Going Out on a Limb

My Colored Pencil Ring

It's official I'm an Internet woodworker now. I've learned the secret handshake and I've been accepted into the clan. I'm still an extra help assistant to the junior under secretary of new arrivals but I'm in. There are loads of very talented woodworkers who post amazing projects every week on YouTube. To even get a comment on my project from one of them feels good.  I love getting new comments and pour over them each day looking for nuggets of truth hidden inside.


"Why didn't you use loose tenons to hold that joint?"
"Uh.."
"I've made loads of those and I prefer making them with PVA glue. Yours will probably break."
"I suppose I could..."
"Editing was a bit choppy. I preferred the video you made last week!"
"I didn't do a video last week..."
"Exactly!"

Seriously though. It's awesome. I wrote a post last August called Stalking Minotaurs. It was basically just a motivation for myself to try something new. Something hard. Something I wasn't comfortable doing. The rather juvenile analogy allowed me an excuse to post yet another Minotaur post on this site. (I think I'm up to three now Kludge Likes Minotaurs) As you know, Minotaurs and Dragons are the only fantasy animals worth your devotion...

Anyway, the point. I had one. I know I did.

Right! So then I decided to start videoing my time in the wood shop. I set up and new channel on YouTube and begun to swing quite far outside my comfort zone. In the last year I've made 50 videos. Most were flops, but a handful have actually been well received. (More so because of the project than because of the presenter or the quality of the video)


As a YouTuber I would be remiss not to take a second to also promote myself. I do geeky woodworking and I try new ideas. The point of the channel is to experiment and try. Even if that idea ends in a giant ball of fire. Ideas deserve a chance at life outside your head. Not all ideas have to work and mine go sideways quite often, but who cares. The fun is in the trying.

It feels good. It's nice to get a reward for taking a risk. Even if it's only after many failures. Risks can be scary, but if you're not willing to step out on that limb to see if it will support your weight, then you'll never get a chance to eat Jell-o for months on end as you're sitting in a dirty hospital suspended by a traction device waiting for all your broken bones to knit themselves back together....