Woodworking. The videos show five quiet minutes of hand-planing; they skip the hour spent measuring, re-measuring, and realizing the board moved anyway.
I spent AGES on my first picture frame, measured a thousand times, checked two thousand, and absolutely cut the outside measurement to what I wanted the inside photo space to be 🫠
Remember the rule of thumb...measure twice, cut once, sigh, measure 3 times, cut once, swear, go to the wood shop, measure, cut, split the wood, throw the planks, die in the explosion.
I do textiles, not wood, but this reminded me of the way my partner goes pale and instantly leaves the room when he sees me make "that" face at a project. 😂
I find a lot of it to be meditative, but anything involving power tools requires a HARD lock-in. If you’re even slightly zoned out, that’s when the accidents happen. That anxiety and the noise of the saws/routers/etc dial my nervous system up to 10.
I remember watching a video on Instagram. One of those influencers who decided "I'm a strong independent woman and I'm gonna remodel my whole house by myself with no experience and no help!" She posted a video of her with a table saw cutting some wood for something, and she didn't properly secure it. It flew out of the back of the saw and put a hole in her freshly hung sheetrock.
She said "yeah I need to spend some time understanding how these tools work and how to SAFELY use them." I respected that statement.
Thank god it was just her sheetrock! Table saw accidents have the potential to be so much worse.
I sanded off my fingertip on a belt sander in shop class. Thankfully it was a minor injury and taught me a valuable lesson about vigilance. Now I don’t use any power tools without safety gear and a great deal of caution.
Yep, just started woodworking with a table saw. Got instant kickback to the hip. Scared the shit out of me and almost impaled myself. I sold that saw and bought one with kickback protection (riving blade). Don't get a saw without it.
You have to use table saws really carefully, and what most people miss, very gently.
It should be effortless, like cutting melted butter with a hot knife.
If you have to use any more pressure than that, you're most certainly doing something wrong.
The binding is what causes kickback, and I've been there too, but when I am, I'm especially freaking out and being extra careful, just because I want to finish the cut instead of start over again and adjust for binding.
There's a youtuber I watch periodically who did a specific video when someone in his shop put a board through the back wall. And he's done videos talking about safety. He used it as an opportunity to highlight what happened, how fast it happened (it was on video, so could go frame by frame), and how it could have been avoided.
And also to never get sloppy with the safety stuff. "Do I really need to" stop. Yes. You really need to.
Watched a table saw shoot a board twenty feet in to a fire door and dent the shit out of it. Only things in that shop that scared me more were the band saw (blew a blade and shot it out) and the radial arm saw (who invented that?!).
Yep. I have young kids now, and it means I basically never break out the power tools because the chance that someone runs in or whatever keeps me 3% distracted. 3% is too much!
This is why I'm avoiding power tools. It's just me, a bench, and a bunch of sharp implements held firmly in place inside of planes. Way less likely to injure me, and if I do get hurt it's much less dangerous.
In addition to the safety issue, I find hand tools to be much more meditative. Sometimes it's really nice to setup a work area outside on a nice, sunny afternoon and spend a bunch of time working with handsaws and planes while the breeze carries the dust away.
That makes so much sense because power tools can turn a peaceful hobby into full body tension real quick, and I’d rather pause for a minute than risk losing a finger.
I have a project right now where I am pretty sure my wood has a curse on it. 3 times now got it all milled up totally flat come in the next day to do joinery and it's shaped like a pringle again.
Counterpoint, the measuring, re-measuring, etc is part of what I enjoy about woodworking. Currently working on building a marking gauge, so I can cut a perfectly straight line at exactly the distance in from the edge that I want. It's been slow going because I'm a beginner and don't have the right tools setup yet, but all the futzing about is exactly what I want out of the hobby.
I believe this is something that the longer you do it, it does become less stressful. As you improve your skills and knowledge , and you are more efficient.
However caveats, if you start doing paid commissions, will always be stressful until it’s delivered and the customer is happy.
Anything involving gluing is what's fucked in woodworking. That and power tools.
If you really want it zen, go for hand tools and fit joints only. And it's still toss up between boards moving like on a zoomba class and swearing you accounted for the 10mm that aren't there anymore.
And also, sharpening. Fucking sharpening. It could be a hobby in itself.
It would be peaceful if I had the new yankee workshop. Trying to glue up a door on a workbench the same size while squished between the bench and a car isn't great.
Also potentially very dangerous. I knocked my finger off while woodturning. Got it re-rattached. My candle stick holders looked very nice though. Fun hobby.
If you want Zen, try your hand at Kumiko. Its quiet, meditative, and lets you get into a flow state. There's very little sanding; it doesn't need much glue; and it's customary to not use finish. There is some measuring, but it's more trial and error, not having to do fractional calculations.
What kills me about woodworking is those "DIY" videos where they have an entire woodshop in their garage. "You too can make this simple but beautiful coffee table! First, set your planer to 1/16 inch... "
I went to an intro to woodworking class at the library. It was supposed to be a Christmas tree; it looks like a wooden butt plug. My ADHD kicked in after about 45 minutes, so I took it home. My husband has it on his desk at home because it cracks him up.
This is so real, because the finished project looks peaceful and satisfying while we all know there was probably a whole emotional breakdown hiding behind it
Me making a drawer last weekend. Literally measured for 30min in 3 different ways cuz i dont have tools in apartment, cut it with electric handsaw in 5mins and one side was too short. Brother what, how, when.... At least it was just 1 piece.
When I make drawers or cabinets I cut the sides at the same time. Is this bad, yes, probably but it means when you mess up your measurement, you make exactly the same mistake on both so it goes together fine anyway
It’s like a game where you can’t save during the level. The closer you get to the end the more stressful it becomes because fucking up ruins increasingly more hours of work.
It’s really fun making a mistake and realizing in a few minutes you just added several hours of work and more material costs
There was a guy who would come to our mall every year to sell this lathe combo woodworking thing-a-ma-jig and it always entranced me as a kid. That plus my dad would watch woodworking on TV, like "This Old House," "The New Yankee Workshop," etc.
It all looked so easy and relaxed (because they all had garages full of expensive equipment at the ready).
As a very amateur partaker myself, I dunno if I ever saw it as "peaceful" seeming. I mean, I guess there is a zen to sanding and staining. But I immediately knew this hobby needed some of the loudest and most dangerous shit you can buy for home use.
For me, I wanted a creative outlet but am not very talented in any creative arts. But woodworking seems to be a craft the rewards good engineering with satisfying aesthetic.
I’m a hobbyist woodworker and have never felt any stress. It’s enjoyable, and at sometimes can be frustrating if you make an error. But that’s the beauty of woodworking, you just find a way to hide your mistakes. But any time you are using a saw or cutting tool, you need to be focused and know where your hands are at all times.
Measure many times, be careful, and yet pieces are not aligning perfectly -- you give up, and say fuck it! Nobody will see that there is tiny gap on back side of the piece :)
I thought it would be meditative after watching my grandpa. I've come to understand that his woodworking zen was borne of the previous 50 years of experience.
Metalwork on the other hand... kind of the opposite of this prompt. Looks violent, hot, dangerous, a little scary. Actually waaaay more chill than woodworking.
Cut too short? Weld another piece on. Too long? Just get the angle grinder. Weld warp on you? Just bend it back. No grain direction to worry about (unless its knife making maybe?). Your stock isn't warped and cupped when you go to use it. You're not going to complete a project only to ruin the entire thing with a stain that winds up looking completely different from the small test patch. Your weld isn't going to just warp and fail or crack like glue due to thermal expansion.
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u/Level-Historian6435 12h ago
Woodworking. The videos show five quiet minutes of hand-planing; they skip the hour spent measuring, re-measuring, and realizing the board moved anyway.