When you do "knowledge work" for a living, there's an inherent frustration in not creating something concrete from your efforts. Negotiating a case, reading cases to prepare a brief or a motion, appearing in court, all of these things have value to a client, but the value does not manifest itself as a thing you can touch and feel. Matthew B. Crawford explores this concept in eloquent detail in
Shop Class as Soulcraft: An Inquiry into the Value of Work, a book
Mark Bennett recommended I read and I, in turn, recommend you read.
One of the ways to get that feeling of accomplishment, of making a "thing," is having a hobby where you make stuff. I
built a workbench so I could have a place to do woodworking. The first project I wanted to build, a simple tic-tac-toe shelf from Spike Carlsen's book,
Ridiculously Simple Furniture Projects: Great Looking Furniture Anyone Can Build, is done now.
The completion of the project is shown in pictures below. Total time was probably 3-4 hours, with gaps for the finish to dry. All that was required was a 1" x 6" x 8' hardwood board (I used poplar).
The raw plank:
Cut down to four equal lengths:
Notched:
Cut into arcs:
Ready for finishing:
Dry fit:
Close up of the finish:
Mounted on the wall with picture hangers:
With a canister to give a sense of size on the wall:
Less than $30 worth of materials and about 4 hours of work and I have a very nice shelf for our dining room and a "thing" I can look at and think, "I built that."
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