Something that's kinda weird to me is how many youtube woodworkers built all of their shop furniture from scratch.

These are professional woodworkers, but they somehow have the time to build their own shop furniture?

I then realized I misunderstood their business.

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As a professional $insertJobHere, you invest in things that make you more effective. You dont' find auto mechanics starting off by setting up a smelter to create wrenches.

They drop $$$$$ on professional tools.

Likewise for most professions, but particularly true in the trades.

And yet many YouTube woodworking professionals have shops filled with custom-built furniture, tools, and jigs.

A professional would see that sort of thing as a waste of time. After all, any time spent on the shop is time away from the things that pay the bills (aka clients).

Then it hit me: many YouTube woodworkers aren't doing client work. Their money comes from being a YouTuber. All that time working on the shop *is* their revenue stream.

It's why it's so much easier to find videos about building a workbench than building a nice chair.

Then it became easy to spot the woodworkers who were primarily client-driven: look for a shop *not* filled with custom stuff.

Disclaimer: I'm not saying either one is a "real" woodworker. They're all real woodworkers. Both groups are professionals.

They just derive their money from a different source, which tends to drive the sorts of content they put out.

Which is also rather unfortunate, since there's a whole lot more people going to youtube to build a workbench than there are people looking to build a nice chair.

The interests of youtube visitors changes the kind of content found on youtube.

It's also one of the reasons I looooove watching Julian at Baumgartner Restoration ( https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvZe6ZCbF9xgbbbdkiodPKQ).

He occasionally builds his own tools but the tools are never the main show, and they're always in support of the job to be done.

I think it might also explain why so many woodworkers who get started from youtube tend to spend so much time optimizing their shop: if you watch youtube woodworkers, it sure does look like that's what a "real woodworker" does.

This thread brought to you by "Wow, $3,000 for a premade bench is a lot, but cheap as hell compared to my time building one from scratch"

My family are all tradesfolk and they definitely have their share of custom tools.

They're also sitting next to the stack of professional toolchests. https://twitter.com/steel_elk/status/1381816825168551936