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Comment by TheRealWatson | Hacker News Reader

Fellow coder and woodworker here. I can relate to the article for sure and I'd add that in my case I make a point of avoiding using software or computer-assisted anything in my woodworking. So no Fusion 360, no SketchUp, no CNC, no laser cutters, no 3D printers.

It sounds radical but it feels important to my mental health to keep my woodworking physical an analog as possible. Now, I'm still a power tool junkie so I'm not about to give up my table saw or planer.

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Aside from being phisical I think it has also to do with real time play and the easier ability to enter flow state. And nowadays with all the dev stacks, frameworks, cloud platforms and all the other noise, with coding it has become harder reach that zone. I don’t do woodwork but paint and I imagine it registers quite close to woodworking. Enjoy the experience.

No need to spend hours reading a poorly written manual first

Same here. I love woodworking and got some tiny skills but I keep it totally separate from the digital world. Now: at times I wish I had a 3D printer and 3D modelling skills and could models some plastic pieces I'd need for this or that.

Power tool junkie FTW too.

I found Sketchup helps plan larger items where there are dimension constraints like a built-in for a closet or a workbench. Once you learn enough (and restrain yourself from becoming an "expert") of the tool it can be easier/faster to plan things out than pencil and paper. It could be that as a rookie, Sketchup lets me experiment with things where if I had a few projects under my belt of the same type I could just get rough dimensions jump in.

I do love heading into the shop and just making something though.

You should try giving hand tools a try, if you want to take even one step further from avoiding The Machine.

Hand tools take a bit more practice but the rush of seeing your skill progress never goes away. Just yesterday I made a well fitting mortise and tenon joint. This is something I've done a thousand times, yet I still get the deep sense of satisfaction every time I see it set nicely.

I bet I could square up rough stock with my hand plane faster than your power planer/joiner, too. Cutting to size the hundreds of 1X3" I needed earlier, on the other hand...

I tried doing things with no cad step and the result is just garbage. Maybe if you have a lot of talent you can pull it off but I ended up making mistakes and then being unable to recover from them.

Same here, I really enjoy sketching it on paper. I've only made small, handheld objects so far though, I may change my mind once I decide to take on larger projects

I'm a coder for a furniture company. I can confirm making it digital takes the fun out of it. Well maybe it's the mass manufacturing side.

However I've picked up some skills along the way. It's nice to be able to design and build small projects around the home.

Yes, same here. It's my disconnected hobby where I let my creativity flourish.

If I do plans, it is using a pencil. But mostly I just improvise. There is only so much value in doing plans for one off projects.

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