I think I may have stumbled into inventing something. Started as a fairly simple workshop project to copy the utility of an existing product. My goal was to make something cheaper, but I realized along the way everyone hates using it and it needed several significant improvements, which I made.

Took the prototype to some friends who stress tested it this morning, and they completely geeked out. It worked better than I imagined. It basically sold five on the spot. Someone posted a video to FB and within 15 minutes had about four more inquiries about pricing and availability.

So now I'm rethinking this as a woodworking project and trying to figure out how to manufacture it in small volumes.

Then the question came up about patenting it. There is really nothing secret about the design. Anyone with a technical/engineering mind could take a look at it and reverse engineer it with ease. But it does have features and functionality that have never been combined before (at least to my knowledge).

Is patenting such a thing a good idea, or likely a waste of my time?

I think with zero effort I could sell dozens. With some effort, I could sell hundreds. Selling thousands would take significant marketing efforts. Selling tens of thousands might be impossible due to market size.