As I just passed my 45th year of woodworking, I think the two most valuable skills that I have developed don’t have much to do with building things out of wood.

I’ve developed a knack of sensing what might be a dangerous operation. How could this go wrong. Walk away. Figure a safer way. Stop when I’m tired.

I’ve also developed an inventory of tricks to fix my mistakes and flaws in the wood. I don’t get flustered if I’ve screwed up. I walk away and come back with a solution.

I really enjoy this fun occupation of crafting wood.

I guess I should have added that I started when I was 33. It started when my just married wife used me to build some book shelves. Went to Sears and bought a radial arm saw (most dangerous power tool). Built the shelves and my sweet wife painted them with a power painter. She also painted both cars. Our marriage survived.

Guess you heard the one about the guy who hired the painter (who spoke very broken English) to paint his porch. The painter came back a few minutes later and said, "All finished."
The owner went to look and exclaimed, "I said 'porch', not Porsche"!

All of the above - 100%. Plus - as a professional of 35 years (and counting), I also learned how to read people very well. When visiting potential customers houses to survey, measure and cost jobs out, I knew within one minute of walking through their front door if they were going to be great to work for - or a total nightmare. A sixth sense, if you want to call it that. I stopped working for those kind of people 30 years ago after a real learning experience with one particular person.

I also learned early that my skills and experience have real value, and if someone won't pay my price, then so be it.

What a great idea for a thread, @Birdhunter. I'm looking forward to reading more input from other old-timers like us. And since @Mortiser has already expanded the thread with a joke, it would be great if we exchanged those, too. So here's mine;

Q - "How many roofing contractors does it take to paint a baseboard?"
A - "Six. One guy to paint the baseboard, and five others to dig the trench to stand his ladder in."

Grandpa's Workshop

Grandpa's first grandchild got an all heartwood cherry crib with turned spindles.

His second got a carved rocking horse.

His third got a rattle and a keepsake box.

His fourth got a rattle.

His fifth got a Toys R Us gift card.