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I've taken it one step further and actually learned basic furniture carpentry. I'm primarily a UI designer by trade but I found the skills easily transferable.

by snide 12y ago

I've taken it one step further and actually learned basic furniture carpentry. I'm primarily a UI designer by trade but I found the skills easily transferable. In an odd way it's no harder than the basic layout CSS I write every day. The big different of course is that when I mess up with wood I can't just erase everything and redo it. Woodworking has taught me to slow down.

atom-morgan 12y ago
> I'm primarily a UI designer by trade but I found the skills easily transferable. Would you mind highlighting a few of those?
- jowiar 12y ago
  Paging Dr. Norman: http://www.amazon.com/Design-Everyday-Things-Donald-Norman/dp/0465067107 http://www.amazon.com/Design-Everyday-Things-Donald-Norman/d...
- snide 12y ago
  Sure. Most of woodworking is measurement of rectangles. That's pretty much my entire day in CSS. Instead of pixel pushing I push inches. Woodworking even has it's own box model. When I make a cut on a table saw I need to account for Kerf, which is the part of the wood being stripped away. It's like a border 1px on my box :) The rest is just basic design. If you know how to arrange a web layout, you'll find designing furniture much more fun. Probably the reason I like it most is the permanence. Although sites I've designed for the web have lasted decades at this point, none of them keep the actual design for a year or two. When I build something in wood it's going to be like that forever. The only thing I can do is repaint it.
edwin 12y ago
Last year, my 8-year-old kids and their classmates designed and hand-built (eventually with dowels instead of screws) their own chairs at their amazing SF school. See http://www.sfbrightworks.org/2013/11/hawk-chairs/ http://www.sfbrightworks.org/2013/11/hawk-chairs/ Here's a quote about the lack of undo: "The consequences of careless work were immediate and unavoidable, and the amount of focus, resilience and perseverance required by these chairs was immense."
vailripper 12y ago
Couldn't agree more. I'm a developer by trade, the skills of breaking down a problem into manageable chunks and coming up with a gameplan to get it done are directly transferrable over to woodworking. Woodworking is all about problem solving, coming up with a plan, and then very carefully executing that plan. I also really enjoy the fact that you're making something with your hands. With economies as advanced as they are today, many of us have lost touch with what it's like to create something with your hands, that you can touch and use. It's hard to explain, but it's extremely satisfying.

by snide 12y ago

atom-morgan 12y ago

> I'm primarily a UI designer by trade but I found the skills easily transferable. Would you mind highlighting a few of those?

jowiar 12y ago
Paging Dr. Norman: http://www.amazon.com/Design-Everyday-Things-Donald-Norman/dp/0465067107 http://www.amazon.com/Design-Everyday-Things-Donald-Norman/d...
snide 12y ago
Sure. Most of woodworking is measurement of rectangles. That's pretty much my entire day in CSS. Instead of pixel pushing I push inches. Woodworking even has it's own box model. When I make a cut on a table saw I need to account for Kerf, which is the part of the wood being stripped away. It's like a border 1px on my box :) The rest is just basic design. If you know how to arrange a web layout, you'll find designing furniture much more fun. Probably the reason I like it most is the permanence. Although sites I've designed for the web have lasted decades at this point, none of them keep the actual design for a year or two. When I build something in wood it's going to be like that forever. The only thing I can do is repaint it.

edwin 12y ago

Last year, my 8-year-old kids and their classmates designed and hand-built (eventually with dowels instead of screws) their own chairs at their amazing SF school. See http://www.sfbrightworks.org/2013/11/hawk-chairs/ http://www.sfbrightworks.org/2013/11/hawk-chairs/ Here's a quote about the lack of undo: "The consequences of careless work were immediate and unavoidable, and the amount of focus, resilience and perseverance required by these chairs was immense."

vailripper 12y ago

Couldn't agree more. I'm a developer by trade, the skills of breaking down a problem into manageable chunks and coming up with a gameplan to get it done are directly transferrable over to woodworking. Woodworking is all about problem solving, coming up with a plan, and then very carefully executing that plan. I also really enjoy the fact that you're making something with your hands. With economies as advanced as they are today, many of us have lost touch with what it's like to create something with your hands, that you can touch and use. It's hard to explain, but it's extremely satisfying.