Roughly fifteen years of woodworking, both machinery-assisted and with hand tools. None of it paid, none of it qualified, and I am specific about that because the provenance is part of the claim.
Alongside the woodworking I restore old tools, using a range of machines, until they look new again. Grinding, cutting, sanding and polishing, in some cases to a mirror finish. That is finishing work with a purpose rather than practice for its own sake, and it is the closest thing I do to a trade task without ever having done it as a trade.
I also maintain the tools rather than only using them, which turns out to be most of the skill. And I have taken watches apart out of general curiosity, which is familiarity and not training.
Why it is on a page about my career
I have always taken the view that I can do things myself and that I can learn new things as I go, so looking after my car, my tools and my computers myself has always just been a given.
That is the same disposition that shows up in the professional work, and it has fifteen years behind it rather than being an adjective on a CV. It is also, honestly, a genuine interest in working with machinery and in doing something with my hands that is not the desk job I have found myself in.