Novice from Texas
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Hello! Ok, so I made an account to this site a few months back in preparation for doing many of the projects. I realized I could either buy them one by one or let them build up for a small fee a month.
***I think I’m ready to really start but what projects should I start with?***
Current experience-
–made Paul’s 2×4 workbench ( very ugly mortise and tenon joints)
–took the class in Waco Texas on the three basic jointsCurrent tools-
various chisels, rabbet plane, bench planes( 2 # 4s, 1 # 5, a long wooden one, and a tiny plane I don’t know the number of), should have a router plane by end of the week, rubber mallets/hammer, brace and various bits, # 45 combo plane, dovetail saw, one other stiff back saw I picked up used and some other saws, various clamps, vice and holdfasts, my sharpening station consists of Paul’s sandpaper method on flat surface ( hopefully buying DMT stones within next couple weeks, lets see…. marking gauges, square and rulers.. I guess that’s about it not including what plugs into the wall lol
Matthew,
WOW, you may be a novice at woodworking, but you are certainly not a novice and collecting tools! That is quite and array you listed. My advice, for what it is worth, is choose something simplistic that you can build with basic skill set. Many people try to build things far too complicated the first time…it works poorly…and they are then turned off to the process of learning. You start small and simple until you have muscle memory built into your tool use. I started woodworking 40 years ago and for a long time my greatest accomplishments were piles of sawdust. That sounds like a jest but it certainly is not. It was in creating those sawdust piles that I learned to work the wood. It takes time to learn and learn you will if you do not skip the early steps and build on knowledge one step at a time.
Where in Texas are you?Dan
12 July 2016 at 5:27 am #138450Hey Matthew, welcome to the forum. Stick around an no telling what you’ll learn. But you’ve gotta put it into practice to really learn it. Some of Paul’s earlier projects like the small dovetail boxes and the clock are great learning projects. I agree with Dan above – start small and build on you skills. Practice a LOT. Practice sawing to a line, practice chiseling to layout lines, practice making a board flat and square. The practice will pay off.
2 August 2016 at 10:25 pm #139016I find kitchen utensils to be a good project that teaches you how to work with the grain. I also find them quite soothing to make. You cannot really mess them up. If you make a mistake, the spoon, spatula or whatever becomes the next size smaller. Also cutting boards are nice. A spoon/spatula/cutting board combo also makes a nice present. I would purchase a spokeshave though (a concaved bottom if you can), it makes life a lot easier when making spoons and spatulas.
I’d suggest several things in parallel, which overlap with what others have said. Spoons and the paddle shaped cutting board teach you about shaping and using your eye, chisel, coping saw, and shaves to shape. The dovetail boxes teach you dovetails, layout, squaring up stock, and cleaning up joinery. The breadboard-ended breadboard teaches laminating, mortise and tenons, and cleaning up after joinery when the grains cross in different directions. The tool tote or small bookshelf (may be in his Working wood book rather than here) teach housing/dado. These four are at the same level and can be done all at the same time or any order. The wall clock (I’ve not done this one) goes a little further, but you could do that, too. If you feel comfortable with these, I’d then go for the tool chest with two drawers and paneled top and bottom and/or make a table. After that, make a chair. That’s one path, but do what takes your fancy!
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