Just curious, how old were you when you started “wood working”. At what point did it become a real hobby, when did you really start learning the details and intricacies of it all? How did you get into it, were you self taught ,or did you start the learning process though someone else? Finnaly, how long have you been at it at what point did you become confident in your abilities to where you felt you “knew” what you were doing?
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long, long ago on a planet . . .
My introduction to woodworking, probably at the age of 8 or so, was also through my father, who managed a large, old-style hardware store that carried a little of almost everything, including being a "full-line" Delta dealer. That meant that the store had at least one of every machine Delta made in stock. He taught me the basics of using hand tools, and would allow me to use his Delta scroll saw on occasion. Woodworking didn't really become a hobby, though, until I was in my 20s, when I had my own house and started to buy my own tools. That was almost 50 years ago.
For me, "confidence" has been a tool-by-tool adventure. That is, each tool has its own set of capabilities (and, dangers) that need to be learned before becoming proficient in its application. It is by grouping these learning experiences that one is able to accomplish something useful. Learning more tools allows for more complex projects. The learning has been mostly a matter of self-teaching, combined with reading and experimentation. The failed efforts of experimentation have served to keep the confidence level at a realistic level.
12
Twelve. I started making Toys for Joys cars and trucks. No one taught me, I learned as I went. From there I got into small pieces of furniture. I thought I was going to be a shop teacher when I grew up but I went to school for business and graduated with a bachelors degree in Marketing. Today I'm a sales rep in the building industry with the dream of opening up my own furniture making studio.
.
One of my favorite parts of Fine Woodworking magazine these days is the Contributors page where the authors of the articles are introduced.
You should pick up The Woodshop News. They have in depth interviews with people who make a living from woodworking.
In my case it is almost too silly to recount
Excellent thread you have started here ! ! !
I hope it continues. One of my favorite parts of Fine Woodworking magazine these days is the Contributors page where the authors of the articles are introduced. I would like to see more in depth/full articles along those lines.
I must say I am posting here and posting photos here not because I am much of a woodworker or that the photos or what is in the photos is grand in anyway. I am posting for two reasons; first that it will give perspective to the scale of how far beyond me others here have gone and secondly because it will give you blighters something to look at and make fun of until the real craftspeople get their posts together. After all I think that is why many, if not most , of us come there; too have something to look at that has to do with woodworking. That is the case with me at least.
How old ?
Hmmmm that is hard to say. Very hard in deed. I used to watch my father do basic work with wood and masonite. He was a Steam Fitter not a woodworker. I heard tell he knew how to build a real farm barn and had done that when he was young. Long before I came along.
He was very meticulous and was able to do what ever he attempted well. Mostly what he liked to do given free rein was enjoy his back yard and his beagle hound so there was not a lot of extra furniture being built by him. When my mom said build a block wall around the patio it wasn't long before there was a very nice, very nice in deed , low wall around the patio etc.
Other than that it was supply missions to the grocery store for chicken gizzards for the hound. He was a great dog ! Deserved every one of 'em. Had epilepsy.
So it wasn't then . . . hmmm
Struggled through the crafts classes in Jr High. Wasn't then. Nope nope
I could not get into metal class in High School ; told (every year for four years ) it was full and next year then for sure I could get in.
I now believe the G** *****d councilor had an agenda to put as many students in literature classes as she could. That is where I always ended up when I returned the blank class selection sheet, with the single metal shop item selected, after yet another snow job and said " other wise put me where you like". School counselors should be XXXXXX on sight that's my take . . .
[ EDIT ] I originally used a term involving small mechanical devices best described in bore diameters and muzzle velocities but upon reflection on current events, not wanting any poor innocent students to be lead astray down a path of wrong doing and as a result to be confined for long periods, anymore than they have been already behind the walls of "learning", I will change my suggestion to the following:
When a school councilor is discovered in the wild they should be immediately netted and sent to a retraining facility so they may then lead a less infuriating life and provide a USEFUL function in society. Perhaps as a refuse engineer. Yes, that would be a much more valuable contribution to society. Much, much, more valuable.
But I am not ANGRY or any thing. ): ( Grrrrrrrrr ! ! ! ! ! aahhhh ! ! ! ! ! No I am alright. I'm fine. iiiiiitttt"ssss ok reeallly.
Where was I ? Oh yah . . .
Well my mentor wanted full butcher block kitchen counters and a cantilevered breakfast table built through one wall and opening into the living room. He traded me top of the line pro bicycle racing components (the same model the winner of the Tour de France used that year) for the work and paid for the wood. So I took wood shop out of sheer madness just to get away from more damned literature classes. So here I am in a wood working class.
It was not a good omen when the shop teacher hand drew his handouts and he couldn't draw to save his life. The art teacher was one door down but could they talk? noooooo !
I didn't learn squat about wood working. I made allot of mistakes and some how finished the counters. Solid. Three inch thick. Did I mention 3" SOLID. Pine with sap running out of places in the wood. (all underneath) The heaviest counters in the world ! Why the instructor couldn't say here; this is stupid make it thinner with a wide border so it appears to be thick I do not know. We actually got along well and I liked him and he treated me fine. But oh well.
No . . . I was a complete disaster in wood shop in high school. I built a few things; counters for my mentor and the tool box shown. The tool box has so many mistakes that I then had to "fix". Fun. See photos bellow. I cut wood but it wasn't smart or pretty to watch. No in deed, not at all pretty to watch.
>how old were you when you started "wood working".<
So it wasn't at that point that I began woodworking. At this stage it was more like . . .
I had developed the ability, when I was working in a wood shop, to scare people who knew anything about woodworking. Not a desirable trait for anyone involved.
OK I figure I have no talent . . . what . . . so . . . ever . . . for wood working of any kind and avoided it like the plague for like twenty years.
>how old were you when you started "wood working".<
It was around 1998 or '99. That was it. I said to my self "it is now time to learn woodworking ".
I was unemployed except for a crappy part time job. I was about to get a "good" job but was waiting until they built the new building. I needed like ten thousand dollars worth of SnapOn tool cabinets for personal mechanics tools. I think "hey I could set up a wood shop for that much money and make them my self; bearing slides and all". annnnddddd I want to learn to cut dovetails. I am a precision metal worker! Wood working will be a cake walk! Why not!
That was when I went over to the metal working vise, see photo of free standing vise on end of pillar. Yah that's me. Head in a book. Can't get away from the damned things !
I put a hunk of 3/4 x 3" ( or what ever bloody size it was. Measuring it won't tell you. Still drives me nuts ! ! ! ). Any way put the wood in the vise and "laid out" some dovetails to cut with my hacksaw.
Yah . . . maybe next time it will go better.
: (
There was that readers digest book at my mothers house called Crafts. I remember being impressed with the chapter on woodworking. "(I wonder if it is still there?)" . Sure enough, it was ! That helped a lot. At least I had a clue about all the things I did not know how to do yet.
"A man with potential is one who does not know and knows he does not know." or something like that.
It was, and is, NOT a cake walk ! I am not a natural wood worker. I struggle with it. It is complex beyond my wildest dreams. I love doing it (NOW ) but it does not come easy. Completed projects do not come fast.
In my case it invokes visions of the water skiing squirrel.
No . . . more like watching a fish that has suddenly decided today it will take a walk on the beach. Onlookers observing this spectacle may be divided on whether to throw me back or put me out of my misery. I seem to recall there was a general consensus not to let me have access to anything sharp.
If it weren't for books and magazines and videos I would have never been able to do the simplest thing. I know because I failed a lot.
In reflecting I see I am still imbalanced toward the literary . . . I feel very fortunate to have discovered the keys to woodworking, a castle I hadn't really intended to find or enter when I found the key, forty years ago back in high school . . . still . . .
don't mention high school and we will get along juuuust fine. The literature was even sick and twisted and SUCKED. But I am not angry or anything. : )
>at what point did you become confident in your abilities to where you felt you "knew" what you were doing?<
When I learned to sharpen a hand saw so it would cut the way I needed it to cut (not bind, not jump and grab and so it would cut in a straight line ).
The last thing I would add is I will never Master this craft. It is too big. For me though that is kind of one of the beauties of it. More to learn . . . always . . . more to learn !
Ah yes I used to get a copy of that now and again.
mvflaim,
> The Woodshop News<
Not sure why I stopped.
OK Nathan Your Turn
How old were you when you started "wood working"?
At what point did it become a real hobby?
When did you really start learning the details and intricacies of it all?
How did you get into it, were you self taught ,or did you start the learning process though someone else?
How long have you been at it?
What point did you become confident in your abilities to where you felt you "knew" what you were doing?
We showed you ours now you show us yours
Long ago
I was four or five when I first started building a ladder and climbing for the sky. It failed. It did not discourage me from doing more.
In seventh grade I had a shop class and made things, a book case and turned candle sticks. I liked it. I was good at it for a kid.
During my school years I made models, followed plans using balsa wood glue and tissue paper. We don't talk much here about woodworking and model making, but it helps you learn how to put things together.
During my 20's I made doll houses and interesting furniture for my use. I still have most of it and some of it is still interesting work. And then I worked on buildings, helped remodeling houses, finishing a house and building a garage.
So there was an inclination for woodworking and a familiarity with tools that lay mostly fallow for decades. Now approaching retirement, I can afford the interesting wood and a few extra tools that make better woodworking more interesting. I have picked up skills. bit I am an amateur. Like when I played guitar, I know enough to be truly amazed by the work of people who are really good.
Peter
My first woodworking memory is of an injury I incurred when I was maybe 4-5yrs old. I was in the farm workshop, and had clamped a piece of pine in the blacksmith's post vise and was shaving it down with a drawknife. Wanting more height, and leverage, I climbed up onto the bench, sat down, and propped my right foot against the vise's post. Of course, with the very next stroke, I pulled the knife right into my shin. I carried that scar, and a notch in the bone, for years afterward.
I dropped out of college in 1971 to take a full time job in a shop near where I grew up that did restoration work on antiques and custom reproductions. Been woodworking for a living ever since.
Ray
Sorry it took me so long to get back to my own thread, projects are keeping me busy. Roc - You had me rolling through that guidance counselor part. Especially because my mom was my high school guidance counselor....
I never took any metal/wood shop classes in my youth, which I'm regretting at this point in my life. I live in Kodiak ,Alaksa now, and a couple of years ago I stumbled across a beach where there were tons and tons of heavy machinery and equipment dumped back in the 40's and 50's, the steel has ben rolling around in the salt water since and is all heavily coroded and covered with a patina rust. I thought to myself, "hey I think I can make something cool with this junk...." and I have, mostly home and garden decor but I've had some success selling it. I kept working on new ideas and expanding on them by using different elements which led to incorporating driftwood into some projects. On my most recent project (finished pictures expected soon) I decided to try to use a piece of alder as part of a base for a bell that I've made, which lead me to this forum for some advice on working with the alder. This forum has been wonderful in providing that advice and the results so far have been exactly what I had in mind, which has also opened up a new world of wood working to me.
I've always had an attraction and respect for wood and the amzazing crafstmanship that goes into the beautiful things made from it, my two favorite posessions are an oak dining table my grandfather built and a 10" longboard surfboard made from cedar and sitka spruce strips. However, this project is my first time working with wood, and I have enjoyed it immensly. My reason for creating this post was to gain a better understanding of what the learning curve ahead of me is going to be like, and just how far behind the majority I am starting at 30 with no experience and this forum for "guidance... Bevel up beaks?!?"
Alaska you say ?
>mom was my high school guidance counselor.... <
Ahh; that was fortunate for you. It is a well know fact, at least among the school counselor watchers society (sort of along the lines of a bird watching society ) that the Alaskan varieties get more oxygen, due to all the trees and near total lack of internal combustion engines to suck the available oxygen up and spit it out as brain damaging compounds.
Yes, school counselors given access to vast quantities of fresh, well oxygenated air can behave for long periods as if they were normal, rational human beings. Makes them bloody hard to track or pick out of the local wild life for watchers.
The city variety, on the other hand, can be spotted right off due to the random circular patterns of the tracks they leave; ( interspersed with the blood of their young primate victims ) repeatedly crossing back over their old tracks and actually never achieving any real forward progress. Fortunately for them they tend to build their lairs near their prey and so the unsuspecting prey stumbles into the path of the counselor eventually. Poor devils.
: )
Careful, Nathan. I've been to the Alder more than once. Didn't turn out well. ;-)
Thanks for the warning but its a bit late, I'm done! Posted a pic in the finishing forum under the thread I started titled "advice on finishing" in order to not derail this thread too much
the other alder
I was making a marriage joke.
ahhh yes... got it, you'll have to excuse my friend- he's a little slow...
ahhh yes... got it, you'll have to excuse my friend- he's a little slow...
Thanks for the warning but its a bit late, I'm done! Posted a pic in the finishing forum under the thread I started titled "advice on finishing" in order to not derail this thread too much
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