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It seems so fulfilling, being able to make such beautiful things. But also a bit expensive eh... to get the woodworking skills (presumably by taking classes at

by pen2l 6y ago

It seems so fulfilling, being able to make such beautiful things. But also a bit expensive eh... to get the woodworking skills (presumably by taking classes at a technical college?), the equipment, and the time involved. If any folks here are capable of doing this stuff, would you please share details of your journey, I feel inspired to learn some of this myself. Did you feel it was all worth it, what would you do differently if starting over again?

julianlam 6y ago
I always feel very humbled when I read stories about things that makers make. As someone with absolutely no skills in woodworking, metalworking, or anything of the sort, it is completely awesome (in the traditional sense of the word) and seemingly so far out of my potential.
- coldtea 6y ago
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTcvmmOkqJI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTcvmmOkqJI
swiley 6y ago
I wouldn't say I'm good at woodworking, but just like with programming you can go read about it or watch youtube tutorials. I've built a few simple things with a $20 power drill and a cheap hand saw.
wegs 6y ago
It's less expensive than pre-made furniture. A good place to get started is construction lumber -- just 2x4s. They're not bad once you clean them up with a sander and potentially planer and finish them, and they have a certain industrial aesthetic raw. They're cheap enough that if you mess up or change your mind, you can throw them away and try again. And if you want to redo a piece of furniture, you can do that too. If you want to make a custom mount for something, just drill a hole. Homes look surprisingly good when all the furniture is custom -- floor-to-ceiling wall-to-wall bookcases, desks designed for what's on them, etc. -- even if it's just cheap construction wood. From there, you can move upscale. You can go quite far with Home Depot plywood sheets. Done well, they look great. I have a mix of fine woodworking pieces (which take a month or two to do), to things which take a couple hours to throw together. And it feels awesome once most of the furniture in your home is handmade. And it's a much better use of space. Get a few 2x4s, a pair of cordless drills, some nice screws, a circular saw, a carpenter's square, a tape measure, and safety glasses and you're good to go to get started. If you want to step it up a notch, get a random orbital sander, proper guides, (GOOD) clamps, a router, and a jigsaw. If you can at all afford it, buy NICE tools. Better beats more. I'd rather have a good Bosch cordless circular saw and drill than a full kit of Walmart toolkit. And they'll cost less in the long run, with less damaged work pieces, and fewer broken tools. Also, Youtube videos are great. So are online woodworking forums. Classes are nice if you can afford them, but hardly necessary.
- bardworx 6y ago
  You probably know what you're doing but for a beginner, 2x4 isn't a good choice because: 1. 2x4 are not 2" x 4" and when you start, you make a lot of assumptions that land you in hot water. 2. A beginner will not know what does "green" vs. "klin" mean and will have a hard time getting anything to be straight. 3. Construction lumber is made for construction and not interior use because of many different factors. I would highly recommend choosing poplar 1x8 boards (they will neither be perfectly 1 inch in thickness nor 8 inches in width but close). They are easy to work with because poplar is soft, even though it called a "hardwood". And the wood takes paint and stain very well. Also, with poplar, your list of beginner tools will be spot on. You wouldn't even need much more and I'm confident that I can put together a good enough kit for under $250 by using only corded tools and an extension cord.
  - Robotbeat 6y ago
    I’ve been using 2x4s (1.5” by 3.5”) as a beginner, and I’m happy so far. They’re a very nice, convenient shape for a lot of things and aren’t very heavy and are very cheap.
  - wegs 6y ago
    1. Precisely! When you run into catches like actual versus nominal dimensions, you don't want to be working with a $40 piece of wood, but a $5 piece of wood. When you're wrong, you toss it and try again. Or you unscrew it and try again. 2. That's okay! If it's not quite straight or square, it's really fine for most pieces. Unless you've really s-ed up, you won't be able to tell. 3. I have plenty of pieces of furniture made from construction wood, especially in the kids' room, and they do just fine. Kids grow fast, and an elementary school table won't be what we want in middle school. Heck, we might want something different if and when hobbies change. The point is to make a bunch of pieces quickly, and to develop the technique to be able to: * Make a (roughly) perpendicular screw hole without having the wood splinter on the opposite side, and perhaps with a proper countersink hole * (roughly) cut a piece of wood to length, with a (roughly) square edge * Get intuition for the order to measure/cut/assemble pieces so everything fits * ... and so on. There's a bunch of mechanical skills (like making a square cut) and spatial reasoning skills to develop. The best way to do this is to do it over, and over, and over many times. Once past that stage, poplar is ideal. Starting out, make as much stuff as you can as quickly and cheaply as you can. Even now, I'll sometimes cut a piece of wood to the wrong length, and I've been doing this a long time. The first few pieces? Forgetaboutit.
ragebol 6y ago
Just get started, really. Start small, make the same thing twice: one for learning, another with the lessons for the first. I will not claim to be a good woodworker, I recently made https://preview.redd.it/oyg8onja3ll51.jpg?width=4608&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=767f2a1c0376188ca9b6270b4113fe0007166964 https://preview.redd.it/oyg8onja3ll51.jpg?width=4608&format=... which I'm quite happy with. Some rough edges. I do not consider myself particularly handy, but just get started. And watch a bunch YouTube videos for tips. Tools used: cordless drill, saw, tape measure, 90 deg angle thingy, some clamps, 45deg angle cutting template block. I had the wood panels sawed at the DIY store, so no need for a table saw. I think all the tools used can be had for a few hundred euros. EDIT: I think the hardest part of this is imagining how to put everything together, do the accurate measurements or design things in a way that you can tolerate less accuracy. I learned a ton making this, would do it differently next time, but both had fun doing it and now have a nice pillow box. People tell me "I didn't know you were so handy". Well, me neither.
- Loughla 6y ago
  >I think the hardest part of this is imagining how to put everything together, do the accurate measurements or design things in a way that you can tolerate less accuracy. Woodworking is a lesson and exercise in planning and preparation, more than anything else. The actual skills used are fairly basic hand-eye coordination. But the planning. Oh the planning. You absolutely have to see the steps laid out to completion, one at a time, when you start. Otherwise you cannot even begin the project with hopes of finishing. I'm fairly certain there's a metaphor in there somewhere, but it's early in the day.
  - ragebol 6y ago
    The Dutch saying is 'good tools are half the work' and there is another saying 'A good plan is half the work', so with a good plan and good tools, you're already done...
Jaruzel 6y ago
> presumably by taking classes at a technical college? Trial and Error is all you need. I've never formally trained myself in woodworking and I'm pretty good at it. I could definately replicate what this guy did if I had the time and money. My wife and I have a book collection that currently lives on eight 2.5 metre high by 1 metre wide Oak bookcases that fully line two walls of our living room (which we call the Library). Each unit has 8 shelves (so 64 metres-ish of book space). All built by my fair hand. The trick is to plan, and to plan well. being able to mock things up in a basic CAD package is a must. I use an old copy of Sketchup (the offline version) and it does me. After that it's tools. Bad tools make for a bad job. If you can, spend money on good tools, but only buy what you need for that job. After a few years, you'll have a workshop full of nice kit that enables you to tackle anything. Once you learn what your tools can do, you suddenly realise how many projects are now accessible. It's a bit like getting a 3D printer and realising how many things you can now build or fix! Finally, measure twice and cut once. This is your mantra. Accuracy is everything. If you are not sure, cut the wood slightly too big and trim off until it fits - it's easy to make a bit of wood smaller, it's impossible to make it bigger. I've also designed, built and fitted our kitchen (that's all Oak also), and the desk units in the study (where I'm typing this) plus numerous other projects to long to list. If I could give up IT and do woodworking everyday, I would.
- contingencies 6y ago
  I use an old copy of Sketchup (the offline version) and it does me. Blender and FreeCAD are both good open source options. You can also alternatively draw an SVG in Inkscape, import in to one or the other, then 3D extrude it.
  - TheAdamAndChe 6y ago
    For those who have never used these tools, they are very good but have an _extremely_ steep learning curve. If you just want to make stuff but see this software as a roadblock, you can still accomplish a lot with good old pen-and-paper.
    - 6y ago
bipson 6y ago
Woodworking is one of those "skills" that might seem so unapproachable, and yet the learning curve is quite steep (in the technical sense). I'm nowhere near a master and make a lot of stupid mistakes. But my relatives think I'm worrying to much about those, nobody notices, nobody cares besides me. But next time I do the same thing again, I know. If it really counts or is entirely botched I just redo the piece. Wood is similar to clay. You just try by sawing pieces in two smaller pieces, start to grind them, then come different sawing tools and techniques, then finishing (oil, laquer, etc.), then routing... Obviously you start with smaller, simpler things. And in contrast to what others said: Don't be afraid of mistakes. A dent is just a dent, the piece is supposed to "live" anyway. Your kids will put their teeth in soon. And a piece of wood can be replaced cheaply (don't start with ridiculously expensive hard woods obviously). You can always cut a new one.
- sgt 6y ago
  There's also something to be said about woodworking and making things meant for garage, behind the house, tool shed etc, a lot of the times it doesn't even need to look good, as long as it is sturdy. Exposed screws or metal brackets can be fine. Not sanding a surface may be perfectly in order.
ptasker 6y ago
I started looking up plans online and built a bench and table. From there I've built various other pieces of furniture - tables, benches, shelves etc. It's mostly as others have said, trial and error. Wood is pretty forgiving, especially soft woods like pine/spruce/cedar. It's mostly just finding plans and ideas online and YouTube. Then taking your time. Like anything else, you have to enjoy it. I personally like how different it is from programming. Definitely worth it for me, higher_quality_furniture++
lsiunsuex 6y ago
Not wood working, but I remodeled almost my entire last house. 1 kitchen, 1 bathroom, 2 bedrooms, a hallway and minor work to the dining room and family room. These were complete guts down to the studs with new windows, doors, electrical, plumbing, insulation. Expense wise, you need quite a few tools and obviously materials. Doors I always went with solid core doors (vs hollow) and double pane windows. We used fiber glass insulation and drywall was appropriate to the room (water proof drywall in the kitchen / bathroom, regular in the rooms) always at least a half inch. Demolition was fun if not exhausting (plaster and lath walls). Neighbors took the original doors to match existing builds. Took time to get good at mudding the joints to get them smooth. I did the electrical; sub contracted out for plumbing. I don't mind electrocuting myself lol, but a leak in plumbing and you can throw all of your work out. Dad (who has experience) helped and I learned a lot from him (especially on cutting trim and tile). Otherwise watching a ton of home improvement shows; youtube videos; etc... All of it is totally doable; just need to take your time, measure 20 times, cut once, etc... My favorite work was masonry - I built a brick pizza oven 1 year; then a concrete block planting wall with a fireplace in it the following year. Can't say I want to do it again; took all 8 years before we divorced and she kept it to get everything but 1 bedroom done; but if I have to when I buy my next house, I know I can and how.
- heelix 6y ago
  We did our bathrooms, and learning the plumbing aspect was probably the most interesting still addition for me. My father in-law taught me how to do copper pipe soldering, and stupervised the upstairs plumbing. Feeling emboldened, I ordered a shower kit off of Amazon. Ye gods... the 4 head unit came with a tin template and a 'good luck'. Ended up putting together a 4 head double loop with pressure equalization.... after many, many attempts. After those projects, I'm reasonably OK with it. Will be using coper piping when the zen 3 threadrippers finally hit the store.
- ErrantX 6y ago
  Agree with all of this. People act really shocked at the level of DIY I get up to, but really the main secret is having a go. You can definitely get as close to as good a finish as a pro, it just takes longer and is more fun for you! The current project is a home office from scratch; which basically meant learning how to build a wood frame building. YouTube is a wonderful resource! (First fit is done, plastering next)
ajmarsh 6y ago
Start simple. Find a project on YouTube that looks interesting and go for it. For the tools yeah they can be expensive. For me I buy v1 at Harbor Freight for cheap. If I use it enough to break it time for v2 from Snap-On, Dewalt, Milwaukee. First project I ever did was a workbench. It's a great first project as you can use it for all of your future projects. Have fun.
uptown 6y ago
I've built plenty of stuff. Basically, trial and error and a fair amount of watching YouTube videos to make sure I'm not going to remove a finger using a new tool. I've built a gate for our deck, a bench and seating system for an entryway, some shelves for a pantry, planter boxes, a huge sandbox for our kids, but I think I'm most proud of the farm table I made out of reclaimed hemlock. It's 100" x 46.5" and my family uses it everyday: https://i.redd.it/e0yrn0g1jpp01.jpg https://i.redd.it/e0yrn0g1jpp01.jpg Apart from the safety issues of tools - or the potential waste of materials if you make a wrong cut -- it's really a very satisfying hobby for anyone who enjoys solving problems, working with their hands, and seeing something progressively come together.
mauvehaus 6y ago
It's just like software, honestly. You start with "hello world", not a 3D game or a TCP/IP stack. I build furniture, which has surprisingly little overlap with carpentry, which TFA is much closer to. To be clear, I'm not saying one is better or worse, but they are different. I got started down that path taking a basic hand tools class, which in turn started not with "here's a bit of wood", but "here's a grinder and some sharpening stones". After getting our planes acceptably sharp, then we learned how to take a piece of rough lumber and turn it into a board with two flat, parallel faces, two edges parallel and square to the faces, and two ends square to the faces and edges. We (eventually) progressed to joinery from there. It was sort of the Learn Python the Hard Way of woodworking: if you don't learn the basic steps and skip right to something cool, you're forever dependent on somebody else doing the basic stuff for you and accepting what you can get (milling the lumber, in this case). Or you have to go back and learn it anyway. To quote Raney Nelson[0]: "If you cannot already do the machine's job by hand, the machine will outwit you." I try to avoid milling lumber by hand because it would be a surefire way to lose money hand over fist on most projects, but it's a good skill to have when your boards are bigger than your jointer. If you don't want to spend money on a class, there are infinite youtube videos. What you lose learning that way is somebody watching what you're doing and telling you why you aren't getting what you want done. Getting into the tools is something you can do pretty incrementally and inexpensively if you are willing to put some time into it. There are plenty of excellent old Stanley planes out there for $40 to $70. Buy pre-war. The quality dropped off afterwards as power tools got cheap. If you take the time to learn how to tune one up, you'll know your tool better than if you spend a couple hundred bucks on a Lie-Nielsen or a Veritas (which are both excellent tools, let me be clear) or ~$170 on a new import (Wood River, Bench Dog, whatever. No experience, no opinion). The US-made Buck Brothers chisels at Home Depot are decent steel and a steal at the price of ~$15 a piece. The modern Stanley Sweethearts are a good middle of the road choice (I own a set; I'll upgrade them piecemeal as I need to). You can spend as much or as little on saws as you want to. I have a $15 Husky from Home Depot I use occasionally, and a Lie-Nielsen dovetail saw I spent an order of magnitude more on. They both cut, but the LN is worth sharpening when it gets dull. The layout and sharpening tools are worth spending money on. You can get a decent combination square for $40 (anything that's $15 at your local hardware store is crap. A $100 Mitutoyo or Starrett is worth the investment if you're in it for the long haul), a decent marking gauge for a similar price, and a decent marking knife for under $40. Figure $120 for the basics. Another roughly $40 for a Shinwa sliding bevel (again, hardware store stuff is crap) for angled work, and you're pretty well covered for the basics. For sharpening, a craigslist grinder will probably cover your needs for $50 or under. You certainly don't need a Baldor, and you don't need slow speed. Any 7" or 8" grinder will do. And then spend what you want to on oil stones, water stones, or a piece of glass and some sandpaper/emery paper. They all do the same thing, and a discussion of the tradeoffs is outside the scope of this thread. My first "workbench" at home was a stupidly cheap IKEA table. I screwed 1/4" MDF into the legs to keep it from racking, and a use a couple clamps in lieu of a vise. It sucked, and it was slow, but you can get work done on it if you want to. Starting with an inexpensive set of tools, you can get a lot done. Build a couple things from the canon of absolute beginner projects: A bird house, a tool box, etc. Build them slowly and intentionally, focusing on precision. Get a copy of The Anarchist's Design Book[1] and pick a project out of there (the staked furniture projects will require a few additional tools), any of the excellent books on Shaker furniture, or a subscription to Fine Woodworking or Popular Woodworking. Pick a project or two from there and build it. The joinery that holds wood together hasn't fundamentally changed in literally thousands of years[2]. I don't mean to be flippant about this, but Jesus was a carpenter, and while he had a lot of firsts, working in wood wasn't one of them. So yeah, we're talking maybe $600-$800 all-in on tools to get started. That's more than an iPhone SE, but less than a Mac Mini. The tools will last several lifetimes: my newest Stanley plane was built during WWII. Is that expensive? It depends on how you look at it, I guess. Was it worth it for me? I mean, I do it for money now instead of writing code. The pay is a lot worse, but I'm fortunate to be married to somebody who is better paid, we leave cheaply, and I love what I do. [0] https://www.daedtoolworks.com/lounge-against-the-machine-daedlab-commandments-1-and-2/ https://www.daedtoolworks.com/lounge-against-the-machine-dae... [1] https://lostartpress.com/collections/books/products/the-anarchists-design-book https://lostartpress.com/collections/books/products/the-anar... [2] http://www.sci-news.com/archaeology/article00788.html http://www.sci-news.com/archaeology/article00788.html
codingdave 6y ago
I'm a bad woodworker. My furniture has bad joints, gaps between pieces of wood. I don't use good wood. I do a poor job painting or staining it... and everyone still just sits down on my chairs and says, "This is so cool that you make your own furniture." Start small, start bad, improve on each project... and give it time.
- adulion 6y ago
  Amen I built my daughter a rocking horse- any woodworker or trades person looking at closely would chuck it in the bin as the joins are slightly off and the seat isnt symetrical but when i posted a photo of it on instagram or showed it to anyone- my friends where sharing it and people where commenting on it saying wow asking could i build one for them
- mabbo 6y ago
  I think this is wisdom that applies very generally, to more than just physical things we make. Thanks.
- bregma 6y ago
  Beckett's famous "fail better" is broadly instructive.
- Loughla 6y ago
  Woodworking is one of those skills where you can see literally every flaw about your finished product, because you know what greatness looks like and you cannot achieve it. And nobody will notice but you, and maybe another woodworker. But generally they're nice enough not to say anything mean. I like it because it keeps me humble. Just when I believe I have the largest amount of domain knowledge related to my job, and just when people are starting to view me as an expert. . . . The god-damned half blind dovetails don't fit, and I know I made them right. I KNOW I DID.
  - mrlala 6y ago
    Can't upvote this enough!! And there's no freaking undo button with wood.. it's mentally challenging to not freak out about every little mistake. Over time I'm learning to get better about this, but it's rough.
rytis 6y ago
As everyone is saying - just go for it. Also, sometimes "difficult" or "complicated" things aren't really that difficult or complicated. Also, don't pay too much attention to some of the "elitist" videos/tutorials. Pockethole joins aren't for real woodworkers? It holds two pieces of wood, looks neat, and is very simple to achieve, so I'm going to go for it, "real" woodworking or not.
ejs 6y ago
I'm somewhat obsessed in woodworking but got into it the same way I was drawn to programming - just making things. Like most things if you expect the first thing you make to be any good it'll be a hard road.
bardworx 6y ago
All of these comments are good and provide value, my "take" wouldn't add to the conversation. However, I did notice that no brought up that at the beginning, you can compensate your lack of skill by spending more time on the project. The difference between a novice and professional is efficiency. Good tools will aid in efficiency but not always necessary. A simple box will take a beginner several days, an intermediary a day, and a craftsperson a few hours. Substitute your lack of knowledge and tools by spending more time on quadruple checking everything, making good marks, and always doubting yourself.
deleted 6y ago
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iamthepieman 6y ago
I got into woodworking when I was 11. I checked out a library book about making wooden toys and used a simple hand scroll saw my dad had kicking around to make some of the wooden animal figurines for my younger siblings. Then I started making swords, daggers and shields since I was interested in all things knights and castles. I saved up and bought a cheap, underpowered Craftsmen jigsaw and my production output increased. Then my parents bought an old farmhouse and had it renovated. I shadowed some of the carpenters and learned a lot. When I was 17 I asked to work for a local furniture shop that made reproduction furniture. I told the owner that I would do anything, sweep the floors, clean the windows as long as I got to be in proximity to the equipment and expertise in the shop. Eventually I graduated from sweeping the floors to milling lumber, sanding case pieces, gluing up panels and then making full pieces of furniture. I was going to go to a technical school for fine woodworking but decided computer science would be a better career. I still miss having a shop.
- steve_adams_86 6y ago
  Your story is a lot like mine! Computer science was so hard to turn away from back then. I don’t think I regret leaving wood working as a career, but I do wonder sometimes. I actually enjoyed it. Except in winter - the shop was always freezing cold, haha. We’d sticker lumber for the kiln in the rain for days or weeks sometimes. Something I was really into before leaving was the CNC machine. I think I could have enjoyed getting to know and using that thing.
steve_adams_86 6y ago
I grew up around wood working. Or really all kinds of working of everything from wood to metal to plastics. My dad was handy. I left childhood with a decent understanding of how to build things. After moving out I started to miss it and took a job working an entry level job at a joinery. We made cabinetry, some furniture, doors, windows - even made flooring and custom trim in the mill. It was fun, and I learned a lot that I hadn’t as a kid. I taught myself to program while working there and took a job doing that instead after a few years. I missed it again and began buying tools around 8 years ago. At first I used hand tools only and build small projects. I’d focus on learning techniques at first, and tried to really nail down my understanding of the fundamentals. I learned to select not only the right wood for assorted projects, but how to do so based on factors like species and moisture content. Eventually I had too many kids to have time to be productive with hand tools. I enjoyed the activity, but actually getting projects done became too hard. Since I make things my family uses, I decided to grab a table saw, planer, and jointer. These are sort of the trifecta of woodworking productivity. You can machine milled lumber to spec very quickly and easily. Make a cut list, machine it, cut to length, and start building. My most recent project was a bed frame. Even with nice lumber and quite a bit of it, the project came in around $1800 - at least half of what we were looking at if we ordered it. Other recent projects have been bunk beds, a bench for our home entrance, shoe racks, a toy chest, and a kitchen island. If I was starting over again I’d learn the fundamentals first and then not hesitate to invest in power tools after. Buy used and learn about basic maintenance. I had a sort of purist bent for a while which really just kept me from making stuff me and my family loved. Hand tools are fun, but so hard to work with quickly if you aren’t very skilled with them. I highly recommend the hobby if you’re interested. It’s been a lifelong thing for me. Holding your own work in your hands is very grounding. Solving and working with physical problems is extremely engaging. For me, wood working and gardening are two productive activities that (not joking) really make me feel alive and connected to something. Programming is great, but it doesn’t do that. My next project is a speargun to replace the one I currently dive with. I’m very excited to build it.
ip26 6y ago
Setting aside cost, space is also something of an issue. A couple power saws and a cloud of sawdust will happily consume a small garage. Even if the saw itself is small, maneuvering a large piece of work through the saw requires clearance.
pawelk 6y ago
I started when we bought our first house and there wasn't much money left for kitchen furniture. But we needed a kitchen, so I decided to get some big box store pine, hinges, drawer slides etc to build some temporary cabinets. I didn't know much and I made many mistakes, but the kitchen I built lasted us... 7 years, and is gone now mainly because we're renovating the whole house. All the tools I had back then were a cordless drill, two hand saws, some chisels and a sander. You don't need much and you should only buy new equipment if the project requires it. Also I did not "design" anything, just did some sketches on paper then improvised on the spot. Woodworking instantly became my hobby and after watching some Youtube videos - including ALL of Paul Sellers videos - I made a decision to go the unplugged route. If I were to start over I'd read a book about the basic principles of woodworking and joinery, especially how the wood behaves and how to apprloach it. I sort of got all of this by intuition, however an introductory book would be a better start. Also I should have mastered sharpening way earlier in my journey.
- greedo 6y ago
  I too used Paul Sellers as a guide when I started up, but it's important to realize that he isn't really unplugged. He shows you how you can do it unplugged, but he uses a wide variety of power tools for "monkey work" as he calls it. This includes jointers, planers, and bandsaws (though he demonstrates that tool explicitly). Unless you're able to get wood already S4S, unplugged is a helluva lot of work.
  - pawelk 6y ago
    I'm well aware that Paul Sellers uses machine milled / planed / dimensioned lumber. I am quite comfortable starting with rough sawn boards straight off the mill (I'm not crazy enough to re-saw logs by hand). Yes, it requires effort and depending on the size of the project I will either use S4S wood or rip, flatten and true boards by hand. However if I were to have machines in my shop I'd get a bandsaw first, then a jointer/planer. I'm mostly limited by physical space, not self-imposed constraints, although it is very fulfilling to build something without electricity.
- mauvehaus 6y ago
beervirus 6y ago
You can learn everything you need to know from YouTube videos. Start small with some hand tools, and it won't cost much. If it's something you enjoy, buy more tools as you discover you need them. It's a fantastic hobby.
jtap 6y ago
My father had a couple duplexes, and I learned to hack stuff together pretty well there. But I did take a class at Woodcraft that was pretty nicely done about 10 years ago. It was a simple course over a few nights. I learned a couple woodworking tricks that upped my game, but there were a couple beginners. Hopefully Woodcraft will start having classes again once things start opening up again. If so signup and they will teach you how to use the basic tools and more importantly you will walk away with a bit of confidence and knowledge on how to fix mistakes.
mtalantikite 6y ago
I built a huge built in bookshelf for my wife, just without all the lighting like this article. I had very little experience with woodworking and did all sorts of things wrong at first, but just adopted an attitude of play with it. It took nearly a month to get all the oak that I needed ordered and delivered (who knew there was huge demand for oak from artisanal whiskey distillers), so in that time I just spent hours watching YouTube videos, sketching things out, getting tools I needed, etc. The process wasn’t much different than when I’m building a software system, it’s just a different medium. After the bookshelves I felt comfortable redoing my entire kitchen, including doing the plumbing. Just be fine with things taking you an entire afternoon that might take a person with experience an hour. I’d say just play around with it, realize there will be many frustrating unanticipated things that come up as a beginner, and get curious about solving the problems that crop up!
hindsightbias 6y ago
Woodworking does require a bit of equipment, room and expense. In the US, there was a bit of a resurgence decades back and the New Yankee Workshop inspired many. https://www.newyankee.com/ https://www.newyankee.com/ While I don’t have space for a shop so not a woodworker, I think I could do many of those projects. I’ve done more carpentry, first volunteering with Habitat for Humanity decades back, then helping friends restore their old homes, picking up skills and eventually building a small timberframe after taking a class. The first time you do anything, it will come out badly but like anything it’s just practice, reading books, watching experts. For woodworking, it really is important to read about woods and finishes up front. So many people buy all the equipment and make projects but don’t know how to assess wood or just slap on whatever finish from the corner store. Beautiful work, looks like crap. There are countless restoration channels on YT with a wealth of experience that you would not ever learn on your own.
- kls 6y ago
  It really does not have to, equipment is a tradeoff for time. The ancient civilizations produced a lot of masterpieces with simple hand tools. Not to mention the French periods of fine furniture such as Louis XIII which was the late 1500's IIRC. You can do a lot with hand tools, power tools just save you a lot of time. Much of the old furniture was built with a handsaw, hand drill, planners and chisels. You could reasonably build nice things with just those, but you are going to spend months rather than weeks doing it with those tools.
munificent 6y ago
It is expensive in both time and money, yes. But what better way to spend than on creating something meaningful that others can use?
dr_orpheus 6y ago
I have been doing some woodworking for the past couple years now (still very much an amateur). My woodworking started with making some standing bottle openers as presents (kind of like these [0]). All it required was some cheap pine, a bit of stain, a sander and a saw (I used my dad's table saw, but you could just use a hand saw). I have since made some various pieces of furniture, odds and ends like random shelves around my house and some cutting boards. My advice: - Hand tools are a great place to start, they are cheap they don't take up much room, they don't make too much noise and dust. Working with hand tools can be pretty relaxing, and can also be a good workout (which could be a bonus or a negative). I do have a decent collection of power tools now but still not everything. The power tools I use the most are drill, miter saw, circular saw, and sander. - Check craigslist often, both for cheap (sometimes free) wood and for cheap tools. - You can make something really cool out of something else. I made a kitchen island out of some old wall cabinets and a butcher block I got off craigslist. I also made a pirate ship wheel out of old stair spindles and a garden hose reel. This allowed me to try out skills on a bigger project while using someone else's work to kind of start from. I didn't have to first learn how to make cabinets or learn to turn wood on a lathe. - Youtube is your friend you can learn how to do almost anything. The maker channels are great but often times they do have a lot of specialized expensive power tools. The "This Old House" youtube channel [1] is pretty good and has a lot of good basics. Also "Woodworking for Mere Mortals" [2] as the name implies is also good at showing how you get things done without investing in super expensive specialized tools. - You will always notice the mistakes you have made, but hardly anyone else will. And you will make mistakes, I have made plenty and there are still plenty in my "finished" products. - Routers are super cool tools and with the different bits you can get you can make awesome professional looking patterns. I got my router and a set of bits off craigslist as well, but there are some cheap options out there. [0] https://www.etsy.com/listing/174667441/personalized-wood-bottle-opener-with-cap?ref=sr_gallery_40&ga_search_query=personalized+beer+opener&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_ship_to=US&ga_ref=auto4&ga_search_type=all https://www.etsy.com/listing/174667441/personalized-wood-bot... [1] https://www.youtube.com/user/thisoldhouse https://www.youtube.com/user/thisoldhouse [2] https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBB7sYb14uBtk8UqSQYc9-w https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBB7sYb14uBtk8UqSQYc9-w
gcheong 6y ago
Depending on where you live you might be able to find classes through different groups, not just a technical college. For example, here in San Francisco, the Randall Museum has a fully equipped shop and several levels of woodworking classes.

by pen2l 6y ago

julianlam 6y ago

I always feel very humbled when I read stories about things that makers make. As someone with absolutely no skills in woodworking, metalworking, or anything of the sort, it is completely awesome (in the traditional sense of the word) and seemingly so far out of my potential.

coldtea 6y ago
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTcvmmOkqJI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTcvmmOkqJI

swiley 6y ago

I wouldn't say I'm good at woodworking, but just like with programming you can go read about it or watch youtube tutorials. I've built a few simple things with a $20 power drill and a cheap hand saw.

wegs 6y ago

It's less expensive than pre-made furniture. A good place to get started is construction lumber -- just 2x4s. They're not bad once you clean them up with a sander and potentially planer and finish them, and they have a certain industrial aesthetic raw. They're cheap enough that if you mess up or change your mind, you can throw them away and try again. And if you want to redo a piece of furniture, you can do that too. If you want to make a custom mount for something, just drill a hole. Homes look surprisingly good when all the furniture is custom -- floor-to-ceiling wall-to-wall bookcases, desks designed for what's on them, etc. -- even if it's just cheap construction wood. From there, you can move upscale. You can go quite far with Home Depot plywood sheets. Done well, they look great. I have a mix of fine woodworking pieces (which take a month or two to do), to things which take a couple hours to throw together. And it feels awesome once most of the furniture in your home is handmade. And it's a much better use of space. Get a few 2x4s, a pair of cordless drills, some nice screws, a circular saw, a carpenter's square, a tape measure, and safety glasses and you're good to go to get started. If you want to step it up a notch, get a random orbital sander, proper guides, (GOOD) clamps, a router, and a jigsaw. If you can at all afford it, buy NICE tools. Better beats more. I'd rather have a good Bosch cordless circular saw and drill than a full kit of Walmart toolkit. And they'll cost less in the long run, with less damaged work pieces, and fewer broken tools. Also, Youtube videos are great. So are online woodworking forums. Classes are nice if you can afford them, but hardly necessary.

bardworx 6y ago
You probably know what you're doing but for a beginner, 2x4 isn't a good choice because: 1. 2x4 are not 2" x 4" and when you start, you make a lot of assumptions that land you in hot water. 2. A beginner will not know what does "green" vs. "klin" mean and will have a hard time getting anything to be straight. 3. Construction lumber is made for construction and not interior use because of many different factors. I would highly recommend choosing poplar 1x8 boards (they will neither be perfectly 1 inch in thickness nor 8 inches in width but close). They are easy to work with because poplar is soft, even though it called a "hardwood". And the wood takes paint and stain very well. Also, with poplar, your list of beginner tools will be spot on. You wouldn't even need much more and I'm confident that I can put together a good enough kit for under $250 by using only corded tools and an extension cord.
- Robotbeat 6y ago
  I’ve been using 2x4s (1.5” by 3.5”) as a beginner, and I’m happy so far. They’re a very nice, convenient shape for a lot of things and aren’t very heavy and are very cheap.
- wegs 6y ago
  1. Precisely! When you run into catches like actual versus nominal dimensions, you don't want to be working with a $40 piece of wood, but a $5 piece of wood. When you're wrong, you toss it and try again. Or you unscrew it and try again. 2. That's okay! If it's not quite straight or square, it's really fine for most pieces. Unless you've really s-ed up, you won't be able to tell. 3. I have plenty of pieces of furniture made from construction wood, especially in the kids' room, and they do just fine. Kids grow fast, and an elementary school table won't be what we want in middle school. Heck, we might want something different if and when hobbies change. The point is to make a bunch of pieces quickly, and to develop the technique to be able to: * Make a (roughly) perpendicular screw hole without having the wood splinter on the opposite side, and perhaps with a proper countersink hole * (roughly) cut a piece of wood to length, with a (roughly) square edge * Get intuition for the order to measure/cut/assemble pieces so everything fits * ... and so on. There's a bunch of mechanical skills (like making a square cut) and spatial reasoning skills to develop. The best way to do this is to do it over, and over, and over many times. Once past that stage, poplar is ideal. Starting out, make as much stuff as you can as quickly and cheaply as you can. Even now, I'll sometimes cut a piece of wood to the wrong length, and I've been doing this a long time. The first few pieces? Forgetaboutit.

ragebol 6y ago

Just get started, really. Start small, make the same thing twice: one for learning, another with the lessons for the first. I will not claim to be a good woodworker, I recently made https://preview.redd.it/oyg8onja3ll51.jpg?width=4608&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=767f2a1c0376188ca9b6270b4113fe0007166964 https://preview.redd.it/oyg8onja3ll51.jpg?width=4608&format=... which I'm quite happy with. Some rough edges. I do not consider myself particularly handy, but just get started. And watch a bunch YouTube videos for tips. Tools used: cordless drill, saw, tape measure, 90 deg angle thingy, some clamps, 45deg angle cutting template block. I had the wood panels sawed at the DIY store, so no need for a table saw. I think all the tools used can be had for a few hundred euros. EDIT: I think the hardest part of this is imagining how to put everything together, do the accurate measurements or design things in a way that you can tolerate less accuracy. I learned a ton making this, would do it differently next time, but both had fun doing it and now have a nice pillow box. People tell me "I didn't know you were so handy". Well, me neither.

Loughla 6y ago
>I think the hardest part of this is imagining how to put everything together, do the accurate measurements or design things in a way that you can tolerate less accuracy. Woodworking is a lesson and exercise in planning and preparation, more than anything else. The actual skills used are fairly basic hand-eye coordination. But the planning. Oh the planning. You absolutely have to see the steps laid out to completion, one at a time, when you start. Otherwise you cannot even begin the project with hopes of finishing. I'm fairly certain there's a metaphor in there somewhere, but it's early in the day.
- ragebol 6y ago
  The Dutch saying is 'good tools are half the work' and there is another saying 'A good plan is half the work', so with a good plan and good tools, you're already done...

Jaruzel 6y ago

> presumably by taking classes at a technical college? Trial and Error is all you need. I've never formally trained myself in woodworking and I'm pretty good at it. I could definately replicate what this guy did if I had the time and money. My wife and I have a book collection that currently lives on eight 2.5 metre high by 1 metre wide Oak bookcases that fully line two walls of our living room (which we call the Library). Each unit has 8 shelves (so 64 metres-ish of book space). All built by my fair hand. The trick is to plan, and to plan well. being able to mock things up in a basic CAD package is a must. I use an old copy of Sketchup (the offline version) and it does me. After that it's tools. Bad tools make for a bad job. If you can, spend money on good tools, but only buy what you need for that job. After a few years, you'll have a workshop full of nice kit that enables you to tackle anything. Once you learn what your tools can do, you suddenly realise how many projects are now accessible. It's a bit like getting a 3D printer and realising how many things you can now build or fix! Finally, measure twice and cut once. This is your mantra. Accuracy is everything. If you are not sure, cut the wood slightly too big and trim off until it fits - it's easy to make a bit of wood smaller, it's impossible to make it bigger. I've also designed, built and fitted our kitchen (that's all Oak also), and the desk units in the study (where I'm typing this) plus numerous other projects to long to list. If I could give up IT and do woodworking everyday, I would.

contingencies 6y ago
I use an old copy of Sketchup (the offline version) and it does me. Blender and FreeCAD are both good open source options. You can also alternatively draw an SVG in Inkscape, import in to one or the other, then 3D extrude it.
- TheAdamAndChe 6y ago
  For those who have never used these tools, they are very good but have an _extremely_ steep learning curve. If you just want to make stuff but see this software as a roadblock, you can still accomplish a lot with good old pen-and-paper.
  - 6y ago

bipson 6y ago

Woodworking is one of those "skills" that might seem so unapproachable, and yet the learning curve is quite steep (in the technical sense). I'm nowhere near a master and make a lot of stupid mistakes. But my relatives think I'm worrying to much about those, nobody notices, nobody cares besides me. But next time I do the same thing again, I know. If it really counts or is entirely botched I just redo the piece. Wood is similar to clay. You just try by sawing pieces in two smaller pieces, start to grind them, then come different sawing tools and techniques, then finishing (oil, laquer, etc.), then routing... Obviously you start with smaller, simpler things. And in contrast to what others said: Don't be afraid of mistakes. A dent is just a dent, the piece is supposed to "live" anyway. Your kids will put their teeth in soon. And a piece of wood can be replaced cheaply (don't start with ridiculously expensive hard woods obviously). You can always cut a new one.

sgt 6y ago
There's also something to be said about woodworking and making things meant for garage, behind the house, tool shed etc, a lot of the times it doesn't even need to look good, as long as it is sturdy. Exposed screws or metal brackets can be fine. Not sanding a surface may be perfectly in order.

ptasker 6y ago

I started looking up plans online and built a bench and table. From there I've built various other pieces of furniture - tables, benches, shelves etc. It's mostly as others have said, trial and error. Wood is pretty forgiving, especially soft woods like pine/spruce/cedar. It's mostly just finding plans and ideas online and YouTube. Then taking your time. Like anything else, you have to enjoy it. I personally like how different it is from programming. Definitely worth it for me, higher_quality_furniture++

lsiunsuex 6y ago

Not wood working, but I remodeled almost my entire last house. 1 kitchen, 1 bathroom, 2 bedrooms, a hallway and minor work to the dining room and family room. These were complete guts down to the studs with new windows, doors, electrical, plumbing, insulation. Expense wise, you need quite a few tools and obviously materials. Doors I always went with solid core doors (vs hollow) and double pane windows. We used fiber glass insulation and drywall was appropriate to the room (water proof drywall in the kitchen / bathroom, regular in the rooms) always at least a half inch. Demolition was fun if not exhausting (plaster and lath walls). Neighbors took the original doors to match existing builds. Took time to get good at mudding the joints to get them smooth. I did the electrical; sub contracted out for plumbing. I don't mind electrocuting myself lol, but a leak in plumbing and you can throw all of your work out. Dad (who has experience) helped and I learned a lot from him (especially on cutting trim and tile). Otherwise watching a ton of home improvement shows; youtube videos; etc... All of it is totally doable; just need to take your time, measure 20 times, cut once, etc... My favorite work was masonry - I built a brick pizza oven 1 year; then a concrete block planting wall with a fireplace in it the following year. Can't say I want to do it again; took all 8 years before we divorced and she kept it to get everything but 1 bedroom done; but if I have to when I buy my next house, I know I can and how.

heelix 6y ago
We did our bathrooms, and learning the plumbing aspect was probably the most interesting still addition for me. My father in-law taught me how to do copper pipe soldering, and stupervised the upstairs plumbing. Feeling emboldened, I ordered a shower kit off of Amazon. Ye gods... the 4 head unit came with a tin template and a 'good luck'. Ended up putting together a 4 head double loop with pressure equalization.... after many, many attempts. After those projects, I'm reasonably OK with it. Will be using coper piping when the zen 3 threadrippers finally hit the store.
ErrantX 6y ago
Agree with all of this. People act really shocked at the level of DIY I get up to, but really the main secret is having a go. You can definitely get as close to as good a finish as a pro, it just takes longer and is more fun for you! The current project is a home office from scratch; which basically meant learning how to build a wood frame building. YouTube is a wonderful resource! (First fit is done, plastering next)

ajmarsh 6y ago

Start simple. Find a project on YouTube that looks interesting and go for it. For the tools yeah they can be expensive. For me I buy v1 at Harbor Freight for cheap. If I use it enough to break it time for v2 from Snap-On, Dewalt, Milwaukee. First project I ever did was a workbench. It's a great first project as you can use it for all of your future projects. Have fun.

uptown 6y ago

I've built plenty of stuff. Basically, trial and error and a fair amount of watching YouTube videos to make sure I'm not going to remove a finger using a new tool. I've built a gate for our deck, a bench and seating system for an entryway, some shelves for a pantry, planter boxes, a huge sandbox for our kids, but I think I'm most proud of the farm table I made out of reclaimed hemlock. It's 100" x 46.5" and my family uses it everyday: https://i.redd.it/e0yrn0g1jpp01.jpg https://i.redd.it/e0yrn0g1jpp01.jpg Apart from the safety issues of tools - or the potential waste of materials if you make a wrong cut -- it's really a very satisfying hobby for anyone who enjoys solving problems, working with their hands, and seeing something progressively come together.

mauvehaus 6y ago

It's just like software, honestly. You start with "hello world", not a 3D game or a TCP/IP stack. I build furniture, which has surprisingly little overlap with carpentry, which TFA is much closer to. To be clear, I'm not saying one is better or worse, but they are different. I got started down that path taking a basic hand tools class, which in turn started not with "here's a bit of wood", but "here's a grinder and some sharpening stones". After getting our planes acceptably sharp, then we learned how to take a piece of rough lumber and turn it into a board with two flat, parallel faces, two edges parallel and square to the faces, and two ends square to the faces and edges. We (eventually) progressed to joinery from there. It was sort of the Learn Python the Hard Way of woodworking: if you don't learn the basic steps and skip right to something cool, you're forever dependent on somebody else doing the basic stuff for you and accepting what you can get (milling the lumber, in this case). Or you have to go back and learn it anyway. To quote Raney Nelson[0]: "If you cannot already do the machine's job by hand, the machine will outwit you." I try to avoid milling lumber by hand because it would be a surefire way to lose money hand over fist on most projects, but it's a good skill to have when your boards are bigger than your jointer. If you don't want to spend money on a class, there are infinite youtube videos. What you lose learning that way is somebody watching what you're doing and telling you why you aren't getting what you want done. Getting into the tools is something you can do pretty incrementally and inexpensively if you are willing to put some time into it. There are plenty of excellent old Stanley planes out there for $40 to $70. Buy pre-war. The quality dropped off afterwards as power tools got cheap. If you take the time to learn how to tune one up, you'll know your tool better than if you spend a couple hundred bucks on a Lie-Nielsen or a Veritas (which are both excellent tools, let me be clear) or ~$170 on a new import (Wood River, Bench Dog, whatever. No experience, no opinion). The US-made Buck Brothers chisels at Home Depot are decent steel and a steal at the price of ~$15 a piece. The modern Stanley Sweethearts are a good middle of the road choice (I own a set; I'll upgrade them piecemeal as I need to). You can spend as much or as little on saws as you want to. I have a $15 Husky from Home Depot I use occasionally, and a Lie-Nielsen dovetail saw I spent an order of magnitude more on. They both cut, but the LN is worth sharpening when it gets dull. The layout and sharpening tools are worth spending money on. You can get a decent combination square for $40 (anything that's $15 at your local hardware store is crap. A $100 Mitutoyo or Starrett is worth the investment if you're in it for the long haul), a decent marking gauge for a similar price, and a decent marking knife for under $40. Figure $120 for the basics. Another roughly $40 for a Shinwa sliding bevel (again, hardware store stuff is crap) for angled work, and you're pretty well covered for the basics. For sharpening, a craigslist grinder will probably cover your needs for $50 or under. You certainly don't need a Baldor, and you don't need slow speed. Any 7" or 8" grinder will do. And then spend what you want to on oil stones, water stones, or a piece of glass and some sandpaper/emery paper. They all do the same thing, and a discussion of the tradeoffs is outside the scope of this thread. My first "workbench" at home was a stupidly cheap IKEA table. I screwed 1/4" MDF into the legs to keep it from racking, and a use a couple clamps in lieu of a vise. It sucked, and it was slow, but you can get work done on it if you want to. Starting with an inexpensive set of tools, you can get a lot done. Build a couple things from the canon of absolute beginner projects: A bird house, a tool box, etc. Build them slowly and intentionally, focusing on precision. Get a copy of The Anarchist's Design Book[1] and pick a project out of there (the staked furniture projects will require a few additional tools), any of the excellent books on Shaker furniture, or a subscription to Fine Woodworking or Popular Woodworking. Pick a project or two from there and build it. The joinery that holds wood together hasn't fundamentally changed in literally thousands of years[2]. I don't mean to be flippant about this, but Jesus was a carpenter, and while he had a lot of firsts, working in wood wasn't one of them. So yeah, we're talking maybe $600-$800 all-in on tools to get started. That's more than an iPhone SE, but less than a Mac Mini. The tools will last several lifetimes: my newest Stanley plane was built during WWII. Is that expensive? It depends on how you look at it, I guess. Was it worth it for me? I mean, I do it for money now instead of writing code. The pay is a lot worse, but I'm fortunate to be married to somebody who is better paid, we leave cheaply, and I love what I do. [0] https://www.daedtoolworks.com/lounge-against-the-machine-daedlab-commandments-1-and-2/ https://www.daedtoolworks.com/lounge-against-the-machine-dae... [1] https://lostartpress.com/collections/books/products/the-anarchists-design-book https://lostartpress.com/collections/books/products/the-anar... [2] http://www.sci-news.com/archaeology/article00788.html http://www.sci-news.com/archaeology/article00788.html

codingdave 6y ago

I'm a bad woodworker. My furniture has bad joints, gaps between pieces of wood. I don't use good wood. I do a poor job painting or staining it... and everyone still just sits down on my chairs and says, "This is so cool that you make your own furniture." Start small, start bad, improve on each project... and give it time.

adulion 6y ago
Amen I built my daughter a rocking horse- any woodworker or trades person looking at closely would chuck it in the bin as the joins are slightly off and the seat isnt symetrical but when i posted a photo of it on instagram or showed it to anyone- my friends where sharing it and people where commenting on it saying wow asking could i build one for them
mabbo 6y ago
I think this is wisdom that applies very generally, to more than just physical things we make. Thanks.
bregma 6y ago
Beckett's famous "fail better" is broadly instructive.
Loughla 6y ago
Woodworking is one of those skills where you can see literally every flaw about your finished product, because you know what greatness looks like and you cannot achieve it. And nobody will notice but you, and maybe another woodworker. But generally they're nice enough not to say anything mean. I like it because it keeps me humble. Just when I believe I have the largest amount of domain knowledge related to my job, and just when people are starting to view me as an expert. . . . The god-damned half blind dovetails don't fit, and I know I made them right. I KNOW I DID.
- mrlala 6y ago
  Can't upvote this enough!! And there's no freaking undo button with wood.. it's mentally challenging to not freak out about every little mistake. Over time I'm learning to get better about this, but it's rough.

rytis 6y ago

As everyone is saying - just go for it. Also, sometimes "difficult" or "complicated" things aren't really that difficult or complicated. Also, don't pay too much attention to some of the "elitist" videos/tutorials. Pockethole joins aren't for real woodworkers? It holds two pieces of wood, looks neat, and is very simple to achieve, so I'm going to go for it, "real" woodworking or not.

ejs 6y ago

I'm somewhat obsessed in woodworking but got into it the same way I was drawn to programming - just making things. Like most things if you expect the first thing you make to be any good it'll be a hard road.

bardworx 6y ago

All of these comments are good and provide value, my "take" wouldn't add to the conversation. However, I did notice that no brought up that at the beginning, you can compensate your lack of skill by spending more time on the project. The difference between a novice and professional is efficiency. Good tools will aid in efficiency but not always necessary. A simple box will take a beginner several days, an intermediary a day, and a craftsperson a few hours. Substitute your lack of knowledge and tools by spending more time on quadruple checking everything, making good marks, and always doubting yourself.

deleted 6y ago

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iamthepieman 6y ago

I got into woodworking when I was 11. I checked out a library book about making wooden toys and used a simple hand scroll saw my dad had kicking around to make some of the wooden animal figurines for my younger siblings. Then I started making swords, daggers and shields since I was interested in all things knights and castles. I saved up and bought a cheap, underpowered Craftsmen jigsaw and my production output increased. Then my parents bought an old farmhouse and had it renovated. I shadowed some of the carpenters and learned a lot. When I was 17 I asked to work for a local furniture shop that made reproduction furniture. I told the owner that I would do anything, sweep the floors, clean the windows as long as I got to be in proximity to the equipment and expertise in the shop. Eventually I graduated from sweeping the floors to milling lumber, sanding case pieces, gluing up panels and then making full pieces of furniture. I was going to go to a technical school for fine woodworking but decided computer science would be a better career. I still miss having a shop.

steve_adams_86 6y ago
Your story is a lot like mine! Computer science was so hard to turn away from back then. I don’t think I regret leaving wood working as a career, but I do wonder sometimes. I actually enjoyed it. Except in winter - the shop was always freezing cold, haha. We’d sticker lumber for the kiln in the rain for days or weeks sometimes. Something I was really into before leaving was the CNC machine. I think I could have enjoyed getting to know and using that thing.

steve_adams_86 6y ago

I grew up around wood working. Or really all kinds of working of everything from wood to metal to plastics. My dad was handy. I left childhood with a decent understanding of how to build things. After moving out I started to miss it and took a job working an entry level job at a joinery. We made cabinetry, some furniture, doors, windows - even made flooring and custom trim in the mill. It was fun, and I learned a lot that I hadn’t as a kid. I taught myself to program while working there and took a job doing that instead after a few years. I missed it again and began buying tools around 8 years ago. At first I used hand tools only and build small projects. I’d focus on learning techniques at first, and tried to really nail down my understanding of the fundamentals. I learned to select not only the right wood for assorted projects, but how to do so based on factors like species and moisture content. Eventually I had too many kids to have time to be productive with hand tools. I enjoyed the activity, but actually getting projects done became too hard. Since I make things my family uses, I decided to grab a table saw, planer, and jointer. These are sort of the trifecta of woodworking productivity. You can machine milled lumber to spec very quickly and easily. Make a cut list, machine it, cut to length, and start building. My most recent project was a bed frame. Even with nice lumber and quite a bit of it, the project came in around $1800 - at least half of what we were looking at if we ordered it. Other recent projects have been bunk beds, a bench for our home entrance, shoe racks, a toy chest, and a kitchen island. If I was starting over again I’d learn the fundamentals first and then not hesitate to invest in power tools after. Buy used and learn about basic maintenance. I had a sort of purist bent for a while which really just kept me from making stuff me and my family loved. Hand tools are fun, but so hard to work with quickly if you aren’t very skilled with them. I highly recommend the hobby if you’re interested. It’s been a lifelong thing for me. Holding your own work in your hands is very grounding. Solving and working with physical problems is extremely engaging. For me, wood working and gardening are two productive activities that (not joking) really make me feel alive and connected to something. Programming is great, but it doesn’t do that. My next project is a speargun to replace the one I currently dive with. I’m very excited to build it.

ip26 6y ago

Setting aside cost, space is also something of an issue. A couple power saws and a cloud of sawdust will happily consume a small garage. Even if the saw itself is small, maneuvering a large piece of work through the saw requires clearance.

pawelk 6y ago

I started when we bought our first house and there wasn't much money left for kitchen furniture. But we needed a kitchen, so I decided to get some big box store pine, hinges, drawer slides etc to build some temporary cabinets. I didn't know much and I made many mistakes, but the kitchen I built lasted us... 7 years, and is gone now mainly because we're renovating the whole house. All the tools I had back then were a cordless drill, two hand saws, some chisels and a sander. You don't need much and you should only buy new equipment if the project requires it. Also I did not "design" anything, just did some sketches on paper then improvised on the spot. Woodworking instantly became my hobby and after watching some Youtube videos - including ALL of Paul Sellers videos - I made a decision to go the unplugged route. If I were to start over I'd read a book about the basic principles of woodworking and joinery, especially how the wood behaves and how to apprloach it. I sort of got all of this by intuition, however an introductory book would be a better start. Also I should have mastered sharpening way earlier in my journey.

greedo 6y ago
I too used Paul Sellers as a guide when I started up, but it's important to realize that he isn't really unplugged. He shows you how you can do it unplugged, but he uses a wide variety of power tools for "monkey work" as he calls it. This includes jointers, planers, and bandsaws (though he demonstrates that tool explicitly). Unless you're able to get wood already S4S, unplugged is a helluva lot of work.
- pawelk 6y ago
  I'm well aware that Paul Sellers uses machine milled / planed / dimensioned lumber. I am quite comfortable starting with rough sawn boards straight off the mill (I'm not crazy enough to re-saw logs by hand). Yes, it requires effort and depending on the size of the project I will either use S4S wood or rip, flatten and true boards by hand. However if I were to have machines in my shop I'd get a bandsaw first, then a jointer/planer. I'm mostly limited by physical space, not self-imposed constraints, although it is very fulfilling to build something without electricity.
mauvehaus 6y ago

beervirus 6y ago

You can learn everything you need to know from YouTube videos. Start small with some hand tools, and it won't cost much. If it's something you enjoy, buy more tools as you discover you need them. It's a fantastic hobby.

jtap 6y ago

My father had a couple duplexes, and I learned to hack stuff together pretty well there. But I did take a class at Woodcraft that was pretty nicely done about 10 years ago. It was a simple course over a few nights. I learned a couple woodworking tricks that upped my game, but there were a couple beginners. Hopefully Woodcraft will start having classes again once things start opening up again. If so signup and they will teach you how to use the basic tools and more importantly you will walk away with a bit of confidence and knowledge on how to fix mistakes.

mtalantikite 6y ago

I built a huge built in bookshelf for my wife, just without all the lighting like this article. I had very little experience with woodworking and did all sorts of things wrong at first, but just adopted an attitude of play with it. It took nearly a month to get all the oak that I needed ordered and delivered (who knew there was huge demand for oak from artisanal whiskey distillers), so in that time I just spent hours watching YouTube videos, sketching things out, getting tools I needed, etc. The process wasn’t much different than when I’m building a software system, it’s just a different medium. After the bookshelves I felt comfortable redoing my entire kitchen, including doing the plumbing. Just be fine with things taking you an entire afternoon that might take a person with experience an hour. I’d say just play around with it, realize there will be many frustrating unanticipated things that come up as a beginner, and get curious about solving the problems that crop up!

hindsightbias 6y ago

Woodworking does require a bit of equipment, room and expense. In the US, there was a bit of a resurgence decades back and the New Yankee Workshop inspired many. https://www.newyankee.com/ https://www.newyankee.com/ While I don’t have space for a shop so not a woodworker, I think I could do many of those projects. I’ve done more carpentry, first volunteering with Habitat for Humanity decades back, then helping friends restore their old homes, picking up skills and eventually building a small timberframe after taking a class. The first time you do anything, it will come out badly but like anything it’s just practice, reading books, watching experts. For woodworking, it really is important to read about woods and finishes up front. So many people buy all the equipment and make projects but don’t know how to assess wood or just slap on whatever finish from the corner store. Beautiful work, looks like crap. There are countless restoration channels on YT with a wealth of experience that you would not ever learn on your own.

kls 6y ago
It really does not have to, equipment is a tradeoff for time. The ancient civilizations produced a lot of masterpieces with simple hand tools. Not to mention the French periods of fine furniture such as Louis XIII which was the late 1500's IIRC. You can do a lot with hand tools, power tools just save you a lot of time. Much of the old furniture was built with a handsaw, hand drill, planners and chisels. You could reasonably build nice things with just those, but you are going to spend months rather than weeks doing it with those tools.

munificent 6y ago

It is expensive in both time and money, yes. But what better way to spend than on creating something meaningful that others can use?

dr_orpheus 6y ago

I have been doing some woodworking for the past couple years now (still very much an amateur). My woodworking started with making some standing bottle openers as presents (kind of like these [0]). All it required was some cheap pine, a bit of stain, a sander and a saw (I used my dad's table saw, but you could just use a hand saw). I have since made some various pieces of furniture, odds and ends like random shelves around my house and some cutting boards. My advice: - Hand tools are a great place to start, they are cheap they don't take up much room, they don't make too much noise and dust. Working with hand tools can be pretty relaxing, and can also be a good workout (which could be a bonus or a negative). I do have a decent collection of power tools now but still not everything. The power tools I use the most are drill, miter saw, circular saw, and sander. - Check craigslist often, both for cheap (sometimes free) wood and for cheap tools. - You can make something really cool out of something else. I made a kitchen island out of some old wall cabinets and a butcher block I got off craigslist. I also made a pirate ship wheel out of old stair spindles and a garden hose reel. This allowed me to try out skills on a bigger project while using someone else's work to kind of start from. I didn't have to first learn how to make cabinets or learn to turn wood on a lathe. - Youtube is your friend you can learn how to do almost anything. The maker channels are great but often times they do have a lot of specialized expensive power tools. The "This Old House" youtube channel [1] is pretty good and has a lot of good basics. Also "Woodworking for Mere Mortals" [2] as the name implies is also good at showing how you get things done without investing in super expensive specialized tools. - You will always notice the mistakes you have made, but hardly anyone else will. And you will make mistakes, I have made plenty and there are still plenty in my "finished" products. - Routers are super cool tools and with the different bits you can get you can make awesome professional looking patterns. I got my router and a set of bits off craigslist as well, but there are some cheap options out there. [0] https://www.etsy.com/listing/174667441/personalized-wood-bottle-opener-with-cap?ref=sr_gallery_40&ga_search_query=personalized+beer+opener&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_ship_to=US&ga_ref=auto4&ga_search_type=all https://www.etsy.com/listing/174667441/personalized-wood-bot... [1] https://www.youtube.com/user/thisoldhouse https://www.youtube.com/user/thisoldhouse [2] https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBB7sYb14uBtk8UqSQYc9-w https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBB7sYb14uBtk8UqSQYc9-w

gcheong 6y ago

Depending on where you live you might be able to find classes through different groups, not just a technical college. For example, here in San Francisco, the Randall Museum has a fully equipped shop and several levels of woodworking classes.