How did you first get into wood work?

[MikeG.]

That's a lot of **** ups Mike! :lol:
Roy.

Dead right Roy!!

Generally the second thing I make in any particular style or series is pretty good. The first one is usually tosh.......

..............which is going to make the competition interesting, as it will be a real first. I'm thinking "corpse on the beach" at the moment......

Mike

 

[FogggyTown]

I had a heart attack in 2004 at the tender age of 57. Looking for something to do during my recovery period I started buying tools on ebay. Eventually I thought I'd better try using some of them and I found that I had the barest smidgen of talent I could develop. And it was fun!

 

[big soft moose]

I originally got interested as a little kid "helping" my great uncle bob make models and "helping" grandad in his workshop

after a fairly long lay off age 17 or so i was forced by circumstance to pick up the DIY mantle arround the house (due to my father being a useless alcoholic tosspot basically)

then after a similiarly long lay off after leaving home I met my mate johno who had a lathe and got interested in wood turning - which coincided with my being made redunadant and having a bit of cash so i bought a lathe and off i went.

then much more recently three things happened to ocassion my move into flat world - a) I got a job that gives me access to a fully equiped workshop , b) I met my wife and set up house together and like mike having not much dosh means if i want decent furniture i need to build it myself and c) I joined this forum.

 

[OPJ]

I dont necessarily think furniture is more skilled than joinery its just needs a different set of skills.

Both require a similar approach to begin with (processing and preparing of timber) but then, with most furniture, you're working to much finer tolerances where you won't be able to get away with using lots of filler and painting over it! :wink:

My story, then...

After my A-levels, I still found myself looking for something to do. I had no aspiration to go and blow loads of money on a University degree I wasn't sure of so, I took my mum's advice (of all people!) and went off to college to have a go at one of the Trades, where I would always be able to find work and fall back on this if need be... Carpentry & Joinery had the most appeal.

Inititally, I enrolled on a two-year course and enjoyed my time at the college, which is why I went on to complete the third-year and then, after twelve months of full-time work, I returned to the same college to enrol on the Cabinet Making course. Currently, I'm approaching the end of the second-year. As before, I'll be looking to do Level 3 as well, just as long as I can afford it.... :?

Woodworking at home didn't really start until 2005 (nearing the end of my second year in C&J). We moved in to this house twelve months earlier. I was slowly building up my tool kit and an old workbench was already sat in the garage, thanks to one of the previous occupants (I'm now looking to get rid of this thing and replace it with one of my own! :wink.

It was purely because of boredom that I started ''tinkering' with things at home; something to keep my mind and hands occupied outside of work and college. I've never understood what any of my mates actually do to fight off boredom; they're always moaning about it but, don't actually seem to do anything... Thank God I've found woodwork! I had no interest in this at school and I was very good at almost every other subject. My love this craft has grown stronger ever since!

 

[Harbo]

My Dad (as a hobby) was always messing about with bits of wood.
I did woodwork and metal work at school and used to make and fly model aeroplanes (from Balsa).
Later when married and had a house most of the things were DIY stuff, bits of fitted furniture and kids toys.
About 10 years a friend (CDT Head) sold me a ML8 lathe, workbench, Meddings pillar drill and some other stuff his school was selling off.
That started the slippery slope - greatly accelerated when I joined this Forum!!!

Rod

 

[dchallender]

I started out of necessity when we got our first house it needed renovating from scratch and I got some basic woodworking tools and got stuck in. I'm a time served marine engineer by trade so I figured if I used the same principles for marking out etc I'd be ok, so it snowballed from there, before long I was building book cases, radiator covers, panelling for the stairs, etc.

I now have a decent workshop with the standard machinery, tablesaw, planer/thicknesser, mortiser - all the usual toys. I just can't get my 48" centre metal lathe or my milling machine in now !!! :lol:

The down side is that I work away now in consulting so everything takes a while - I finished a welsh dresser for a friend last year as a wedding present it took me a year to make and I worked out it was on average an hour a week !!! :shock: I want to make a solid wood kitchen now but my wife can't wait the three years it will take!! :lol:

I've been meaning to put photos on but still haven't worked out how to get my photos over from flickr !!

I'm now trying to get a regular job so I can be at home and start a cabinet / furniture making course as it's becoming a bit of an obsession but I would like to keep learning and get to the point where I can make some real quality furniture