[kcm.MN]

Before woodworking, my Dad had his own business at home; a sheet metal machine shop. By the time I was 10yo, he could hand me a blueprint, pick out the metal he wanted, and I could make the parts. He eventually shut down to take a job at Compaq Computers (it was still Gateway Technology then). He sold some of the machining tools and bought a Sears table saw and some other tools. I, however, was the one who got to 'play' with all the new tools. Got 26+ years of experience, mostly hobby. Have been out of woodworking for the past 20 years or so but anxious to ease back in -- only, now it will have to be smaller projects and smaller pieces of wood due to multiple injuries.

 

[JamesTinKS]

How did you get started with woodworking?
In 8th or 9th grade I took an Industrial Arts class. That included learning how to use the woodworking tools - all Powermatic - from table saw to drill press.

Do you remember your first project? What was it?
We built a section of a house with all the utilities and then got to build a personal project. I built a foot stool. Got graded down for the knot in the top even though I told the instructor that I put it there on purpose. Still have it and it is in our living room. That was 45+ years ago.
In my late teens I found 2 sheets of 3/4" plywood dumped in a field next to where I was working. Took them home and, with my dad, made a 3 shelf book case. Still have that piece too. That was the only thing I made with my dad. Doubt I will ever get rid of it.
When I bought my first house I added trim and baseboard and built horseshoe pits in the backyard. Got married and moved to a new house. Started buying tools.
For the first child I made a pendulum cradle. That was followed by toys and a cherry rocking horse for his first birthday and another for his cousin.

What advice would you give to people interested in getting started with woodworking?
Take classes to learn the safe way to use the tools. (I have a head for one of those horses hanging in my shop with the chatter marks the router made when it got away from me. It serves as a reminder to not run power tools when you are tired. That "Just one more thing and I'll call it a night" is the most dangerous thing you will do.)
Buy the tools you can afford. You can always upgrade if you stick with it and sell the old ones to someone who is just starting out.
Try a variety of styles and projects. Furniture, toys, boxes.

 

[B Coll]

View attachment 370871



How did you get started with woodworking?

Do you remember your first project? What was it?

What advice would you give to people interested in getting started with woodworking?

I got my start being around my grandfather who was a career woodworker coming here at the age of 12, alone, fleeing communism. He was my hero and to this day I can close my eyes and see, and smell his shop. I know where each machine was, and where he stored his hand planes. I do not remember the specifics of all the little jobs I did with him. My first job I did all on my own was my first Wood Shop project when I made a pine dry sink. The teacher was not for it as most of my classmates were making simple shelves. I spent a lot of time after school getting it done on time for the semester. I had a construction business from when I was 17 and at about 25 started an architectural millwork business. I made a lot of custom doors, entry, passage, carriage house, french, as well as fireplace mantels and anything a normal shop would not do, such as convex doors. The best advice I would give someone starting out is do not ever buy a tool until you have a specific need for it. Then, get the best you can afford. All my tools and equipment were paid for out of my business. My shop is set up completely different from a guy who just does cabinets. His shop is set up different from a guy who does turnings. Finally, always enjoy the fact that the more you think you know, the more you do not know.

 

[Mwcustomworks]

View attachment 370871



How did you get started with woodworking?

Do you remember your first project? What was it?

What advice would you give to people interested in getting started with woodworking?

Watch a lot of this old house

 

[johnedp34]

Woodworking offered as an alternative to art in 3rd year *13/14".
Only hand tools. First exercise to square up a piece of wood using a jack plane, ruler, miter guage and tenon saw.
Learnt technical drawing which proved useful when studying chemical engineering at uni/ This all proved useful when later walked around the factory and when in export. Sometimes the floor was just beaten earth and outages common.
johnep

 

[bargoon]

I need a couple of magazine racks for a newly purchases travel trailer. It escalated from there.

 

[Rebelwork]

Watch a lot of this old house

It does make you want to grab the hammer and fix or tear up something..

 

[Pandday kuno]

Woodwork shop was a subject in our Elem Grades curriculum in Grade 6 in 1959-1960 in the Phils .. our teacher was very patient exposing us to woodworking tools and the most emphasized was safely using these tools... started with small projects, toys, pet cages then helped my uncle with his carpentry building their house .. most I did was manually planing rough lumber and manually ripping lumber to size for use... then focused on school... worked in the medical field for 45 years... retired in 2018 and started accumulating tools from garage sales and craiglist.... and now spend a little time in little projects and whatever I've got in mind... I love tuning up my tools to specifications even though I can't be a very good carpenter...

 

[dbhost]

My family heritage is Swiss Amish, and I am pretty sure sawsdust is passed down genetically... My Dad, Grandpa, Uncles, Great uncles etc... all had workshops of their own. My Dad and Grandpa made the overwhelming majority of the furnishings we had in the house when I was growing up.

My first woodworking project that I did at least the overwhelming majority of the work on is still around and in regular use. A pencil box I made in wood shop class in 6th grade...

My advise for new woodworkers. Don't wait until you own a full shop full of top end tools before you get started. You will never get started.

 

[cipher]

My father was a DIY person and dabbled in a bit of woodworking. He made me a chess board one year when I was a kid, which I still have today. So I made a chess board as my first project in my high school's shop class. That class was one of my favorites for sure.

I've always dabbled with woodworking just like him, but never spent the time to really enjoy it. Mostly because my tools and shop area weren't configured well for woodworking. Now I'm changing all of that to give myself the freedom to enjoy woodworking again.

 

[.221681]

I think I was about 10, my friends and I used to play Army war games and I could not afford to buy a toy gun. But we had a lot of junk lumber, and my father had a bunch of tools that I was allowed to use. so I got a picture of a ww2 rifle and made one. It took me about 3 weeks of our summer vacation. Not that I really knew how to, but I was pretty adamant about it should look. All my friends wanted to know where I got it. When they found out I made it they all wanted me to make them one, so I went into the arms business. From an M1 to a 45 then a jeep soap box racer. All was going fine, - until the police saw us walking down the street.stopped us, thought they were way too real, and told us we weren't to go out in public with them in plain sight. We pretty much outgrew it by the next year anyway, in favor of more exciting trouble. But my love of carpentry never faded. Every time someone tore down a building, I would restock my supply.













army war games

 

[.221681]

I was 4. My grandfather was building a bookcase. I took two pieces of scrap and nailed them together. He always kept that cross in the drawer of the bookcase.

I never got along well in HS shop class, except while learning to use the different pieces of equipment that my grandfather never had. My shop is still very meager compared to most, but I get along for the most part. I keep telling myself "someday I'll have...." A new table saw is coming this Spring I hope.

Advice? Stick to basics and good techniques until you have them mastered. And, keep your fingers on your hands where they belong.

Our teacher in trade school told us how to tell how good a carpenter is - count their fingers.

 

[FirebirdHank]

I grew up on a small farm. If something needed fixing my dad fixed it. If something needed to be built may da built it. There was always lumber, nails and screws around. One of my favorite pictures from back then is one of me sitting on our front porch with a hammer driving nails into the floor. Except for my time in the Army, I have been working in construction ever since.

 

[cipher]

I grew up on a small farm. If something needed fixing my dad fixed it. If something needed to be built may da built it. There was always lumber, nails and screws around. One of my favorite pictures from back then is one of me sitting on our front porch with a hammer driving nails into the floor. Except for my time in the Army, I have been working in construction ever since.

We certainly need more people like you in the world. With each generation we see less enter professions such as yours. Fewer and fewer carpenters, construction workers, mechanics, etc.

 

[Willoughby Dave]

I first got interested in woodworking a long time ago - 7th grade shop class (1973). By 9th grade shop, I was making cutting boards and turning bowls on the lathe. Those were really neat times - and I LOVED taking woodshop class all the years I was in school. Over the many intervening years, I made lots of stuff but just really basic - "butt joint boxes and shelving" LOL! But I've always enjoyed it.

I really got interested last summer, when I built a pretty elaborate but simple shelving system for my ham radio interests. Just using basic miter saw and other basic tools, I built what has become a nearly-daily used organizational system for managing lots of radios.

Got me to thinking I could go a little more elaborate and as I now transition into retirement, put together a woodshop in my large barn and pursue more advanced projects and build my skills.

Picture is of my radio-room shelving system I built last summer. It's really simple, but I had to do a LOT of "measure twice cut once" and work with several different kinds of wood and assembly stuff - very basic I know but the shelve system came out very functional and it's nice on the eyes IMO.... New to the site so hoping it's OK to post photos here.

Dave

 

[John Smith_inFL]

Willoughby - Next stop - Willoughby.
Welcome to the forum!! That is probably one of my favorite TZ shows.

 

[KellyCraig]

I'm envious (your jumping off, into woodworking, point). Catching up though

Myfirst real job out of high school was in a cabinet shop. I spent the next 7 or 8 years working cabinet shops. I worked my way up to the shop production manager running a shop that employed about 40 people at peak times. Mostly we built kitchen cabinets but would take on custom projects from time to time. I was in my mid twenties, in over my head and I knew it. I knew the shop and every job in it but I was inexperienced at being a manager and it showed. I quit and started a business installing kitchens and finish carpentry. From there went to framing. I loved framing and would have continued to do it but broke my back on a project and was forced to change careers to something less physical. Went back to college, got a degree in information systems and became an IT Manager for the next 25 years. During that time I dabbled in wood working, making my own frames for my photography, but when I retired I started putting together a small wood working shop. I spend my time playing on my lathe and building small projects for friends and family. Anything from picture frames to jewelry boxes, tables and cabinetry.

 

[KellyCraig]

SNORT - I got into law after figuring out it was a purchased thing and I could not afford it. Some decades later, I tell people I made the obvious jump - from law to woodworking.

Fortunately, for me, I was always drawn to DIY and, especially, making sawdust, then melding it with things like, epoxy, plastic, brass, copper,. . . . As such, after growing tired of helping people made destitute by the system survive it (burning out), I threw myself into the very different world of handymaning. The latter allowed, even justified toys, uh, tools and equipment that allow me to maintain our house (things like an over-arm pin router, a 4'x6' carving machine, a 14" and a 17" bandsaw, a cabinet saw, a copper plating station and so on).

Said another way, welcome to another reality - a more real one.

nstead, I Developed an interest in philosophy and went on to get a four year degree and then graduate from law school. I spent 18-years in college and apartment life, without access to shop space. I had nothing more than a plastic toolbox with a hammer, drill and a circular saw.

I bought a house and shop space in 2017, and here I am.

 

[B Coll]

My grandfather was my hero and the smartest man I ever met. He was a carpenter for a large wire company. He was always thinking and inventing. During WWII he designed the spools used even today on wire trucks to lay wire for communications down in enemy territory. He received a letter from Pres. Roosevelt thanking him for his assistance in the war effort. When the depression came the company was forced to lay him off, but thought highly of him. They were able to give him a small pension and told him he could take all the tools in the wood shop. I can see those tools today, a Rockwell cabinet saw, band saw, drill press, jointer, and others. I spent a lot of time in that shop, it was magical to me. To this day I can close my eyes and smell it, and know where every tool and bench was. That was my start. I tool 3 years of wood shop and drafting in HS. After HS I went into law enforcement and was not making much money. I started a small construction business and it took off. I had the blessing to work with some amazing craftsmen over the years and made it a point to stay in their pocket and sponge in everything I could. The economy, and circumstances lead me in another direction and I started an architectural millwork business. It was much easier to handle juggling my LEO career. I specialized in fabricating doors, stairs as long as they were not too crazy, my shop was limited in space. I started doing components for custom cab shops that they were not set up for such as round work, convex cabinets and the such. Started working with some designers and doing one off furniture pieces to fill in the blanks. I retired in 2009 and moved to SC where I built a shop, but found the economy very different and and found business to be far more difficult at the level I was working. I still do a few one offs and still ship a few things up north to some of my old contractor customers, but the shop now is more for family and peace. Merry Christmas all.

 

[Jay_L]

I had been a highly accomplished & published wood finisher of 20 years & owned a wood finishing biz, plus had worked on many of the most expensive luxury residences in the US. I had a good understanding of wood properties and joinery, at least in theory, but hadn’t so much as cut a 2x4 until the following event(s) occurred:

About 20 years ago I had a client request a referral for an artisan woodworker to design and build a pretty elaborate built-in bar, due to having worked with some of the finest woodworkers in the industry on the finishing end of the craft, including one of Japan’s finest masters on a number of timber-frame structures. After referring an associate woodworking acquaintance of mine, he just upped and disappeared on the client during the early design phases.

After my referral bailed, I had been working on the client’s house performing painting & wood finishing when the husband and wife were having a take-out Chinese lunch in the room adjoining where I was working. As the wife cracked open her fortune cookie and read the fortune she belted out a loud scream.

I had overheard them conversing about the bar while finishing their lunch, and shortly after, her and the husband approached me with the fortune in hand, telling me they’d like to hire me to undertake designing and building the bar even though they knew I’d never so much as cut a 2x4. When asked why me, they handed me the fortune. On one side of the fortune it had a Chinese word and English translation, that word being “Painter”. On the opposing side, the fortune read, “It’s time for a change.” They then cut me a deposit check for $10k to procure materials and pretty much provided me with an open checkbook to cover my labor costs.

I spent the first few weeks on the design. I hadn’t had any familiarity with design software so I drew it out on graph paper. I then procured all the necessary machinery, tooling, and rough sawn lumber/sheet goods, followed by setting up shop in my attached garage which was a daunting and expensive undertaking, especially researching machinery prior to purchasing.

I also spent the first 4 weeks reading up on joinery in the local library and joined a couple of woodworking/machinery groups including Minimax and Felder Owner Group, being I had purchased some new Felder and SCM/Minimax machinery and was absolutely clueless how to set up and/or operate the machinery, especially being that the Felder owner’s manuals were written in German with poor pictorials.

From soup to nuts, from date of hire through completion, it pretty much consumed ~ 5 months working 24/7 and catching a few Zzz’s every now & then. It was a very rewarding and educational experience. The profits from the $72k earned covered all the material, equipment, and tooling expenses.

Things eventually snowballed from there, and was immediately invited on to reproduce mahogany doors, millwork, and exterior shutters on a century old NY Gold Coast mansion and to design and fabric a $120K built-in desk for a NYC real estate mogul. I however didn’t actively market or seek out woodworking projects, and preferred and enjoyed the wood finishing aspects of the craft, being the woodworking end of the biz was more competitive, and had a well established client base on the wood finishing end of the biz.

I however retired a couple of weeks ago and unloaded all of my machinery but am in the process of setting a small hobbyist woodworking studio.