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I believe that yes, people do have hobbies. The problem arises when they show those hobbies to someone else. That's when the pressure to turn a hobby in to a hu

I believe that yes, people do have hobbies. The problem arises when they show those hobbies to someone else. That's when the pressure to turn a hobby in to a hustle begins. And making money off something you love is not, by itself, a bad thing. The issue is that making money off a hobby you love will often kill that love, because the hustle requires a lot of extra work that is related to making money, not the hobby. Just ask almost any self-employed contractor how much time goes into tasks that aren't billable (i.e. the hobby).

Loughla 4y ago
>And making money off something you love is not, by itself, a bad thing. The issue is that making money off a hobby you love will often kill that love, because the hustle requires a lot of extra work that is related to making money, not the hobby. I do woodworking as a hobby (and restore old woodworking machines as an actual side hustle to fund my addiction to buying cherry lumber). This is why I absolutely do not turn down requests for furniture or other woodworking projects. I just price them so absurdly high that the return is ridiculous, or that people just politely decline. For example, I was recently asked to make a shelf for an acquaintance. I priced the single floating shelf at $930. That's about $30 worth of materials, and three to five hours worth of work depending on what finish I choose. That 5 hours of my free time absolutely is worth $900 to me. As an aside, if anyone is looking for a very vintage, single phase 7.5hp, 24" jointer, I have one for sale.
- shaftway 4y ago
  Fellow woodworking hobbyist here. One of the legit (9-fingered) woodworkers at the store I frequent has looked at some of my work and urged me to sell some pieces. My response was "as soon as I start selling things this changes from a hobby to a job." He suggested that I should sell woodworking projects the way he used to sell cocaine; "just enough to cover your own habit."
- coldpie 4y ago
  > As an aside, if anyone is looking for a very vintage, single phase 7.5hp, 24" jointer, I have one for sale. Man this is the kind of thing you have to include a location for ;)
  - Loughla 4y ago
    Oh, now I'm going to gush about this thing. I've been restoring old machinery for decades, but this is one of the best pieces of old Ohio machinery I've ever had my hands on. It's a beautiful machine. It's a JT Towsley 24" jointer - the best I can guess is that it's from 1930-35 or so; there isn't a lot of information about that company anywhere. It's somewhere around 2300 lbs - everything is solid cast iron (subsequently, I have retrofit some heavy casters because it was so unbelievably hard to move without them). It used to be 3 phase direct drive, but the shop I got it from gutted the old motor and set it as a belt and pulley drive to a smaller motor on the base. I swapped the little motor with a new Leeson 7.5hp. I painted it and replaced all of the bearings for safety sake (with new - old stock - American made bearings that matched the originals, btw), but other than that everything was in amazing shape. It has a massive 4 blade cutterhead with huge new blades the man that owned it put on it. This thing is amazing. It sat in the corner of a cabinet making shop up the road from me for something like 80 years, until the owner died. His wife was going to have the local junker haul it out. It was the cabinetmaker's pride and joy. It had surface rust and needed to be repainted/all the bearings replaced, but otherwise it was like a brand new machine. It currently lives in Illinois at a buddy's house while he waits for his own jointer to come in- it's his daily driver right now. But this thing is worth the drive to pick up. I've only ever seen one this size and quality in person, and I've never seen one for sale on the public market. I know I'm biased because I'm selling it, but it's just such a bad-ass old piece of iron. I considered putting a helical head on it, and I contacted a couple of companies for quotes on custom heads. They're pretty reasonable (for what you get), but the companies are like 6-8 months out on custom orders and byrd won't even respond. Anyway. This thing is amazing. I love old machinery, and this piece is super cool. The thought that went into making something that big also very easy to adjust and work with is just amazing.
    - coldpie 4y ago
      Sounds awesome. I've only ever used 8" jointers. Does it take a long time to spin up? Bet that needs a lot of dust collection power, too. By sheer coincidence, in the editor's note of the current issue of Popular Woodworking, the editor is talking about his work restoring a Towsley 24" jointer, and will be publishing articles about the restoration process over the next year.

Loughla 4y ago

>And making money off something you love is not, by itself, a bad thing. The issue is that making money off a hobby you love will often kill that love, because the hustle requires a lot of extra work that is related to making money, not the hobby. I do woodworking as a hobby (and restore old woodworking machines as an actual side hustle to fund my addiction to buying cherry lumber). This is why I absolutely do not turn down requests for furniture or other woodworking projects. I just price them so absurdly high that the return is ridiculous, or that people just politely decline. For example, I was recently asked to make a shelf for an acquaintance. I priced the single floating shelf at $930. That's about $30 worth of materials, and three to five hours worth of work depending on what finish I choose. That 5 hours of my free time absolutely is worth $900 to me. As an aside, if anyone is looking for a very vintage, single phase 7.5hp, 24" jointer, I have one for sale.

shaftway 4y ago
Fellow woodworking hobbyist here. One of the legit (9-fingered) woodworkers at the store I frequent has looked at some of my work and urged me to sell some pieces. My response was "as soon as I start selling things this changes from a hobby to a job." He suggested that I should sell woodworking projects the way he used to sell cocaine; "just enough to cover your own habit."
coldpie 4y ago
> As an aside, if anyone is looking for a very vintage, single phase 7.5hp, 24" jointer, I have one for sale. Man this is the kind of thing you have to include a location for ;)
- Loughla 4y ago
  Oh, now I'm going to gush about this thing. I've been restoring old machinery for decades, but this is one of the best pieces of old Ohio machinery I've ever had my hands on. It's a beautiful machine. It's a JT Towsley 24" jointer - the best I can guess is that it's from 1930-35 or so; there isn't a lot of information about that company anywhere. It's somewhere around 2300 lbs - everything is solid cast iron (subsequently, I have retrofit some heavy casters because it was so unbelievably hard to move without them). It used to be 3 phase direct drive, but the shop I got it from gutted the old motor and set it as a belt and pulley drive to a smaller motor on the base. I swapped the little motor with a new Leeson 7.5hp. I painted it and replaced all of the bearings for safety sake (with new - old stock - American made bearings that matched the originals, btw), but other than that everything was in amazing shape. It has a massive 4 blade cutterhead with huge new blades the man that owned it put on it. This thing is amazing. It sat in the corner of a cabinet making shop up the road from me for something like 80 years, until the owner died. His wife was going to have the local junker haul it out. It was the cabinetmaker's pride and joy. It had surface rust and needed to be repainted/all the bearings replaced, but otherwise it was like a brand new machine. It currently lives in Illinois at a buddy's house while he waits for his own jointer to come in- it's his daily driver right now. But this thing is worth the drive to pick up. I've only ever seen one this size and quality in person, and I've never seen one for sale on the public market. I know I'm biased because I'm selling it, but it's just such a bad-ass old piece of iron. I considered putting a helical head on it, and I contacted a couple of companies for quotes on custom heads. They're pretty reasonable (for what you get), but the companies are like 6-8 months out on custom orders and byrd won't even respond. Anyway. This thing is amazing. I love old machinery, and this piece is super cool. The thought that went into making something that big also very easy to adjust and work with is just amazing.
  - coldpie 4y ago
    Sounds awesome. I've only ever used 8" jointers. Does it take a long time to spin up? Bet that needs a lot of dust collection power, too. By sheer coincidence, in the editor's note of the current issue of Popular Woodworking, the editor is talking about his work restoring a Towsley 24" jointer, and will be publishing articles about the restoration process over the next year.