General Hello!

[thom.milburn]

Hi guys, hope you don't mind me using this but I found no 'introduction' on the forum but thought I would benefit from doing so!

I'm obviously new here, and completely new to woodwork - I tinker with the occasional nail and perhaps piece of ply but beyond this I am incredibly inexperienced with wood. The reason I have joined however is that I am about to embark on building pieces of furniture for camper vans (or perhaps more specifically, converted panel vans). I am technically minded and have an attention to detail which i feel will stand me well in this little adventure so I figured this would also help me meet my ambitions of selling this furniture to the camper community.

I have been using Sketchup8 and have just downloaded Sketchup 2014 for the purposes of designing a basic interior for my own van, before hopefully (if my interior is to the high standards i expect) selling custom interiors, racking and interior accessories to the market.

I have countless questions to ask, and an eagerness to learn so I hope you lot will help me out and support a young lad on a journey towards self employment (in an industry he is mostly unfamiliar with from the woodworking persepctive).

Oh and by the way, in order to get to grips with things I have bought a Lidl router and router table. I understand these are not the highest quality items out there but with a 3 year guarantee i think they will serve my purposes well.

Cheers guys!

Thom

 

[Random Orbital Bob]

Welcome Thom. I wont make any comments about venturing into the professional woodworking scene save that of good luck. Ask away, there's an abundance of knowledge so you've come to the right place

 

[thom.milburn]

Cheers Bob - I imagine it is a "tough gig" as not only is the market flooded but inexperience can lead to a harsh learning curve. I am only hoping that my enthusiasm towards the vehicles I work with and my client focus will enable myself to gain ground. ONly one way to find out for sure though and even if it's little more than a hobby I will be pleased.

 

[Random Orbital Bob]

That's the spirit

 

[Newbie_Neil]

Hi Thom and welcome to UKW.

I hope that your router table is better than the Aldi one.

Neil

 

[cornishjoinery]

Welcome dude, woodworking is awsome. In terms making money out of it. A little bit of advice, i would say try to get in with a woodworking company and take on some kind of apprenticeship scheme with them. If you are starting straight from scratch which it sounds like to me, you cant just rock up at a clients house and start building them stuff. 1 you will end up charging them alot because it taking you longer and 2 it may not be up to standard. This sounds harsh and it not meant to be, its just a hard world out there and most of the professionals on here have learnt the hard way. In terms of tools, you wont have any fun if you buy the cheap kit, especially if you wanting to make money from it. I am not talking festool all the way, but get the best that you can physically afford, it will pay in the end. good luck my friend............

 

[Peter Sefton]

Welcome to the forum hope we can help
Peter

 

[thom.milburn]

Cheers for the replies guys - its nice to be on a forum that encourages and is warm rather than some others where there is an immediate bombardment of abuse!

Anyway - it is the Aldi router and table i bought, for £25 i thought the router would be useful to learn the basics with, and the table... well I can see its good points (as well as its less good!) but to be honest all i intend to use it for is running a few basic joints along sheets of ply. Hopefully (and time will tell) it will be up to the job, but if not it can go back to the shop as for a start its safety guard sticks (its not dangerous, but it would be ground for returning it if i didnt get on with it!).

Regarding the 'turning pro' thing. I will be making camper van interiors specifically for VW T4 vans as I own one of these and know them like the back of my hand thus enabling myself to learn the best methods of securing cabinets and similar. I maybe played down my knowledge of woodworking a little as i have to admit i have spent quite a bit of time around my father and doing small bits and bobs - its is the techy side of things i am unfamiliar with such what the specific dimensions of a M+T joint should be when using 15mm ply!

My train of the is this however, there are countless vehicle cabinet makers out there, some of which offer outstanding products at good prices, but the T4 market is calling out for 'unique' and 'one off' at a reasonable price. I can do this going by the plan i have set and the basic skills required to make good strong cabinets I do possess (although they need refinement). What i do know is that anything i make will be tip-top quality and professionally constructed/finished (as i couldnt justify selling something that was poor) whilst being functional and to a customer specification.

Hopefully however, the forum will enable myself to query a few things i would like clarification over, and perhaps bounce ideas about to make my 'stuff' stand out - I'm siick of seeing MDF cabinets fitted with simple 'knock on' trim you see!

 

[Benchwayze]

Welcome aboard Thomas. I'm sure you'll find you came to the right place. Happy Woodworking

John