The Burgess Wood Works

Meet Our Hobbyists

What is a "hobbyist". Some have defined them as:

"a person who pursues an activity in their spare time for pleasure."

But if you talk with those that know hobbyists, you will invariably come across the following definition:

"People that have bizarre interests, often bordering on obsessive. They spend their time in strange and unfruitful ways often locked away in a garage or workshop. They brag about it. And they scare friends and relatives with their strange behavior."

An important determinant of what is considered a hobby is probably how easy it is to make money at the activity but typically not in amounts that would deem it a profession. For example, most hobbyists cannot make a living at pen making or stamp collecting. But still many people find it enjoyable and therapeutic and therefore they are commonly regarded as a hobbies.

Whilst some hobbies strike many people as trivial or boring, hobbyists have found something compelling and entertaining about them. Much early scientific research was, in effect, a hobby of the wealthy. Invariably though, pursuit of a hobby is often for the calming or helpful therapeutic side effects. In some cases, however, (for example in collecting) the line between a hobby and an obsession can become blurred.

The Burgess Wood Works was created as an avenue for hobbyists to sell their hand made crafts. It is our hope that with each sale a hobbyist will re-invest their profits to continue their art. With that being said, we would like you to meet some of the hobbyists that are contributing items for sale:

Andrew Burgess
Hobbyist
Andrew has always had a fondness for working with his hands, especially with wood. He still remembers his first wood shop class in Junior High School. Andrew recently turned to creating wooden pens as an outlet for his creative side and has found his new hobby to be quite addictive.

Samantha Burgess
Junior Hobbyist
Samantha has always been good with her hands and can often be found knitting or creating friendship bracelets. With wooden pens, she's found a new skill and a fun way to make extra spending money

Tom Smith
Craftsman
Tom Smith has been teaching pen turning classes at Woodcraft of San Carlos for a number of years now. It was through one of Tom's classes (and many hours of discussion over lunchtime visits to the store) that brought about the thought that ultimately turned into the Burgess Wood Works, a website for hobbyists. And to top it off, Tom has graciously offered up some of his own pen creations for sale on our website. Look for his work in the "Products for Sale" pages.

Have your own handmade crafts you'd like to sell? Lets us help you.
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