Sharing mistakes

and the daily challenges.

Woodworking on social media is gorgeous. I take a scroll a few times a day. Sometimes I’m left inspired. At other times, when I compare my stuff to all those pretty pictures, I’m left a little daunted. I compare myself to the entirety of the algorithm and feel worse for it. It’s one of the downsides to social media.

Substack allows for sharing in a more detailed and interesting manner than Instagram (the only other current way I share my work on a regular basis). I’m too old for TikTok. I got off FaceBook (which was a poor business decision and a good personal life choice). YouTube beckons at times, but I haven’t come up with a strong “smash that like button!” catch phrase. So I stayed away. The lack of catch phrases, along with my long, awkward pauses and lack of eye contact, always push me back towards building something instead of filming and editing it to share. Maybe some day.

While I’m no expert, I also don’t want to portray myself as a fool here either. I have experiences and reasons for my methods, techniques, and design choices. I don’t enjoy defending them online, but I can and will if sitting with another furniture maker over a meal or within the shop.

Finally, I get to the point; sharing mistakes. A part of why I got onto this platform was to be able to share a more rounded version of what making is actually like. IG is great for sharing images and connecting with other woodworkers, but I found that it was an odd space to share challenges or other daily realities. It seems that IG expects perfection, and my posting of regular, day-to-day shop issues threw things out of whack. I’d receive messages like, “hang in there!” “you’ll get through this” and “ you’re still doing great” after a post about a failed bend or a surprise issue with materials. The messages were kind-hearted, but a little off (because I think we’re used to seeing beautiful and successful images on that platform). Those challenges and imperfections are part of the deal. I navigate them daily. I try to minimize them, but they’re always just around the corner. While they are not always fun, they are part of the challenge of woodworking. And I enjoy that challenge immensely. [Please don’t quote this line back to me the next time a chair post snaps in half during a bend.]

Substack allows for a little more nuance and a fuller picture. IG encourages me to pick up my camera. Writing this blog pushes me to think and write about the craft. Thank you to all of you who read along and for the support.

Back to the task at hand; sharing mistakes. Share too many, and it gives the impression that the maker is a hack. Or that the maker was forced into some sort of woodworking self-punishment and atonement. It seems a common trait among woodworkers is to receive a compliment about their work and immediately respond with, “Well, if you look over here, you’ll see that I….”