Like the title! I want to cultivate some helpful skills but do so gradually, as a hobbyist. Tempted to get into lockpicking, haha.
Like the title! I want to cultivate some helpful skills but do so gradually, as a hobbyist. Tempted to get into lockpicking, haha.
I can recommend woodworking. Yeah, you can get really fancy with it, with lots of expensive tools. But you can also keep things simple, mostly working with traditional hand tools. You can even build a lot of your own tools. If you want free material, you can recycle old obsolete furniture you get for free into new and useful pieces. (Think old entertainment centers built for old giant CRT TVs, desks with huge drawers for storing massive amounts of paper, etc.)
Yes, you can go full bougie artisan if you want, but from a more leftist perspective, you could follow the tradition of the country carpenter. An old-timey country carpenter was someone that had the skills and tools to help people with their needs in a cheap and effective manner. Their customers were poor and working people. Need a dresser or a table? They would build you something functional. It might have been made of whatever wood was on hand and from mismatched fasteners, they would produce something usable for a cost people could afford. They would be just as likely to accept payment in barter as in currency. The modern version of this might be developing the ability to offer simple repairs to even IKEA-type furniture.
With global trade breaking down, people are going to need to fix the things they already have. If the price of everything at IKEA triples, well suddenly repairing things is a lot more viable than just throwing it out and buying another one. I focused this discussion on woodworking, but the same applies to many fields. Start thinking about how you can help people not just by making new things, but by repairing those that already exist. We need to learn to get by, to make due with what we have, now more than ever. Develop the skills for furniture repair, basic appliance servicing, simple electrical and plumbing work, etc. In an era of both stifled trade and immigration, the need for people with basic everyday repair skills has never been greater. You can make it a career if you want, or you can do it just as a mutual aid activity. Hang a shingle and offer your services on a sliding scale if you want. But this is one of the most practical and rewarding ways you can help people in your community. You get to directly help people in a tangible way, using an activity that lets you use your own hands and build/repair something. It’s the kind of work that’s good for the soul.
Been making a low Roman workbench and getting informed about low-cost, low-tech workholding. Above is a system of holes on a bench, together with pegs and wedges, that can be used for holding boards in different positions for planing and for working on the edges. Got the idea from the “Ingenious Mechanicks” book that Rex Krueger recommended on his “workholding on the Roman workbench” video, where it’s described as a traditional Estonian carpenter workholding system; and also from a YT channel called “DW Woodworks” who has a video called something like “workholding on the Roman workbench part 2”.
The pegs are made out of branches of a local tree they cut down that I partially got home, and the wedges from a reclaimed board I found on my street lmao. Woodworking is FUN. Highly recommend the “woodwork for humans” series of videos by Rex Krueger following your “poor man’s carpenter” idea
Actually I’m quite familiar with Rex! I think he is who introduced me to the term “country carpenter” IIRC. Woodworking is great. You obviously can get really fancy with it, but there is a continuum from true 0-budget “reclaimed tools and materials” all the way to “10 million dollar production shop.” And money spent doesn’t map directly to quality of work.
Woodworking can be very approachable, even with a very limited budget. Really, the greatest barrier to entry isn’t money, but space. Sawdust is a pain to deal with, and you really don’t want to do woodworking in your living room. Though I have definitely seen videos of people who do woodworking even in apartments. They’ll dedicate a spare bedroom to the hobby, do their work entirely outdoors under the sky, or have a little tiny micro workbench in a closet. Even with zero space you could at least do some basic carving or whittling on your kitchen table. And that’s before you consider options like shared community shop and maker spaces.
My setup has gotten pretty elaborate at this point. But I have the funds for it, and I’ve been building up my capabilities for several years at this point. You obviously can get quite elaborate with woodworking equipment, and I certainly have. But I got started with just a miter saw and a card table.
Wow, that is one nice workshop. The hello kitty bandsaw is the coolest thing I’ve seen in a while tbh, gives the shop a lot of personality.
Yeah, regarding space for woodworking, I’m currently making 3 Roman workbenches with removable legs, which will be used for an upcoming project in which I’ll teach some buddies how to make a bow out of a (preselected) wooden plank. Ever got into bowmaking?
Thanks! Yeah the bandsaw is an old secondhand one I got and did some refurb on. I’ve been slowly trying to add more color to the shop, as can be seen in the painted air ducts and the bandsaw. And no, I haven’t tried bowmaking yet. Sounds fun!
If you’re considering bowmaking, do yourself a favour and watch Dan Santana’s YouTube channel. It’s not only extremely informative, it’s also shot tastefully and beautifully
Just took a peak. An hour long video on making a longbow? Yes please!