Tell me your woodworking story

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  • atgcpaul
    Veteran Member
    • Aug 2003
    • 4055
    • Maryland
    • Grizzly 1023SLX

    Tell me your woodworking story

    We've probably done this before but I'd like to hear it again. How did you *really* get started in woodworking? What project kicked it off?

    Yes, my Dad always made simple things for our house and for me and my sister. I always caught the offcuts from his jigsaw or circular saw. Fast forward 20 years and I'm living in San Diego with my wife. We're living in our first apartment and our mattresses are lying on the floor. She'd like to actually step out of bed rather than roll onto the floor every morning. We have no money so I explore my DIY options.

    Turns out Rockler comes up for all the hits and they are less than 5 miles away. I get the knock down bed brackets, redwood lumber from HD for the frame, and 1x3s for the slats. I knock it together and we had our first bed!

    Have you ever made anything to sit or sleep on and don't quite trust how strong it is? That first night in the bed around 2am, I was awoken to the bed shaking (we were past the honeymoon phase by then) and I could feel a wave travelling down the bed from head to toe. The slats rattled. I thought for sure I did something wrong and the bed was going to fall apart. Just as quickly as it started, it stopped. We had just experienced our first earthquake.

    I thought Rockier was the coolest store. The city published a booklet with available adult ed classes. My wife took up sewing and I found a beginning WWing class taught in a HS shop class. I bought my BT3100 and then took classes at Palomar College, subscribed to wood magazines and joined this site, and just consumed everything woodworking. 11 years later I'm glad the passion is still there.

    Paul
  • Bill in Buena Park
    Veteran Member
    • Nov 2007
    • 1865
    • Buena Park, CA
    • CM 21829

    #2
    Paul, my dad was like your dad. I have fond memories of his big RAS that he did everything with, and that awesome smell of fresh-cut lumber.

    My own path started with DIY on my first home purchase. Window retrofits, kitchen remodel, patio cover, that kind of thing. So mostly self taught, with some guidance from woodworkers I knew when needed.

    Then some project requests from the church - wall-mounting banner fixtures; a large frame (about 5ft high and 10ft wide) for an "events" board; etc.

    Then home-fillers for my wife and kids. Mostly practical items like tables, chairs, boxes, toys, beds, etc. Its only been recently that I've taken an interest in turning and found a whole new way to spend money and fill the already packed workshop But I still love that smell of freshly cut wood.
    Bill in Buena Park

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    • phrog
      Veteran Member
      • Jul 2005
      • 1796
      • Chattanooga, TN, USA.

      #3
      Even when a small child I was interested in tools and wood. My Dad knew nothing about woodworking so I had no teacher.

      A couple years after graduating from dental school, I set up my own office. I needed some tables to store lots (and LOTS) of supplies. I could not afford to buy storage tables so I decided to try building them myself. The ones I made were still being used when I sold my practice many years later. After making those tables, I knew that I could actually do this stuff. And I'm still doing it. (And, BTW, woodworking is kinda like dentistry on a big scale. )
      Richard

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      • lrr
        Established Member
        • Apr 2006
        • 380
        • Fort Collins, Colorado
        • Ryobi BT-3100

        #4
        My dad got his first (and only) power tool when I was about 8. A Craftsman electric drill. I still have it, though it does not get a lot of use.

        Solid metal housing. Heavy. Only has a 1/4" chuck. And a power cord!

        I remember my dad making a table for my Lionel train set. It was a 4x8 plywood sheet with a 2x4 frame for support, and it sat on sawhorses. He did all the cutting of those 2X4s with a hand saw. I cannot imagine the time and effort (and pain) to do that!

        My love of woodworking blossomed in junior high school. We had an unbelievable offering of shop classes, and all the shops were well equipped. I took wood shop, metal shop, and drafting classes. My 9th grade wood shop project was a drafting table made from birch hardwood and birch plywood. That project really made me realize I could make some nice projects that I could use, and also be proud to show off.

        I accumulated a few power tools, like a jigsaw and sander, in high school and college. When I graduated, and my wife and I finally lived in a place where I could set up a shop. I bought my first major power tool in 1976 -- a Craftsman radial arm saw. I still have that RAS and it has been well maintained, and received a new oversized work table a few years ago, and I keep a really good crosscut blade on it. It still is a tool that gets a lot of use in my shop. That RAS and a router really got me hooked on woodworking. Years later I got a table saw, which I mostly use for ripping, still preferring the RAS for crosscutting tasks. I bought a compound miter saw a few years back for miters.

        Last year I bought a Festool track saw and that has added a whole new dimension to woodworking for me. I built my own supersized "MFT" work table to make breakdown of sheet goods simple. As a result of the track saw purchase, I've delayed upgrading to a larger table saw for awhile. Coming this year will be additional Festool purchases like the Domino and probably one of their sanders.
        Last edited by lrr; 08-28-2014, 10:47 AM.
        Lee

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        • twistsol
          Veteran Member
          • Dec 2002
          • 2893
          • Cottage Grove, MN, USA.
          • Ridgid R4512, 2x ShopSmith Mark V 520, 1951 Shopsmith 10ER

          #5
          My dad was a part time house flipper and started in the late 40's. He'd do about one house a year. In 1978 when I was 13 he and I built a house together and milled all the woodwork and trim in the house from black walnut and birch cut on the property. I was hooked and haven't looked back since.

          He lost his eyesight a few years ago and decided power tools weren't safe when you can't see. I have is DeWalt B&D RAS and a few other things, but most of what he had went to other friends and relatives who didn't already have those tools.
          Chr's
          __________
          An ethical man knows the right thing to do.
          A moral man does it.

          Comment

          • Neal
            Established Member
            • Apr 2012
            • 181
            • Williamstown, WV (Mid Ohio Valley)
            • Ryobi BT3000

            #6
            I guess the bug bit me when I was in cub scouts and built pinewood derby cars. But it grew over time.

            When I was moving into an apartment my junior year of college, I needed a desk. My Dad had an old table top (still has the top in fact). Which was big and HEAVY. He told me I could have it if I built a base for it. SO I used 2x2's to build a base for it.

            He had my build some rudimentary "shelving" units for my Brother's comic books. (nothing special but you could park a truck on them).

            Then I got the bug big time as got older. Started watching Norm and the New Yankee Workshop on Saturdays. Was just amazed, and just thought it looked like a lot of fun (it is), and looked like something I could actually do (vs something like Golf). So I started small and am slowly building a tool arsenal.

            My first "major" tool purchase was a craftsman 10" compound miter saw. Still have it, and use it A LOT. IT took a lot of convincing to my wife at the time to spend $150 for this. Eventually I picked up a small router. I had a scroll saw (never really liked it nor got the handle on using it, and since sold it). Then the big kick was picking up the BT3000. Still have it, still use it A LOT.

            My first big "nice project" was a toy box for my daughter, then one for my son, then a quilt rack.

            My woodworking stalled when I went through a divorce and didn't have anywhere to put my tools and such. My wife (current) and I remodeled our house (new kitchen, added a master suite, etc.) and the bug has bit me again. I'm basically an empty nester and have the room as long as it is nice enough to work on the driveway.

            Comment

            • bigstick509
              Veteran Member
              • Dec 2004
              • 1227
              • Macomb, MI, USA.
              • BT3100

              #7
              I remember my grandfather building us a picnic table and my dad making a train table but can't remember any of the construction. My first experience with woodworking came when a needed a stereo cabinate in my late teens. It was a cheap RTA but I remember a great sense of accomplishment and have been hooked ever since. In college I did some installation work for a retail design firm and later for a office supply company. Over the years I acquired tools as needed and finally got the BT3100 about 12 years ago. What a great saw and gateway to this community.

              Mike

              "It's not the things you don't know that will hurt you, it's the things you think you know that ain't so." - Mark Twain

              Comment

              • vaking
                Veteran Member
                • Apr 2005
                • 1428
                • Montclair, NJ, USA.
                • Ryobi BT3100-1

                #8
                My father was not handy at all - he was a scientist. I vaguely remember turning some metal rods in 4th grade shop class, nothing useful. My first job was a mechanic and that taught me how to use my hands. Later I became an engineer, then manager. Manager's job was unsatisfying. Imagine spending 6 months and at the end of it all you can show for your hard work is some spreadsheet proving that now your company complies with all industry regulations. I needed something for the soul, at least a hobby where I could create something other than excel spreadsheet. My wife realized it before I did. One day she bought me BT3100 for my birthday, then I added a router and scroll saw. My first project was a coffee table made of construction lumber and cut on scroll saw. After a while wood warped and twisted somewhat, but my MOL still loves that table and keeps it in her summer house. I built some cabinets, bed for my son, few other things. I later moved back to engineering so now I have less need in that hobby, so I am less active at woodworking. I do mostly what my wife needs around the house.
                Alex V

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                • cwsmith
                  Veteran Member
                  • Dec 2005
                  • 2737
                  • NY Southern Tier, USA.
                  • BT3100-1

                  #9
                  I'm not sure if I would actually call my work "woodworking" as much as I might refer to it as 'working with wood'... or perhaps just sort of 'carpentry' with a few interesting 'builds' on the side.

                  I'm 70 now, but I can remember my first thoughts on wanting to build something when I was only a wee chap of maybe seven or so. We lived in Binghamton back then, on an old city lot, with close-in neighbors. My Dad had some scrap wood sitting in the back yard, left over from some house renovations. I remember picking up some of those "sticks" and trying to figure out what I might be able to do with them.

                  A couple of years later we moved out to the country with big open fields across from the house and hills full of woods behind us, full of maple, birch, and other species, as well as some pretty good evergreen areas. I was ten at the time and my Dad gave me an old saw which was missing about six inches of the blade end. I also had a hammer and of course access (though NOT always permission) to his variety of hand tools.

                  Not sure where I got the skill or the need, but over the years I found myself building tree "forts", downhill carts, and other such stuff of adventure. As I grew older the stuff grew with me.

                  When I was 14, I used to help Dad out a lot on all his afterwork jobs, doing everything from plumbing and heating to carpentry. It was there on one late summer night that my Dad lost two fingers to a table saw... and I was there. He was in hospital for a week after that accident and I helped a friend of his finish up the kitchen job with the made from scratch cabinetry.

                  In high school I stayed the heck away from woodshop, opting for metal and machine shop instead. But in my Junior Year, I took Advanced Wood, which proved to be an excellent chance for me. Mr. Weaver didn't believe in personal projects, so no gun rack or towel holders. Instead we "manufactured". At the beginning of the first semester we visited a local furniture manufacturer and afterwards designed a desk (in my drafting class) and then manufactured almost 200 of them in shop. The following semester we drove out to National Homes in Horseheads, NY and saw how they fabricated houses. We then took on the challenge of fabricating a small garage-size house which would become the regional Military Affliated Radio Service center.

                  I got married when I was 23 (1967) and we bought a house two years later. By then I had a 7" circular saw, a 3/8" VS drill, and a belt sander. With that and a few hand tools I built a small library complete with a drawing board for my newly acquired profession.

                  In 1973, I landed a job at Ingersoll-Rand and we moved to Painted Post. We had a duplex which had a nice basement and I bought a RAS (still scared to death of table saws). Over the next few years, that was my main tool and I built everything from work benches, to lawn furniture, an 18 x 25' deck on the house (purchased in 79) and remodeled the attached garage to a family room, Over the years we remodeled the kitchen and added improvements to almost every room.

                  It wasn't until I retired in 2003 that I actually got into buying my first woodworking tools. We just had a Home Depot open in our area and they had some fantastic sales that first year. I got a variety of Ryobi and Ridgid bench and hand-held power tools and finally in 2005(?) when the BT was being clearanced, I bought one.

                  So here I am now, back in Binghamton (still with the Painted Post house), and we're doing a lot of wood working here. New main library, cookbook library, remodeled kitchen, and more projects than I have energy for.

                  CWS
                  Last edited by cwsmith; 08-30-2014, 03:17 PM. Reason: Typos and clarification - see italics.
                  Think it Through Before You Do!

                  Comment

                  • atgcpaul
                    Veteran Member
                    • Aug 2003
                    • 4055
                    • Maryland
                    • Grizzly 1023SLX

                    #10
                    Originally posted by cwsmith
                    ... Mr. Weaver didn't believe in personal projects, so no gun rack or towel holders. Instead we "manufactured". At the beginning of the first semester we visited a local furniture manufacturer and afterwards designed a desk (in my drafting class) and then manufactured almost 200 of them in shop.

                    CWS
                    Holy cow! How many kids in your class--maybe the effort of all the shop classes combined? What happened to the desks? Used in school? That's an impressive number!

                    Comment

                    • leehljp
                      Just me
                      • Dec 2002
                      • 8429
                      • Tunica, MS
                      • BT3000/3100

                      #11
                      I grew up on a farm; Dad didn't have much money but was known during the depression of being a hard worker. He didn't have enough money for a downpayment on a farm but was able to borrow the full amount based on his reputation for working. After that, he had little money for animal or machinery. For machinery on the farm, dad would buy wore out and non-functioning machines through bartering and repair them. He was not so much of a wood worker but he could visualize a project and make it out of wood when necessary. My uncle and some relatives were house builders and furniture/cabinet makers. Nothing elaborate, just practical.

                      Mechanical or wood, it was basically all the same. As early as I can remember, I was in the midst of overhauling a tractor by handing tools or using a wrench. Or measuring lengths for boards for re-flooring a trailor or the bed of a pickup. Pickups back in the 40's - 50's had wood flooring. By the time I was 10 or 11, I knew how to arc weld and use an acetylene torch. Dad would tell me that he couldn't afford to be coming back to the shop for a broken part that had been previously repaired, so I learned how to fix something right the first time stronger than it was originally. It wasn't so much that I learned from experience (although that played a part) but I had a natural ability to "see" and visualize root problems and weaknesses and correct them, even at that early age. Early on dad preferred me to fix something than a tractor company in town.

                      As to doing odds and ends in woodworking - dad always had a thickness planer and a jointer on hand and a table saw, which he got rid of in the mid 60's by the time I went off to college. My first saw was a sears radial arm. Loved that thing and gave it a health dose of respect on EVERY cut. I kept it about 20 years before the motor went bad. I think I got my first router in the late 60s - a sears 1/4 router.

                      I loved the smell of fresh cut and fresh sawn wood and even planed wood. I did several science projects in Jr high and high school in which I had more fun building the project than the intent of the project. Most of the early days of woodworking, I was around people who did woodworking projects from a practical point, not fine woodworking. I did notice the difference between my background (relatives) work versus some great skilled artistic craftsmen and looked on in amazement when I saw such projects. That stirred me on but I rarely was able to watch that type of work being done in my early days.

                      The first wood project that I can remember other than the science projects or U-Control airplnes was speaker boxes for 10 in speakers from Allied Radio (or was that Lafayette Radio). Then I took an amp and pre-amp and made a stereo cabinet with turn table - sometime in the early '60s.

                      I took several old glass, wood and marble base store display counters that stores were throwing away or getting rid of - and restored them. Made some good money on that from people who knew their potential value.

                      Overall - wood and mechanical was a part of who I was from as long as I can remember.
                      Last edited by leehljp; 08-29-2014, 08:40 PM.
                      Hank Lee

                      Experience is what you get when you don't get what you wanted!

                      Comment

                      • cwsmith
                        Veteran Member
                        • Dec 2005
                        • 2737
                        • NY Southern Tier, USA.
                        • BT3100-1

                        #12
                        I went to a relatively small school, "Windsor Central", my senior class consisted of only 91 students. As I recall, the wood class was relatively small, with maybe a dozen or so of us. The number of desks were probably closer to 185 or 190. The only other help we had was my drafting class which made up the component prints and the auto class which did the varnish spraying in their shop booth. (The desks were available in four different stain finishes, as I recall). We'd do the staining and the autoshop would do the final finish varnish spray.

                        The desk was fairly simple with a single pedestal on either the right or left which the customers got to choose. Two long tapered legs on the opposite side and two short tapered legs under the drawer pedestal. It had three drawers with slanted faces, which allowed for grasping underneath to pull out. I think the drawers were simple box construction with doweled fronts.

                        Thing of it was, that we learned about 'jigs and fixtures' and, of course 'team work'. Everybody got to rotate through the jobs for the first few weeks until your best skills developed and then you could pretty much stay on that job.... I like turning the legs and that became my job, though not exclusively!

                        NO hardware, as that would have added tremendously to the cost. Except for the top trim (skirt) and the legs, everything was finished ply, glued and dowels where necessary.

                        The desks were sold to family, neighbors, teachers, etc. My art class made up the sales sheet. (So, I was envolved in three different classes.) My Dad bought one and so did my Uncle, and I recall that I sold almost a dozen to customers on my paper route. In a small village like Windsor, NY and the surrounding area, there was a lot of school spirit.

                        Biggest problem we faced was where to store the desks until they could be sold, and I think we got one bay of the bus garage; but the problem never developed, as the desks proved to be a pretty hot item that Christmas.

                        The last I knew, that desk was still sitting in my old room when my parents passed a dozen years ago. My brother may still have it, but I don't know. It wasn't all that big, but I really don't recall the dimensions exactly. I think the top was around 20 x 40... as we got four tops and some drawer fronts out of each sheet.

                        In any case, it was a fun project. The following semesters garage was also fun, and that's were I got some RAS training, cutting stock for roof trusses.

                        CWS
                        Last edited by cwsmith; 08-30-2014, 03:05 PM.
                        Think it Through Before You Do!

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                        • JimD
                          Veteran Member
                          • Feb 2003
                          • 4187
                          • Lexington, SC.

                          #13
                          I took wood class in high school and liked it. My dad also made things but he didn't have much for tools and what he considered "good enough" wasn't so great. I made some speakers while in school but no furniture. When I graduated college (Kansas State) my parents gave me a queen sized mattress and boxed springs and I had my sterio and a been bag chair. My dad also gave me an old drop leaf table for two his dad made. I moved to Philadelphia and rented a two bedroom apartment. A tarp went on the carpet in the spare bedroom and it was my shop. I made us a frame for the bed, a chest of drawers with hanging space on top, another tall chest of drawers, a large drop leaf table that seated about 10, a sofa that folded down into a double bed, and a loveseat. It was all construction lumber and shelving boards. We used some of that stuff 30 years and it went to Goodwill in the last move. I've since moved up to hardwoods but have a new wife and house to fill at the moment. She didn't want the bedroom set made for the late wife so when my shop gets finished I get to make another. My kids have the hardwood furniture that didn't make it to this house. Both have two bedroom sets and a kitchen table and chairs of hardwood that I made. We have a kitchen table and chairs and coffee and end tables plus a few other things (including a walnut display case I like) in this house but I have a bunch of opportunities. House has to get fixed up first, however, but that can be fun too.

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                          • Black wallnut
                            cycling to health
                            • Jan 2003
                            • 4715
                            • Ellensburg, Wa, USA.
                            • BT3k 1999

                            #14
                            I grew up with my dad always working on something. His dad also had a wood shop that I visited I think only a few times in Iowa. I can still recall the wonderful aroma of black walnut.

                            Although I took wood shop in jr. high I think those projects don't count for much. Growing up self sufficiency was a desirable way of life. I remember making what I wanted or needed from camping gear, backpacks or furniture. My first actual piece of furniture was a small end table with drawer made from pine and fir dimensional construction grade lumber. Held together with screws and glue. 2"x2" legs. From there I assembled a glued up pine 2'x4' panel (2'x4" premade panel) into a desk of sorts for fly tying plus a shelving unit that would sit on the top. A few years later I made a bigger desk...... and so it went. Each piece was bigger and better built. Sadly I just do not have the passion I once had for woodworking.
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                            • dbhost
                              Slow and steady
                              • Apr 2008
                              • 9209
                              • League City, Texas
                              • Ryobi BT3100

                              #15
                              I'll play...

                              My first project was a small wooden pencil box I made in 6th grade shop class. Our shop teacher was Mr. Dee Smith FWIW, We weren't allowed to actually use any power tools, so the table saw cuts he did, but I got my first use of a coping saw to rough out, and then a sanding block to sand the knob on the lid. I still have that very same pencil box these great many years later...

                              My first "real" woodworking project, beyond helping family and friends build / maintain homes, sheds, what have you, was when I was in college, my ex wife and I rented a pop up trailer and took it to Mustang Island here in Texas. Over the vacation we managed to break the dinette table / sleeper table part. Instead of losing my deposit, I ran to Home Depot for some 3/4" melamine, a cheap router table, a Ryobi R161, a Skil jig saw and some blades, and I believe it was router, and then sears for a 6 piece Craftsman bit set. I knocked that thing out, and then a country style pine shelf for a wedding present for a friend (now divorced, the shelf held up longer than they did...). I was hooked...
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