Yea, I know it's a troll, but it made me think, and gave me a wish to vent.

What drives the common woodworker? A deeply suppressed desire to please
the long deceased father who never gave him love as a child?

No. Dad was an alcoholic narcissist and didn't care about anybody else. As
far as I'm concerned he didn't even exist. When I heard he had died, I
looked around and the world was just the same. He did teach me, by example,
how NOT to treat other people.

The need to be seen as an alpha male by everyone else around him?

No. Everybody I know already thinks I'm a dork.

The insecurities of being a non-intellectual blue-collar common man with
calluses on his hands and feet?

Wrong again, I'm a self taught software and electronic engineer. I spent 30
years designing, building, programming and running all kinds of computer
hardware. I decided to teach myself woodworking after watching Norm for a
while.

Why do hobbyist woodworkers feel the need to own the same caliber tools
as the professionals? Is there really anything wrong with Craftsman or
Black and Decker products? Probably not.

I disagree. I started woodworking using cheap tools and despite that I stuck
with it. Cheap tools are harder to use, harder to keep tuned, and harder to
get consistant results with. I find that using high caliber, high quality
tools makes working with wood more satisfying and less frustrating. So I
save my pennies and get the best.

Insecurity motivates too many
woodworkers to waste hard earned cash on tools they have absolutely no
use for.

The only tool I bought that I've never used is a dowling jig. Everything
else is used. I wore out two routers
..
Why do they feel such a need to show off, when nobody really
cares what they own?

I never published pictures or bragged about what tools I bought. To many
know-it-all wise-ass critics out there. I researched and bought the tools I
wanted to buy, and really appreciated the ones I received as gifts. Nobody
ever asked for an inventory (except for my insurance agent). Sure I might
own some of the best tools money can buy, but it was my money, I earned it
and I use the heck out of all of them. They are not trophies, they are
TOOLS.

.... when nobody really cares about their projects?

You may not care, but the folks I give homemade items to sure seem to
appreciate them. Nobody has ever given back or otherwise disposed of an
item we made them that we know of. If I ever made anything that was useless,
it was for the enjoyment of making it.

when anyone could go out and buy the same desk, futon, or humidor for half
of what is costs to build one?

Your missing another point. We don't build the exact same desk, futon, etc
as they have in the stores. We either build them better, with better
construction or better materials, or build them to meet our personal needs
exactly. All the furniture I built for this house was built to meet MY
needs. There are a lot of store bought items here too.

I have a friend that was low on cash but wanted a new desk for her then
boyfriend. She shopped and found she couldn't afford anything. We offered
and built a 4 drawer desk from #2 pine and luan plywood and other leftovers.
It took us two days for under $25. Five years later he's still using it. It
was a fun project. Very entertaining. Another couple wanted a toybox. They
worked in the shop with us to build and decorate it. Their kids appreciate
it more than a store-bought box. Another young neighbor wanted a dresser,
asked me to build him one. I offered to help him build his own. He accepted,
and he and his dad used my shop to build exactly what he wanted. We all
enjoyed that project.

In fact, there isn't a house on this block in which we haven't contributed
some kind of woodworking.

A lot of time I'll take on a project to build something because I want to
see if I can do it. When friends and neighbors ask me to do something, it is
always because they couldn't find an off-the-shelf solution to their
problems. It is a challenge to come up with a working solution. Then, I only
ask to be reimbersed for materials, I never charge for labor. That's what
keeps it a hobby.

Sometimes I even build something just to see if I can do it. I know somebody
else can, (Norm!) but the trick is to see if I can do it. I also make my own
plans. Only three times have I started a project with somebody else's plans.
Even then there were serious tweaks involved.

Insecurity!

You know what, I don't have to explain myself to you. Ignore what you just
read (unless you got bored and quit reading already). I got to go put a coat
of poly on my latest project.

Andy