How/where to learn?

[Tpt life]

I was given a stack of manuals to read. We all know how good a training that is. I learned through watching other people work. Very few stopped to tell me how or why to do something. I guess this is why podcasts like TWW and others seem so fantastic to me. If the OP has really devoured the free content then this is a big boost. I am not saying more training won't help but there is a limit to mental saturation rates. At some point you just have to try something with the tools at hand.

[Indy Cindy]

Cindy? Really? Disappointed in people suggesting to do woodworking? This hobby can be dangerous with certain tools or practices but its nothing you cant overcome without a little common sense and thinking about what's going on/what your doing. I survived this far without a single significant accident with no help from anyone, i think he is going to be alright.

 

 

No, I was disappointed that people pooh poohed the idea that someone might want to get hands on training.  

 

I have been building miscellaneous stuff for decades.  I have an old home (that is now a rental) and I have refinished hardwood floors, installed subfloor and ceramic tile, built a brick patio, done basic plumbing and electrical repair, painted, wallpapered, removed said wallpaper, repaired and reglazed wood windows, hung ceiling fans,...etc, etc. etc.  I am handy and I like working on things.  And I have built basic things made out of wood, but very basic - pedestals made out of particle board (can you believe it?) for artwork.  Raised bed garden boxes.  Removable fencing to surround those boxes, ... that kind of thing.  Butt joints screwed together, I knew no other way.

 

Two years ago I wanted to make a gate for the top of the stairs on our deck.  Working on saw horses with a circular saw I cut wood to length with random results, crooked lines, too long, too short...  I got the thing made, but is sure isn't pretty.  At that point I decided that I wanted to finally learn how to do woodworking.  I signed up for a beginning 7 week class at the art center and I could not believe the world opened up to me.

 

Who knew that there was wood other than what is at the hardware store and that a person isn't stuck with those dimensions?  In that class and a subsequent one I learned to take rough lumber and mill it to size, joint boards and make a table top, cut curved legs, cut wood to length exactly and repeatedly, cut mortises and tenons, use glue correctly, learn the importance of clamps and how to use them (and how expensive they are!), learn about wood movement, learn to use hand tools, etc.  I learned a LOT, and most importantly I learned that I could really do it.  I have now set up a full shop in my garage and I love it.  I have built an award winning end table and an award winning bench.  And I am now doing woodturning and looking forward to taking a class this summer with Jimmy Clewes.

 

Amazingly enough my particle board art pedestals are still intact and looking good.  But that gate on my deck is sagging pretty badly.  It is about time to rebuild that with proper techniques now that I know how. 

 

Cindy

[Eric.]

Cindy, I didn't mean to come across as poo-pooing classes...I think if someone is totally green or intimidated by tools, then a few basic classes would probably be a great thing.  Or more advanced classes for anyone who wants to learn new techniques...nothing wrong with classes at all.  But I think they are far from necessary to start woodworking.  There's a lot that can be learned on the internet, and with some very basic understanding of how things go together, common safety sense and respect for tools, there's really nothing stopping someone from just going out and doing it.  90% of what I know I learned online, the other 10% I learned from my dad. Again, there's nothing wrong with taking classes.  If that's the route someone wants to take, great.  I'm just saying there's no one single way to learn, and I think it would be a disservice to a new and interested woodworker to make him/her think that classes are some kind of requirement before diving in.  And personally, I think time building in the shop, and being assisted by information online along the way, is the best and fastest way to do it...probably because that's how I did it.  You think classes are the best way because that's how you did it.  Just another example of how there's rarely a right way/wrong way scenario in our wooden world. 

[Indy Cindy]

Cindy, I didn't mean to come across as poo-pooing classes...I think if someone is totally green or intimidated by tools, then a few basic classes would probably be a great thing.  Or more advanced classes for anyone who wants to learn new techniques...nothing wrong with classes at all.  But I think they are far from necessary to start woodworking.  There's a lot that can be learned on the internet, and with some very basic understanding of how things go together, common safety sense and respect for tools, there's really nothing stopping someone from just going out and doing it.  90% of what I know I learned online, the other 10% I learned from my dad. Again, there's nothing wrong with taking classes.  If that's the route someone wants to take, great.  I'm just saying there's no one single way to learn, and I think it would be a disservice to a new and interested woodworker to make him/her think that classes are some kind of requirement before diving in.  And personally, I think time building in the shop, and being assisted by information online along the way, is the best and fastest way to do it...probably because that's how I did it.  You think classes are the best way because that's how you did it.  Just another example of how there's rarely a right way/wrong way scenario in our wooden world. 

Thanks, Eric. Agreed, may different ways to learn.  You are right, there is nothing like actually working in the shop once knowing the basics and having access to equipment.  A person can get paralyzed by too much thinking.  I personally watch a LOT of online video, read many books, and I practice a lot in the shop, especially turning right now as I want to learn as much as I can from Jimmy Clewes next month.  I am happy to say that I rarely get a catch now, my woodturning friends said that is how it would be, just a gradual improvement with practice.  Then I picked up the skew again and darn it, caaaaatch.

 

Not all classes are created equal.  The introductory woodturning class I took was a disaster, extremely frustrating and I nearly didn't continue with it.  But, I decided it was something that I wanted to learn so I bought a lathe and taught myself with the help of many videos and books...just like you. 

[wdwerker]

You do realize this thread is from 2013 don't you ?

[JosephThomas]

Lol. Still a funny post

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

[Griff]

On 6/3/2013 at 1:25 AM, William Russick said:

I've been progressively getting into wood working. I've been watching ALL of Marc's youtube video's and an assortment of dozens of others to learn as much as I can online. I'm a quick learner and so far everything I've seen has pretty much stuck. The only thing is, the web can only teach me so much. The area I live in doesn't have any kind of classes on teaching this craft (Canton, Ohio) and the nearest one is in Maine that I found that seems legit.

 

Now then since I'm completely new to this and need to obviously learn a lot more. Do any of you out there know how I could go about learning more? Any kind of great books out there for a beginner? Any nearby class or such I don't know about?

 

Did everyone here take a class to learn this? How do I get started? I need to start somewhere, I just don't know where. Any help out there?

Surely there is a woodcraft or rockler near by you? Those places teach classes and I know rockler you can sign up for one on one classes also woodworking in America is being held in Cincinnati in September that would be a great place to start and take classes I'm a new wood worker also and am going to be attending WIA if all goes well!! Wood workers are the closest knit community I've ever seen don't hesitate to ask questions here we all were new wood workers once!!! Welcome to the forum glad to have you!

[mat60]

21 hours ago, Griff said:

Surely there is a woodcraft or rockler near by you? Those places teach classes and I know rockler you can sign up for one on one classes also woodworking in America is being held in Cincinnati in September that would be a great place to start and take classes I'm a new wood worker also and am going to be attending WIA if all goes well!! Wood workers are the closest knit community I've ever seen don't hesitate to ask questions here we all were new wood workers once!!! Welcome to the forum glad to have you!

Well said Griff but its not looking like Will,,Ted or Cindy will be back aneytime soon.

[Griff]

On 6/3/2013 at 1:25 AM, William Russick said:

I've been progressively getting into wood working. I've been watching ALL of Marc's youtube video's and an assortment of dozens of others to learn as much as I can online. I'm a quick learner and so far everything I've seen has pretty much stuck. The only thing is, the web can only teach me so much. The area I live in doesn't have any kind of classes on teaching this craft (Canton, Ohio) and the nearest one is in Maine that I found that seems legit.

 

Now then since I'm completely new to this and need to obviously learn a lot more. Do any of you out there know how I could go about learning more? Any kind of great books out there for a beginner? Any nearby class or such I don't know about?

 

Did everyone here take a class to learn this? How do I get started? I need to start somewhere, I just don't know where. Any help out there?

Surely there is a woodcraft or rockler near by you? Those places teach classes and I know rockler you can sign up for one on one classes also woodworking in America is being held in Cincinnati in September that would be a great place to start and take classes I'm a new wood worker also and am going to be attending WIA if all goes well!! Wood workers are the closest knit community I've ever seen don't hesitate to ask questions here we all were new wood workers once!!! Welcome to the forum glad to have you! 

 

 

Mat60 lol I think you're right I didn't realize this was from 2013 haha

3 minutes ago, mat60 said:

Well said Griff but its not looking like Will,,Ted or Disappointed Cindy will be back aneytime soon.

Lol I agree didn't realize this thread was from 2013 oops! Haha

[davewyo]

8 minutes ago, mat60 said:

Well said Griff but its not looking like Will,,Ted or Disappointed Cindy will be back aneytime soon.

Cindy is probably still around. She makes some nice projects, has a real passion for the craft.

[Tpt life]

19 minutes ago, mat60 said:

May I ask where you have seen her..

1) People only need to login to comment. Many have been accused of being absent because they view without logging in. 

2) Click on her name and follow the links to see her posts. 

[mat60]

Thanks..Good to no.I like some of her posts..I think taking a class is not that bad of a idea for me..

[davewyo]

50 minutes ago, mat60 said:

May I ask where you have seen her..

Her member profile says she last visited on Thursday at 9:17am.

[mat60]

YUP...I see that now that she posted on January 14 of this year and just was on here thursday..I want to thank Lester for the thread coming back to life..

[Eric.]

Yeah Cindy is awesome and I totally respect her opinion.  She has a real eye for elegance and she knows how to pull it off in her work.  I haven't seen much furniture out of her but her little turned objects and small boxes are beautifully simple and simply beautiful.  She's got the artist's touch.

No one was right or wrong about the initial question at hand...some people learn better in classrooms, some learn better hands-on.  I was the latter and mostly internet self-taught so I'm biased.  Cindy learned mostly in classes so she's biased too.

[h3nry]

48 minutes ago, Lester Burnham said:

Thank @LumberGiver and Teds Woodworking. lol

That's gotta be the first time Ted's Woodworking has ever done anything useful.

 

 

 

 

[Coop]

Totaly agree with E about Cindy. She's on here from time to time and she's the reason (and the mods) that we use *# instead uc! She does turn out some really beautiful stuff and I wish she would show up more often! This joint can use some pretty faces!

[Sawdust703]

Honestly, classes, as mentioned, might be ok for some, for others of us, well, there has never been that opportunity. I live in NW Kansas, & the closest rockler or such, is over 4 hours away. I grew up in the trucking business, & had never been close to anything to do w/wood except for a goof off class in high school, & the teacher was dumber than we were!:\ The next closest I ever got to wood was to haul it. A little over 20 years ago, my Sawbones gave me a going over after coming in off the road one Saturday evening. He told me then & there if I didn't quit eating, sleeping, drinking, & thinking trucks, they were going to drop me in a deep hole, & it weren't far off! My loving bride jumped in & said "you need a hobby!" In my business, we'd never had time for that! He told me he was serious! So, she decided I needed to get into woodworking. The next weekend when I came in, she already had plans made to look at some used tools & equipment. We bought a few things at a time for nearly two years. Yep! I kept trucking! In the meantime, I went to the library every week, checked out a couple books at a time on every piece of equipment we'd bought. Hand & electric tools, too. I took the books on the road w/me on the road, read books til I'd read all I could get my hands on. I decided it was time to start setting up shop. In our basement at that time. On the weekends, I started making customized firewood until I got the equipment figured out, & what it was supposed to do. I started making toys for the grandkids, toy boxes, picture frames, etc. We started buying tools as my projects called for them. I just kept at it, reading, learning, hands on, & still trucking. Four years ago, my back went to pieces. I had a nervous breakdown in the truck, & a seizure, wrecked my truck, & my Sawbones told me I was done trucking for good. I've had one major back surgery, with two yet to go. The last four years I've gotten into woodworking full time. We rent a small shop across the street from our house now, where our iron & my woodworking are. We have most of the tools I'd like to have. There's still a couple toys I'd like to have, and more lathe tools. With 5 scroll saws, & all the other tools, I keep busy. I'm a self-taught woodworker. Never been to a class one about any of it. Have never asked anybody for help. Just my way, I guess. When I started, the internet was not available to me. My fascination fell on the scroll saw. But, IMO, I can do most anything I set my mind to. I don't have anything against classes, but, if you're seriously interested in woodworking, the best teacher is experience. You'd be amazed at what can be done with a handful of the simplest tools, common sense, & the ability to learn. Figure out what you want to do in your woodworking, focus on that until you perfect it, then keep learning, & learning, doing. It takes more than just a day or two to acquire all the knowledge you'll need to keep going. Practice, read, research, ask questions, learn your equipment. You'll do just fine!;) have fun along the way!

[mat60]

First off  I see the other end of trying to have fun and it not going as planed ..I also agree with Eric and others about takeing classes is not for everyone..