When they find out you're a woodworker

[L. D. Jeffries]

Know just what your talking about. Last summer I made a new house number sign for the end of the driveway, also made one for my neighbor (GOOD friend) whose wife happens to be an EMT with the local fire house! See where this is going? So far I've made 5 signs to go over truck bay doors, a big sign for the rescue bay. Then the town asked me for a sign for their canoe/kayak launch site; then up-coming a sign for the to-be renovated ball field fence; who knows what else will come down the pike! But what the heck, its fun and its nice to do something for the community.

[cwsmith]

My woodworking is a lot like my singing... I enjoy it, but I'm not sure I want to expose it to anyone outside my home. (Maybe when I learn to drive nails without bending them over! )

When I was working full-time as an illustrator, I was always being hit up for something.... somebody wants thier deck, house, or car drawn, or cartoon character for their RV, etc. While I enjoy helping others and certainly if they like my talent, it can get to be a real PIA; AND, nobody wants to pay for it. I always found it amazing how quickly the praise and admiration for "talent" gets silenced when you start talking compensation. "Free" provides a lot of food for my ego, but none for the family.

CWS

[Rand]

I occasionally make gifts for people but I refuse to do commissioned pieces for less than materials cost plus 25/hr.

Unfortunately, when you give things away for free (including your time) people seem to think it's not worth anything.

[twistsol]

I'm not sure if it is fortunate or unfortunate but I'm known as the computer nerd so I get very few woodworking requests. I'm swamped with data recovery, memory and hard drive upgrades, a little help with this problem or that.

Between that and the sizable honey do list, my modest woodworking skills have been hush hush.

[smorris]

Twistsol, I have a similar problem with computers. People get a virus or other malware and call me to fix their computer. I tell them I'm not the best choice for that,

"but you know computer security"

"Umm...I'm a pen tester, I kill computers for a living"

[Richard in Smithville]

Interesting that this thread is here. I got a phone call just the other day from a friend who is installing new cabinets in his kitchen. He called me because there are a couple of difficult cuts to trim out between the wall and cabinet. Actually his wife called me after he messed up an expensive piece of edging.