Introduction

[owenmcc]

After too much time lurking in the background and thanking some of the many wonderful posts, I've decided to bite the bullet and start adding to the forum.

My name is Owen McClatchey and I'm a woodworker.

Background info: I did an apprenticeship in bench joinery with Brecon College and Traditional Building Company. Have just completed a year with the Prince's Foundation Craft apprenticeship and have been self employed since March.

Reasons for not posting:
General fear of internet anonymity, intimidated by the quality of work, unsure of whether to post about employer's work and mostly laziness.

I've finally decided to start posting because the variety of information on this forum has probably added to my learning about woodwork as much as anywhere else. I'm very grateful to everyone who posts quickly and intelligently to the questions asked.The level of kindness to fellow posters seems to be unusually high. And hopefully I now have some things to add to the debate.

Owen

 

[John15]

Hi Owen,

Welcome to the forum. Lots of members here who help with problems and discuss interesting matters.

Regards,

John

 

[Random Orbital Bob]

Hi Owen and welcome

Certainly put any ideas of shyness or quality out of your mind. One of the very pleasant aspects of this community is that the skill range is enormous. Literally from beginners to veterans with a household name in the industry (like David Charlesworth for example).

People are happy to contribute their wisdom so there is no such thing as a "stupid" question. Everyone is stupid til they know the answer. A great place to start would be to post any project work pictures (a WIP) that you undertook during your coursework. There is a very healthy appetite for real projects with no boundaries on shapes, sizes or complexity. So, dive right in and get your feet wet with a picture post if you feel ready

 

[Tom MasterCraftsman]

Hi Owen, I've just started posting recently after reading the posts of others and finding very helpfull, I also have been in the industry since leaving school, I started my own woodwoking/joinery shop. In becoming self employed I have found people's posts and reply very helpfull, I'm a gret beliver that you never stop learning however experienced you are

It's funny sometime you just can't figure something out after hours, but a fresh pair of eyes will work it out instantly,cause it was blatantly oblivious but we all look at things diffrently.

Regards to all Tom

 

[Peter Sefton]

Welcome to the forum Owen
Cheers Peter

 

[custard]

Hello Owen and welcome.

 

[rafezetter]

Hi Owen and welcome

I wouldn't worry about the level's of skill here, yours or theirs, I've not even so much as cut my first tenon or dovetail yet! Most of my WW stuff has been renovation / renewal of surface finishes etc with basic joinery of a few pieces, so as an apprenticed joiner you are far from the bottom of the rung!

Get yourself a photobucket account and start a library of your work, however mundane it might seem to you - it could just be the answer someone else was looking for.

 

[Racers]

Hi Owen and welcome.

Pete

 

[Newbie_Neil]

Hi Owen,

Welcome to the forum. Since joining, you've obviously been hitting the thanks button.

Cheers,
Neil

 

[Ian down london way]

Hello and welcome.

As a poster of a couple of WIPS I do appreciate the thank button being hit, so going and I too would love to see what kind of projects are used to teach people craft work these days.

(oh gosh - reminds me of a german band that. kraftverk - feeling my age now )

 

[owenmcc]

Thanks everyone,

I'll post a few pictures in the projects forum. I should have some photos for a retrospective WIP thread for a few of them, but I usually fall into that trap of getting distracted by the work.

The quality of work thing was, but shouldn't have been, the issue when I first signed up (about the time I started college). In fact there have been some fantastic postings from people with very little experience, where everyone learns or relearns from the level of detail. The further we get in any skill, the more we take the little things for granted.

So a few years down the line, I hope there's some starting points for more discussions and I look forward to continuing to learn from the wisdom of this crowd.