I was never all that good with tools. Not that Im clumsy but my Dad didnt much like working on things either and gave me a lot of abuse as his "helper" when I was little. Like threatening a whipping if I didn't run fast enough to retrieve what he wanted, brought him the wrong thing, or didnt hold the light still enough. Honestly the guy should have never had the responsibility of keeping up a farm and should have stuck to academia and fishing. Way too short tempered and lazy to maintain a rural place and shoved way too much of it off on me. The Dad who sent his 10 yr old on the roof with an arm load of shingles and barked orders from the ground, that was him. I vowed never, ever, to be any kind of farmer when I got the hell out of there. I won't so much as plant a tomato in a pot on the deck and I pay someone who actually enjoys mowing (after I became financially able). I even had a career in Agricultural Finance. Educated and familiar enough to recognize competence and loan money for it, but smart enough to keep my ass far away from the actual work.
I built a coffee table in shop but it warped and I had to add an extension to one leg so it didnt wobble. I managed to put together a stereo/album shelf that held together at least thru college.
My High School Ag teacher recognized my abilities well enough to pawn off the lesson on artificial insemination and gestation to me on a day he wasn't going to be there. I coved the material just fine and ignored or laughed along with the jokes. Got thru it unscathed but it wasn't that much fun. But it did earn me an easy A.
Still, Im grateful that I managed to learn the basics like how to use a saw, use a tape measure with albeit questionable accuracy, hammer a nail, select the proper wrench or screwdriver (if I can find it) etc. I even built a parts tele in my later years, though it took me 10 yrs of futzing and procrastinating to finally get it like I want.
