True, it takes a lot of money to buy tools. The difference between woodworking and other hobbies is that those tools last decades to lifetimes, and a shop can b

True, it takes a lot of money to buy tools. The difference between woodworking and other hobbies is that those tools last decades to lifetimes, and a shop can be built over similar timescales. My dad bought himself a table saw and used it to build a workbench, then a shelving unit. Huge table surface level with and pushed up against the table saw. Another workbench for the miter box saw. We get him pieces pretty much every Christmas and Father's Day - a hand plane, a new set of drillbits, a set of very high quality table saw blades, etc. (That was a fun one to get past the TSA.) He goes through periods of doing a big project for the house every couple of months. Each project needs a new tool, and requires some expense, but now he has that tool forever. He just goes one at a time. Often he'll just work on the shop itself. He rewired it himself and got a friendly electrician to sign off to appease the inspector. Replaced the dingy overhead lights with a powerful wash of fluorescents, etc. A little bit at a time, but over many, many years. When he gets a bug about wanting something, he trawls Craigslist. At one point he bought a really high-end Incra table saw fence from a cabinetmaker a couple of towns over who was upgrading. $1500+ value, spent around $250. It started to facilitate general homeowner repairs, and by the time he wanted to make make furniture, the incremental cost wasn't much. There were probably many thousands of dollars invested in the shop, but it never represented a significant financial hardship because the expenses were so spread out. Also, we've done a ton of work on the house and only ever hired electricians and plumbers. I'm pretty sure that whatever he sank into the shop was less than or close to what it would have cost to do those projects through a general contractor. He had pride in the thing. Probably more in the shop than anything he made in it. In the late 90s, he took carpentry classes at the local technical college. Now he watches YouTube.