Another novice...be gentle !

[glennkilshaw10]

Hi all, thanks for acceptance into your community and as requested here a bit about me and my reasons for joining.

I'm in my 50's with a young son. I've been a " bodger " all my life but my lad has shown an interest in making things from wood after watching me bodge the canopy over my back door.
So, the decision was made to learn together and have watched hours and hours of YouTube videos but always prefer to simply read forums as no matter what my problem it's more than likely somebody else has experienced ut before.
I've set aside a budget each month and purchased a few basic items , mitre saw, table saw, jig saw chisels rules etc...all of which will come in for future bodging if neither of us take to it.
I'm in quite a fortunate situation where I can source plenty of timber to practice on as we import huge machinery at work and currently skip the crates that stuff arrives in and while it's not quality hardwood it's all new decent (ish) which is ideal for practicing with. My lad of course has seen people allegedly making £20k tables from old pallets so needs re-educating slowly...we need to learn to cut straight and join to bits together before we recreate masterpieces.
1st job is a workbench , so really joined to allow me to browse what others have done, holding down work is clearly something to work out, whether the bench surface is drilled for dogs, 1 vice? 2 vices? T section rail with clamps or simply a selection of clamps...from the bench I've fencing that needs sorting and maybe cupboards to hide the various selection of wheelie bins..all of which I can source the timber for free.
I'll leave it there, I'll use the search function to ensure I don't ask questions that are readily available. My intention is to initially work on different types of joint as a learning curve. So for now I'll simply lurk and look at work the " non bodgers " have posted so I might teach my lad to not follow in my bodging footsteps !!

 

[Bingy man]

Hello and welcome there is an endless supply of information, knowledge from professionals down to hobbyists etc who will all help you and your son to become better at woodworking if you’re both interested . The phrase ( bodging) and tools such as mitre saws / table saws does not however bode well as bodging with such potentially dangerous tools will often end at your local a/e department or worse. I recommend you search some of the table saw safety threads and make sure you are comfortable with using these machines.

 

[glennkilshaw10]

Hello and welcome there is an endless supply of information, knowledge from professionals down to hobbyists etc who will all help you and your son to become better at woodworking if you’re both interested . The phrase ( bodging) and tools such as mitre saws / table saws does not however bode well as bodging with such potentially dangerous tools will often end at your local a/e department or worse. I recommend you search some of the table saw safety threads and make sure you are comfortable with using these machines.

Hi, thanks for the advice...it was meant tongue in cheek as in I've always had the " I know best mentality " only to call in a professional to put it right.
I'm attacking this venture in a totally different way. We do things properly or not at all. The reason for joining on here is contact with real people, with real knowledge and experience. Although YouTube has many quality informative videos it's also littered with stuff that as a novice is going to see me only being able to count to 7 or 8 on my fingers !
As mentioned initially our focus will be on learning various joint techniques , the power tools will be used by me to prepare the rough free timber into a usable piece.
When I say " bodge " in the past it's brrn entirely because of my lack of appreciation of the importance of square, straight etc...and I'm actually looking forward to learning what I hope to be a relaxing but thought provoking activity to devote my spare time.

 

[Bingy man]

Hi, thanks for the advice...it was meant tongue in cheek as in I've always had the " I know best mentality " only to call in a professional to put it right.
I'm attacking this venture in a totally different way. We do things properly or not at all. The reason for joining on here is contact with real people, with real knowledge and experience. Although YouTube has many quality informative videos it's also littered with stuff that as a novice is going to see me only being able to count to 7 or 8 on my fingers !
As mentioned initially our focus will be on learning various joint techniques , the power tools will be used by me to prepare the rough free timber into a usable piece.
When I say " bodge " in the past it's brrn entirely because of my lack of appreciation of the importance of square, straight etc...and I'm actually looking forward to learning what I hope to be a relaxing but thought provoking activity to devote my spare time.

Now that’s good to hear as I’ve seen several near misses with table saws etc not to mention my own involvement with a 9 inch angle grinder and a pair of flimsy trainers so 100% safety first. I only suffered a small cut and lost the trainers ( brand new ) anyway I’m not a professional woodworker just self taught and have always had a passion for woodworking so I’ve got better as the years have rolled on . You will improve the more you do and if you always ask yourself these questions at the end of a project -does it look like a professional has done it ? Would you pay for the work you have done? And is there anything about the work you could have done better (-within reason ) ? A yes to the 1st two questions and a no to the 3rd is the best result. Even if the 3rd question is a yes well that’s your learning curve for the next project and that will eventually drive you towards perfection in other projects. We are all human and as such we make mistakes and again how we overcome these mistakes is what helps us to be better at what we do . Good luck

 

[recipio]

A bodger is of course someone who prepares green wood and makes useful furniture like stools with no glue or fancy joinery. An honorable profession ! Regarding a bench you could certainly make one out of laminated pallet timber for instance - a planer/ thicknesser would be pretty much essential for wood preparation IMO. However it takes disciple to keep them clear of tools - be careful of using up your 'real estate ' in the workshop. It's all too easy to run out of space - don't ask me how I know.