One thing I am passionate about is woodworking.  I enjoy making furniture, carving, turning bowls, tools, and making other items for the house. 

 

I have always made things in my Dad's shop and in High School I made a coffee table but I restarted my interest because of Engineering.  As you probably know many Engineering problems aren't solved in a day, week, month, or even a few years.  One weekend out of frustration I came home and said "I want to design something, buy the parts, assemble and finish it before I got back to work on Monday."  So, I built a CD shelf.  The satisfaction of completing the project in a reasonably finite amount of time is a relief sometimes. 

 

The 18th Century American period is particularly interesting to me these days.  As the last period before industrialization the cabinetmakers and joiners of the period were taught hand tool skills (sharpening, carving, sawing) by a continuous chain of forefathers stretching back thousands of years.  They created new designs based on the classical European and Eastern designs with the highest skill and execution.  Knowledge of the properties of woods were needed to do the design, joinery, inlay, bending, and veneering.  For the most part their techniques were not documented as they preferred a guild system. 

 

There is a renaissance going on today in the U.S. and many of the lost techniques are being recovered.