Whats a hobby/craft that you wouldn't expect that has an incredibly high ceiling either monetarily or in sheer skill?
For example, I'm sure the average joe doesn't know just how expensive calligraphy pens can be, or how deep the rabbit hole goes on video game speedruns.
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Probably more well known but with the whole 'live edge' fad from a couple years ago now, some people don't realize you can spend upwards of 20-30k on a single piece of some types of raw lumber.
I feel like woodworking is one of those traditional “this hobby is expensive” things, but I was shocked by just how hard it is to do some things (like hollow out a bowl-shaped divot in a piece of wood) without the proper tools. And the proper tool is sometimes a single hook knife that’s $89 dollars.
You can get 8 foot of pine from any hardware store for $10, but if you want to do anything other than cross cut that pine to different lengths, you’re going to need to drop some cash.
Of course, the skill ceiling for woodworking is enormous.
Woodworking can get crazy expensive, but like most hobbies, you can get into it gradually for relatively low cost. I started with a cordless drill and a circular saw, then gradually bought used tools and restored them. If I were to buy everything new in my shop, it would easily be $15-20k, but I've spent maybe $2k over 5 years. The most I've spent on any one tool was a $400 miter saw a few months ago on sale, almost everything else has been stuff that's older than me or inexpensive tools that work just as well as pricier options.
Good hardwood is fucking expensive though. I found a local mill where I can get cherry for $4/bdft or walnut for $5.50/bdft (bdft = board foot, volumetric measurement equivalent to 12"x12"x1"). Somewhere like Woodcraft charges $15-18/bdft for walnut, which is $60+ for a 6" wide, 8ft long, 1" thick board.
ETA: It does annoy me when every woodworking video comment section is bombarded with complaints about how expensive tools are. Yes, Sawstop and Powermatic are obscenely expensive. A DeWalt job site table saw is more than enough for most hobbyists starting out. So is a used saw you can get for $100 or less. It's very easy to blow through $20k outfitting a shop, but it's also very easy to outfit a shop with old, quality tools for a fraction of that price. This is what I've spent over five years
All in, $2,100 over 5 years. I sold ~$1,500 worth of random projects in that time, and gained a ton of enjoyment from it.
Even if you do go big and spend a lot of money on tools, as long as you have disposable income and you're not forgoing your/your family's basic needs, there's nothing wrong with spending money on things you enjoy. It's ok to enjoy things.
I hear you on lumber prices. Woodcraft near me ended up having a sale on some exotics around the holidays and I bought as much of it as I could afford. I justified it by making basically everyone I knew salt boxes as gifts.
Otherwise, it’s hard to get ahold of gorgeous lumber without having a huge bankroll.
It's hard man. I was living in Alaska when I really got into woodworking, and I had one overpriced option for a really limited selection of hardwood. I managed to get some old maple flooring from a guy that was contracted to replace a basketball court, and got some old redwood from a water tower that was taken down, but otherwise I just used pine for everything for the first few years.
Best advice I can offer is to find a local mill. Facebook groups are good for finding local people that just do it on the side and/or don't have a website. Ideally, find someone with a kiln, or be prepared to wait for months to years for it to dry. You can also find some good deals at auctions and sometimes on FB marketplace
The only wood I buy at Woodcraft nowadays is for small lathe projects when they have blanks on sale
I’ve never gone to a mill or even a lumberyard (only some speciality stores from time to time), but I think I’m going to take your advice and look around.
I tend to use the ol’ pine and plywood for most of my projects, but I want to get more into making furniture and getting a source now ain’t a bad idea.
They're generally a great experience. It's way different than Lowe's/HD, and generally better selection for cheaper than places like Woodcraft or Rockler. There's typically a wide range in widths/thicknesses, so have a rough idea of what you need and be ready to mentally adapt your build if they don't have as many wide boards as you need. Some places will have a minimum purchase requirement, but the few I've gone to don't. Typically, I spend $200-400 for a trip, which covers a few projects for me.
Added bonus of going to a mill instead of a distributor, sometimes they'll have waste you can take for free/really cheap! Great for small projects or lathe stuff
There's a YouTube channel I saw a while back where the guy films the process of cutting slabs. When you take into consideration the sheer size of trees that have to be used to make a slab, and then the size of the equipment that has to be used, and the weight, it's easy to see how the cost of even a clean grained slab can be through the roof, not to mention something that has artistic or desirable figuring in the grain.