Lockdown hobbies were supposed to be bread. I built keyboards instead. Same coping mechanism. Less gluten.
It started as boredom and a need to control something small when everything big was unfixable. Most keyboards are designed to be invisible. Flat, rattly, mushy. Fine for an email, miserable for hours. A good board is the opposite. It has weight. The downstroke is clean. The stabilizers don’t clack like loose change. Typing turns into a ritual instead of a chore.
And it is never one keyboard. That is how the hobby works. One becomes the baseline. The next is “for the office.” The third comes with foam, film, and a screwdriver. Suddenly you are explaining switch lube to a normal person, and they are reconsidering everything.
The funniest part is it is still practical. I type every day. If a tool touches your hands for hours, it should not feel cheap. So I went down the rabbit hole and stayed there, because the payoff is real. The board disappears and the thock becomes a tiny receipt that you chose this life on purpose.
