I like this thread..
I am a roller / supervisor in a specialty steel mill, I have hot wire and rods running past me at speeds reaching 23 m/s. THAT"S MY DAY JOB!!
I first began pounding nails in dad's bench in the shop when I began to walk. I started working on saddles and Tack at 5 and machinery at 10. When I was a kid it was more like SLAVE labor!! HA! HA! HA
Then after completing college in '99, with a BS in Industrial/Operations Management. I found that my day job, or sometimes night work was very stressful. So I got put on Midnight shift 10p-6a for 6 months so I could run heavy equiptment for a friend of mine through the day. That was great 4 hrs of sleep a day, Hey as long as it is concentrated sleep it is enough.
That did not take away the stress. Then I started pounding nails in Dad's Bench again and realized that it was great relaxment, until he made me pull them all out!!!
Then I started a webpage with him and another, all because I was bored one day.
He gets to do what he loves and it keeps him busy and me sane.
He has been at it, pounding leather, for 50+ years and started his business full time in around '74. Making boots saddles or anything else some one asks for, or sometimes doesn't. Prior to his full time leather shop he was an Engineer, I tell them they all think backwards, for a specialty carbide company.