important. People are always, with the best intentions, telling makers and creatives that they should sell their work, but they fail to realize that then it will become another job and suck all the joy out of it. My woodworking goes from cutting and milling the lumber from fallen trees to a finished piece, but it can take a year to get something done. As a job that would be a huge failure, but as a hobby it is a tremendous success and something I can take pride in.

Thank you Rex. This really needed to be said. People need to pay attention and reflect on this message.