how did you get started in WW

[radhak]

My start wasn't really planned as you'll see in this thread.

Somehow I had missed that one before. Fascinating - you are a pro in something you picked up as a sorta 'dare'! Wow!

...
BTW, a couple of months ago when at my parents house I found something very special. My first ever project! 9 years old I made a little chess board out of pine squares. What a coold find. I'll have to post up pics. I am sure you will all be impressed!

Can't wait - havta see that! Particularly because just yesterday was telling LOML that I'd be really embarassed if somebody dug up my early work .

[footprintsinconc]

it all started with finishing our basement in our first house that we purchased. our neighbor had the same floor plan as ours but mirrored. he was a carpenter by trade. when he was finishing his basement, he told us to start aswell. i was in grade 8 at that time. we didnt know anything, but we started and he would come and tell us how to do things and we finished our basement (my father and me). i learned alot then. we didnt do any fine ww, just everything else.

then in high school, i use to build decks, wood fences and small renovation projects and finishing basements on the side. i took ww in high school. we were not allowed to operate any of the machines. the projects were small and really simple. i only took it for one year and quit after that. while in high school, we finished our 2nd basement (we had moved to another new house). at that time, i made my own kitchen cabinets out of white malemine and edged it. it turned out ok for that time (got to see if i still have any pictures). i continued this into university aswell. i built some coffee tables and end tables and other stuff out of wood grained malemine. up until then all i had was a skil circular saw, drill machine and a belt sander for power tools.

since i moved out on my own (about 10yrs ago), this is the first time i bought any real ww tools and tried something that i had never attempted before. i found this site about after the time i bought my bt3100. people on this site have been very helpful. i wouldnt have attempted my our raised panels if it wasnt for a co-worker who helped me buy hardwood lumber for the first time and showed me how to make the use the router to make raised doors.

since the first time we completed our first basement, i have always wanted to do some fine ww, but never did get the opportunity until now.

[footprintsinconc]

CB, your story is really interesting. i enjoyed reading the post. interesting looking lamps!

[gerti]

I was 6 or so when I got a scroll saw set (the manually operated ones) and some templates for Christmas. Have been ww'ing on and off ever since.

[JR]

Nahm! Nahm!

[jhart]

Got tired of using a lot of "bargain" type tools around the house and projects turning out less than desired. Started talking to friends, etc., about types of tools, brands and good values for the money. Did a lot of Internet searching after that. Most of the stuff I do could be labeled "home Improvement" rather than woodworking, but have done some cabinets and special projects that have turned out ok.
This forum has gone a long way in improving my understanding of woodworking and what goes into it. I still look with awe at some of the projects finished.

[LinuxRandal]

Nahm! Nahm!

Pretty much gonna have to second that. Growing up, it was general safety lessons in the classroom, followed by, too many students, and hurry up and get done on that tool. No experience with the tools (grew up with hand tools), so no confidence, so you left a wider margin, sloppier work, etc.....

More afraid of them due to watching my father. (axe in the head, started to cut leg, etc), between his pension for getting hurt, non tuned tools (which was a secondary cause), and our impatients (because whatever he makes, makes afroengineered look grand), it wasn't until I started watching that show, to learn how to do what I needed to do (at my grandmothers), that I developed the confidence and learned technique. Then I picked up on tool tuning, and now show my father how to do things. (he was afraid of the circular saw, because he never knew how to set its depth, and his father dotted his leg).

If their high school shop was anything like mine, way to big of class sizes, to deal with things safely.

[JeffW]

Got interested initially by watching Nahm. Always watched the show but had no tools. When I hit the big 50, I decided that working 7 days a week was for the birds and needed a hobby. Mid-life crisis big time. LOML would not let me a girlfriend, could not afford a Harley, and decided that tattoos hurt. Here we come woodworking.

Found this site and the rest is history.

[Wooden_Go]

In my youth I was a machinist and Tool & Die Apprentice. Although my career took another direction I was always interested in machinery, tools and making stuff.

While expecting our first child we needed a house. We scraped up $99 down payment and needed another $1,800 that we didn't have so I tried making and selling some oak parsons tables in Boulder Colorado.

Each one was a challenge since I had no power tools but I made a bunch, people bought them and we live happily ever after. That was 35 years ago.

Of course there suddenly were many house, furniture, built-ins, doll houses etc that I tried and made. Got a work shop in the basement and had a couple small businesses making picture frames, wine racks, more furniture and now pens, I love it.

My father was a self educated WWI veteran who could solve the hardest problems and create tools for any job. He was a maintenance manager for may years. My inspiration. When he retired to Northern Michigan, during a lllonnggg winter he built a boat in the basement. Had to saw it in two pieces to get it out but it was a cool boat!

[Knottscott]

My interest in wwing stemmed out of necessity of becoming a DIYer. After years of watching home improvement shows and NYW, my father passed away and left a small insurance policy to me, which funded by first TS, jointer, and planer. I guess you could say my father got me started posthumously, even though he was not a wwer himself.

[Hoakie]

I have always appreciated fine woodwork, just never tried to do it myself until recently. I am now addicted to the "lifestyle" my thoughts are crazy about wood and tools. You guys are my dealers, or at a minimum pushers.

Thanks a lot!

[Jeffrey Schronce]

I am now addicted to the "lifestyle" my thoughts are crazy about wood and tools. You guys are my dealers, or at a minimum pushers.

Thanks a lot!

Stay away from highly figured wood. Highly figured wood = meth. And for crying out loud, at all costs, stay away from burl! Burl = heroin.

BTW, I have a big stack of curly maple in the shop. Would you like a piece? Come on . . . . I'll give you the first piece free . . . all the other woodworkers are doing it . ..

[SARGE..g-47]

My fathers uncle built houses and I helped him and my dad build smoke-houses in for relatives, etc. in the days before freezer chest.. my father passed when I was 12.. Mr. Patterson at HS shop in 1963.. Necessity as I was in need of a table in 1972 after VN and couldn't afford the one I wanted...

Sarge...

[180x]

Got interested after receiving estimates on kitchen cabinets and being persuaded by you all that it is possible to do it myself. Wish I would have started sooner. None of my friends can believe I'm into it (along w/ NASCAR). But I have many mistresses (which my girlfriend calls my tools) which shows my devotion!

[billwmeyer]

My start

I had a broken down couch, and armed with a brochure from Georgia Pacific, I created a wooden couch and for a finish, I scorched it with a propane torch, kind of a western look. A little bit of foam and some fabric finished it off.

I didn't touch woodworking again for many years, and after finding New Yankee Workshop, I got the fever. When my oldest daughter was pregnant with her second child, I found the excuse I needed and built a cradle. I am hooked now.
Bill