[neverartful]

I can relate. My example was welding. It's something that always was fascinating and I wanted to pick up for hobby work but was held back by fear. I hired a guy who's been around welding for decades and who was formally trained on welding to teach me. I told him how important it was for me to learn how to weld safely. He taught me at a pace that was very comfortable. Now I can safely weld as a hobbyist. I don't do it all the time, but I'm very glad that I conquered my fear and picked up a new hobby.

I would say that it's good to have some fear and respect for the tools and machinery that can do you great harm. Fortunately, there's a lot of good (and bad) videos on youtube. When I need to learn to use a new tool that is dangerous I always watch multiple videos and also search for web sites that discuss how to use that tool safely.