Could I get into woodworking at age 38?

[andybiggsy]

Hi,

I am 38 and I have very little knowledge of woodworking. Realistically, do you think it would be possible to learn and get into woodworking at my age?

If so, roughly what tools would I need to get started? If thats a silly and lengthy question, feel free not to answer it. Maybe there is a beginners kit or something.

I am a fast learner and loved woodworking back at school.

Thanks

Andy

 

[woodfarmer]

No, you have no chance. You will need to wait until you are retired at least or even like me 70.

 

[Tetsuaiga]

Do you mean as some kind of trade?

Or fun?

I'm sure you could do either really. If you could say what you want to make it would be easier to suggest some tools.

 

[Random Orbital Bob]

Hi,

I am 38 and I have very little knowledge of woodworking. Realistically, do you think it would be possible to learn and get into woodworking at my age?

If so, roughly what tools would I need to get started? If thats a silly and lengthy question, feel free not to answer it. Maybe there is a beginners kit or something.

I am a fast learner and loved woodworking back at school.

Thanks

Andy

Well, of course its not too late to learn. 38's a cracking age to start learning pretty much anything. Nothing creaks yet, you can still bend down, life's a beach

Tools wise.

What do you want to make?
How much space do you have?
What sort of budget are we talking about?

 

[custard]

If you mean woodworking as a trade it would be very, very tough unless you have an understanding partner with a decent job who could keep the wolf from the door during a lengthy transition process of three or more years.

If you mean woodworking as a hobby then absolutely yes. If there's a college in Stoke that does short/evening/weekend introduction courses then that would save you a huge amount of trial and error learning to sharpen and use a basic woodworking toolkit, plus give you some good advice on what tools you need and how to go about getting them without wasting your money on pups or unnecessary silly stuff. The problem with asking a question about tools on the internet is that you'll get lots of contradictory advice that will leave your head spinning. Far better to stand next to an experienced man (or woman) at a bench, see what they're making and what they're using to make it.

 

[Cheshirechappie]

If you're thinking about making a living working wood, I'd say you'd have an uphill struggle to climb the learning curve to the point of making a decent living, but anything's possible with sheer determination. However, read on....

If you're thinking about working wood in your spare time, then the answer's a resounding 'yes'! Buy a couple of magazines, surf Youtube, post questions on the forum.

As to what tools - depends what you want to do. Quite a few people offer basic introductory courses in various forms of woodworking (cabinetmaking, turning, carving, etc.), so a couple of days on one of those would help you no end with the basic skills and knowing what tools would be suitable. All the woodworking magazines carry adverts for courses. If courses don't appeal (or don't fit the budget), don't worry - we answer all questions for free round here!

 

[Random Orbital Bob]

and your first question should always be: How do I sharpen my bench tools

 

[Phil Pascoe]

:lol:... and the second - where do I buy the jig...

 

[Ali]

38 is no age, hopefully you are in fairly good shape. It can be a problem though physically for some, lifting sheet goods and timber, that's something to consider.

 

[nathandavies]

I'm 39 and I must admit I feel my age after lifting 3m x 2m sheets of mfc all day. But you can start carpentry at any age, as for a living I think it's the kind of thing you either take to it or not, I've seen plenty of people who are very keen but just haven't got it, if you know what I mean.

nathan

 

[andybiggsy]

cheers gents, well it would be for fun really. I just spend 2k on a summerhouse and about to spend more than that on a greenhouse and I would have loved to have had a go myself.

Even if I waste the timber, I would have so much fun messing around with it.

I would just start for fun and then see where it goes from there, might see about that night course in Stoke and see how I get on.

Thanks everyone, great forum

Andy

 

[Steve Maskery]

HI Andy
I'm an ex-Stokie, too. Cheadle Grammar School, as it was then.
My Uncle Tom was an engineer all his life and he took up woodwork as a hobby at the age of 80. He made some nice pieces too, taking an engineering approach. He loved it and was still planning his next piece when he died.
<Nike> Just Do It </Nike>

S

 

[glynster]

Check out the woodtalk podcast from iTunes as I'm just starting out at 40 and have picked up tonnes of useful info from listening to the back episodes - the presenters attend all of the very large wood shows and fairs in the USA and one of the comments I heard them joke about is the average age of attendees and how woodworking as a serious hobby is almost exclusively taken by people in their 40s and 50s - so technically you have a head-start on most. There are a many great artists who never even started painting until much later in life - skills can be learnt at any age. Remember, the saying "you can't teach an old dog new tricks" only applies to dogs.

 

[GLFaria]

Hi,

I am 38 and I have very little knowledge of woodworking. Realistically, do you think it would be possible to learn and get into woodworking at my age?

38, and woodworking for fun besides?... Gosh, I realistically almost could take that as a provocation :shock:

 

[Yorkshire Sam]

Just remember that most of the forces ... army navy, etc the average age for most who finish their service is 40... many hundreds, thousands go on to establish totally new careers... and do remember there is still another 30 year or so of working life ahead of you. If you think you can't ... then your probably right! Me ... I started learning woodwork at 65 and having never done it at school ... mind you I am just dabbling ... go on .... Good luck anyway what ever you choose.

 

[nanscombe]

Check out the woodtalk podcast from iTunes as I'm just starting out at 40 and have picked up tonnes of useful info from listening to the back episodes - the presenters attend all of the very large wood shows and fairs in the USA and one of the comments I heard them joke about is the average age of attendees and how woodworking as a serious hobby is almost exclusively taken by people in their 40s and 50s - so technically you have a head-start on most. There are a many great artists who never even started painting until much later in life - skills can be learnt at any age. Remember, the saying "you can't teach an old dog new tricks" only applies to dogs.

They also have podcasts in their own right.

Marc Spagnuolo - The Wood Whisperer
Matt Vanderlist - Matt's basement workshop
Shannon Rogers - The Renaissance Woodworker

They've got quite a back catalogue of videos between them but, as some on here may caution, they are American woodworkers so some of their table saw techniques would be seen as not being the safest way of doing things.


There are also a lot of woodworking videos on YouTube as well.

 

[Steve Maskery]

That is a good point. Much of the online stuff is excellent and inspiring and so on, bu if it is American and using tablesaws it is almost certainly not a good idea to copy them. US TS culture is appalling, usually. Not always, Kelly Meyer is a notable exception, but usually the right response should be "Thank you for showing me how not to do it"!

When I started building my own toolkit, my dad gave me some good advice. Buy one tool per week. It doesn't matter whether it is a CNC router or a bradawl. My dad was paid weekly so it made sense, you might prefer to do it monthly, I don't know. But you get the drift. Assign a small portion of your income to building your toolkit. Of course, if you can afford to buy everything at once then that doesn't apply!

 

[n0legs]

Of Course you can, never too late to learn.

I want to get into Kate Beckinsale and I'm 43.

 

[custard]

Of course, if you can afford to buy everything at once then that doesn't apply!

You know Steve, I think it still applies, even if you're Bill Gates!

There's plenty of hobbyist woodworkers out there struggling because they've got far too many tools and haven't really sorted any of them out. It takes maybe 50 hours of actual bench time, working with lots of different woods, to get reasonably proficient with an individual plane. But if you've got a dozen planes, yet are only spending a couple of hours a week at the bench and only producing two or three small pieces of furniture a year, then you're never going to get very far up the learning curve with any of them.

 

[RobinBHM]

Of course you can, woodworking is a great hobby: wood is a lovely material and making something 3 dimensional always has a real sense of achievment.