Last weekend, I went over to a local friend’s place to drop some stuff off. “Local” is kind of a misnomer since he lives about 80 miles away, but I was happy to make the drive. He’s got a YouTube woodworking channel, which I admit, I used to watch a lot of, but of late, I’ve really fallen off. Why? That’s coming up in a second.

While I was there, we went out into his shop and started talking about YouTube, specifically what channels we’re watching and why. We both agreed that modern YouTube woodworking channels have a lot of problems. Channels like Jay Bates and Matthew Cremona, channels that used to produce some really high quality woodworking content, both have essentially become home renovation channels. Don’t get me wrong, I like some home renovation content here and there, but that’s not why I used to watch their channels. I wanted to watch them make stuff, not buy properties and refurbish houses. Cool for them that they’ve got growing families and are buying big multi-acre properties, but that’s not why I used to consume their content. Hell, my wife and I sold our big multi-acre property a decade ago to downsize because we didn’t want to deal with it all. My entire purpose in watching their channels was to watch them work with wood. My friend and I agreed that was a serious problem these days.

Then he asked if there was anything else that I didn’t like about modern woodworking YouTube and I blurted out that I really hated the new reliance on CNC, etc. I want to watch people make stuff, not machines. That’s my whole purpose for woodworking in the first place.  I want to make stuff with my hands. My day job is working with computers. The last thing I want to do is go home and do the same thing. Woodworking is my escape where I get to create things with my hands. I don’t want to type on a keyboard. I want to be personally in touch with the wood.

Of course, I said that while standing next to my friend’s huge CNC, which was next to his laser cutter and on the other side of a wall from his bank of 3D printers. It’s why I really don’t watch his channel anymore. He’s become more and more reliant on technology and rarely does anything by hand anymore.

Of course, he can do what he likes. I’m not being critical of that and he wasn’t upset, but he’s really moved out of the realm of content I want to consume to something I don’t. There’s nothing wrong with that. Another friend’s wife has a sewing channel. I don’t watch that either. I’m just not interested. I support what they do, but I don’t watch it myself and they understand that. My woodworking friend did too, but I think there are far too many tech-reliant woodworking channels running around, where they lose the personal craftsmanship that I’m interested in seeing, in favor of speed and easy repeatability. I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with the tech per se, I just don’t want to watch that content in my rare free moments to spend on YouTube. I also don’t waste my time watching crap getting crushed by hydraulic rams. My time, my choice.

He didn’t make a big deal out of it, but there are people like me who want to see the personal touch. Everyone has to decide what kind of content they want to produce and what content they want to consume. Where the two do not align, I just don’t watch it. That means I watch less and less woodworking on YouTube these days.

I’m actually fine with that.