But we don't want to do that because we don't want to support clearcutting. Most woodworkers I interviewed have more moderate points of view than their Southern Humboldt colleagues. Their focus is on surviving in business and excelling at their craft, and they don't guide their work along such activist principles. Woodworking is probably one of the most difficult careers to choose. Aside from casual labor sanding and finishing, there are virtually no jobs in custom furniture-making.
People do it because they love it.
They find someone more experienced to help them get started, then gradually turn it into a living. A writer for a woodworking magazine joked that woodworkers turn professional when they can't squeeze any more of their hand-made furniture into their own house. My first project was a Morris chair that took one year to build. I'll never sell that chair. I worked all kinds of hours, read everything I could get my hands on, ate, breathed and slept woodworking.