A Beginner's SOS Call

[KarpEnter]

Hi All,

I am new to the world of woodworking as well as UKWorkshop.

On viewing through the topics it was impressive to know how resouceful you guys are and come up with wonderful designs ( esp. in "Projects, workshop tours and past mistakes")

It will be immensely helpful for a beginner like me if I know where to start from. Are there any tutorials / videos / starting guides / beginner's exercises / fundamentals of woodworking articles available that would help ?

Can you please provide your suggestions around :...

1) Basic tools (power / handheld) necessary for a starter
2) Joints / cuts /
3) Any pre-requisite Skills
4) Wood drilling caveats
5) Wood Polishing - Varnishes, Paints, stains
6) Types of wood
7) Websites ? Books ? Courses ?
8 ) Others
9 (Screws vs Nails) Vs Joints
10) Bending Wood
11) Advanced skills
12) Skills building "First Projects"
13) Home workshop
14) Others

The above are only a general guide for the experts in particular areas to share their expertise. Please do provide any more information that I may have missed out.

This is my attempt to not only make a start but also collate things for any future enthusiast.

(Thanks to Niki and Neil for their repiles to my PM)

Regards,
KarpEnter
-------------------------------------------------
Any jackass can kick a barn down, but it takes a carpenter to build one - Sam Rayburn

 

[KarpEnter]

Niki's reply to my earlier pm

The first and most imported book to my opinion is:
"The complete manual of woodworking" by:
Albert Jackson
David Day
Simon Jennings
ISBN 0-697-76611-1 (from Amazon $25)
This book covers all the aspects of WW beginning with wood types, design, hand tools, power tool, machines, the home workshop, joinery, bending wood, veneering, carving, finishing and hardware.

I strongly recommend this book, till today, I'm opening it from time to time to solve some problems.

There are also more specific books like:
"Table Saw Magic" by:
Jim Toplin
ISBN 1-55870-512-0
Very good book that covers everything about table saw from maintenance, tuning, working and jigs.

Another one is:
"The Router Magic" by:
Bill Hilton
ISBN 1-86108-127 -8
He covers everything about router, hand held and table mounted with many, many jigs and how to build your own router table.

About Websites, well, there are many but I did not see in them something new over the books.
Books are more reliable then Websites and forums.

I suggest that you start with the "Complete Manual of Woodworking", it will give you a very good starting point and general view on the profession or hobby.

Regards
niki

 

[Scrit]

Hello and welcome, Karp!

For furniture making another book to consider might be "The Woodworker's Bible" by Alf Martensen. Martensen is a British woodworker who started up the well-known bespoke kitchen and bedroom firm called Woodstock many years ago. The book covers a lot of ground for a single volume and is excellent reading. I'd leave the machines until you've mastered the hand tools - that way you'll get a better understanding, IMHO.

The other great educator, in the UK at least, was Charles H Hayward who for many years was the editor of The Woodworker magazine (still published). Hayward took the original small series of books written/edited by J. C. S. Brough (his predecessor as editor) expanded and improved on them - they are still relevant today, despite being out of print since the early 1990s. If buying secondhand, look for the later (post 1976) Evans Bros. or Sterling Publications editions as they are better illustrated and reflect current practice in hand tools better. Ttiles to look for are "Carpentry for Beginners" and "Cabinetmaking for Beginners"

For finishing the bible has to be "The Complete Manual of Wood Finishing" by Frederick Oughton (Stobart Davies), although I'd leave the finishing until you have a few projects under your belt - after all it is a trade in it's own right

Those 4 books together will cover 85% of your knowledge requirements - at least to start with. They also have hepas of info on the tools and materials used as well as some basic projects (in Haywards books, at least)

Scrit

 

[mr]

The topic is endless. Rule 1 dont go shopping for kit straight away, you will probably regret it - I did. I would have a look at the sort of stuff you think you want to make and then think about what you need to do that toolwise. Then think about whether you want to use handtools, power tools or a mixture. Im a fan of handtools on the basis that a) its a hobby, b) its a quiter way of working and c) I want to learn how to do it all by hand against the day when the electrons run out and I think it aids an understanding of what you're doing if and when you start with the power tools.
When youve decided what sort of tools buy the best you can. Theres a lot of talk about fettling ebay relics etc but unless you know what youre trying to achieve personally I think thats a mistake for a complete beginner. At least try and find someone who can show you what standard youre aiming for with fettling tools. A course would be good if you can find / afford one - I hesitate to make a reccomendation about courses having never taken one but David Charlesworth and his courses are highly regarded. The cheaper option is Davids videos. Chris Schwarz and Rob Cosman have also put together some nice dvds though beware, Rob Cosmans dvds might lead to bankruptcy and ruination as you become addicted to shiny toys.
Re books I'm a big fan of Krenovs books but theyre not aimed at practical teaching of skils, they are inspirational though. If you havent already taken Nikis advice re the Jackson and Day book pm me, for some reason I have three of them sat on the shelf here. It is a good book. Not so good that I need three though. Magazines are good too I like Good Woodworking (but then I have to declare an interest) & F&C is good too though I take issue with their recent beginners series on the basis that they went from zero to hero in three steps. It is however a good aspirational read plus a good source of ideas.
The best place to start though I think might be to pick a project and then do a bit of research as to how to achieve it buy what you need as you go along, take your time (essential) and above all enjoy it.
Cheers Mike

 

[Anonymous]

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[Alf]

Welcome to the forum, KarpEnter. Ah, we could all wax lyrical on this one I reckon - and you'd end up with dozens of different "right" answers. :lol:

Anyway, big thumbs-up to the book recommendations - I'd add in Hayward's "The Junior Woodworker" as well. Take no notice of the title; it's just a good solid, basic how-to, clearly explained. And if you haven't already stick "beginner" into the forum search (and select "posts") and in amongst the irrelevant stuff you should find many threads on tools for newcomers to the hobby.

Cheers, Alf

 

[woodbloke]

Welcome KarpEnter - My 2p's worth here for reading material would be 'the Apprentice' articles in very recent editions of F&C - a really excellent series of about 5 articles dealing with hand tools and using them correctly to make a series of jobs that get progessively more complex - Rob

 

[mailee]

Welcome to the forum Karp Enter. Well there is not much I can add to this as the advice above and the book reccomendations are very good. I will say though that it would be best to choose a project you wish to build and buy the tools to complete this first. Start with something simple and not too time consuming. Use hand tools to start with and learn the basic skills first is good advice, you can move on to power tools and machinery later if you want to take that route. Even using machines is not as straightforward as it may seem at first as they take much setting up to perform correctly and if not set up can mask a faulty technique or bad practice. My first project was a small bookcase made out of veneered chipboard which when I look back on it now was rubbish but it learnt me a lot and gave me the bug. Most of my family said it looked good so this was good enough for me as a novice. (I think they were just being kind) Definitely do a search of this forum and the many others on the internet. Ask frequently and do not be afraid to ask however stupid the question may sound to you, we all had to start somewhere so we were in the same boat before. Good luck in your new venture and remember we are always here to help. :wink:

 

[KarpEnter]

Thanks for all your great quick responses. Keep them going...

Any tips on a good source of "My First Project" plans ?

 

[mailee]

Not sure if any of these are 'First project' plans but there is a few to have a browse through on this site: http://www.diydata.com/projects/plans/tool_plans.htm I oppologise that one is for jigs but have a browse on the home page as there are many plans there. Here is a good one for bookcases and some more related projects :
http://www.freeww.com/bookcases.html

 

[Paul Chapman]

My 2p's worth here for reading material would be 'the Apprentice' articles in very recent editions of F&C - a really excellent series of about 5 articles dealing with hand tools and using them correctly to make a series of jobs that get progessively more complex -

Hi KarpEnter,

I'd second Rob's suggestion - a brilliant series of articles by John Bullar. Here's a link to his website http://www.individualfurniture.com/ Another good writer you might want to look at is Robert Wearing. He used to teach woodworking. One book of his I have is "The Resourceful Woodworker" which, as its name suggests, is all about making tools, jigs and other things at little cost, to help make your life easier :wink:

Cheers

Paul

 

[Anonymous]

Hi there Karpenter
One thing you left off your list was sharpening. Essential in my opinion and sadly overlooked or put off till later in the flush of excitement buying all those nice new tools :lol: :lol: (by the way not every new tool is nice, in fact some new tools are rubbish) I dont mean to sound patronising but the sooner you learn how to keep your tools sharp the better, it will save you time and frusrtation and wasted money further down the line; Theres plenty of resources here and elsewhee on the www; Also (I'm not taking the mick here) a magnifying glass or eye piece is a superb woodworking tool, its very very useful to look at (for example) tool edgs on plane irons and chisels also teeth on saws. You can learn a lot when you look at things real closely.
George Ellis's book (modern practical joinery) is an old but very good book, goes into a lot of detail, it was written about a hundred years ago.
Have you a decent local college? perhaps they do part time or evening classes? They are generally good for learning basuics of setting out joints, basic tool use etc. especially if you get an old timer lectuer who bends the "rules" a bit :wink:
Good luck, dont try to loearn everything at once your brain'll fry :lol: :lol:
Cheers Jonathan