Woodworking is Tedious

I may be on the younger side of life as I write this, but I'd like to think I’m old at heart. Things like thrift shopping antique stores, going to the library to check out movies, and listening to music on a record player excite me. As I think about how much the world has changed toward mass consumerization, automation and frankly, how it has been telling us what we need to buy, consume and spend our time doing, it helped me realize an aspect of woodworking I enjoy. The time it takes to find and pick out a movie, shuffle through stacks of records and search through an antique store for that last real crystal wine glass to complete the set is… Tedious, but that is a good thing. The word has a negative connotation, but working through something that is tedious has real positive benefits. Just ask my wife who has been bent on finding all of the Harry Potter novels in hardback for the last year and a half. Sure, we could order the set off of Amazon, but the joy of searching and scouring shelves to find the exact thing you were looking for puts any instant gratification we could have had to bed. Instant gratification is quick, but it doesn’t last. The time it takes to do something sticks with you well after the task is complete.

It is GOOD to work through something. We are new to running a business, which means we aren’t always as efficient as we’d like to be. Sometimes it feels like trying to rev a car uphill on first gear. The progress is slow, grinding and at the time you don't even know there's a second and third gear. Getting help from Chat GPT can only get you so far but some things you just have to figure out as you go, and that can be tedious. How about getting a front and back yard down to dirt because the previous owners let an ecosystem with its own climate sprout up? That sort of work is tedious! But I’d like to try and get the negative connotation of hard work out of our heads. Starting a business, weeding a yard, and finding “The Sorcerer’s Stone” can be really challenging, but the end goal should excite us. Working towards that “Job Well Done” should motivate us to start that LLC or picking that first weed even when the end is out of sight. We would love to see the world get a little more "old at heart", but get this, it will be extremely tedious, and make sure you understand, the work can always be accomplished. Rome wasn't built in a day. My advice, learn to love hard, tedious work. Don't get me wrong, it isn't always fun either, but the results are worth it! We aim to build this business with a legacy that celebrates quality handmade things and be in direct competition with what is cheap, easy to make and overwhelmingly available to consumers. A tall task, but not unachievable.

Now, back to woodworking. Drawing a template, cutting, sanding, sanding, sanding again, painting and finishing a product could be considered tedious, but I think the world needs a little more tedious. The process itself is wonderful. It's art, it's love for what one does, it's thinking of every child who recieves a toy unlike anything they've played with before and thinking of the excitement they'll experience- an experience shared by generations of children before them that played with the same kinds of toys, then all the work seems much more worth it too. When you buy from us, know that our toys are made with working hands that love a hard day’s work.

And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.

(Galatians 6:9)