# How did you learn woodworking?



## Admin (Feb 13, 2012)

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

Have you taken classes? Did you learn from a mentor?


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## timbertailor (Oct 4, 2009)

I learned from my father. He had a real knack with wood, hand and power tools, and design.


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## herrwood (Apr 19, 2014)

Mostly by making a lot of, mistakes and reading some books, 40 years later still making mistakes :wink:


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## Gaffboat (Mar 11, 2012)

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:


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## RainMan 2.0 (May 6, 2014)

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


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## patlaw (Jan 4, 2010)

I haven't learned. It's one of the toughest challenges I've had in my 60 plus year life. It's frustrating.


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## kp91 (Sep 10, 2004)

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!


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## DaninVan (Jan 1, 2012)

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.


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## DaninVan (Jan 1, 2012)

By the way, speaking of role models, why's that young student in the pic above wearing gloves while routering? 
If he has a skin condition, barrier creme will do just fine.
https://www.google.com/search?q=Bar...oTCKKb39Pa3scCFUuViAodSnIOqg&biw=1920&bih=864


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## Frankj3 (Oct 6, 2014)

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.


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

Under duress as child laborer...


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## RainMan 2.0 (May 6, 2014)

Stick486 said:


> Under duress as child laborer...


That explains a lot


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

RainMan1 said:


> That explains a lot


and how is that???...


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## normie2 (Feb 14, 2010)

Books, magazines, internet, television, imagination and still learning.


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## gmercer_48083 (Jul 18, 2012)

I watched and Learned from my Dad... his successes and mistakes, from my 7th grade woodshop teacher and our mistakes, and ultimately my mistakes. What I've learned is that my mistakes have been my greatest teacher!


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## schnewj (Nov 18, 2013)

Like most, by mistakes, mistakes and more mistakes. Trust me, I'm still learning and will probably never stop!


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## patlaw (Jan 4, 2010)

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?


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

schnewj said:


> Like most, by mistakes, mistakes and more mistakes. Trust me, I'm still learning and will probably never stop!


mistakes should only happen once...
there are way too many new ones out there to be tried...


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## chessnut2 (Sep 15, 2011)

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.


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## Garyk (Dec 29, 2011)

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.


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## schnewj (Nov 18, 2013)

Stick486 said:


> mistakes should only happen once...
> there are way too many new ones out there to be tried...


Making the same mistake twice! Isn't that the definition of insanity...doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result?

Unlike some, I listen to the voices of reason, one is in my head right now, telling me it's time for a nap.:surprise:


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## gjackson52 (Jul 4, 2015)

I'm basically learning by doing and making a lot of mistakes, and then I try to recover from them.

Gary


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## bcfunburst (Jan 14, 2012)

*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:


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## 163481 (Jul 8, 2015)

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.


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## Gaffboat (Mar 11, 2012)

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:


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## MYB506 (Dec 5, 2012)

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.


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

Gaffboat said:


> 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:


thanks Oliver...
UDM's it is...


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## DaninVan (Jan 1, 2012)

"When done, just say, "Hey, I meant to make it that way." 
-Oliver

When done, say_ nothing_... 
What they don't know, eh?


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## firstmuller (Aug 28, 2014)

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


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## billk50 (Sep 6, 2015)

*Self Taught....which means slooooooowly...*

I must say the thing that grabbed my eye was the router in this picture. My first, still have it on my shelf. Within the last week I got a Kreg Precision Table and Incra Master 2 lift...and have started my first project with them. It's nice to be back!


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## RainMan 2.0 (May 6, 2014)

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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## DesertRatTom (Jul 3, 2012)

I grew up in a farmhouse built before 1913, and it was always getting repairs. My folks took in a roomer name of Pike Exline, who was a finish carpenter, but didn't like to work much. He got in arrears on his room and board, so my mom put him to work converting an old 3 car garage into an apartment. Later she hornswagled him into building a small rental house, then later paid him to put up a small duplex. I watched all this happen and really liked the idea. Pike took me out with him for two summers where we mostly hung doors. I still have a light Estwing hammer he gave me nearly 60 years ago. Wish I'd inherited his planes. Not long after that, I got into amateur theater and did a lot of set construction, which is actually fairly precise work. In fact, my buddy in those days went on to teach set design and did some spectacular sets at the Music Center in LA-the Mark Taper, and honestly, I learned a lot from him.

After high school, I managed to buy a circular saw and a few other small hand tools and did repairs and enhancements on every place I lived. Used to watch the early woodworking shows on TV, still do.

About 12 years ago we moved to the high desert of Southern California and bought a house with a LOT of property attached Dug out a 185 foot long dry stream bed and put an island on it, so I needed a bridge. Well, it turned out level and square and is still there. Bought a 12x24 shed, which slowly became my workshop. Used to haul a 100 ft extension out there to work, then my wife took mercy on me and had an electrician run a 60 amp sub panel out there. Began collecting tools, two of them really got me started, a Delta table saw and a Delta 14 inch band saw. Both were on clearance in a Lowes that they closed down. 

Once I had the tools, learning began in earnest for me. Lots of reading (bought many used woodworking books, that have been very helpful. Lots of videos on YouTube that I watch and sometimes save. Not long ago, I gave away my Delta TS and bought a Laguna hybrid. It was the first time I really was able to cut dead on accurate and learning by trial and error, from you guys and gals here really took off. Mostly making cabinets and making my shop work great. Also have done tons of enhancement projects to the house over the years. 

Hard to get good hard wood up here, so I mostly work in pine and what I can get at HD. About to start making drawers for cabinets in the living room to hold all the DVDs. 

I don't know about you all, but the sight and sound of a blade slicing through a piece of wood is intensely motivating. So I continue making more precise things by trial and error. Thanks to eveyone here for sharing what you know and speculating intelligently on the rest. 

No family around to pass on what I've learned.


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## old55 (Aug 11, 2013)

Welcome to the forum billk50.


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## RainMan 2.0 (May 6, 2014)

old55 said:


> Welcome to the forum billk50.


Good eye Ross , I missed that it was a first post . So welcome to the forum Billk50


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## vindaloo (May 30, 2009)

@billk50

Welcome to the friendliest forum on the net.


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## koolrebel (Aug 25, 2015)

Self taught .............making mistakes reading books.............youtube/google amd now here in router forums


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## demographic (Aug 12, 2012)

I went back to college aged 26 and the main site carpentry tutor that made the biggest difference was a woman called Jane.
Nice person with a good deal of patience.
Since then I've worked with her on a number of contracts and she's still a good friend to both my wife and I.


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## 10940 (Feb 27, 2011)

Hi Brad,your quote fits in with one I learned early in life........."50% of all doctors finished in the bottom half of their class at medical school"

JUST THINK ABOUT IT,,,,,,, IT'S GOT TO BE TRUE.


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## RÖENTGEEP (Feb 18, 2014)

I learned from my dad, he wasnt a woodworker, neither I am, but he had to fix and build some woodden things to save money and to pay our school, and for hobby. After that I now read magazines, Im in woodworking forums, like this one and have had learned to many things and skills, tips, etc, etc. :wink: You never end learning. :smile:


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## Roger Leclercq (Jan 28, 2009)

Started out making go karts out of scrap found in the woods then wood shop in the 7th grade. I think the schools have done the new generations wrong by removing the shops (woodworking,metal,drafting) from the curriculum . Most kids today don't even know what a screwdriver is for. They just hire somebody to do it for them. Shop class gave me the confidence to work with my hands. I now work as a computer tech for a living but I also am a accomplished mechanic,woodworker,electrician,plumber and everyday handyman. I feel proud that both my sons also are willing to do the same.


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## denis_muras (May 11, 2011)

I started out as a trim carpenter with my father before I started high school. I worked with him as a trim carpenter in new home construction. By the time I was a senior, I was building kitchens. I took a short break during college (no shop access and homework for engineering). When I purchased my first home I immediately set up shop and remodeled the kitchen. I have been working wood since 1971. I have a website with numerous pictures. Search for d-mwoodcraft. ( I am not allowed to paste a URL yet...8-( )


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## DaninVan (Jan 1, 2012)

Hey, Denis; welcome!
You can download pics from your _own_ hard drive, just not from URLs, yet.
It's an anti-spam thing.


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## ThunderBill (Dec 17, 2008)

On a different note I learned woodworking when they still taught it in High School. But that was only an intro. I, too, have been learning more ever since those days. What I really learned was creativity if that can be learned. And that's the story of my life. As I look back over the last 60 years, I realize that most of the successes I've had have been due mainly to creativity. I'm inclined to think that's what it's all about; the ability to solve problems first with your mind and ultimately with your hands and tools. Then you realize that those tools were the product of someone's creativity. And so it goes. As I close in on my 77th birthday I wonder if I'll be able to get all the projects I've queued up finished before I leave for my next great adventure.


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## Yukoneric (Mar 6, 2012)

I was a tinkerer from age eight when I received my first pocket knife. I took 7th grade woodshop, but we never had much money and I wasn't allowed to have a real job due to health issues. I'm 68 and times have changed since I was diagnosed with diabetes at age 2! After retiring three three years ago and selling my photo equipment I came up with shop with almost enough (one never has too many)tools. I've watched A LOT of wood working shows on television!!


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## RainMan 2.0 (May 6, 2014)

Welcome to the forum Denis 



Guys speaking of wood shop in school , I had a board snipe in the table saw and it jettisoned in the air and was stuck in the teachers cubicle wall .
Even back then I knew not to stand in front of the wood lol . He was all pissy about that inccident , not sure why as it wasn't on purpose and no one was hurt ?


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## Wood Worm (May 21, 2011)

Trial and error, error, error


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## pierrecor (Feb 2, 2015)

With a handsaw, builder's square, small screwdriver used for electrical connections, chipboard and piano hinges for doors, Yankee screwdriver (state of the art in those days - still have the smaller one), a level, chisel for making holes in the wall, pocket knive to make plugs - all manulal stuff. Was building cupboards for my dad's bedroom and got a TV as payment.... Was eventually co-opted to build cupboards for a family member and I decided it's time for some power tools, first a B&D router (still have it since 1982), a book on routers and the rest is history. I ended up with a Radial arms saw (and what a pain to get it aligned). Today I have a small shop full of power tools but still does not have a table saw (do not know what is best for DIY), but built myself one from a Ryobi circular saw (which will never be that acurate)..... waiting for Santa on this one....

And of course learn to have patience !!!!


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## DaninVan (Jan 1, 2012)

RainMan1 said:


> Welcome to the forum Denis
> 
> 
> 
> ...


If there was a proper blade guard in place, how'd that happen?


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

DaninVan said:


> If there was a proper blade guard in place, how'd that happen?


inquiring minds want to know...


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## Gary (woodworker) (Sep 25, 2014)

Hi Guys! I'm BRAND NEW to this router forum. My 1st router (Porter Cable 7518 arrives tomorrow! Need it to cut mortises in four legs of kitchen island to join shelf, support framing for six drawers and support for top (two pieces of granite and butcher block). I'm attaching some photos and would sure LIKE SOME ADVICE from experienced router users.


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

Gary (woodworker) said:


> Hi Guys! I'm BRAND NEW to this router forum. My 1st router (Porter Cable 7518 arrives tomorrow! Need it to cut mortises in four legs of kitchen island to join shelf, support framing for six drawers and support for top (two pieces of granite and butcher block). I'm attaching some photos and would sure LIKE SOME ADVICE from experienced router users.


Welcome to the forums...

FWIW...
If you were to ask a moderator to move you post to it's own thread you will get better exposure and therefore more replies...

I'm not really sure what you are asking for, could you elaborate some please......
hope this jig is what you are looking for..

*Notes...
*
hog any material you need to out of the mortise w/ a fostner bit and not a spade bit...
shoulder the pieces/tennons you will be inserting into the mortises...


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## woodywazza (Jul 19, 2011)

G'day to the forum. I joined the Australian Army when I was 16 and 4 years later earned my Carpentry & Joinery Certificate. Since then I have always been employed in the Building Industry in Australia. I retired 40 years later and have headed back to the tools with gusto, trying to re-learn what I have long since lost. Joining a Men's Shed association I have had the opportunity to learn from and teach others in all manner of new and old techniques and skills working with wood. I am now 66 and enjoying so much removing splinters and repairing the occasional minor cuts and bruises. The eyesight is not so great and the memory not so also, but it is a new life and a new thrill to build something and see enjoyment in the end result. My latest project is a cubbyhouse for my 4 yo grand daughter for Christmas. I cannot wait to see the joy in her eyes. I avidly read all the woodwork forums I can find on line and really do congratulate all those who contribute. My final word "Measure twice, cut once" then get another piece and try again!


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## DaninVan (Jan 1, 2012)

Hey, Warren; welcome!


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## DaninVan (Jan 1, 2012)

Gary and Pierre; welcome to you gents as well!


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

Welcome Warren and be sure to blame DaninVan for the distraction for needing another piece...


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

@DaninVan...
did your seal grow up and move on or did it become an adornment for your wife???


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## schnewj (Nov 18, 2013)

Gary, Pierre, and Warren,

Welcome to the forum. Glad you could join us in the merriment. Don't be afraid to jump in, as it looks like you fellas have some good experience.

Bill


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## schnewj (Nov 18, 2013)

Stick486 said:


> @DaninVan...
> did your seal grow up and move on or did it become an adornment for your wife???


Now, Stick! You know that the reason Dan's seal is on its side laughing it that it got into Dan's reserves. Why do you think that Dan move it all into the crawl space? The seal wouldn't fit through the access door.


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## schnewj (Nov 18, 2013)

@Stick486

Great PDF information as always...just wish more folks would bother to read them. I always learn something from them.


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## Tarek (Sep 16, 2014)

*how did i learn about wood*

I did not have any woodworking skills at all when I retired in July 2013 after 38years in medicine. I did work about 85 hours week before retirement so the time factor became too much for me to watch day time TV. I did look for hobbies and came across woodturning which I did like but was lost for the terms used and all the information out there. One member in the club said that people from woodworking background made a better wood turners. So that was the start in September 2013 joining Leeds collage of building furniture course (one day a week) for 60 weeks over 2 years. I have just gained the city and guild certificate for furniture in May 2015. I still have a lot to learn and very grateful to the tutors specially Mr P Salisbury. I am still seeking a lot of help from the forum and now have completed full cabinet for the router with storage draws on wooden runners, large coffee lounge table with very large two push me/ Pull me drawers, 3 occasional side tables, medium size wall cabinet, and just now have finished a set steps for my ageing dog which like myself have difficulty climbing into high parts of the house.
I hope that the enjoyment of the last two years will continue and improve as my ability improve.


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## rwoods4764 (Feb 3, 2010)

im self taught read a lot of books watch and recored a lot of shows learned from watching norm on toh back in the days when it was just starting on tv ron


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## jflores (Nov 21, 2012)

my first wood jobs were with my father as a child, i did others with very basic skills and asking to my father and an uncle as a young man. many years i do nothing, studied medicine and very busy allways to do something. Recently (3 years ago) i'm retired and enter to a school to study carpentry. Last month i finished my 3rd year of learning, with a teacher, now my friend and mentor.


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## DaninVan (Jan 1, 2012)

jflores said:


> my first wood jobs were with my father as a child, i did others with very basic skills and asking to my father and an uncle as a young man. many years i do nothing, studied medicine and very busy allways to do something. Recently (3 years ago) i'm retired and enter to a school to study carpentry. Last month i finished my 3rd year of learning, with a teacher, now my friend and mentor.


What a great start to retirement, Jorge! Love to see pics of your creations.


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## Duane Bledsoe (Jan 6, 2013)

Self taught from reading magazines, internet articles, and forums like this where I aggravate and pump people for information.  I think it helps that I had two great grandfathers who were wood workers. Maybe I inherited some hidden skills, or at least an ability to learn it a bit easier than otherwise possible. Never met them though so I have not had anyone, family or otherwise, to actually teach me. I mostly just focused on learning tool functions and then figure ways to use them eithin their abilities and make them do what I need done.


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## WR1944 (Mar 29, 2011)

I'm from Holland and moved to the USA in 2010. I'm a mechanical engineer and did some crude woodworking in the past. I retired in 2005 and after retirement, I moved to The Hague, my birthplace, and started to make furniture because the house was without any. Because of my inexperience I bought Festool equipment to compensate it. My first jobs were based on steel constructions made in wood. I used screws to connect everything.
Slowly I learned from my mistakes, books and the Internet more about "real" woodworking. When I moved to the USA, I had to sell my electrical tools and started all over with Festool. I could clean out a basement and start a real workshop, a dream I had for years. The stars in my workshop are a sturdy workbench and a home made router table.
I have a 1400W Festool for handheld jobs and a 1400W Triton in the router table.
The most important lesson I learned is: work with sharp tools. Since I'm able to keep my chisels and planes sharp, I enjoy more working with handtools.
Over the years I have learned how to make furniture and other useful stuff the woodworkers way and not the steelworkers way and it gives me a lot of satisfaction. And with making mistakes, it is like slaying a dragon. You chop one head off and a new one pops up.
Wim


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## DaninVan (Jan 1, 2012)

Hey, WR1944; welcome! Man, you do nice work. Anybody would be thrilled to 'inherit' that router table!
Please fill out some info on the profile...future readers won't necessarily have the benefit of reading _this_ post about your woodworking experience.
There's no pressure, but a first name makes conversing a wee bit more personal.
A general idea of where in the country you live also means that other members can be more helpful in suggesting where to find stuff, but from your project pic I'm guessing _you'll_ be the go-to resource.


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

@WR1944....

Hello Wim...
that is one impressive table...


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## RainMan 2.0 (May 6, 2014)

Welcome to the forum Wim . Impressive looking router table! 

I'm a fan of Festool also , and own a 1400


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## gjackson52 (Jul 4, 2015)

Welcome to the forum Wim !


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## Garyk (Dec 29, 2011)

Really nice table Wim.


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## RÖENTGEEP (Feb 18, 2014)

Another welcome for you Wim. Do you have more pics of the chair that is behind your router table? Did you build it? :surprise:


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## woodywazza (Jul 19, 2011)

I am with you here Dan. Wearing gloves while using power tools is the quickest way to making a bad bad mistake. I have been taught that the hands give you the "feel" and quick feedback to the brain. The gloves cancel the "feel" and can also catch and wrap around a spinning tool with no escape, drag the hands into the tool. It is not so good when the red stuff comes out! 
Definitely would not recommend this practice. Would like to hear from anyone who has a contrary opinion, I am open minded and eager to learn. I am not always right, my missus tells me so!
As an example, I always thought only a hollow ground on a blade was the way to go, but now I have eagerly taken on flat honing and found it a terrific edge and a terrific experience. We live to learn.


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## Garyk (Dec 29, 2011)

A thought on the subject of being self taught: That is one of the best way's to learn how to overcome obstacles in woodworking but don't limit your learning curve to that idea. You always learn something by exposing your self to classes, clubs, good web sites (this one included) and etc. No matter how good you become you never learn it all.


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## Seldonman (Jul 30, 2013)

When I was a teenage I bought some wood to make a picture frame and used a hand powered miter saw to cut the angles. Then I set the wood aside for a few days and lost it. I asked my Dad had he seen any wood with a 45 deg. angle on the ends and he said yes, he just used some last night to kindle a fire! The next project I attempted was a chess board but not any chess board a big honking chess board of red oak and black walnut. After I made it a wood working friend pointed out that the the squares on one side where about a 16th inch too large but he could easily fix that on his table saw, which I did not have. Let's just say after messing up the first cut and the second cut the chess board ended up in the fire place! Finally, bought a 1959 Sear Radial Arms saw (still runs great) and built a drawer to hold 18 x 24 inch drawings. This one was very successful. I also build a beautiful smaller chess board of red oak and black walnut and gave it to my friend as a wedding gift. One lesson I learned with the big chess board and a knick knack stand is that proportions matter and you can not enlarge a design and expect it to look good. I think I had the Tim the Tool man attitude in my younger day that bigger was better! Bottom line, I am still learning woodworking!

Jim


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## WR1944 (Mar 29, 2011)

RÖENTGEEP said:


> Another welcome for you Wim. Do you have more pics of the chair that is behind your router table? Did you build it? :surprise:


That is a plastic garden chair I used while doing jigsaw work. With more equipment and a workbench no place for that chair. I have to use a home made stool.


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## DuanePhillips (May 19, 2017)

By watch youtube videos. Youtube videos helped me a lot.


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## DaninVan (Jan 1, 2012)

Hey, Duane; welcome!
I noticed that you've been haunting the 'library' here. I say haunting because those of us that have commented in the past on these threads are perhaps a tad surprised to see what we had to say back then...


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## RÖENTGEEP (Feb 18, 2014)

WR1944 said:


> That is a plastic garden chair I used while doing jigsaw work. With more equipment and a workbench no place for that chair. I have to use a home made stool.


Ah, OK, thank you. :smile:


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## jj777746 (Jan 17, 2015)

*Father taught*

Woodwork teacher at high school taught me a little but my Father ,who loved building boats taught me the most beneficial lessons. James.jj777746


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## crittergitter (Nov 16, 2011)

I have to give credit to the the local boys club in my hometown of Dearborn heights MI.


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## dwcon1431 (Jun 16, 2017)

After getting married at 18, there wasn't much we could afford. When the time came for a particular item we needed, our catch phrase became "how hard can it be" and then I bought my first tool. I also started looking into woodworking magazines, and realized 'I can do this'.


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