Does Anyone Do Woodworking

[BigSky]

anymore. It seems like the answer is no.:(

[easterngray]

I have a few friends that are into woodworking. I have one friend that is a very talented bowyer (he makes traditional archery equipment). His workshop is fascinating and his bows are beautiful. Definetely fewer young folks are into woodworking though. Alec

[cincinnati]

I was told by an employee of Shopsmith that their greatest hurdle was their customer base is getting older and older. Not many young people are into woodworking. = No new customers to sell equipment to.

Go to a wood working show and I will be the youngest one there. I'm 40.

[judaspre1982]

When I went to school, Jr High , that was where I was exposed to wood working. Each student---girls/boys--- had to take all the different shop classes, wood shop, metal shop, art , home economics, ect. Students could see what suited them best and if they liked one or more of these classes, when you got to High School, you could take a shop class as an elective for credit towards graduation. If you liked the trade classes enough ,you could enroll in a trade school. The schools in my area no longer provide these shop classes. The key is to give these young kids options at this age. Some people will never get a chance to experience the joy and satisfaction of making something with their hands. If I had never been exposed to the shop classes in school, who knows if I would have ever found the joy of wood working. Working with ones hands is not for everyone , but I sure am glad I had to take those shop classes way back when:D -----Dave

[robinson46176]

One of the worst things to happen recently is the schools dropping all manual arts classes so they can spend more time teaching students how to do well on tests... largely for the benefit of the schools themselves... :(
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The interest in woodworking is still there but there are almost no hands on learning opportunities around. As I go to garage sales each weekend I see their efforts to teach themselves in garages all over town and many of them are in their twenties...
Most of them just need to have someone teach them the very beginning basics.
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I do not consider myself to be a fine woodworker at all. In my shop I consider a hatchet to be a precision woodworking tool... :D But I have always been very thankful that I was taught the very beginning basics. Heck, I even remember some of them. :)
In my early background I worked with my father who was also not a fine woodworker and I don't think he ever made a piece of furniture but before I was born he designed and built a house for his parents doing all work by himself including digging the basement by hand. Most of what I learned from him was farm woodworking. Working on buildings, remodeling the house, building livestock and grain facilities etc. The basics of furniture woodworking I got from school. None of my teachers were really great woodworkers but they were good teachers. Sadly they were better teachers than I was a student. I was more into metal working and mechanics. Still, I enjoy myself. :)

[curiousgeorge]

Now days if it doesn't have batteries, buttons, an LCD screen and show someone being blown apart, the kids won't even take a second look at it.

[baddlad]

They eliminated woodshop in the school my kids go to because someone lost a finger and sued the school and the teacher. Its sad that we are such a sue happy society today.

[JPG40504]

They eliminated woodshop in the school my kids go to because someone lost a finger and sued the school and the teacher. Its sad that we are such a sue happy society today.
AND the school administrators are afraid of their own shadow. The insurance companies appear to me to be too quick to settle. When they are paying out more, they can justify larger premiums. Where's the checks/balances/common sense????