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12K views 22 replies 9 participants last post by  MrFid 
#1 ·
Step 0: Get introduced to woodworking and become obsessed

Anyone who read my intro will know, I know basically nothing about fine woodworking. Transferable skills I have is the ability to work a saw, a driver, a nail gun, and lift heavy things. What started with an 8 minute video on YouTube and was fueled by having just binge watched Parks and Rec (Ron Swanson anyone?) not 3 weeks prior, has culminated in a regular obsession with woodworking. I had a mild interest in it after watching Parks and Rec as well as Rick Offerman's stand-up comedy, and then watched an 8 minute video on YouTube simply because I had nothing better to do on my lunch break. Mitch Peacock's "Get Into Woodworking" series episode 1 was the first video I watched, and I was hooked. I don't think I got any work done the rest of that day, actually, I know I didn't. I watched 6 episodes of what I can describe as some of the most informative (if a bit dry) videos I had watched to that point.

So I had all this enthusiasm backed up by hours and hours of videos watched. Well, at the time I was about to be extremely busy for several straight weeks and wouldn't have access to my garage or the internet. So my enthusiasm went on hold, only to be reignited by talking to people about woodworking for nearly three straight weeks while I had limited access. It was great, I didn't really retain much information unfortunately, but it was still a great time none-the-less.

Then finally, I decided. It was time to get into the books and carve out some funds to make this obsession a reality. So here we are. A real novice getting a real fresh start at the world of woodworking. These blogs will likely get very little attention, and I'm completely okay with that. If I can help encourage at least one video lurker to edge themselves out into the real world of woodworking I will consider them a success.

Step 1 coming very very soon.
 
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#3 ·
DocTux-You're off to a good start with the decision to make a workbench your first project. A workbench was my first project as well. Best of luck to you! FYI, Nick Offerman's website has a nice gallery of his and his students' work in the woodshed as well as products for sale in the "The Store".
 
#4 ·
Mr, I appreciate your comments on my posts! I definitely started to see how little support my design would really have when I started looking at how other people built theirs. Almost nothing is keeping my frame from racking in the long direction because of where I put the support structure. None of it falls between the legs and the shelf supports are all turned the wrong way to be able to support the bench. I'll definitely be asking a lot of questions, especially since I have half a month or so before I can buy the tools or materials!

Don, wow! My life is now that much better that I know Nick Offerman has a studio. Definitely will have to visit it the next time I'm in California. I particularly like their green method of wood acquisition. I'll have to check out your bench too, every little thing helps! Thanks for reading.
 
#5 ·
Fuss over tools and the first project

Step 1, now we're really starting on our journey into woodworking. This is when I go, "Oh man. Power tools are super expensive, I think I'll just stick to hand tools. Plus, that sounds incredibly fun and like a good opportunity to truly challenge myself." Can you tell that I'm a newbie? What did I even get myself into.

Well that was a comforting thought UNTIL I looked at the price of quality hand tools and the true difference between shoddy ones and good ones. Not just that, but the sheer number of hand tools and how many different tools are required to perform jobs that many power tools combine into one.

"Whew, okay." I tell myself, "Let's just give it a shot. There's no reason to give up quite so quickly on the idea of hand tools. I'll just buy very strategically so that if I ever do decide that hand tools is just too much work."

Strategically. Right. Everything I do is strategic, planned, at least to an extent. Once the plan is in place I rarely stick explicitly to the plan, but with this… I didn't even know where to start. So I made a list.

Screwdrivers
Hammer
Chisels

Alright, this is starting to shape up nicely.

Planes.

"What kind?" The internet asked me.

"Huh?" I replied bewildered. "What kind? The kind you use to do woodworking." As it turns out there are thousands upon thousands of permutations of planes. As with most things there are more brands than is listable, what was unexpected was the sheer volume of types of planes. Block planes, low angle and otherwise. Shoulder planes. Spokeshaves. Penta-numeral model numbers that seem to be infinite even within a single make. Bench planes. Jack planes. Smoothing planes. Camfer planes. Pocket planes. Planes planes planes. I felt like I was reading a Dr. Seuss book about woodworking. Oh the many planes that'll drive you insane.

So what do I actually need? To start woodworking? It turns out the answer is, it depends. It depends on what you want to do. So the best idea is to pick a project first, then buy just the tools you need for that specific project. Sounds good. I picked a workbench, because… well yeah. Seems like the obvious first choice. Turns out that workbenches come in thousands of types and sizes. If you're reading this thinking, "Oh gosh, what did I get myself into?" I recommend acquiring a pallet and starting with a slim bench. Mitch Peacock has a great description of how to make a slim bench. That's my first step to building my first proper workbench. Mostly just because I need a place to saw stuff and I don't have saw horses.

Awesome. Now I have a project. Build a proper workbench.
 
#13 ·
Project: Get this thing off the ground

It seemed so simple when I thought about it, a workbench seemed like the perfect place to start my woodworking hobby, then from there I can easily figure out what tools I need to complete the job.

As it turns out, you can't exactly start with just a workbench. You need to get off the ground before you can get your hobby off the ground. First I really fussed over what type of bench I wanted to make. Well, that wasn't very fruitful. I WANTED to make a bench that was 92" long by 36" with vises on every face and every leg. Those hole things? Sure, let's put those on there too. It turns out they're called dog holes. They're extremely useful it turns out, except when you just randomly put them in all over the place. Glad I didn't have materials yet otherwise my workbench would have been swiss cheese before I even realized.

So I refined by quest; what kind of work bench COULD I have? Well, it turns out I'm extremely limited on space. My garage is a "two car garage" according to my landlord. It works out as one because both my wife and I drive very small vehicles. I've only got 24" of clearance from my mirror to the wall it turns out. So what do I think of? A fold down bench top! Brilliant! Space would be saved, I wouldn't do work with the car in the garage anyway. So when I park, just fold it up and problem solved. Well, I guess I COULD make due with that, but my aspiration to be as archaic as my patience will allow doesn't seem to work very well with it. I can't imagine a fold down bench being incredibly sturdy. So, back to the drawing board.

Staring at the wall in my garage, cluttered up by shelves filled with nonsense that has been mistreated over the last year or so, I came to a realization. I had space that was hiding from me. A lot of it it turns out. Well, not a lot, but enough that a solid workbench could easily be a thing. So obviously the next step was to continue to ooh and ahh over what I wanted to do for tools. Build a list of tools I would need and what I would buy and how much it would cost. Three spreadsheets later, I was plagued by my brain. I couldn't decide what I wanted to do for a bench. Again. So what do I do? I had just found this awesome forum and began posting here. Great times have been had and I was highly encouraged (and guided) by several awesome people who appear to be regular posters.

So it turns out that part 3 is get into a community. Sure you can do it alone, but why would you? There is a wealth of knowledge out there and this is a great opportunity to get to know some people in the meantime. So with their advice I finally have a solid idea of what I am going to make. A bench that can be broken down for the purposes of moving it. Awesome. Next time we begin to tackle it. Three parts in one day, because I had to retroactively catch the narrative up to where I'm at. I'm not sure how frequently I'll be able to post. It'll likely be similar to this where I post several parts at once and split them up by their theme.

Included is my very first, from scratch, workbench design.

Shelf Rectangle Wood Wood stain Plywood


Table Wood Rectangle Shade Art


Rectangle Wood Triangle Parallel Wood stain


Next time will be a design inspired by the help of JayT. By that I mean I'll be adapting his design to fit my spacial needs.

Stay tuned and good woodworking!
 

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#14 ·
Project: Get this thing off the ground

It seemed so simple when I thought about it, a workbench seemed like the perfect place to start my woodworking hobby, then from there I can easily figure out what tools I need to complete the job.

As it turns out, you can't exactly start with just a workbench. You need to get off the ground before you can get your hobby off the ground. First I really fussed over what type of bench I wanted to make. Well, that wasn't very fruitful. I WANTED to make a bench that was 92" long by 36" with vises on every face and every leg. Those hole things? Sure, let's put those on there too. It turns out they're called dog holes. They're extremely useful it turns out, except when you just randomly put them in all over the place. Glad I didn't have materials yet otherwise my workbench would have been swiss cheese before I even realized.

So I refined by quest; what kind of work bench COULD I have? Well, it turns out I'm extremely limited on space. My garage is a "two car garage" according to my landlord. It works out as one because both my wife and I drive very small vehicles. I've only got 24" of clearance from my mirror to the wall it turns out. So what do I think of? A fold down bench top! Brilliant! Space would be saved, I wouldn't do work with the car in the garage anyway. So when I park, just fold it up and problem solved. Well, I guess I COULD make due with that, but my aspiration to be as archaic as my patience will allow doesn't seem to work very well with it. I can't imagine a fold down bench being incredibly sturdy. So, back to the drawing board.

Staring at the wall in my garage, cluttered up by shelves filled with nonsense that has been mistreated over the last year or so, I came to a realization. I had space that was hiding from me. A lot of it it turns out. Well, not a lot, but enough that a solid workbench could easily be a thing. So obviously the next step was to continue to ooh and ahh over what I wanted to do for tools. Build a list of tools I would need and what I would buy and how much it would cost. Three spreadsheets later, I was plagued by my brain. I couldn't decide what I wanted to do for a bench. Again. So what do I do? I had just found this awesome forum and began posting here. Great times have been had and I was highly encouraged (and guided) by several awesome people who appear to be regular posters.

So it turns out that part 3 is get into a community. Sure you can do it alone, but why would you? There is a wealth of knowledge out there and this is a great opportunity to get to know some people in the meantime. So with their advice I finally have a solid idea of what I am going to make. A bench that can be broken down for the purposes of moving it. Awesome. Next time we begin to tackle it. Three parts in one day, because I had to retroactively catch the narrative up to where I'm at. I'm not sure how frequently I'll be able to post. It'll likely be similar to this where I post several parts at once and split them up by their theme.

Included is my very first, from scratch, workbench design.

Shelf Rectangle Wood Wood stain Plywood


Table Wood Rectangle Shade Art


Rectangle Wood Triangle Parallel Wood stain


Next time will be a design inspired by the help of JayT. By that I mean I'll be adapting his design to fit my spacial needs.

Stay tuned and good woodworking!
Looks like a good start to a plan :)

Be sure to think about how your vices will attach while planning. Also, you might end up wanting a heavier top that sits on the legs. How you've built it in Sketchup there will be a LOT of shearing force on whatever method you attach the top to the legs with. Look at your dining room table and see that the legs support the top from underneath, and that the legs are (likely) not flush with the edge of the top. Keep us posted.

As for tools, become a Craigslist hound, and don't shy away from a little rust. Learning how to restore a tool goes a long way towards learning how to use it properly. It will be frustrating because it won't feel like you're woodworking, but it's a worthy process, and can save you some cash. Again, ask a ton of questions of the folks on here.
 

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#15 ·
Get this thing off the ground 2

Last post I realized that to build a workbench you first need a workbench. Which means you either need to find a friend with a workbench or you need to jerry rig one. I chose the latter. My bench is only 16" or so off the ground, so it's not the greatest surface to work on, but hey. It's something to brace on and cut on as I build my saw horses (saw benches?). This leads me to my big epiphany. My first true project is not a true workbench! It is a pair of saw horses/saw benches.

Which means I'll have a project that I can complete in a very reasonable amount of time! Very few tools are required for my first project!

That was a very exciting realization for me; mostly because it was very disheartening to look at the workbench as this long bear of a project that is going to cost a fortune in tool purchases to get started on! After all, I just want to cut some wood and make some stuff. I'm not entirely particular what I want to make. I just want to make something so I can look at it and feel manly and accomplished.

So now it is literally time to get things off the ground… and onto my tough boxes! I found a sheet of plywood in my garage that I'm using as a makeshift bench top. So color me excited. I also made my first set of purchases toward starting a woodworking tool collection. My first purchase looked like this:

  1. A cheap 6" block plane: $10, to square off the really rough cuts that my cheap saw makes
  2. 4 set of chisels that were on clearance: Ideally I would like wooden handled, nicer chisels, but these have decent reviews and I can just sharpen them up (they were a little dull)
  3. box of 3" screws: these were also on clearance
  4. 4 pack of dewalt quick release clamps
  5. 2 jorgensen bar clamps that were on clearance
  6. lots of wood glue
  7. 4 snap clamps that cost about 3 dollars for the set

Table Gas Flooring Motor vehicle Lego


Most of the other things I had already purchased. Color me excited to get home and start working on this.

Also, thanks to all the people who have been commenting and giving advice! It's extremely helpful, I'll try and encorporate as much of the advice into these posts as possible.
 

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#16 ·
Get this thing off the ground 2

Last post I realized that to build a workbench you first need a workbench. Which means you either need to find a friend with a workbench or you need to jerry rig one. I chose the latter. My bench is only 16" or so off the ground, so it's not the greatest surface to work on, but hey. It's something to brace on and cut on as I build my saw horses (saw benches?). This leads me to my big epiphany. My first true project is not a true workbench! It is a pair of saw horses/saw benches.

Which means I'll have a project that I can complete in a very reasonable amount of time! Very few tools are required for my first project!

That was a very exciting realization for me; mostly because it was very disheartening to look at the workbench as this long bear of a project that is going to cost a fortune in tool purchases to get started on! After all, I just want to cut some wood and make some stuff. I'm not entirely particular what I want to make. I just want to make something so I can look at it and feel manly and accomplished.

So now it is literally time to get things off the ground… and onto my tough boxes! I found a sheet of plywood in my garage that I'm using as a makeshift bench top. So color me excited. I also made my first set of purchases toward starting a woodworking tool collection. My first purchase looked like this:

  1. A cheap 6" block plane: $10, to square off the really rough cuts that my cheap saw makes
  2. 4 set of chisels that were on clearance: Ideally I would like wooden handled, nicer chisels, but these have decent reviews and I can just sharpen them up (they were a little dull)
  3. box of 3" screws: these were also on clearance
  4. 4 pack of dewalt quick release clamps
  5. 2 jorgensen bar clamps that were on clearance
  6. lots of wood glue
  7. 4 snap clamps that cost about 3 dollars for the set

Table Gas Flooring Motor vehicle Lego


Most of the other things I had already purchased. Color me excited to get home and start working on this.

Also, thanks to all the people who have been commenting and giving advice! It's extremely helpful, I'll try and encorporate as much of the advice into these posts as possible.
Looking good!
 

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#22 ·
Get this thing off the ground... with a vengeance

Started off working on my saw horses. I definitely appreciated the advice to build a saw bench, but it was going to be significantly more involved than the extremely basic set of stacking saw horses I did build. Plus it can't stack, which was a huge detractor. I will likely build one later on, but probably not until I have a functional bench in place.
This was the first time I had ever used a handsaw and attempted to do more than a rough cut to fit oversized studs in the back of my truck. It turns out two things I learned about hand cutting boards, first of all, it's a lot of work. Second it requires a lot more focus to cut straight. I foresee a bit of practice cutting and, if not replacing my current saw, at least sharpening it. It's an "aggressive" tooth Husky saw, I'm not sure what that means though to be honest.
Every time I cut a board it cut at a slight angle away from my line. Always long on the bottom of the board. It's also usually straight and flat for the first half inch or so then it starts to drift. My first two or three cuts were really bad and I was as much as a half inch on the bottom. To fix it I just flipped it over and cut through. Oh, I almost forgot, my very first couple I forgot to make a knife wall and… yeah… that was pretty terrible. They came out too short by almost an inch. That said, I figured it out and stopped having as many boards that were too short. Very few had a flat footing though, and the legs are not even so the horses rock… a lot. I'll definitely have to even out the legs a bit, but right now I've got a massive amount of wood being stored on them. So that'll have to wait.
Anyway, this was my first experience into gluing boards together. First experience trying to cut boards to a precise length with a hand saw. As well as the first project I've actually performed because I wanted to, and not because I was being paid to. Due to that (as well as the fact that it was midnight when I was finishing my project) my screw placement was… rough. They're just enough to keep everything together, but they definitely are not very nice to look at. Which I'm okay with. Overall, the material to build these was just under $10/each. Their utilitarian nature makes me okay with the fact that they're not very nice to look at. Also took me about 2-3 hours of work time to complete, though had a lot of interruptions so I'm not sure how accurate that time is. Enjoy the pictures and stay tuned for the next update!

Oh also something I learned… using a plastic speedsquare to make a knife wall is a bad idea. Pretty sure my square isn't square anymore.

Wheel Aircraft Toy Monoplane Toy airplane


Bottle Wood Gas Bottle cap Table


Wood Table Gas Machine Plywood


Tire Wheel Wood Flooring Floor


Okay, so this one was just my absolute best cut and I felt really proud of it. It's a little silly, I know. But yeah. It's pretty awesome.

Wood Rectangle Wooden block Plank Flooring
 

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#23 ·
Get this thing off the ground... with a vengeance

Started off working on my saw horses. I definitely appreciated the advice to build a saw bench, but it was going to be significantly more involved than the extremely basic set of stacking saw horses I did build. Plus it can't stack, which was a huge detractor. I will likely build one later on, but probably not until I have a functional bench in place.
This was the first time I had ever used a handsaw and attempted to do more than a rough cut to fit oversized studs in the back of my truck. It turns out two things I learned about hand cutting boards, first of all, it's a lot of work. Second it requires a lot more focus to cut straight. I foresee a bit of practice cutting and, if not replacing my current saw, at least sharpening it. It's an "aggressive" tooth Husky saw, I'm not sure what that means though to be honest.
Every time I cut a board it cut at a slight angle away from my line. Always long on the bottom of the board. It's also usually straight and flat for the first half inch or so then it starts to drift. My first two or three cuts were really bad and I was as much as a half inch on the bottom. To fix it I just flipped it over and cut through. Oh, I almost forgot, my very first couple I forgot to make a knife wall and… yeah… that was pretty terrible. They came out too short by almost an inch. That said, I figured it out and stopped having as many boards that were too short. Very few had a flat footing though, and the legs are not even so the horses rock… a lot. I'll definitely have to even out the legs a bit, but right now I've got a massive amount of wood being stored on them. So that'll have to wait.
Anyway, this was my first experience into gluing boards together. First experience trying to cut boards to a precise length with a hand saw. As well as the first project I've actually performed because I wanted to, and not because I was being paid to. Due to that (as well as the fact that it was midnight when I was finishing my project) my screw placement was… rough. They're just enough to keep everything together, but they definitely are not very nice to look at. Which I'm okay with. Overall, the material to build these was just under $10/each. Their utilitarian nature makes me okay with the fact that they're not very nice to look at. Also took me about 2-3 hours of work time to complete, though had a lot of interruptions so I'm not sure how accurate that time is. Enjoy the pictures and stay tuned for the next update!

Oh also something I learned… using a plastic speedsquare to make a knife wall is a bad idea. Pretty sure my square isn't square anymore.

Wheel Aircraft Toy Monoplane Toy airplane


Bottle Wood Gas Bottle cap Table


Wood Table Gas Machine Plywood


Tire Wheel Wood Flooring Floor


Okay, so this one was just my absolute best cut and I felt really proud of it. It's a little silly, I know. But yeah. It's pretty awesome.

Wood Rectangle Wooden block Plank Flooring
Keep practicing! I don't know about the set of your saw, but some of those cheap ones are not set correctly, which can lead to drift or pinching during the cut. Eventually you'll probably want to ditch that Husky for a good piece of used steel (or new if you win the lottery). These can be had for not too much money at your local used tool store or flea market or yard sales, but they usually require sharpening, which is a whole ball of wax by itself involving another set of tools. Looking good so far! Keep us posted on the progress.
 

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