There are a number of places you can look if you are searching for help or advice on a wood working project. One of the best pointers when searching for pointers, is to ask a retired carpenter in your neighbourhood. Many retirees miss their career and also miss the days when there were apprentices to whom they could pass on their skills.
You could learn a lot from a retired carpenter, because anyone who is retiring now would still have done a proper, old-fashioned apprenticeship, by which I mean tech college, day release from college then then work experience.
After leaving college, gaining a diploma and finding a job, the young carpenter would do maybe a year or two in the machine shop before being allowed to go out on site to learn how to fit what he or she had manufactured, under the care of an experienced carpenter.
That was a very rounded apprenticeship, but it all began to alter in most countries in the Nineties or even in the mid-Eighties. I am not decrying 'contemporary' apprenticeships, but nowadays individuals appear to be more specialized than they used to be. If you are searching for help or advice on a wood working project, look for a retiree - they will have more time anyway.
If you want to make something, and you are inexperienced, get a wood working plan. You might think that you do not have need of one to just create a table with benches or a bird table and perhaps you do not, but it is better to get into the habit of learning how to read and decipher simple plans first, so that once you move onto harder projects, you will understand the plans.
If you are concerned about the costs, there is no need. You can get hold of fairly decent plans for wood working projects free on the Net or you can acquire really top-notch plans for only a couple of pence each, particularly if you buy a CD with thousands of different plans on it.
The difference between a good plan and a second-rate one is tremendous. A decent plan will advise on the sort of timber to use and the best tools to do the job well. It may even give you an notion of the level of skill required to create the item and an concept of the cost as well, although the usefulness of this element is eroded by time.
So, what type of items can a novice start constructing? Well, a bird table is a good starting place and so is a garden table and two benches. In general, all garden furniture is a decent place to start, because, let us be frank, if it is a bit rough, it does not matter. It is a good manner of getting experience without attracting too much criticism.
Indoor stuff is a different kettle of fish, but you could try a jewelery box or a wine rack. If you want to learn marquetry or inlaying, create a chess board out of timbers of two different colours, say, beech and mahogany. They look really nice!
You could learn a lot from a retired carpenter, because anyone who is retiring now would still have done a proper, old-fashioned apprenticeship, by which I mean tech college, day release from college then then work experience.
After leaving college, gaining a diploma and finding a job, the young carpenter would do maybe a year or two in the machine shop before being allowed to go out on site to learn how to fit what he or she had manufactured, under the care of an experienced carpenter.
That was a very rounded apprenticeship, but it all began to alter in most countries in the Nineties or even in the mid-Eighties. I am not decrying 'contemporary' apprenticeships, but nowadays individuals appear to be more specialized than they used to be. If you are searching for help or advice on a wood working project, look for a retiree - they will have more time anyway.
If you want to make something, and you are inexperienced, get a wood working plan. You might think that you do not have need of one to just create a table with benches or a bird table and perhaps you do not, but it is better to get into the habit of learning how to read and decipher simple plans first, so that once you move onto harder projects, you will understand the plans.
If you are concerned about the costs, there is no need. You can get hold of fairly decent plans for wood working projects free on the Net or you can acquire really top-notch plans for only a couple of pence each, particularly if you buy a CD with thousands of different plans on it.
The difference between a good plan and a second-rate one is tremendous. A decent plan will advise on the sort of timber to use and the best tools to do the job well. It may even give you an notion of the level of skill required to create the item and an concept of the cost as well, although the usefulness of this element is eroded by time.
So, what type of items can a novice start constructing? Well, a bird table is a good starting place and so is a garden table and two benches. In general, all garden furniture is a decent place to start, because, let us be frank, if it is a bit rough, it does not matter. It is a good manner of getting experience without attracting too much criticism.
Indoor stuff is a different kettle of fish, but you could try a jewelery box or a wine rack. If you want to learn marquetry or inlaying, create a chess board out of timbers of two different colours, say, beech and mahogany. They look really nice!
About the Author:
Owen Jones, the writer of this piece, writes on many topics, but is currently involved with a favourite subject, wine rack plans. If you are interested in Desk Woodworking Plans, please click through to our site, where we have 14,000 wood working plans.
