Will Sampson talks about the difference between “makers” and “thinkers.” His guest is Doug Stowe, a woodworker known for his intricately inlayed boxes and author of a new book, “The Wisdom of Our Hands.”
This episode of the Woodworking Network podcast was sponsored by Wood Pro Expo. It’s really easy for woodworkers to stay stuck inside, focused on their shops and production. But over the last couple of years, the pandemic has forced them be even more isolated than usual. Now it’s time to get out of the shop and resume life in the outside world, especially when it’s a chance to network with your woodworking business peers. That opportunity is coming April 27-29 in sunny San Diego as the Wood Pro Expo joins with the Closets Conference and Expo to offer an unparalleled opportunity to boost your business with intelligence on techniques, tools, and technology. Let’s get face to face again. Learn more at woodworkingnetwork.com/events/wood-pro-expo. See you there.
Woodworking Network is a home for professional woodworkers, presenting technology, supplies, education, inspiration, and community, from small business entrepreneurs to corporate managers at large automated plants.
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Intro music courtesy of Anthony Monson.
Intro:
Welcome to this episode of the Woodworking Network Podcast. Join us as we explore the business of woodworking big and small and what it takes to succeed. I’m Will Sampson.
Today’s episode is sponsored by Wood Pro Expo California. We’ll be talking with woodworker and educator Doug Stowe about his thoughtful new book, “The Wisdom of Our Hands.” But first I want to talk about:
Maker or thinker?
There’s been a lot of attention paid to what’s been called the “maker movement.” It’s a trend for people making things themselves rather than just buying something off the shelf. But it’s also related to Do-It-Yourself home improvements and even hackers who take already existing things, re-imagine them and re-engineer them to create something else.
I’ve been a maker since my first primitive efforts as a child. My father was not naturally handy, but I loved working with him on small craft projects like assembling an electric train set, painting bookshelves, or doing some scouting craft. He was not a woodworker, and there was no shop or extensive collection of tools in the house. His primary tools were in his head and mostly came out as facts and figures on paper. He was a business executive for several major corporations before cancer took him when I was just 9 years old.
Consequently, I’ve grown up with both those maker and business thinker traits. I started two businesses that paid my way through college, and one was a small manufacturing operation. But my college degree in journalism had more to do with thinking and analyzing than making.
Still, my business, woodworking, and metalworking activities have always given me a focus on people who make a life making things. I also love teaching people to make things and watch the glow of accomplishment in their faces when they succeed.
I think we’ve let too many people bypass that joy of making things. We’ve dismissed the thinking component of making to our own detriment. If you make, you have to think, but some thinkers never make anything physical. Maybe we would all be better off if the thinkers learned to make something, too.
Before we get to our interview with Doug Stowe, let’s pause for a word from our sponsor.
It’s really easy for woodworkers to stay stuck inside, focused on their shops and production. But over the last couple of years, the pandemic has forced them be even more isolated than usual. Now it’s time to get out of the shop and resume life in the outside world, especially when it’s a chance to network with your woodworking business peers. That opportunity is coming April 27-29 in sunny San Diego as the Wood Pro Expo joins with the Closets Conference and Expo to offer an unparalleled opportunity to boost your business with intelligence on techniques, tools, and technology. Let’s get face to face again. Learn more at WoodProExpoCalifornia.com. See you there.
Now, let’s talk about “The Wisdom of Our Hands” with Doug Stowe.