I have quilted for 20 years...my wife and I quilt together and have our own "STUFF". Templates, books etc are shared but, not our scissors. I mostly make tops and do very little quilting, she does mostly quilting and few tops, I do all the bindings. We have been married 38 years and quilting has never been a issue that has caused us any problems I am happy to be able to spend so much time with the woman of my dreams...BTW I am retired and we are together 24/7/365 days a year. As a matter of fact...I can count the # of nights we have not been together in those 38 years on two fingers. Many men quilt, I would strongly suggest that you offer to show him the quilting ropes so to speak. Invite him to look at quilting board and or the thousands of patterns..see if it peaks his interest...perhaps a train quilt since you mentioned his working with trains.