The Woodworker
Anyone that works with wood knows it's costly. The machines and proper tooling can be expensive. Sufficient ventilation and space often a luxury not everyone can indulge.
These are some (but certainly not all) of the cost barriers that exist for a person to even embark on a woodworking path. People interested in the craft and those already cemented in it have begun to take notice. Maker spaces have been on the rise the last few years, making the ability more accessible to dive into these time-honored arts for folks who lack the space or equipment. But these facilities have to fund their rental spaces and machinery upkeep somehow, so membership fees are an obvious must. That's an added financial barrier outside of obtaining the right tools and space to get the job started and we haven't even factored in the material costs (at times the most startling number to deal with)! Some of my friends are taken aback when they go to the local hardware store or a fine hardwoods location for project materials.
Pacific yew (Taxus brevifoila) saucer woodturned from a saved offcut from an older intarsia mural project.
Looking at these obstacles, coupled with the history of access and passing down of knowledge and tools, it's no wonder the overwhelming majority of people in the broad field of woodworking consist of white, older (often retired) men. Financially, they are able to support a hobby or second career at that point. Historically, this group is most likely to have grown up learning similar skills or trades and some are fortunate enough to inherit tools through family lineage and add to the collection with their own preferred line-up.
It is rare to see someone outside of that societal group that woodturns or woodworks regularly. Young, female, and minority folks are far less likely to have the opportunity or the means to get started in these crafts. I tick two of those three boxes and am incredibly fortunate to have grown up in a household that had access to some of this key equipment and a knowledge base to pull from (my father and grandfather). I am also lucky to have found a major, while in my University studies, that centered around wood processing and forestry. Lastly, I had the benefit of studying under one of my major professors who happens to be a master woodturner and introduced me to the notion that I could move the needle forward. That I could pursue this art form. That's a lot of stars aligning, if you ask me.
Despite all of those good fortunes building my path, I still don't have a disposable income to spend on heavily marked-up turning blanks, an ideal equipment set-up, or on a variety of tools (I have 5 quality go-to turning chisels!). So I work with what I have, am grateful for any wood that a fellow forestry friend or general acquaintance sends my way, and by golly do I salvage what I can from down trees to project remnants!
Me & my trusted Sorby bowl gouge!
Truth is, there are myriad factors that contribute to my collection of offcuts and "scrap pieces". Oftentimes, I don't know when I'll be able to get my hands on a certain type of material again--you could think of some species as precious minerals. They might be in high demand, a rare wood species, slow-growing, non-native, experiencing reduction in their natural growth range due to city and town expansion or the turnover of forestland into agriculture or more profitable timbers, or tough to harvest.
If you're curious, yes, the habit of salvaging wood and harboring scrap material means I've moved multiple times with some storage boxes full of lumber and offcuts. That's just a reality of being me and working in this profession. You don't scrap it if you don't have to--I think regardless of financial situation many a woodturner and a fair amount of general woodworkers would concur.
Sure, my students occasionally will puzzle at a piece I decide to save that they otherwise would have gladly tossed in the debris bin. In teaching them each day, I hope those interested can have access to shop spaces as adults and will come to realize how precious this natural resource really is--maybe they'll look back and understand why their peculiar shop instructor was so adamant about material layout and saving waste!
