My woodworing ideas and tips #10: A thought on the basics

Not long ago I asked for some ideas to blog about to keep my head in the game while I wait for my recovery to be complete—- you guys really came through. As you know I’ve been working on (and exposing my lack of knowledge and ability) on blogging about Sketchup. Will keep that up for sure – I am learning. However, I need to go back and work on some of the other ideas you gave me to give myself a break from Sketchup and keep myself sane. Trying to figure out the program is harder than I thought!

Anyway – one of the ideas you all gave me to blog about was starting with the basics—of course, I have no illusions that I can cover all there is to cover——ha! there’s just to much out there. But I try. :-)

I’ve covered measuring, etc. in http://lumberjocks.com/jocks/Betsy/blog/5126

and marking and cutting, etc. here – http://lumberjocks.com/jocks/Betsy/blog/5162

But I was trying to think of what I did to really learn to do what I do manage to get done. For those of you who are starting out and just getting your sawdust careers started—- don’t start too big with the idea of making a period replica chippendale hoogjiggie thing. There’s very few who can start with a masterpiece and pull it off.

How I started to learn woodworking was starting with books that now look hokey to me now, but at the time they helped a lot. You’ve seen them – building furniture with 2×4’s—- those are some good books—they get you the basics. They all start with safety, then materials, then hardware and then some great projects using 2×4’s and 3/4” material. Everything can be purchased at the box stores and generally can be built with very basic tools and can be done quickly.

So while not great shakes—that’s my tip for the day.

-- You can't get a hug from Facebook.