You do not set out to build a boat because either the building or the boat is practical. you do it because the activity itself is pleasurable, and in the doing you make yourself and your life better. The boat is a bonus. Enjoy it to the fullest.
- George Putz, in “Wood and Canvas Kayak Building”
People have been making their own tools for a long time, but the economies of scale brought about by the industrial revolution took a big bite out of this. It just got easier to buy a plane from Stanley or Millers Falls than to either build one yourself or go the local guy who made wooden planes. But there have always been people who made their own tools for the simple reason that there wasn’t something on the market that did just what they wanted. There have always been people who liked customizing their tools to fit their particular needs, or who liked how they fit their hands, or who just liked to make a thing of beauty.