In anticipation of our Minnesota lakes thawing out, I am getting ready to turn a bunch of fishing lures. As the winter has progressed, one of the ways I have combated cabin fever is designing new and fantastic handmade fishing lures (mostly just in my mind). Making these lures allows me to participate in two of my pastimes at the same time – how cool is that! I am sure that I am not alone in this goal of using my skills (such as they are) to support more than one hobby at a time. I have long known that woodworkers use their skill to improve their home and to build stuff for those that they love. But do you use your woodworking to enhance your other interests? Do you build bird feeders to upgrade bird watching? Potting benches for gardening, picture frames for painting – chopsticks for eating? (OK, maybe not that.) A friend of mine who is a falconer (yup, the birds of prey) – got into wood turning to make falconer … um, stuff.
So how about you? Are you part of the cross-hobby production people? If so, how so? What stuff do you make to enhance your second hobby (woodworking is obviously your number one pastime!) Let me know, and we will share the most interesting in our Feedback section.
Rob Johnstone, Woodworker’s Journal
