When many people think about taking up a woodworking hobby, it’s likely that they will almost entirely be focused on certain tangible benefits. The opportunity to save money by developing woodworking and other DIY skills is undoubtedly a huge draw for some.
But, the process of taking a piece of raw wood and forming it into something beautiful and practical can help us in other ways too.
In this article, we will look at some amazing benefits of woodworking as a hobby that many people overlook.
4 Benefits of Woodworking as a Skill
One of the key benefits of woodworking is the development of skills that can directly and indirectly help you, your family and friends, and your environment too:
1. Making Custom Things from Wood
When your woodworking skills become more developed, you can create custom pieces of furniture and other useful items. These will be things that cannot be purchased in stores and you can make the exact item to meet your specifications. This is an excellent skill to have if you want to make a truly unique gift for someone special.
Woodworking is enjoyable, but it’s rewarding to see the reaction of people when they see the results of your handiwork.
2. As a Hobby Woodworking can help you continue a Healthy Lifestyle
As an activity, woodworking has an excellent effect on heart health. The promotion of movement in different directions helps you to keep fit and flexible, and this activity actually lowers stress. So, if you’re concerned about your heart health and your doctor gives you the go ahead, you may want to consider this hobby.
Another benefit of woodworking as a hobby is the refinement of fine motor skills, and you need to think problems through. Keeping your brain active helps you to retain focus as you age, and it may prevent cognitive decline.
3. Being able to do things with wood can save you Money
Although it is true that you need money to purchase tools and materials for your workshop, once you have them, they should last for a long-time. This is especially true if you invest in good quality tools and power tools with long warranty periods.
But, when you have your tools, you make anything you like, including furniture, home decor items, new doors, window frames, flooring, and many other items. The time, gas, and expense of visiting the mall to find the items you need are no longer necessary. Over time, this is likely to save you a significant sum of money, and you will have items that tend to last longer.
4. Using Wood to create things is a Good option for the Environment
Wood is a renewable material, trees must be cut down, but if you avoid hardwoods, they tend to be sourced from plantations. Wood can be used for energy use, construction, and woodworking which makes it a very flexible material.
After all, fossil fuels like oil and coal need to sit in the ground for millions of years before they can be used to create heat. Because wood is natural, it’s biodegradable; when you’re done with an item, it may be repurposed, and ultimately it will not take up space in a landfill.
Interesting Reading: Essential Woodworking Tools for Beginners
6 Benefits of Woodworking for Your Mental Health
Let’s take a look at six benefits that the woodworking hobby can have on your mental health:
1. Building Concentration When Working with Wood
As a society, we tend to overuse drugs to deal with a wide variety of issues, and they all decrease our capacity for concentration.
Many people consider stimulants to be an exception to this rule, and they can’t even start the day without their morning joe.
But, this is not true; stimulants make it harder to concentrate, and over time, we seek the high just to operate at a very basic level. The good news is that the brain is a muscle that can be retrained and improved with natural stimuli.
Woodworking is an activity that requires significant concentration; you need to pay close attention to avoid errors and accidents. This is especially true if you’re working with power tools, such as drills, sanders, table saws, and more. Marking wood pieces with measurements, placing screws, and working through problems will all increase your concentration.
2. Woodworking Helps Exercise Creativity
When you work with wood, you need to use your brain and hands to process, cut, and assemble the pieces to make furniture and other items. In the early days, you may be following a plan made by someone else, but later, you may create your own designs.
In both cases, you need to develop creative thinking and problem solving skills to deal with issues that arise during the process. This can even help you to deal with problems that may arise in other areas of your life too.
3. A Sense of Satisfaction When building something out of Wood
When you complete a woodworking project, there is a real sense of satisfaction. The project may be a simple small table or a more complex piece, but it’s hard to describe the feeling of a job well done.
This is especially true if you and others are using and enjoying the fruits of your labor for years to come. Feeling this way can give you purpose, direction, and self-confidence, and you will want to repeat the process to feel that way again.
4. Reduce Stress by Having a Woodworking Hobby
Working with your hands is a great way to reduce stress and anxiety after a busy day. Woodworking may assist the brain to produce and receive dopamine, endorphins, and serotonin for a natural high and feeling of general well-being.
These neurochemicals help to ease the effects of mental illness and regulate your mood to make you feel better. Over time, you will start to feel a sense of joy and calm as you work with wood.
5. Meeting New Friends is One of the Benefits of Woodworking
This may seem like a strange benefit to highlight because most people think of woodworking as a solitary activity. But, you may be surprised to learn that working with wood can be a very social hobby with many opportunities to make new friends.
If you check social media, local forums, blogs, and local meetups, you’re likely to find others that are interested in woodworking. This could lead to socializing, meetings, community projects, collaborations, and many other outlets to increase your circle of friends.
6. Woodworking can be Meditative and give you a Therapeutic Experience
When many people think about meditation or therapy, they tend to imagine sitting in a lotus position with their eyes closed. But, you can enter this state at any time if you’re fully engaged in an activity, and this is an excellent way to relieve stress.
Woodworking is a great hobby for people that need to focus on something to deal with stress and depression. Drinking coffee or alcohol is only a temporary fix for these problems, and woodworking is a far superior alternative with long-lasting positive effects.
The Benefits of Woodworking- In Conclusion
When you look at the positive effects that woodworking and other DIY hobbies can have on our lives, it’s easy to see why they are becoming popular. The benefits of woodworking as a hobby covered in this article are only a brief glimpse into the positivity that you may experience.
Learning new skills, improving your physical and mental health, relieving stress, building concentration, developing creative problem solving skills, and saving money are all great reasons to get started with your woodworking hobby!
I’m Thomas Steven with more than 12 years of experience in woodworking. It has always been my passion to become a successful woodworker. I have completed hundreds of successful projects. This blog is a way of sharing my woodworking experiences and what tools get the best results. I write about woodworking while being an associate with Amazon and I earn a little commission from every qualifying purchase.