Hmm… Interesting data.
Males: 20%, Females 0% (Who are remaining 80%? It scares.      )
There are 2 times more hobbyists than combined professional and semi-professional woodworkers.
Can you add another poll: If you are hobbyists, what are you doing for life?

What is the significance of chosing, Male or female??
I mean you can only choose one, why are these there?

This remindes me of a boy that lived down the street from me in my home town.. this would always crack us up.
If You ask the kid... "what do you want to be when you grows up"
His answer would always be... "A Man"

As far back, that I can remember, I always said I would be a chef when I grow up. I guess I liked food, oh well.

Becoming a cabinet maker had its ups and downs, I contemplated leaving the trade when my apprenticeship was over.
I learned pretty quikly that,  "Journeyman" did not mean much, if you stay at the shop you apprenticed at.
Those old guy's do'nt just start respecting you over night!

The "journey" has been good so far, it seems I will never know all there is to woodworking, but i'm fine with that.
If this Trade was easy, I would'nt have put up with it for this long.

People know that i'm a JourneyMan Cabinet maker, I just do'nt know that i'm a man yet

I want to be a man when I grow up...


Mirko

Good point!  I just added it.

Nah...This is the lathe you want to turn on!

But it's white...is that the Gold Anniversary Edition?

Ya, sure.  Un L imited

One area of woodworking that is a complete joy to do.

Are they like Shakers?

Per, i read this from your web site:

>>>Twenty years ago if ya would of tried to sell me a bottle of water for a buck,
I would?ve laughed in yer face. But through clever marketing a Nation, no scratch that
a Planet bought this gimmick. Flippin Lemmings.

Now it turns out the Backlash is coming.
No, not from the water, though most of it has been tap all along.
Come on I know people who if the marketers slapped a label on
a jar of pond scum, saying it was organically enhanced and green!
They would have to have a case at their next trendy/hipster din-din party.<<<

I thought you might get a kick out of this. (oh yeah, I'm the third one to read your site.)  I like your style

Just about 50 years ago, i was just starting my own business as a mason contractor.  My very first helper was a cousin from back on the farm.  we had grown up together, but he was a few years younger and had seen somewhat harder times than i had been thru.

We were doing a small foundation for a friend of mine.  It was a hot day and we had both emptied our water jugs.  Cuz saw a jug setting on the stonewall nearby and went over, took a good slug and started cusing.  The owner asked what was the matter, and Cuz told him that was lousy water in that jug.
 
"no wonder.  That was an old jug of water, or whatever, that had been sitting out in the shed for many years.  my wife was going to throw it out."

"Shucks," replied Cuz, "I've tasted polywog water that tasted better than that."
Tinker

Describe myself as a woodworker.  Hmmm....



WA-NA-BE

 

Andrew, welcome aboard!

Since I do furniture restoration as a business, I hesitated to list myself as a full-time woodworker. Most of my woodworking involves repairs (nearly always challenging) and refinishing furniture rather than building pieces.
Thanks,
Travis
Minnesota   

Welcome Travis, Andrew, Gramps, Paul.

Mirko,
  You are a wise woodwacker & I admire you brother.   Dead on! 

Looks like a One Way re branded

One Way

Scott W.

Hi Matthew, great forum.
Your list has a multi-choice and asks to choose  from either "on-site" or "In-shop"? In my neck of the woods (New Zealand), when one says In-shop, its at a Professionals place of business. e.g  A mechanics shop or similar. I assume therefore you may mean at ones home? - in the "Shed" is how we would term it, or Garage or Home Workshop even.? Or am I misunderstanding this? One other wee small thing, the list of 1st 2nd or 3rd  purchases asks for how much one spent, but in what countries $? Is it US $. I'd have to get the calc out and do some currency conversions to do that........and at the rate it is now it aint happy reading I can tell you! You'd be shocked to find what we end up paying way down here!!! You guys got it good:)
cheers

Welcome to FOG Acrobat!

Many folks in Canada use the term "shed" rather than "shop".  For instance here is a photo with a picture of the sign over the door on my wooodworking shed:



By the way, I carved the sign.

That's a great pic Frank, I'll have to take one of my little shed soon and post it up. You'll laugh.
Thank you too Poto. I am in Auckland's North Shore, if you know where that is. This is such a good site and with all the enthusiasm here, I will need to curb my desire to buy more festools!.
cheers
Acrobat

Woodworking in my case is a bit of a loose term.  Wood butcher probably descibes me better.

My woodworking at work consists of making up bed bases for camper trailers from formply as required. 

In my own time I do general property maintenance.  As in repair work repairs to timber structures ie, verandahs etc... Most of the time its on weatherboard houses, so there is always stuff to do.

I have a fairly good variety of tools, nuthin too specialised tho in the woodworking department.

When I'm not doing that I'm helping out mates do bigger projects.  Like reno jobs and a bit of work on new houses.   Found its a good way to get more experience/confidence to tackle larger projects myself.

My next one is relocating a weatherboard house & rebuilding the skillion part on the back.  Got a good secondhand kitchen stored away ready. My biggest project yet, so it will be good challenge for me.

Hi,
I'm a female woodworker. I got into it 5 years ago when I got laid off from a banking job and wanted to remodel my bathrooms and kitchen. I made a bathroom vanity with lumber from Lowe's and the kreg pocket hole joinery method. My husband was so impressed he sent me to a three month course in furniture building at The Center for Furniture Craftsmanship in Rockport Maine (in the winter). It was an unbelievable experience and at the end I knew what tools to use and how to use them to build case goods (any box, drawer or door). I came home and bought a Delta table saw (unisaw), joiner, planer and bandsaw. I gutted my kitchen down to the studs and built a new one. So I have also become a remoldeler as well as woodworker (just for myself). I made the mistake of buying 8/4 red oak for the kitchen, resawing and planing all my 1/4" (door panels and some drawer bottoms), 1/2" (drawer sides and rest of drawer bottoms) and 3/4" (everything else). I would post a picture but I have not figured out how to optimize a jpeg down to 125 KB. I say mistake because of all the work involved and did not know red oak is not the easiest to work. Live and learn. Now I buy nothing larger than 4/4. I saw a demo of the festool sanders at a new lumber yard I found and can only say if I had not seen it myself I would have not believed the incredible mirror finish from a sander. My only problem now is what sanders to buy and figuring out the system for different applications. (more on that later in the review forum? or do I ask my questions somewhere else?) Thank you Matthew for the great review on the Rotex150.

One problem I have is when gluing up boards (with Bessy clamps) if the boards are over 3 ft long I have trouble in the middle. I've tried routing grooves with various jigs but very difficult to register the exact same place on 2 ends. So I have been sanding problem areas but this leaves dips in wood (not great for table top but console myself with the "old" look). So I am very excited about the Domino tool. I think both systems can bring my woodworking to the next level.

Anyway, I was taught to build furniture from rough lumber with regular woodshop tools but now that I have seen the festool sanding system with dust extraction and the domino I'm hooked.

Can't wait to write my own review. It's just hard to do all the research into exactly which tools to get. So this forum is great to help with that.

pafekete

 I have to say....I love this forum.  It has become my new crack!  I need a forum fix several times a day.
Wood is a new medium for me, as I have worked with various metals my whole life.  I bought  the C12 screwdriver as my first festool purchase and haven't looked back yet. 
     My latest career is driving truck for a crane outfit.  During the slow winters, I needed something to fill the void instead of watching "Leave It to Beaver" reruns, so I thought wood. Within 3 weeks of the screwdriver purchase, I have 11 Festool boxes and built my first cabinet.  I find working with wood so much more enjoyable then working with metal.  And so far, I can do projects the way I want...not the way the customer wants.
Don't know at this point if I want to do work for others...been there...done that!  Owned a custom bodyshop for 16 years.
     The wife doesn't seem to mind my new hobby, it keeps me off the computer and out of chat rooms.  I told her the toolman was going out of business and I got a deal on the tools.  She asked if they were at least decent tools    Now she has plans for hardwood floors throughout...pantry....wall units in the den...etc.  I use this site as inspiration and guidance to see me through the Festool way
     Thanks all for your input,
                Another Festool junkie and wood newbie

Welcome aboard Joe.  Don't be afraid to ask questions as there are so many here willing to help.

Peter

Male- Newbie - Hobby woodworker.

Ordered my first Festool (TS75) on March 1st and as you can see I am building my collection pretty quickly. I also have the T15+3 and MFT/3 arriving Wednesday.

 I contemplated cutting the bands so I wouldn't be called out, lol. I have used one them. Maybe that box isn't in the pic. I have been occupied lately but everything is definitely going to be used soon.

  for the warm welcome

Kim

male

millwork installation componey
hands on tools as much as possible , a lot

I consider myself to be a professional cabinet maker and designer now that I have retired as a movie studio executive. However, in addition to my custom cabinet shop, I do own significant percentages of several other businesses.

Over the span from 1939 to today I have done my best with virtually all the tools used in furniture and cabinet making.

Some folks are surprised that despite a lot of CNC and conventional machines in my shop, I do not own any wood lathes, nor do I have a finishing department.

The poll was locked so I will share I am male and almost 80.

Jack,

Rock on Dude!  Don't stand still and don't stop.

I love to read your posts!

Peter

Male
Hobby woodworker (little or no income from woodworking)
Furniture Making

Basically a homeowner who has made some simple furniture. I'm nearing retirement so I'm spending more time woodworking with an eye towards all those deferred projects that will hopefully give me something enjoyable to do after I retire. Finding Festool has made it more fun because the tools are much less frustrating to work with at my modest skill level.

Male,
 Semi-pro hobbyiest.

Been woking with my hands since I got out of the military 1975. I went through a apprenticeship as a MArine Machinery Mech. Did that work for 14 years or so, then I became a QA inspector.

I got into woodworking/ home remodeling 18 years  ago when I got married and bought my first home. Since then then I ve done a number of small jobs and kitchens etc.

I started buying festools roughly 2 years ago after seeing a Utube video of a internet buddy friend of mine (the late joseph fusco, RIP) using the system to break down sheet goods and cutting pieces for cabinets ( He did a utube series on the subj.)

Thats when I bought my first festool TS55 and guide rails. Ive been building my collection ever since.

Im getting to the point of retireing from my FT job and wanting to do something else, maybe full time wood working, furniture repair, closet organizers  and the occasional bigger jobs such as kitchens etc.

Anyway, thats my story and Im sticking to it.

welcome tiger,
your wife is really making you work for her understanding.

Hello to All

Mikel here from the Vancouver, BC area. Gender Male.
Make my living building homes. Presently on #95,96 and 97 right now.

Served apprenticeship with Canwest Interiors where we did large scale renovations and in house cabinets.
Then it was on to Fineart Woodworking where we build literally anything and everything.
We build furniture, manufactured mill-work, timber frame structures, restored wooden boats, build curved and elliptical doors, mantels, cabinets and many other items.
Everything was done in house and we had to see the project through from start to finish.
But due to severe allergies I had to look at getting out of the shop. Can remember the 18' sliding door being open just a few inches and
the sun's rays beaming in and seeing all of the saw dust airborne.
An opportunity arose and was able to get out of the shop and started doing millwork and cabinet installation on sites.  
One of the builders for whom I was doing a cabinet installation (Poggenpohl) coaxed me to leave the installation of cabinets business and join
him in the building of homes.
 
Was skeptical at first but had nothing to loose. This gave me an opportunity to put my skills as a cabinetmaker
and the days of Canwest to use in building homes.
25 years later and I still love building homes. Went on my own 19 years ago.
Second best decision that I have ever made, building peoples dream homes.
Building the best possible product and spending their money doing so.
The homes that we build typically take between 1.5 years to 4 years to build.

Oh yeah, best decision was marrying my Wife, the boss.....

Found out about Festool after hiring a German carpenter many years ago who used this brand almost exclusively.
Back then no one sold Festool in Canada, luckily now there are several dealers and now own several of their tools.

Hands on for me now is for my own place and on an Island retreat that is ongoing.
Am a tool junkie, love great quality tools and Festool fits the bill and love the dust collection feature.

In my world I have a saying that I still use to this day that I got from my boss at Fineart.

"Never enough time to do the job right but always enough time to do the job twice"

Words I live by.

Take care,

Mikel

Thank you Seth
Forgot to post that FOG is a daily site that I visit. It's an addiction... and a good one.
Love to read about new ideas, the videos are very helpful and there is always something to learn.
Take care.

I took a look at the poll and to me it looked like the voting was locked somehow.  Try again.  If you don't see any check boxes to the left but do see remove vote to the right then you have already voted.  In that case you can click remove vote and then choose the options again that best describe you.

Hope that this helps.

Peter