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How did you learn woodworking?

19K views 80 replies 46 participants last post by  dwcon1431 
#1 ·


How did you learn (and continue to learn) woodworking?

Have you taken classes? Did you learn from a mentor?
 
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#4 ·
Probably did my first project at age eight with help from my dad. At age 70+ I'm still learning and I'm now in a race to see which expires first, my knowledge deficit or me. :laugh:
 
#5 ·
Pretty much have to give credit to the members here at the forum . Prior to joining here the most I really accomplished was a work bench and speaker enclosures .
I never knew about differant joints etc , and have had a great time learning .

I was merely looking for router table ideas , and when I googled the subject it brought me here . Fortunate for me , maybe not so for you guys lol
 
#7 ·
I did a handful of projects as a kid, nothing really exciting. The only power tools I could use were the jigsaw, drill and 1/3 sheet sander. My great uncle was a woodworker, and he had rooms in his house full of toys he had made to give away. I always wanted to do that as well.

In my college years I worked with some "more skilled" guys doing decks and fences, and the occasional home repairs on the weekends for extra cash. I didn't really get into the real woodworking until a handful of woodworking jobs were thrown my way at work. We were scrapping a ship, and I spent 4 hours a day for over 3 months making shipping crates for high value spare parts. It wasn't "fine woodworking", but it taught me a lot about design, layout, and working with limited tools. A lot of trial and error (mostly error) later, and I was hooked. Even scarier, I was soon being asked for advice from other woodworkers!

I took every woodworking magazine I could find to sea with me to study, and would try as many projects as I could in my time off at home. Norm, the Rosendahls, and a few others would continue my education on the tube. For a couple of years there was a woodworking video magazine and I would watch those DVD's over and over. The camera work was first rate, especially for the turning segments done by Dick Sing. It was like having a private lathe teacher.

I am thrilled to see all of the YouTube woodworkers, especially the ones who show their mistakes. Seeing the successful and unsuccessful techniques is an incredible training aid. Of course, some just scare the daylights out of me with their techniques.

I've been trying to make a point of getting my daughters into the workshop. I truly feel they need to be exposed to creating with their hands, in whatever way they feel comfortable. My youngest even wanted to take a turning class, and she truly enjoys the lathe.

We've had as many as 20 girls over for a Girl Scout woodworking badge night, and it's quick to see how fast they can get over their fear of the basic tools and want to learn more. If only 10% of them get the bug, there should be a new crop of woodworkers in the future!
 
#8 ·
Good on ya, Doug! You're the rare find.
I've been utterly dismayed at the lack of dad's volunteering at Cubs/Scouts. I think I understand some of the reasons why they don't, but as much as I admire the women for stepping up and picking up the slack, it's the guy thing that's missing. Young boys need male role models, not female ones. I don't mean that in a derogatory way at all, but it's true.
 
#10 ·
My Dad piddled with wood work occasionally. Nothing fancy......just functional. I am using his router in my projects now.....it's more than 45 years old. My Father in Law was a master wood craftsman. He taught me a lot about basic wood working tools. But I never had the confidence to put any of my instructions to use. I am also using one of my Father In Law's routers today. It too is over 45 years old.

Fast forward 18 years or so after these two great men have passed away. I am a college degreed machinist with a 37 year career with the same machine shop. I decided to try to make a cedar sign using the wood working tools I had. Crude as it was, I was still beaming with pride because I had used the tools and instructions of two great men to complete my first wood working project.

With a burning desire to get better, and a new lease on life, I turned to modern technology for help. I use Yourtube to study a lot of the great craftsmen and craftswomen out there. I have learned, and continue to learn from all of you. I am very good at stealing your designs and making them my own.......so warn me if they are copy righted, patented, etc. Because if I like it, I'm gonna try to make it! LOL

I will be retiring from my machine shop career in about 3 years and plan to open a full time custom wood sign shop. I have found my passion and can't wait to get into it every day after work.
 
#16 ·
Like most, by mistakes, mistakes and more mistakes. Trust me, I'm still learning and will probably never stop!
 
#18 ·
mistakes should only happen once...
there are way too many new ones out there to be tried...
 
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#17 ·
If the weather will permit, I hope I can make a few mistakes today. I need to make a shelf to hold a cassette deck under a desk. Yes, a cassette deck. Then I need to make a custom rack for a Panasonic AG1980 editing VCR, a Nakamichi Dragon cassette deck, a Tascam 32 reel-to-reel tape deck, and a turntable. How's that for a blast from the past?
 
#19 ·
I've mostly stumbled through attempts at making things for friends and family. I think that they hide them in the basement until they know I'm coming over, then bring them back out as if they had them on display all the time.

I've learned more about woodworking in the two or so years I've been in this forum than in the rest of my life put together. This is a good opportunity to say "Thanks!" to all who are so generous with their knowledge, creativity, and patience.
 
#20 ·
When I got out of the Navy in 65 I got a job in commercial construction. Then worked with my father in law (part time) doing remodeling. I got involved in a woodworking, wood turning and a carving club from there. Watched a lot of demo's at the club meetings and had friends in the clubs that would mentor the rookies. Took some classes. Took every woodworking magazine out there. Learned a lot the hard way by making mistakes on my own. So all in all most of what I have learned is due to knowledge imparted to me by others. This forum is a great example of what you can learn from friends. Hard things become easy when you have good advice from friends. Good luck in your new endeavor.
 
#23 ·
Wood Larnin

I have always been exposed to some sort of woodworking since I was a crawler. My Father was always renovating each house we moved into. I made boats and swards and skids etc with scraps and bent nails and left overs. Heck, I've been making different mistakes as long as I've been alive. I got a shop class in wood shop, Grade 10. All other larnin has been through magazines, videos, TV shows, YouTube, personal experience and right here on Router Forums, THANK YOU ALL!! I still have my first router, bought from Sears in 1970. Basic tools are all inherited from my Father. The mistakes are all my very own. Now after so many years, the finished product is starting to look pretty good. That might be misleading if my eyesight is as bad as they say!!!:grin:
 
#24 ·
I had a lot of teachers. The first was my grandpa. He was followed by an 8th grade woodworking class where a Stanley manual plane was the most dangerous tool we could use, a sophomore wood shop class in which we used almost everything but the table saw, a brief stint as a pattern maker's apprentice, a LONG hiatus, 20 years of watching Norm and finally the investment in my own shop tools and designing my own router table. And it didn't hurt that my stepdad was in the home construction business for 54 years (but I only worked for the company briefly as a teenager). But I'm still learning and I give a lot of credit to people here.
 
#25 ·
What's all this talk about mistakes? I NEVER make mistakes, although I do often have to deal with UDMs ... Unplanned Design Modifications. But really, UDMs are good for you. They force you to think about how to fix ... uhm ... I mean adapt (yeah, that's the word, ADAPT) these new modifications into your project. When done, just say, "Hey, I meant to make it that way." :wink:
 
#27 ·
thanks Oliver...
UDM's it is...
 
#26 ·
I first started woodworking when I found my dad's hammer and a can of nails when I was about 5 years old. I proceeded to hammer nails into the basement stairs that my father had just made. He was building the house we lived in so I assume now that watching him got me interested. Needless to say he and my mother weren't happy.

I loved shop class in elementary school and I took an optional woodworking class in grades 9 and 10. I worked part time in a woodworking shop when I was in high school and learned a lot there. My first project was a 4X8 pool table that I made when I was 16.

When I got married in 1976 and bought our first house I renovated the entire first floor and moved the kitchen to a new location. I justified buying a 9" Beaver Rockwell table saw to my wife by promising to make her new cabinets. I used that saw for another 25 years.

My job took me from Toronto to New Brunswick where I bought a house that had an extra 2 car garage. I used this to build my first dedicated workshop. I'm retired now and trying to find more time to spend in the shop.
 
#29 ·
My dad was not a wood worker. i remember making some boats out of the end of boards that fruit came in. I cut out some animals with a coping saw which I still have some of. a lot of what I learned was by just doing it. a lot of house repair and books and magazines and now a lot from all off you on this form.
Allen
 
#31 ·
Guys I'm the king of mistakes . I'm still feeling crappy since doing the Thursday night shift and today I took my dado off and put my normal blade back on my table saw , only to cut 3/4" Baltic Birch and have smoke pouring off the blade ?
I'm like what the hell caused the blade to get so dull all of the sudden! Is it because I'm cutting BB or what?
No it's because I put the blade in backwards :(
Not really a good idea with carbide blades lol
 
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