Finding your niche

[xraymtb]

This is more aimed at the hobby woodies I suppose but does anyone else find it hard to settle on a single type of working with wood?

I started off around ten years ago not really knowing what I wanted to make. Drifted in an out over the years but have run the full course of wooden toys, chopping boards, birdhouses, garden furniture, kids playhouses, boxes, cabinets etc. Had a detour into turning, did some green woodworking, carved a few spoons, built a shed, did the whole pallet wood/rustic thing.

I went from Stanley chisels and hardpoint saws, to a Triton setup, to a planer /thicknesser, table saw, bandsaw, router table, jumped into a lathe, and ended up with all proper hand tools (other than the lathe/bandsaw).

I can't help but feel if I hadn't bounced around so much I would be much further on in my hobby than I am now.

Thoughts?

 

[NazNomad]

Ahh, but it's remained a hobby. If you'd stuck with, and become an expert at one niche, then it would just be a vocation/obsession/heaven forbid ... JOB.

 

[skipdiver]

Further on in what regard? There is no end point and it's the journey that counts, not the destination. I think sometimes people get a bit bogged down with technicalities and spend too much time fettling to get that perfect edge to a chisel or making sure their sliding carriage is square to the micro millimeter. I am a woodworker for a living but fitting kitchens and hanging doors etc for customers is not something i particularly enjoy any more, especially as i've been doing it for over 40 years now. Being in the workshop however is me time and i will quite happily spend hours just re-arranging stuff and pottering. Just having a workshop is good for the soul and having a shed or man cave is good for your mental state and has been proven to be so. Making stuff is just a bonus, whatever that stuff is.

 

[Alexam]

Hi Mike, it's interesting that you have tried out so many tools and presumably become competent with each. It would interest me and possibly others to see some of the work you have completed with all this work over the years. Do you have any photographs you could show please.

I have only been involved in woodwork for a couple of years in my retirement and am enjoying it a great deal. I initially had problems with dust as it affected my asthma, but having improved my filtering now, that is held in check.

I feel that i have accumulated enough tools so far, with the bandsaw, planer/thicknesser, several means of sanding, chisels and planes. I have routers but as yet have not progressed with these, so perhaps the new year will see something here.

I am not a 'real carpenter' and certainly not anywhere near the capabilities of many on this forum, but I do have lots of fun with different designs for my bandsaw boxes. I have made sales which is useful for replenishing timber, but to me, this is not something that will make money, but a hobby I pay for and enjoy.

You can see some of my work on www.badgerwoodcrafters.co.uk. but that is rather out of date as several boxes have not been added and I need to update the Web.

I hope to see some your varied works soon. Cheers for now

Alex

 

[skipdiver]

Quite impressive for someone who has only been doing woodwork for 2 years Alexam.

 

[custard]

I can't help but feel if I hadn't bounced around so much I would be much further on in my hobby than I am now.

You've put your finger bang on a critical point. Many newcomers lose all focus when it comes to woodworking, and I've met hobbyists who have pursued a far more diverse path than yours, jumping from canoes to guitars to domestic furniture to bowl turning to picture framing to windsor chairs...but never getting very far with any of them! Yet all the while cluttering up their limited workshop space with non-transferrable tools and machinery.

Hey, if what they want to do is tinker, dabble, and play with new tools then who am I to criticise? It's their time and their money, so if that's what brings them the greatest enjoyment then it's their choice. However, I'm always a bit suspicious because whenever I talk to someone gripped by a new mania they certainly don't talk in terms of tinkering and dabbling, instead they seem to be pretty committed...albeit on a transitory, temporary basis!

What they are certainly sacrificing however is the twin satisfactions of accomplishment and progress. But for this they'll have to let go of peripheral fascinations and methodically follow a more structured programme.

If someone wants to make good quality household furniture, and can dedicate eight to ten hours a week in a modest 10 or 15 square metre workshop space, then it's entirely realistic that, starting from zero knowledge, by the end of two years they could produce something like this shaker style side table with a hand dovetailed drawer,

And once they're able to work at this standard it opens the door to a huge range of domestic furniture; desks, bedside tables, dressing tables, chests of drawers, sideboards, consol tables, etc. They all follow the same basic, rectilinear constructional layout, and they're all entirely within reach.

But to climb this learning curve requires a very disciplined approach, working through a set and structured programme of projects designed to bring mastery over a small but essential collection of tools, and gaining competence in an equally small but equally essential collection of joints and techniques.

At the end you'd still be a long, long way from being a time served cabinet maker, and techniques like curved work, laminations, and veneering would remain alien and unknown, but you would absolutely have the necessary skill set to produce an awful lot of really well made and highly desirable furniture.

It's all down to personal choices, and I respect that, but I can't help but feel that many hobbyists would gain far more enduring satisfaction if they knuckled down and followed this path rather than littering their sheds with diverse and half finished projects executed to a poor standard.

 

[xraymtb]

You've described what I was thinking better than I did Custard!!

I've played with lots of tools, lots of methods but never mastered any of them (as the next great new thing comes along). On

Perhaps it's time to rationalise the project list and do the same to my tooling, then embark on a set path for 2016 and see how far I can get if I ignore the distractions.

 

[custard]

You've described what I was thinking better than I did Custard!!

I've played with lots of tools, lots of methods but never mastered any of them (as the next great new thing comes along). On

Perhaps it's time to rationalise the project list and do the same to my tooling, then embark on a set path for 2016 and see how far I can get if I ignore the distractions.

Recognising the need to focus already puts you up in the top 10% or so of amateur woodworkers, if you can lay out a 2016 action plan and stick with it I'm sure you'll be a far more accomplished craftsman in a year's time than you are today...and that's got to be a goal worth shooting for.

Good luck!

 

[RobinBHM]

Dabbling is fun but the danger is either not actually starting a real project or never finishing one.

Nothing beats the satisfaction of finishing a project, so maybe its time to focus on one area. With a table and bandsaw combined with a planer thicknesser you have the opportunity to machine up your own hardwoods which allows plenty of scope for a huge range of cabinetmaking.

If you need any fitted furniture in the home that can be an interesting project. The cabinetmaking element is quite simple really, shaker doors maybe, simple chamfered cornice and skirting. The carcasses can be melamine faced mdf screwed together.

 

[Wildman]

Well I have to admit to being a tinkerer, Trained as an electro mechanical engineer/toolmaker. I find I break away from convention and even in most cases drawings and make it up as I go along, I like to make things I want or need as well as repairing machinery and keeping old stuff in use. I don't aspire to be a cabinet maker, wood turner or artist any more I found my niche in just getting on with whatever comes to hand be it boat building trailer making, turning the odd bits for the house or making bits and bobs of furniture. As long as it is functional I'm not bothered by finish, a lack of pride in my work, not really I take pride in making an idea work rather than making it look pretty, hence so few photos of anything I have previously done. Find your own sweet spot where you have some satisfaction and are able to relax and enjoy it.

 

[skipdiver]

Well I have to admit to being a tinkerer, Trained as an electro mechanical engineer/toolmaker. I find I break away from convention and even in most cases drawings and make it up as I go along, I like to make things I want or need as well as repairing machinery and keeping old stuff in use. I don't aspire to be a cabinet maker, wood turner or artist any more I found my niche in just getting on with whatever comes to hand be it boat building trailer making, turning the odd bits for the house or making bits and bobs of furniture. As long as it is functional I'm not bothered by finish, a lack of pride in my work, not really I take pride in making an idea work rather than making it look pretty, hence so few photos of anything I have previously done. Find your own sweet spot where you have some satisfaction and are able to relax and enjoy it.

That sums me up really. I like making useful stuff and repairing or bringing back to life discarded items. I'm not really into fine furniture making and getting perfectly dovetailed drawers into a perfectly made piece of furniture. Pragmatic maker and fixer of things is how i'd describe my tendencies. I like problem solving and will usually take the simplest path to achieve it.

 

[BearTricks]

I'm limited to what I can afford and fit in to my small (even more so now that my larger shed leaked) workshop.

The biggest piece of machinery is a good quality lathe. The rest of the stuff is serviceable. I'm fairly glad I started out small with a limited budget because given unlimited money and a big space I'd have filled it with table saws, planer thicknessers and all kinds of stuff and I'd probably spend minutes at a time on each rather than hours. Now I'm limited to what I can make with what I have.

That's not to say that if I won the lottery I would be able to restrain myself from having a few pallets full of cast iron delivered.

Sent from my LG-H815 using Tapatalk

 

[mseries]

...does anyone else find it hard to settle on a single type of working with wood?
....
Thoughts?

I don't think I have ever settled on a single type of working with wood. No desire to do that to be honest. I make stuff that I want to make, using the techniques I fancy doing at the time. I don;t really care if I am not an expert or if it takes me longer than some. So long as I am happy with the end result ...

 

[heimlaga]

In the old days a countryside carpenter would build houses, maybe work on a ship if someone was building or rebuilding one nearby, hew beams for sale, maybe go logging in winter, fish a little and run a small farm with 2 or 3 cattle and a bunch of sheep.
A countryside joiner would build doors, windows, furniture, repair fishing boats, build cart wheels, sleds and waggons and sometimes decorate a church or work on a ship being built nearby...... and usually fish a little and and run a small farm.
A boatbuilder would build and repair boats, occasionally work for a while on some ship being built, make doors and windows and occasionally simple furniture. He would maybe go seal hunting or fishing occasionally..... and of cause he would own a cow and farm enough to feed the cow and log enough to get timber for the boats he built.

That was what life was like up here far from the specialisation that was prevalent in densely populated areas. Those jacks of all trades didn't churn out perfect reproductions of other's designs the way the guilds down south expected a craft to be done....... but they often produced wonderful masterpieces with an individualistic touch. Simply because they knew the material and their tools thoroughly and could apply skills aquired on one job when doing another job.
I am continuing their tradition...... and you seem to be heading this way too!

 

[Wildman]

In the old days a countryside carpenter would build houses, maybe work on a ship if someone was building or rebuilding one nearby, hew beams for sale, maybe go logging in winter, fish a little and run a small farm with 2 or 3 cattle and a bunch of sheep.
A countryside joiner would build doors, windows, furniture, repair fishing boats, build cart wheels, sleds and waggons and sometimes decorate a church or work on a ship being built nearby...... and usually fish a little and and run a small farm.
A boatbuilder would build and repair boats, occasionally work for a while on some ship being built, make doors and windows and occasionally simple furniture. He would maybe go seal hunting or fishing occasionally..... and of cause he would own a cow and farm enough to feed the cow and log enough to get timber for the boats he built.

That was what life was like up here far from the specialisation that was prevalent in densely populated areas. Those jacks of all trades didn't churn out perfect reproductions of other's designs the way the guilds down south expected a craft to be done....... but they often produced wonderful masterpieces with an individualistic touch. Simply because they knew the material and their tools thoroughly and could apply skills aquired on one job when doing another job.
I am continuing their tradition...... and you seem to be heading this way too!

ha ha I have and still do from time to time do all of the above never mind in the olden days.

 

[Inoffthered]

I can't help but feel if I hadn't bounced around so much I would be much further on in my hobby than I am now.

Thoughts?

But do you enjoy what you are doing, surely that is the most important thing?

 

[mind_the_goat]

The question to ask yourself is 'Did you enjoy doing those things?' The most import thing from a hobby is surely enjoyment? It may be that now you feel the need for a new challenge, which is to master a few skills rather than dabble in many, and that's fine, you should have a good idea by now of which areas you would like to pursue.
I'm definitely a dabbler, and tool collector and have a big list of projects in my head, none of which share much in common. I do find it takes a long time making anything, which can be frustrating, a lot of that is due to having to think hard about every process because it's always new to me and I don't have the skills. Often the result leave a lot to be desired on the finesse front, but I do eventually get things finished. For me at the moment the joy is in making different things, not making another table slightly better than the last. I do look on with envy when I see photos of other peoples projects on here, but know that I don't have the patience to do that myself, maybe I'll get to that point sometime.

 

[Jelly]

I'll admit to being a bit of a tinkerer. I've found the allure of making my own tools and learning about toolmaking processes morph into a seperate hobby of its own really, which takes time away from woodworking, but always has a defined endpoint.

Knowing my propensity for tinkering, I've made a concerted effort in the last year to ensure I only start manageable projects, and never too many at once, it's much more satisfying.

I also know what my niche is, I liked making exterior joinery and when I had cause to do it for a living became proficient (to the standard my employer desired, I wasn't properly apprenticed, just informally trained because I could already use tools with confidence and make basic joints, so I wouldn't presume to say I was good) at it, and should have liked to learn about interior joinery/shop fitting too. Unfortunately as someone who's now a hobbyist I'm not in much of a position to make windows anymore, so I just do whatever seems entertaining and where possible try to make use of all the "standard" joints regularly enough that I don't get too out of practice.

 

[rafezetter]

I think I'm currently in a transition phase too, at least insomuch as realising that now that I've had the good fortune to spend some time in someone elses workshop that dealt with working on old furniture and items, I'd like my hobby to go down the route of "making something from odd items", but in an even more adventurous way than I had previously considered.


While I'm not even remotely prolific in my output as a hobbyist I've had commissions for things to be made from scratch (instead of "restored) but to desired requirements. Each commission was different, each had it's own complications, but each was well received by their recipients despite flaws that some on here would have said "do it again" - a couple of which I wanted to do again but they wouldn't let me! So while following a linear path gives you more skill in one direction, it also limits your other directions if you are not entirely clear yourself.

If I had been a trained cabinetmaker or joiner, I would in all probability never have made at least two of my commissions because both of them worked with stone - with the probable thought process of "it's a foreign material I have no skill with, and cannot verify the outcome to any degree, so I won't accept it"; although to be fair in both cases the adding of the stonework was my idea. However because I'm a "I'll give that a try regardless" maker, I found after doing the first one that I'm actually not bad at it; certainly good enough to get paid for (with enthusiasm I might add!) and this in turn opened up the possibility of including stonework (marble) on the second one and the confidence to include stonework and other materials on future project ideas and this is on top of my having added metalwork already.

So while I have enormous respect for those that have followed a more linear path, I think the more varied approach of "lets try it" will ultimately help you discover more skills, that can then cross over to other projects and in turn find what it is that really excites you.

@ Mike - I think if you looked back at the pieces you've made Mike, you might find there's been more crossover of skills in them than you might realise, which would only have happened because you "bounced around so much".

 

[DennisCA]

I do have issues with feeling like I am having too many projects going at once, but I can't see an alternative. A big reason for my projects stalling out is cash and materials. I just have to stop and wait until I can afford to buy what I need to continue.

I try to keep a list of the most important things I should make to prevent from getting too cluttered.