Looking for woodworking mentor in the Phoenix, Arizona area.

[gshepherd]

So basically I am DIYer by nature, and consider myself pretty handy, but woodworking seems to be a complex art that requires some foundational knowledge to build off of.

I have bought tools in the past, and attempted to make a go at it, but realized quickly that without some fundamentals like knowing how to properly level, square, align, measure, calibrate, and use the tools - it is a pretty futile endeavor.

I have looked around the area for woodworking guilds. The sun city one looks awesome, but it is for the local senior community only. The azfinewoodworking seems to be defunct as their website hasnt had any new content for over a year.

So I am reaching out to this community in hopes that someone locally would be kind enough to take me under their wing and teach me the basics, help me setup a nice portable workshop in the small garage workspace I have at my disposal.

I am willing to compensate, food, drinks, gas, a modest hourly fee!

I just invested in some tools based on what I want to accomplish (household projects, tables, bed frames, picture frames, cabinets, homemade desk, everyday furniture, nothing to elaborate, but nice quality furniture). The tools I invested in are in my signature and are just the start based on recommendations from the community.

Thanks for taking the time to read!  [smile]

 

[canadamike]

You should check out Mark, he is making some helpful contributions to the woodworking community. He is close to you.

http://www.thewoodwhisperer.com/

 

[#Tee]

your best bet would be to get in the shop and less reading. subscribe to yt channels like. have a tablet/pc in the shop and learn as you go. youre off to a good start with the tools you have already.

I personally like iliketomakestuff, hes not limited to just woodworking like marc from thewoodwhisperer.

 

[sancho57]

How, where to learn W/W is the million dollar question. I for one spend a lot of time in the shop. I also learn from sides like this one and have taken some festool end user classes.

I have taken some classes at the local Jr College as well.

What I found that really helped me in the beginning before the internet communities like this one was to make friends who were carpenters, woodworkers etc.

The 2 who influenced me the most was a guy I worked with and retired from the job. We were friends but He didn't talk about his personal life much on the job. After he retired I found out that he was a high end pro woodworker.

He taught me a lot from his experience and in my zeal, Id read a lot of books, go to woodworking shows etc and discuss what I learned with him.  He passed quite a few years ago but somethings e taught has stuck with me and I use his advice to help me center my mind when things go south on projects and life.

The other was a neighbour, one day I was pushing my now 22 y.o. son in his stroller around the neighbourhood and saw a guy with a nice wood shop in his garage and he had what must of been 20 drawers assembled out on his driveway. I stopped by to talk to him.
He was a pro woodworker/ carpenter, he would say if its made of wood he can build it or do it

We became close friends went to woodsheds together hung out in each others shops talking changing ideas etc. We still do that today, even though Im in England we talk on the phone and chat.

Even get to know guys at your suppliers talk to them, not the HD or Blowes but real suppliers who deal with pros Austin Hardwoods in Santa Ana Calif for example. I got to know some of those guys and they help me out quite a bit.

So basically I saying get to know some guys and hang out , beat the bushes for good suppliers and people you can gleen info from.

Now Marc Spags who has been mentioned has a on line guild. Though I haven't joined yet, Im considering it. Check him out to.

 

[charley1968]

You could offer a local cabinetmaker your work (for free) in exchange for tricks of the trade.

 

[dltflt]

I believe Timbers Woodworking offers classes.  I have never been to a class.

 

[Len Coleman]

You may want to look at southwest school of woodworking,  www.swcfc.org

I am DIY myself so can't help on the mentoring, but have just about finished off a second house in Glendale with the help of festool and Mafell tools. I am a little north of carefree hwy and could show you what has been useful to me.

Like a lot of other things in life, book reading is great, doing is better.  If interested send me a PM

 

[sancho57]

Well Here is guy who has some training videos, he is da bomb
https://woodworkingmasterclasses.com

 

[Len Coleman]

Have to agree with that.  Until you find a local mentor, the sellers classes are great. Start out with the book and DVDs.....on Amazon I think

 

[anthonyz]

I am a member of azfinewoodworking. They have a monthly meeting and they are still active, but have been a little lax on the website, which I think they are trying to redesign. The last meeting was last Wed at Rockler, and the next one I think will be next month on the third Wed at Woodworkers source in Phoenix. Please feel free to drop me a line, I am always happy to talk to woodworking enthusiast.

So basically I am DIYer by nature, and consider myself pretty handy, but woodworking seems to be a complex art that requires some foundational knowledge to build off of.

I have bought tools in the past, and attempted to make a go at it, but realized quickly that without some fundamentals like knowing how to properly level, square, align, measure, calibrate, and use the tools - it is a pretty futile endeavor.

I have looked around the area for woodworking guilds. The sun city one looks awesome, but it is for the local senior community only. The azfinewoodworking seems to be defunct as their website hasnt had any new content for over a year.

So I am reaching out to this community in hopes that someone locally would be kind enough to take me under their wing and teach me the basics, help me setup a nice portable workshop in the small garage workspace I have at my disposal.

I am willing to compensate, food, drinks, gas, a modest hourly fee!

I just invested in some tools based on what I want to accomplish (household projects, tables, bed frames, picture frames, cabinets, homemade desk, everyday furniture, nothing to elaborate, but nice quality furniture). The tools I invested in are in my signature and are just the start based on recommendations from the community.

Thanks for taking the time to read!  [smile]

 

[dltflt]

Well Here is guy who has some training videos, he is da bomb
https://woodworkingmasterclasses.com

I agree he is great.

 

[sancho57]

Just got tis from Woodcraft, don't know how good this guy is or anything about it but I thought Id post it for the OP. To give him another idea of whats out there

http://www.craftsy.com/class/cabinet-case-construction/5268?ext=20150823_WoodcraftSupply_5268&utm_source=Woodcraft%20Supply&utm_medium=Big%20Partners&utm_campaign=Woodcraft%20Supply-Course%20Activation&initialPage=true

 

[Wonderwino]

If you have the time and the way to get there, Woodworking in America is a great weekend show with classes you can register for.  The classes mostly emphasize hand tool techniques, but the marketplace has about half hand tools and half power tools.

http://www.woodworkinginamerica.com/

 

[gshepherd]

Thank you for the replies, and the helpful information... As originally stated I am just looking to learn some basics:

How to measure properly so you get a good cut.
How to square your setup so you get a good cut.
How to "SAFELY" use equipment.

I definitely learn better by doing! However, when it comes to measuring and squaring stuff I would imagine that is like GOLF.

Sure I can teach myself how to grip a club and hit the ball with some success,  but most likely I am just utilizing and teaching myself to use a poor grip, reinforcing that poor grip the more I play, and making it very difficult for me to ever hit a nice straight shot consistently.

Watching a video on how to safely use equipment sounds like equivalent of watching a video on how to safely operate a gun! I was reading one post on these forums about someone using the festool track saw, and cutting some type of hardwood, and the saw kicking back and almost catching him in the stomach. Apparently an accessory sold by festool that he had on the tracksaw stopped him from losing his guts all over the floor. I would prefer to keep most of my fingers and all of my guts!  [blink]

I guess woodworking isn't quite like jeeping. If I hopped on a Jeep forum, and said I need some help fixing my jeep, free pizza and beer, 5 people would be over at my garage with all the tools and man power needed.  [wink]

 

[icecactus]

I guess woodworking isn't quite like jeeping. If I hopped on a Jeep forum, and said I need some help fixing my jeep, free pizza and beer, 5 people would be over at my garage with all the tools and man power needed.  [wink]

No, its not. For starters Jeeping is a lot more popular. I have a lot of hobbies (including offroad stuff), and the woodworking I do solo. I have yet to find a buddy that does woodworking. But there is all kinds of gear heads around me. Wood working is a little different crowd IMO.

2nd, your posting on a festool forum Which, while growing, your targeting a very small percentage of the wood working crowd.

 

[wrightwoodwork]

I personally can't give you any recommendations on classes. The only one tip I will give on accurate measuring is a sharp pencil and use a 2H don't bother with an HB after 1 mark its blunt and the lead is like a crayon two thick for accurate marking. Another tip to get used to using a square is to mark a squared line all the way around and if the lines match at the first and last point then you have marked correctly. Also put the pencil exactly where you want it mark then slide your square gently upto your pencil then mark the line. If you do it the opposite way you tend to get creepage of the pencil lines and your first and last line properly won't match up. 

 

[Wonderwino]

For measuring & squaring tools, Woodpeckers products are great!  Better than hardware store stuff by miles.  A marking knife will give you the MOST accurate mark when measuring.

Woodpeckers Layout Tools

 

[teocaf]

2nd, your posting on a festool forum Which, while growing, your targeting a very small percentage of the wood working crowd.

True enough.  For more reaching coverage, have you tried posting similar requests on  broader forums like Sawmill Creek and Lumber Jocks?  You can also pin a card on the bulletin boards of the various woodworking stores in your town when you go to check out some of their classes.

 

[travisj]

I learned from my father and grandfather and outside of my father, I know no one who is into woodworking.  I grew up watching the New Yankee Workshop and gleaned a lot of information from there.  There are a lot of "video" options out there.  One I will add is April Wilkerson.  I like some of her videos, she is learning as she goes which could be helpful for a novice as steps aren't skipped based on assumed knowledge. ().  One thing with youtube or television style videos is that I found myself watching them at a desk or on a couch and not in the shop.  They are fine as entertainment, but get a computer or tablet in the shop and practice as you go.

Aside from guilds, use your local retailers.  The Woodcraft here offers classes (schedules and subjects are quite varied).  My closest Rockler has a large glassed in shop and they also offer demos among other things (not sure about classes, but I know they do the Boy Scouts woodworking merit badges there).  Talk to the retailer's employees about options for learning.  Someone may be more than willing to assist for 10-20 minutes in the store to answer your measuring and marking questions along with showing you the options that they have available for purchase.  Another option could be local colleges or trade schools.  They may have class options that would be beneficial.  I know I have searched locally for woodworking schools (I would like to be more proficient with hand tools) and there are several within 45 miles of the Twin Cities.  Several of those schools offer personalized instruction based on an hourly rate.

When I got my first Jeep, I was in the same position you are with woodworking.  I hung around the off-road shops that would let me hang around and I picked up what I could, when I could.  At the same time, I learned a lot more about my CJ by making mistakes and tinkering that I did from discussions.  "Play" with the tools you have on scrap projects.  Get a good square (material is irrelevant).  I use a try square that lives in a foam lined box as my "master" that I check my other squares against.  The try square is what I use for all of my tool calibration.  I also have found that when you find a tape measure that you like, hide all of the others so that you won't be tempted to use more than one tape on a project.