Had to pick between a pottery class and a metalworking workshop this fall. Chose metalworking. Barely made it out with all my fingers.

Honestly I signed up thinking it'd be chill like making garden hooks or something. First project was a bottle opener. Three sessions in I nearly sliced my thumb on a grinder. The instructor just said 'you'll get used to it.' My buddy took the pottery class and now has like 20 bowls at home. I have one bent piece of copper and a bandage. Anyone else pick a hobby that sounded cool but ended up way more dangerous than expected?

2 comments

2 Comments

aliceharris15d ago

Yeah I gotta disagree with you there. Metalworking is way more useful than pottery if you stick with it. I started out cutting myself on a band saw and now I weld custom gates for a living. You learn real fast how to keep your hands safe or you don't last long. Pottery bowls are fine but they just sit on a shelf collecting dust.

noraroberts14d ago

You said pottery bowls "just sit on a shelf collecting dust" but that's exactly the problem with metalworking too. Yeah you can weld a gate but how many gates does one person need? Pottery bowls actually get used every single day. I eat soup out of a bowl I made three years ago. A custom gate sits outside rusting while a handmade mug holds your morning coffee. Plus pottery teaches you about patience and chemistry and heat control in a way that band saws just don't. You can't sit down and have a quiet afternoon with a welding torch the way you can with a wheel.