How I started

[Birdhunter]

When I was about 27, I decided to make a hobby horse for my first niece. I owned a Sears jigsaw and a Sears drill.  My girlfriend, now my wife of 43 years, drew the pattern and I cut it out from white oak. The rocker legs were the tricky part, but they worked. That hobby horse, minus one eye, now sits in the home of my second niece. That one project led to others and I now have a very impressive home shop.

My major joy comes from making stuff for friends and introducing others into the hobby.

 

[luvmytoolz]

Coming from a really poor upbringing if we didn't make it ourselves we didn't have anything. Hard rubbish day was like winning Tattslotto for me. I picked up my first drill, an old metal Sher, that I used for years, and slowly added the accessories like the blade saw and the sander attachments which I used for everything. They were pretty crap but all I had.

Around 15 I started doing little jobs on the side, which turned into lots of jobs on the side when I got a car. Started out with lots of fencing but that was pretty cutthroat and a real pain loading up the old HQ LS Coupe Monaro with timber, so got into hanging doors when requested by a customer at the timber yard i worked at. Many, many doors later, got into small reno's, pergolas, and some jobs doing the fixing stage, and the occasional dining table or bit of furniture. Ended up in IT after stints at various timber yards and a mill, but continued the craft, honing skills into building up a small business on the side making turned and crafted items.

I look at a lot of acquaintances I know who have no hobbies, no interests, and wonder how on earth do they get through life without a passion or interest, and what will they do when they retire. Woodworking for me has got me through some very tough times over the years, and is so rewarding in many ways I find!

Plus being able to slowly add tools to the arsenal is a joy beyond belief! ;-)

 

[Crazyraceguy]

For me, it actually started in an "industrial arts" class in middle school. I built a set of shelves/bookcase type thing in that class. It was fairly big 36" x 36" and 11 1/2" deep, all from 1 x 12 pine. The one thing I overlooked, at the time, was that I had no way to get it home.  [blink] Turns out that I had to carry it all of the way myself, not exactly easy, but character-building  [big grin]
In high school and for a while after, my focus was on metal working (machine shop and welding in a fab shop) During that time I did the usual DIY stuff as a home owner, as well as some small projects like turnings, band saw boxes, signs, etc.
When I started working in the cabinet shop, everything accelerated. I read even more woodworking magazines, exploring techniques and inspiration, applying that to the challenges at work.
A lot changed when I discovered Festool. This was my introduction to the differences in how things are done in Europe and UK, despite the fact that I had been making frameless cabinets for years by then.
Youtube being viewed on a big screen rather than a phone has refined things a lot. This forum and somewhat like-minded individuals have shaped me even more. All of those years of sheet goods have driven the change toward solid wood and more furniture type projects, but I'm likely stuck with DIY shop-building for the foreseeable future.

 

[hdv]

In my case, it started out of necessity. When I went to university I had no money and almost no support from my parents. So I had to be really careful with the money I made during the weekends and in the evenings. The cheapest way for me to create a nice living space was to make my own furniture. Of course, then it was just screwed-together sheet goods with a melamine coating from the big box stores. It was nothing special to look at, but I still think of those times with a certain fondness. The funny thing is that a few of those pieces are still used by a friend of mine who lived in the same building but studied at a different faculty.

From making my own furniture I grew into making cages for pets. Mainly rats at first, because I had them myself (lined with aluminium, mesh, and glass where needed to prevent them from escaping). It was actually a good way to make money during my studies. Later on it became all kinds of cages.

When me and my wife bought our first house we decided we wanted not to buy stuff from the big brand names whenever possible. By the time I got my first serious job I stopped building stuff for money. Now it is just a very nice hobby to me.

 

[SoonerFan]

I liked to build all kinds of stuff as a kid.  I started out in my dad’s shop like others here might have started.  I was interested in woodworking, metal working and tools of all sorts.  My uncle bought a lathe and I found it exciting.  Then I went away to college and lived in apartments for several years so had very little opportunity to pursue woodworking.  Once we got a house with extra space in the garage I started up again.  Then several years later I searched for quality tools that were mobile, accurate and did not take permanent floor space.  A salesman I really liked at my local Woodcraft steered me towards the Festool System and the rest as they say is history. 

Now I am retired and live on land which has a detached shop.  This move a smaller house and space for a shop has been ideal for us.  The shop gave me the space to buy a large SawStop PCS and several other floor standing tools.  The shop gives me space to work on projects my wife wants for the house.  I have used our Festools and other equipment to build tables, cabinets, a desk, soon a mud room, etc. for the new house.  Along with woodworking I very much enjoy finish carpentry.  I have redone closet organization, replaced trim, built out of storage room shelving and built out a new laundry room.

I have learned a bunch on this journey from others here on FOG (thanks for sharing your knowledge) and also find YouTube a great source of inspiration/ideas/know how.

Happy New Year!

 

[thudchkr]

i took a woodworking class in Jr. High School and built a beautiful checkerboard table of two inch thick walnut and maple, with 6 inch sides of walnut.  Unfortunately, gluing everything together without allowing for wood movement meant it was going to eventually self destruct.  (And it did.)  Fast forward a few years to me being married and in the Air Force and moving into base housing.  I had the room to acquire some woodworking tools and started out with the Sears Roebuck upside down circular saw, table saw.  Money was tight, but was able to get the financing to pick up a Shopsmith Mark V that made so much more possible. 

I often wonder how many others also had a Shopsmith in their previous woodworking phases. 

It was many years before I found out about Festool, but they've since gathered many of my dollars as I continue to invest in their tools. 

 

[Crazyraceguy]

I often wonder how many others also had a Shopsmith in their previous woodworking phases. 

I did and I still have it to this day. Mine is somewhat of an antique(bought new) by my great uncle. It is one of the units made by the original company, before it was sold to a larger corporation. It is a 1947 model E-10, so old that most of the attachments that were designed for the newer ones will not fit it.
It is parked in a corner, unused for years though. It's a bit of a Swiss Army Knife of a thing....does a lot of things, none of them very well. It's ok as a lathe and drill press, but takes way too much space as a drill press. It is probably best as a horizontal boring machine, if you actually need that. It's downright horrible as a table saw, but I can't bring myself to get rid of it.

 

[thudchkr]

I often wonder how many others also had a Shopsmith in their previous woodworking phases. 

I did and I still have it to this day. Mine is somewhat of an antique(bought new) by my great uncle. It is one of the units made by the original company, before it was sold to a larger corporation. It is a 1947 model E-10, so old that most of the attachments that were designed for the newer ones will not fit it.
It is parked in a corner, unused for years though. It's a bit of a Swiss Army Knife of a thing....does a lot of things, none of them very well. It's ok as a lathe and drill press, but takes way too much space as a drill press. It is probably best as a horizontal boring machine, if you actually need that. It's downright horrible as a table saw, but I can't bring myself to get rid of it.

I did like the drill press function on it. And agree about the horizontal boring function. As far as the table saw goes, pretty much any other table saw has it beat.  The small table, adjusting table height for your depth of cut, atrocious dust collection and a rather unique bore size for the blades. It left much to be desired.  It was, however, much better than my Craftsman circular saw/table saw. 

 

[Crazyraceguy]

[member=2575]thudchkr[/member] have you ever tried to make a bevel cut? Every....Every other table saw in existence is better, way better. Tilting the table is just ridiculous, but it is the only way with that design.
It may have had more power than your Craftsman, but that's all I could see.

 

[BarneyD]

My FIL had a Model E-10 which I borrowed for several years back in the 70's. I made quite a bit of stuff with it. But it was not a "production" machine. And I would never attempt a bevel cut on one of those. When he passed it came back to me. I've since given it to my son. And several years ago, he found another identical unit at an estate sale which he bought for $25. These had a wood base on top of steel legs. I believe these were only sold through Montgomery Wards from about 1946 - 1950. The belt guards would be considered a joke by OSHA today. They were robust castings, but didn't come close to being effective "guards". More like a sign advertising "don't get your fingers too close".

 

[SoonerFan]

I often wonder how many others also had a Shopsmith in their previous woodworking phases. 

It's downright horrible as a table saw, but I can't bring myself to get rid of it.

I was is a similar position [member=58857]Crazyraceguy[/member]. 

I had a Craftsman table saw that was probably from the late 40s or early 50s.  It was originally my grandfather’s and was then passed on to my uncle who passed it on to me.  I finally let it go because I was not using it and none of my uncle’s kids wanted it.  It had sat taking up space for a couple of years.

My grandfather was a blacksmith.  I still have his ball peen hammer set which I got when my dad passed.  I go out of my way to use these hammers to drive a nail, put the lid on paint cans, etc.  These I will never get rid of. 

 

[thudchkr]

[member=2575]thudchkr[/member] have you ever tried to make a bevel cut? Every....Every other table saw in existence is better, way better. Tilting the table is just ridiculous, but it is the only way with that design.
It may have had more power than your Craftsman, but that's all I could see.

You have to remember, what I had wasn't even a real table saw, (of any type). It was a craftsman circular saw fastened, upside-down, to a bench-top table.  But it did allow some cutting to be done. 

I agree that trying to do a bevel cut was excitement at best, offering your body up to harm the rest of the time.  And the table saw fence seemed to always move a bit with any real sideways pressure. And that was assuming you had it parallel to the blade in the first place. 

 

[ChuckM]

I started after watching New Yankee Workshop for some time and after fetching a couple boxes of tools at a garage sale (for a total of $60 Cdn), and decided to teach myself how to use some of the tools. The tools, sold by an old lady a few years after her beloved hubby was gone, belonged to a woodworker whose initials are "H.W.":

[attachimg=1]

 

[Cheese]

My grandfather was a blacksmith.  I still have his ball peen hammer set which I got when my dad passed.  I go out of my way to use these hammers to drive a nail, put the lid on paint cans, etc.  These I will never get rid of.

That's pretty  [cool]  I've always had a high regard for smithies. Talk about back-busting, hard, hot, dirty work, the only current job I can compare that to is pipeliners.

True story...about 4-5 months ago as I was cleaning out the old garage to make way for the new one, I hauled all of the old metals I had been saving in the old garage to the boulevard and put a FREE sign on the assemblage. Angles, black iron pipe, galvanized pipe, rebar, cast iron items, everything was offered up. I assumed the scrappers would show up and haul the stuff away.  [smile]

At some point, I noticed someone on the boulevard inspecting the items and picking through them. I walked to the front, introduced myself and struck up a conversation with the chap and he turned out to be a smithy that operated a full-throated black smith operation 3 blocks away, within a metropolitan area that has over 300,000 residents.  [eek]

I get someone living on 25 acres of land somewhere starting up a black smith shop but a guy within the city limits performing smithy work on a 50' wide property? I thought that was pretty cool...got his name & address and I will pay him a visit later this year.

 

[mino]

Needed a custom furniture piece - bed hanged on one side on a concrete wall.

Found out no one will make it for me (at a sane price) over here. Just no middle-level custom furniture makers exist here.

Got a Narex router (OF 1010 motor, simpler chassis) as it was getting out of production and I knew it was great value at $200, and a Parkside tracksaw set with rails for $100.
Originally wanted the router just for some groves and roundovers .. as is usual, found the router is trully the most versatile tool in a woodworker's arsenal .. and the most essential thing to have. Unfortunately the tracksaw-included blade was utter garbage which I originally attributed to the saw being just a cheapo.

What really "changed" it for me was when I got a proper Pilana blade (which cost 2/3 as much as the tracksaw set) for melamine cutting. Oh man. Now I had a different saw!

When my first vibration-free clean cut happened I realized what is possible with relatively minimal tools. All this juts inside an appartment hallway with  a domestic vac for extraction. That was 2015.

Then in 2020 I decided to go at it and splurged about $5k on Festol kit centered around a CTM 36 AC, TSC 55, a DRC 18/4 (which I wanted long before) and an AGC 18 ...

As for how I started making stuff ... probably the turning point was making a bike rear derailleur when I was like 14 or so. Well, not really manufacturing it, but taking multiple different ones and frankenstein-ing a better one from them, including calculating the angles for the parallelogram etc. My first design-to-end-product cycle. That was a great project in a way as I got a $100+ class derailleur from one costing me $5 used and other being $20 or so new. And a LOT of messing around with hand tools. LOL. Necessity is the mother of invention, as they say.

So, initially, it was about money ... riding a $2k class bike built just with pocket money when the average sallary over here was $300 ($1000 PPP, but bike parts were imported, so price level was not helping with that) .. was a no small thing.

But the big investments came with realization that what one can buy off-the-shelf is just so limiting and gettting it custom-made has a pretty bad cost/benefit (time cost, not money cost) ratio. To elaborate:
To have something custom made one has to design it completely and provide the plans to the cabinetmaker for review, negotiate details etc. Even if one finds someone willing to listen (VERY hard over here), the mantime spent to design and communicate the thing is very close to the time needed to just go and build it. Plus, to design it well one needs some hands-on experience to boot anyway....

The sustainment part is psychology.

I make stuff to recoup mental energy, not to "save" anything. Wood is just so "simple" and predictable compared to dealing with people ... heh.

 

[Crazyraceguy]

[member=61254]mino[/member] I can definitely relate to your story. Almost all of the skills I have now are a result of making or repairing things myself, because I couldn't find someone who could, or I wasn't willing/able to pay the price they commanded.

 

[mikbau206]

I took a number of shop classes in Jr High and High School. I ended up being a TA as I had an aptitude for it. My father is a really good woodworker, welder, and machinist - unfortunately he wasn't a great teacher, so I ended up observing a lot, and then just trying things out myself. I've always enjoyed creating/repairing things, so what usually happens is I'll get inspired to try a project and I'll just throw myself at it - last year I started making pens (and got pretty good at it) - this year I made a number of bandsaw boxes and cutting boards as Christmas gifts. When our first daughter was born, I built a solid oak bassinet and surprised my wife with it on mother's day (I told her I was building shop cabinets.) I don't consider myself a great craftsman or anything, but as I get older I've learned to be more patient - perhaps measuring a third time, and cutting once

I've enjoyed reading how folks got their start.

Michael

 

[Birdhunter]

Second attempt to post this......

The comment about Norm Abrams reminded me of my second woodworking project.

My wife, shortly after we were married, asked me to build some built-in bookcases. There is no way I'd admit that I couldn't, but I did say that I'd have to buy a saw. She said OK so I sped to Sears and brought home a radial arm saw. Put it together and shopped for some nice 3/4" plywood.

I think I had watched Norm's "This Old House" where he had built some bookcases because the construction went well.

Except where I sent a piece of plywood through the garage wall. I learned that a radial arm saw blade wants to climb up the wood and either slice your fingers off or launch the wood at near super sonic speed. I still have all my fingers, but that saw is long gone.

My wife wanted to participate so I bought an airless sprayer for her. I went off with some friends and came home to find she had done a great job on the bookcases AND on both of our cars. Overspray. I ended up scraping the paint specks off with a single edge razor and the hose going full on.

I hauled the bookcases into the house only to find that when I tilted them vertically, they intersected the ceiling. So, I lugged them back out to the garage and removed  2" section of height with a jigsaw. I cannot imagine how I got the two pieces back together. I was probably smarter back then.

I repainted the mended section, positioned the bookcases against the wall, and got a big kiss from my wife.

 

[SoonerFan]

My grandfather was a blacksmith.  I still have his ball peen hammer set which I got when my dad passed.  I go out of my way to use these hammers to drive a nail, put the lid on paint cans, etc.  These I will never get rid of.

I thought that was pretty cool...got his name & address and I will pay him a visit later this year.

[member=44099]Cheese[/member] I met someone nearby that does metal work.  We help each other out from time to time.  It’s nice to have a connection like that.

 

[Cheese]

quote author=Cheese
[member=44099]Cheese[/member] I met someone nearby that does metal work.  We help each other out from time to time.  It’s nice to have a connection like that.

Contacts are important... [thumbs up]