# Through the years



## a1Jim (Aug 9, 2008)

As I've spent a little time here on Ljs I keep finding new ways to do things, new things to make ,people who are super stars in the woodworking scene and just great folks.
I thought it would be fun to find out how many years , months or days all our members have under there belt and what they have to say about woodworking.
I'll start, I started woodworking 20+ years ago and still learn something everyday either from the good folks here or in my shop. I feel what you learn doesn't always have to be the perfect technique but it can also be what not to do. Even though this type of education can be frustrating an irritating it still is a learning process . So when your trying to make something and it just doesn't come together don't give up just realize this is the path to becoming a better woodworker and give another try and or ask all the good folks here on LJs. Most importantly enjoy what your doing.


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## papadan (Mar 6, 2009)

My first woodworking was back in the 70s and 80s, but not officially. In 2001, I bought a wood lathe and that started my official hobby of woodworking. Never had anyone to help or teach me, so some of my technics are not what they should be. I only make what I want to, and give it to who wants it. Flat work kind of took over my time, but I still love turning. Have not done much in a while now because of health issues, but I'm tryin to get back to it.


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## GMman (Apr 11, 2008)

That should be a good topic Jim.
I started 10 years ago with just a few tools and I still take it as a hobby, doing it because I just love wood working.
I was on another site in Canada which was not doing well so buddy Canadianwoodchuck told me about LJ and I now I am getting close to two years.
To me this is the best site, I have learnt so much here.
Made a lot of very good buddies too.


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## fineamerican (Nov 14, 2009)

This a good idea Jim. I started woodworking while I was still in high school, but not from shop class. My mom sold plywood for a company here in Greenville, SC, and knew of a mantle shop. They offered me a job as a cut out out guy at 18 years old. That was 1994. From there I went on to building mantles, but that got really old fast. I went on to various cabinet shops, some door shops(horrible places to work), and finally while going through the South Carolina Criminal Justice Academy, and gave up for about a year. I started buying some tools while working my native Greenville County as Deputy. Before I knew I was fully involved in building cabinets, entertainment centers for my Sgts, Lts, and Capts. My beat partner asked me to fix his broken humidor, and wala my box making passion was born. Now woodworking mostly boxes is out main source of income. No longer a cop, still married, and at home each night with my kids, instead of jumping fences, shooting pit bulls and fighting crack heads! Woodworking is much easier on me and the family. Not sure if that was what you were looking for but thats my take on it. I apply the same principals of being alert to details I learned on the streets to what the wood tells me in my shop.


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## cstrang (Sep 22, 2009)

My father is from a small town of about 900 people, I didn't grow up there but I visit a lot, my uncle is the "jack of all trades" of that town and ever since I was old enough to walk whenever I went out to visit him I was known as his shadow. Funny enough his name is actually Jack, so I would follow my Uncle Jack helping him with framing houses, roofing (he would only let me on the roof when I was older… probably for the best haha) plumbing and just about everything that needed to be done, I don't think there is a single house in that town that Uncle Jack didn't have some part in. I always had a little workbench and a hammer in the garage of our house but I really started to establish my shop when I was in grade nine, I bought a small table saw, a drill, miter saw and picked up everything else along the way. Even though I grew up doing rough construction with my uncle fine woodworking is by far what I enjoy the most. Now I have a nice shop in the basement of my parents house (thankfully they let me take up most of their basement), I am taking a cabinetmaking course and after a few years of working with someone else I hope to have my own commercial shop. Oh yeah, I still go out to that small town and "shadow" my Uncle Jack whenever I can, although people can't call me his "little helper" anymore… I am 6'2" haha.


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## cranbrook2 (May 28, 2006)

I have been around woodworking all my life but i never did it full time until i was 15 years old .
So this is my 30 th year woodworking and eating sawdust


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## hObOmOnk (Feb 6, 2007)

Interesting.


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## grizzman (May 10, 2009)

i got serious about woodworking in 1994..Ive always loved nature and the woods and making things…so when i moved to Alabama i built my shop, and have been a hobbyist since then, i am proud to say that most of the furniture in the house i made and will hand it on down to sons or grandchildren..which will please me..there doesn't seem to be an end of how different woods look and how they work together to make something beautiful..Ive been slowed by health problems, but ill always love it and try to make something when i can.


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## okwoodshop (Sep 15, 2009)

Jim, I thought this was a good idea till I started figuring up all the years. Now I just feel old,LOL. I worked at a sawmill/pallet mill when I was 16, The owner would let me have lumber for free to make crafts and things.That was 36 years ago, My wife has a small jewelry box made from curly cherry that was made from some of the pallet boards that I saved for 15 years and dried in her dads basement before building the box for her,I will have to post it on a project page(can't figure out how to put pictures up here??? The only JOB$$, I ever had that involved woodworking was making walnut trim for custom conversion vans(Chattanooga Choo-Choo). Everything else has been FUN,FUN,FUN, I got paid for some things but mostly just for family and friends. This site is so great,especially for a beginner, I wish I had found it a long time ago. I have made a lot of friends/buddies and hope to make more. WORKING wood doesn't sound right in my case, it has all been enjoyment.


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## GMman (Apr 11, 2008)

okwoodshop you post here the same way you posted you Gallery of 20 pictures.


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## a1Jim (Aug 9, 2008)

Very interesting guys Love-in every word.


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## Dez (Mar 28, 2007)

I was born into captivity in 1953, in Burns, OR. 
I started working with wood on the ranch as early as 1960! (also learned to drive tractor, hay truck etc, about then. 
If you wanted to be part of the family you did whatever work was needed).
The family moved from Oregon in 1955 to Idaho, then to Washington in 1967. 
Dad took up carpentry again and my interest in woodworking was locked in. 
Jobs I have held that were working with wood include carpentry, cabinetry, and early on a short stint in a lumber mill stacking for the kiln.
My dads' last words were basically "you are a better woodworker than I ever was".
Even when you are over 40 your parents can say things that really hit you hard! 
I hope to die working (playing) and spending time with my progeny!
As long as I can keep learning I figure it is still a good life.


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## Ger21 (Oct 29, 2009)

About 20 years ago, I was 25, and wanted to buy guitars I couldn't afford. I've always liked building things, since I was a kid, so I figured I'd build my own. A friends dad worked at Sears, so got a table saw and a combination 6×48 belt/disc sander, and built a few guitars. That led to building some furniture and cabinets. My dad had a friend who had a cabinet shop, which led to a new career. After 15 years of working there, that shop just closed due to the economy in Michigan. They had been in business over 50 years. Fortunately, I've been able to move to another shop. I no longer work in the shop, as I now program CNC machinery and handle a lot of the project management, but I've always had a fairly well equipped garage shop. Some day when I retire from the day job, I'll have a much larger home shop. I'm 45 now, and have 20+ years in woodworking.


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## stefang (Apr 9, 2009)

Great Idea Jim. My very first step towards woodworking was when I bought a Sjøberg work bench in1980 and made some furniture for my then 15 year old son's room, and that was it until 1996 when I retired. That was when I bought a cheap Chinese lathe on sale. I took it home, unpacked it and looked it over more carefully. I didn't really know anything much about machines, but even I could see that this machine would never be able to do much. So I took it back and exchanged it for a Record 1/2 hp lathe with 3 speeds. I bought and read a lot of turning books and joined the AAW. In spite of it's obvious drawbacks the Record turned out to be a very good lathe and I have it to this day. We have been through a lot together so we are not about to part company.

After a short while I found out it would be a lot easier prepare workpieces for the lathe with a bandsaw. I got a 12" Delta on sale. It's only got a 6" height capacity, but here again it has served me well and won't be replaced. Having a bandsaw got me doing a lot of non-turning projects and this led to all the other machines I now have. So I have been working at my woodworking hobby reading all the books and magazines I could get hold of to learn new skills and improve the others.

To be honest I find it hard to define exactly why I like woodworking so much. I guess it is the history, the joy of making things from scratch, the opportunity to learn new things every day, the progress achieved, the time spent with my grandkids in the shop, the making of special things for special people, the whole culture of woodworking, and last but certainly not least the LJ experience making friends and sharing the hobby with like minded folks, some new at it, others with more or less experience and then of course the people who inspire us with the kind of woodworking we all dream about being capable of. I also think it is a fine thing that we can forget all the controversial areas of life and just zero in on a subject that we are all interested in and enjoy each others company in a positive way.


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## johnnymo (Aug 15, 2009)

Good forum Jim. I really didn't get into woodworking until about three or four years ago. Everything I know about woodworking I learned from books, internet, or just going out and trying it! I have to admit that there is still a lot of stuff I need to learn. For right now I just go into my shop and start building projects. If there is something I don't understand I head for my laptop and start researching.
Most of my projects I have done are for things needed around the house, or for family members in which I thought it would be nice to give them as a gift. I have made a garden bench for an auction at my youngest daughter's school. That was a great feeling to give a project away to help the school raise money.
Right now my weekend woodworking is a hobby that I hope, one day, will turn into something more.


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## lew (Feb 13, 2008)

All started in Building Construction in a Vocational High School in 1960!


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## jordan (Nov 5, 2009)

Yes Jim, even though I'm a carver and not necessarily a wood 'worker', I guess the same principles apply. I agree it's a lot about learning what NOT to do. I consider the carving kind of like chess, always thinking three moves ahead. I've been doing it for - I can't believe - 20 years and what I've learned the most is to accept what MY style is so that if I happen to see a piece of something I WISH I could do, I'm not so frustrated trying to accomplish something I CAN'T do.


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## janice (Jan 8, 2009)

Well, for me, I started about 20 years ago. My youngest was only 3 at the time. My dad bought himself a scroll saw and was cutting out crafts for me, that's when I started painting too. I bought my own saw so I could use it when I wanted to. Bought my table saw with the money I was making from crafts. My husband thought I was going out to buy some little table top saw kidding saw or something, so he didnt bother to go with me. But when I came home with a 10inch craftman saw that he had to put together he was shocked. But happpy at the same time because he needed one too. Something I think every home should have. : ) I felt like I neeed the table saw so I could cut straight square cuts because I wanted to start building shelves. Then I started looking at the store bought furntiure in my home and how they were built and noticed the mistakes that I never notice before. I thought, well, if they can do this bad and sell it then I should be able to build something and llive with the minor mistakes for alot less money, so that's when I started building furniture. I took drawers out of the dresser to see how it was put together and decided to build my mown bedroom set. I don't even know if it's really a hobby for me or not. I usually end up building something because I want it. I do really enjoy it though too. My other hobby is painting. And as always there is so much more to learn in both crafts. Since I do alot of both, it's hard to take the time to learn something new, like those raised panel doors I really want. I would like to start up a buisness with my daughter painting floorcloths, but I keep ending up back in the work room building something else that I want. With any luck I'm gonna be the big 5 0 this year and maybe even a grandbaby in the near furture. I keep thinking I should quit playing with wood while I still have all my fiingers and just stick to painting. But even then, I'm always gonna need to make picture frames for the painting or something to paint on. Between the house and cabin there will always be something for me that I'm gonna want, so I'm sure I won't be giving up woodworking any time soon. My other newest hobby is playing on this site. See, I have wood in my work room right now waiting to turn into an intertainment center but I'm goofing off here instead. Thanks, it was fun Jim!


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## mark88 (Jun 8, 2009)

well I can say I'm one of the youngsters on the site who looks up to the rest as an inspiration. Love the work on this site and love the brotherhood. I just turned 22 on the 20th and I've been woodworking since 15. Once I hit high school I just got in the fast lane with it. The first person to get me going was my shop teacher who pushed me beyonjd what I thought I could do. After knowing I could build the things I built with him I built ANYTHING that came to mind. He taught me how to design properly by hand using a scale etc. Since then I pushed myself building many projects building a portfolio of all my work which got me into the carpenters union holding the record as the youngest member to join. And by joining the union as an apprentice, with all the grants and bonus' I've received from the government I've bought a starter house and all my tools in my shop which keeps me sane today.


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## araldite (Jan 29, 2009)

I built my first project when I was in high school; it was a pool cue rack made out of scraps I found laying around and old dull hand tools my father had left. That was about 50 years ago. For most of my life woodworking was a weekend hobby since I was occupied with a full time (non-woodworking) job and busy raising kids. I've been retired a couple of years and can finally spend a lot more time at it. There's just so much to learn and so many techniques to try that I never get tired. I've had no formal woodworking training and learn by reading and picking up hints and tricks online at places like right here.


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## jack1 (May 17, 2007)

I remember my first project in wood shop in the 7th grade. It was supposed to be a 2×3" rectangle to be used as a sanding block. We were given saws and jack planes. I never did make one that was that size. Couldn't figure which side of the line to cut, why grain direction made a difference with a plane and plotted to ambush the shop teacher to get back at him for smacking me (and others) on the but with a 1×3 when he needed amusement… which was also his special teaching technique. In spite of that, I really like working wood and taught myself (some of my project show that quite well ;0) too). I'm still hung up on what side of the line to cut so as my motto says, "Measure once, curse twice", I'm still leaning…!


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## degoose (Mar 20, 2009)

I borrowed a circular saw about 12 years ago… I told my wife I could build the entertainment unit she wanted if I had a router… so she told me to buy one… 13 routers later and every saw you can think of… yes I did return the borrowed saw… I know own and operate Lazy Larry Woodworks from a modest workshop in my back yard..who would have thunk that I can do this.. certainly not me… well here I am and If I can do it anyone can… thats for sure
I do not have any background in working with my hands other than academic studies…up until I bought my first house and could not afford to have the work done… so I had to learn..how to do it myself…
Larry


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## jack1 (May 17, 2007)

Degoose, after checking your motto and mine, you and I had better not ever build anything together!


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## a1Jim (Aug 9, 2008)

So far looks like we have a tie for the person(s) who have been woodworking the longest Dez, Vince and Lew
all around 50 years , that's older than some of my shoes.) We won't ask who is the oldest woodworker !
All great and enlightening stories,It's really fun to hear how every on got started.


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## jack1 (May 17, 2007)

Ah, a how many years contest eh? Does that 7th grade shop count? I was 11 that september and turned 62 las october. ;0)


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## a1Jim (Aug 9, 2008)

We haven't checked to see who has the greatest wood stash yet" LARRY" so get ready for the inquest LOL


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## a1Jim (Aug 9, 2008)

I guess we have to take a vote Jack


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## jack1 (May 17, 2007)

I vote for Truman! Oh wait, I wasn't old enough yet…


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## woody57 (Jan 6, 2009)

I remember making birds houses and rabbit traps when I was about 10yrs old. My dad let me have an old handsaw, brace and bit, hammer, and some rusty nails. That was 49 yrs ago. I did the usual projects in high school shop.
I've been at it off and on ever since.


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## majeagle1 (Oct 29, 2008)

1st project I ever did was in the 9th grade and I made a recipe box for my Mom in woodshop…... would you believe that she still has it and it is still together !!!! That ( you can count the years now) was in 1958. I loved making it and unfortunately never got to do any more woodworking until 1973. That was when I bought my first shopsmith and away I went. I built a sofa, coffee table, 2 arm chairs, dining room table and 6 chairs. Now I must say that they were all done out of 2/4 or 2/6 fir, stained and finished with waterbase. Very simple basic furniture, I guess you would say kind of mission style ( back in the water bed days ). From then until about 2000 it was just the normal house repair / home projects…... a couple of decks, bookcases, picture frames, and even some turnings ( plates & goblets ). In 2000 I retired and finally said "ENOUGH!" I need a shop…...
I converted our 2 car garage into a shop and got another shopsmith , router table & router, disc/belt sander attachment. Still just a hobby and again mostly household projects. In 2004 we moved up to the foothills in the California Sierras and finally got some property and I had a "REAL" workshop built with adjoining office. I've got m y 3hp Jet saw, 16/32 drum sander, drill press, router / router table, 6" belt sander / 10" disc sander and I am truly making sawdust & boxes now…...... What fun it is !
I guess that once you take a "plain old piece of wood" and create something that is not only nice to look at but it is your "own" creation that will last for many years. BTW, last I saw, some cousins in central California still had the sofa and chairs from my very first furniture project…...........

Great post Jim and thanks for letting me tell my story….........


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## TopamaxSurvivor (May 2, 2008)

I started when I was about 7 or 8 making and whittling toys for myself and siblings. Of course, I was helping my dad and uncles on their farms with a few projects. I built a gun cabinet in high school without knowing any "cabinet making" techniques. It was an agricultural class, not woodworking. It had a few basic tools like a table saw and band saw.

I have always had to many interests for the time allowed. I have done a few wood working projects at applied to other interests over the years. Things like home improvement, rifle stocks, about anything needed that could be made of wood.

Now, I have more time to devote to doing a bit higher class woodworking. Hunting, fishing, competitive target shooing and working are all becoming lower priorities for various reasons. Now, I have more time to woodwork and tool leather.


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## TopamaxSurvivor (May 2, 2008)

BTW, I agree with Janice. I don't know how anyone gets along without a table saw and the truck!


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## Brian024 (Feb 2, 2009)

This past October made it 1 year. I did have 2 years worth of high school carpentry schooling and a summer apprenticeship at my neighbors cabinet shop, beforehand.


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## lwllms (Jun 1, 2009)

After a Government sponsored adventure in Vietnam, I enrolled in an urban college that had no student housing. I couldn't afford furniture for my apartment and started reworking old furniture I found in alleys or was given. There's a set of book shelves right next to me now that was one of my first projects and made from salvage lumber. I never thought I'd still have and use them 40 years later. My formal education was a very good one and has served me well, but I knew I'd be miserable if I worked in either of the fields of my double major. I went into carpentry and cabinet making and never regretted it.


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## ND2ELK (Jan 25, 2008)

I, like a lot of people here started learning about woodworking in juinor high and high school shop classes. After graduation I took a two year vocational course in cabinet building and house construction. Then I got BSE Industrial Arts degree and taught shop classes for 5 years. After that I was a furniture designer/builder for 35 years in three different prison industries (North Dakota, California and Iowa). In all three states I walked in and was given a building and budget. I put in the electical, air, dust collection, spray equipment, built all the shop cabinets, tables, storage racks, ordered all the equipment, tools and supplies needed to run a custom wood division. I developed all their furniture lines, did all the proto types and did all the custom orders. When I was in North Dakota I had a custom woodworking buisness for 9 years besides working for the prison. I felt I had a very rewarding career in the woodworking field. With my training and working I have 46 years in this field. I am now retired and have a great new shop to build things I want and no more dead lines!


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## huff (May 28, 2009)

My passion started with shop class in High School in the 60's, but it was untill I was 35 years old before I decided to take my coat and tie off and do what I truly love for a living. I started my woodworking business 25 years ago with a home made table saw (4×8 sheet of 3/4"plywood with 2×4 legs with my "cheap" Black and Decker 7 1/4" circular saw stuck up through the bottom and a 1×4 with 2 "C" clamps for the fence). Worked 2 years with that set-up before I could afford a real table saw. 
I learn something new from every project I do and since I've joined LJ's, I've learned so much from others on this site and realize how much more I need and want to learn! I love what I do, because I'm doing what I love. That's woodworking for me.


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## a1Jim (Aug 9, 2008)

Hey Tom
it's good to hear that That your long woodworking career started in high school like others also brought up grade school. It makes me realize that the time I spend teaching as a volunteer with High school and grade school students isn't waisted. Even my adult classes many say they haven't done woodworking since there school days but remember those days fondly. So many great stories on this topic. Thanks for sharing.


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## Tangle (Jul 21, 2007)

My Grandpa Creek gave me a toy saw and hammer when I was a long three year old. I can remember sawing wall board (not sheet rock but the old cellatex). I remember helping my dad make hog panels from oak. That was a constant in his life. He was a hog man. I went to work as a supervisor in a sheltered workshop in vocational rehab in 1978. I ran a pallet crew at a state mental institution. There was a bunch of unused wood working machines there and I got started. I soon bought a ShopSmith and it's been off and on ever since. I'm down to hand tools and hand power which are all stored and I now have no shop. I started working leather in the fall of 1962. I guess that's been a while. Now days I just work cows.


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## jack1 (May 17, 2007)

Jim, I must be getting senile as well as old, (I even have it on my site) but when I was about 6 or 7 I used to go to a cabinet shop up the street and get scraps (there I go again with scraps). Another kid and I used to nail or screw together three small pieces of wood to a larger piece to look (at least we thought so) airplanes. We'd paint American stars or Spitfire bulls-eyes on them and then go door to door and try to get a dime or a quarter so we could buy popsicles, fudgesicles or cremesicles during the summer. ;0)


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## rustfever (May 3, 2009)

My earliest memories of wood working were on the farm in the early 1950's. My first paying job was as a 'carpenter's dog' during the reconstruction of a turn-of-the-century barn. I got $1.00 an hour. Same as the 'Men'. The owner said I was the best worker of the crew.

College, family, and the grocery industry re-directed my attention for a few years, but in the late 1960's, we purchased our first home. I took an adult night school class at the local high scchool in 'begining woodworking'. I learned some of the basic, making a cutting board and turing file handles, etc.

After the class I made my wife a Birds-eye Maple' hutch. No one told me it was a project for an advanced woodworker. I made mistakes, but I got thru it with flying colors. Wife still uses it, reserving it for her family treaures, china, silver, and the g-kids pic's. In the Mid '70's I left the safety of the grocery industry, starting my own construction business. For the past 34 years, I have worked building processing plants, wineries, frozen food plants, nut processing, ethanol plants, and similar.

Some 10 years ago I was trying to make a special project with my grandsons. The table saw was trashed. No hand saw was usable. Drill bits dull or missing. Thank you Employees!

I was crestfallen. My employees had used, abused, worn out, stolen every one of my tools. I was left with nearly nothing.

Some of the old tools were repairable. Some were shot. But I start collecting a group of good tools. I added some new ones. I upgraded and put in a great dust collection system.This time I forbid my employees to even enter my 'private' corner of the shop.

I am now semi retired and have returned to my roots. And I am having fun. I spend many hours each week in the wood shop. I always have a few project pending.

I addition to woodworking, I am an amature wine maker, restore antique autos, urban logger, and a died-in-the-wool RV'er. We have a 'Bus' and we travel 5 or 6 times a year for a week or two each time.


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## TemplateTom (Jun 1, 2009)

My introduction to the love of working with wood began in third year high school when I made a small child's wheel Barrow in the same design as the large wooden barrows of the day.

On leaving school at 15 I began an apprenticeship in woodwork. When I completed my trade I was off to do my national service in the R A F for a couple of years. Returned to woodworking, then was asked if I would be interested in teaching technical subjects in the high schools, so after two years at college I entered the teaching profession for 30 years. Resigned and started my own cabinet making business for 15 years. Retired some 10 years ago but still kept up my interest in woodwork, did some volunteering work at the Association for the blind in the woodwork shop. I was appointed teacher in charge until a new teacher was found. 12months and I was still in charge. My greatest achievement in all my years in woodworking was to teach the blind how to use the router. The most interesting assignments I had in my cabinetmaker days were refurbishing executive air craft; that sure was a big challenge for me. Only this morning I was teaching 'one -on -one' to a gent who has been coming for the last three weeks for lessons on the use of the router. Had my 76 birthday last August and still teaching the skills of woodworking. Over a period of 61 years.

What do we contribute to the hobby trade or what ever is important. Personally I am pleased to have introduced New Routing Techniques which also introduces greater safety awareness when using the router, this required to look outside the square and see what the router is really capable of doing with the introduction of simple jigs constructed in your own workshop. Travelled round to most Australian Capitals demonstrating new routing techniques over a period of 15 years My last show was in 2008 where I presented a visual demonstration instead of a practical demo (Due to health conditions)

I have been using the enclosed quotation for a number of years since I learned the use of the Template guides…*"Get more from your Router" * with the aid of template guides. Hence the reason I was christened Template Tom when I was teaching the blind
Tom


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## a1Jim (Aug 9, 2008)

Wow Tom 61 years I'd have to had started when I was One. Great bio.


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## scrappy (Jan 3, 2009)

Fantastic stories everyone. It is nice to here how a lot of us started in scholl. (or before)

I have allways "played" with wood. Ever since I was old enough to hand tools to dad, he would have me helping him out around the house. Got to use all of his hand tools and learned to care for them properly. Dad was a handy man as a side job from working at GM and being a gunsmith. I would tag along and help him whenever I could. Learned how to do a lot of things that way.

Dad was allways the kind of man to "do it himself" I only remember 2 time in my life that he had a contractor come to the house to fix something. (the a/c was one) I learned construction, plumbing, drywall, painting,etc… all from working with him. Being a gun smith, he had a full shop in the basement. Allmost all meteal working tools, but he also had saws and such. Got to do a lot of playing with wood.

Since I have been out on my own (30 years now) I have had jobs that required me to do construction of varying types. (built cabins for a travel resort at one job) but never a "woodworking" job. Kept up with playing with wood over the years until about 3 years ago. Started to get a little more into makeing better stuff, (boxes and shelf units) and then last year I found LJ's.

At that point I started to realize just how much I DIDN'T know about woodworking. This site and all the wonderfull people here have taught me a LOT. I am very gratefull for all of you. Have made a lot of buddies here. All of the encouragement and help, has tought me that I can be better at what I do and not to get discouraged when things don't go right. (way too often) haha

I guese it boils down to about 45 years of playing with wood and 3 years of woodworking. Only 7 months with a lathe. (my newest passion, or is it addiction)haha

Thanks Jim for starting this post.

Scrappy

As far back as I can remember I have allways made things. Bird houses, shelves, boxes, forts for my toy soldiers, etc.


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## Huckleberry (Nov 7, 2007)

Wow Jim this topic went off like wild fire! As for me I started about five years ago taking classes through the company I worked at. My very first project was a mission style dining room table. From that project I learned so much and with every one after that I learned more. Finally in May '09 I opened my company and even though the economy sucked I did really well until I tore up my back. After a five month hiatus from building I am glad to be back in business as nothing compares to running your business especially if it is one making custom furniture.


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## NH_Hermit (Dec 3, 2009)

Very interesting posts! Thank you for starting this, Jim.

As far as woodworking goes, I'm guessing I am one of the newer guys here. I started just this past summer actually building stuff. The first was the work bench, and I already want to build another after working with it and seeing its short comings, although it's still better than the picnic table I was using before.

My father was a minister who augmented his income as a carpenter. When I was 14, he pastored a church in Chicago that had him build a parsonage (rectory) in the suburbs, and I was their unpaid laborer for 3 years resulting in my learning which end of the hammer to hold.

Through the years, I've always had some building or repair projects around the house. A circular saw and drill were about my only power tools for many years. About six years ago, I decided to build a garage with a guest apartment above and a room for a future workshop behind. The apartment was finished completely with tongue and groove pine walls, so I started adding to my power tool collection with a cheap table saw and a cheap mitre saw. Those are the last cheap tools I'll ever buy. I like my wife's expression, "We're not so rich that we can afford cheap things."

Now as I approach retirement (hopefully this summer), I've started to experience a life long dream of wood working and building fine stuff. My first projects are to build furniture for the deck off the apartment. I bought some plans off the internet for English garden chair, bench and tables. This chair and table are now done, and I'm now working on the bench. The bench is turning out much better than the chair did.

When that's done, I want to build a shop cart similar to the one Stefang has in his shop.

Reading and looking at the projects here on LJ, has been an enriching and learning experience. Aside from learning how to do things and which tools are better (for instance, I learn yesterday why I've had trouble sharpening chisels with the 6" high speed grinder I inherited from my father), I'm learning to slow down in my work, so the journey of working is now as important as the completion of something.


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## Tim29 (Oct 10, 2009)

unofficialy, close to my whole life. My dad has been a shop teacher for around 40 years. officially, I have been building my own furniture for the last 6 or 7 yrs. first real project was a coffee table I built when I had time off in college. Come to think of it I think that coffee table could count as a dining room table/footstool. Got married, stayed poor, needed furniture, still poor, built furniture for said new wife, still poor but with sylin' furniture built by us. 
This hobby is absolutely the most rewarding one in the world. Where else can you do what you love, have something you can use for the rest of your life and have that project passed down for potentially hundreds of years?


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## Fireguy (Jul 17, 2009)

I guess I would have to say about 2 years, My wife bought me a Router for Xmas 2 years ago and I had a kind of what am I supposed to do with this feeling. But the following summer I used my new router and the Miter saw I had purchased for some trim work in the house and built my son a dresser. It was a frustrating experience to build it without proper tools but in the end it was a functional piece. I Purchased my first table say last February at the wood show (my first wood show) and have build many things in the last year and really increased my skills over the last year and am finding more and more enjoyment in woodworking.


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## KentS (May 27, 2009)

I "officially" began full time in 1971. That doesn't count the almost 10 years I spent in my Dad's shop growing up. By the time I was out of high school, I was building my own furniture. I began to remodel our first house not too long after we bought it in '71. That was an ongoing project until we built the house we now live in in 1980.
I'll always remember the guitar I thought I was going to build in Jr High. Wow! What a joke. I had no clue what I was doing, and didn't have sense enough to find out. Hopefully I've learned a little over all these years. I might even attempt the guitar at some point.--Well, an acoustic anyway-I have built some electric basses.

Most of my career has been in production-shutters and raised panel cabinet doors--But my real passion is doing things for my family and my own personal shop.


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## craftsman on the lake (Dec 27, 2008)

I began after taking a course in guitar making in Camden Maine. I made guitars for about 4 years. In that time I graduated from college and worked out of state. After that I stopped because of work, marriage, kids, etc. You know the routine. That was around 1976+. In 2007 I had a new shop, dusted and refurbished the old tools and started with things other than guitars. So, I've had a 30 year lapse. I'm still married to the same woman, the kids are on their own, and I'm retired. My tools are fairly new but vintage and I've added new ones. The past few years have been fun and LJ's has been a big help.


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## Skylark53 (Jan 8, 2010)

As I recall, my first project was a heart shaped plaque for my girlfriend when I was 17. I grew up in the floorcovering business and was always fascinated with the work I saw carpenters do. My own personal work with wood didn't begin until 2002 when I finally had a shop built and began buying tools to fill it. I was 48 that year; same as my as my Dad when he died. I knew there were a lot of things I want to do in this life, woodworking was one. Woodworking has been one of the most rewarding things I've ever done. I have built from pictures, guesstimating dimensions as best I could, and I've built from plans, and of course I've designed on my own (that keeps me humble). I've found myself stymied, just sitting in my shop looking at a particular challenge until I could be enlightened or until I could figure out who to ask for advice or directions. LJs is by far the best resource I've ever found online or otherwise. Oh, and that girlfriend still has my heart-after 36 years of marriage.


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## UncleHank (Jan 13, 2010)

While I'm not the youngest here, I'll have to say I'm pretty close to the greenest. While I come from a metalworking background, I have severely limited experience working with wood. The closest thing I can consider a finished piece is the dog house I built this fall (all glue and screw butt joints and covered frame with chip board).

The only real woodworking I've done so far is joint up 4 sets of 2 1×10 boards and leveled them out for a custom closet I'm working on. I still have 6 sets to go before I can start cutting.

So, I'm still in the beginning of my first project!


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## vegeta (Mar 10, 2009)

I had always been a car guy. 1 Saturday morning (2 years ago this month)hot rod t/v was a rerun so i was flipping Thur channels and caught woods works with David marks. he was making a mantel clock i watched the episode in amazement. i had seen cabinet work and such but never on this level. next week bought a table saw then a router then a band saw had a shop set up in about 6 months. (thank god for side jobs )ok i have a shop now what?
started looking at the Internet looked here a lot but did not join. the work i saw here was very intimidating 
at the time so i stated cutting wood scraps from shelves i made for the shop started buying magazines with planes made some clocks i thought were good enough to post here and joined up. as soon as i joined the site i was greeted with kind remarks and such from people that i new were much better than i and that fueled me to make more and more end result the people here have helped my learning curve a lot lean something new here every day 
Jim thanks for putting up this post is very interesting


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## LisaC (Oct 10, 2009)

I've been carving on wood since I was old enough to hold a utility knife and not slice my hand open. Mostly, I made marshmallow fire sticks. HAH!

My father is a master carpenter and I played among his antique planes when I was really young. I always loved the smell of different woods coming off my father when he'd come in from his shop. I never really thought that I would eventually be christened by sawdust myself.

At 34, inspired by some beautiful turned spindles meant for yarn spinning, I decided I could learn how to make them for myself. I asked my father if he had an extra lathe and some tools hanging around. It turns out that he did. I've been turning for approximately seven months, and I hope to continue for many years.


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## JJohnston (May 22, 2009)

If you just do the math, it's a little over 30 years - from a shop class in 7th grade in 1978 to now. The truth is actually more like just a couple of years of accumulated time (anybody see that article in the paper recently that said there's really only about 11 minutes of actual live-ball action in a football game? - kind of like that).

I built the usual things in my youth - forts, bike jump ramps, etc., out of whatever scrap lumber and plywood I could find. After that it was school, then work, moving around, living in expensive areas where I could never afford to put down roots. Somewhere in there I took an intro to machine woodworking class at a community college. This was actually a pretty useful class. We milled all our wood from rough, and the instructor had designed our assigned project to incorporate as many different techniques as possible. This made the piece a frankenstein of different styles, but the experience was what counted for me.

Only lately have I been able to move back where I came from, and could I afford some space of my own, so for now, the shop is the project, and it will be for a while yet. I hope to build organizational items (stands, carts & cabinets) this spring and summer.


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## CharlieM1958 (Nov 7, 2006)

My dad was always the DIY type, so I grew up around tools, but not really specifically woodworking. It was pretty much hand and portable power tools… no table saw or other bench tools, except for an ancient drill press inherited from an uncle. My first real project, as best I can recall, was making a set of grips for an old model 1917 Colt revolver my dad gave me when I was 11 or 12. I started off with a pair of walnut blanks he got from somewhere, and just sanded and sanded till they looked like grips. I still have that gun today.

After that, anything I did with tools was pretty much utilitarian type stuff… hanging shelves, etc…. the usual around-the-house carpentry. Then one day in early 2005, I was walking through HD and was struck by a display of Ryobi benchtop table saws for what seemed like a ridiculously low price of $97. Having a little extra cash in my pocket, and thinking this thing might come in handy occasionally, I picked one up. I had never ripped a piece of lumber before in my life. After making my first cut, it suddenly hit me that there was a world of possibility opening up now that I had the power to size my own wood! LOL! From that point on, I was hooked.


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## branch (Oct 6, 2009)

hi well i started working with wood when i was able to hold on to a hammer my dad was a farmer and the local Handy man where we lived he repaired tables and chars Corbet's wooden beds all kinds off house hold stuff that people brought to him to be repaired for them he also made carts for horses and trailers for tractors wheelbarrows all kinds of stuff and i was always there willing to help out and loved it no power tools all hand tools it was hard work ripping up boards with a hand saw you had about eight different types of saws dependent on what you where cutting you did not throw the saw away when it was blunt you had to learn to sharpen it dad had saws that was ten years old or more i had some of his old tools for a long time but the seamed to disappear some how

well sawdust seamed to be in my life since i can remember and still love it that is 50 years off eating sawdust

i build my own workshop over 30 years ago and started to do the same thing that dad did re-pair things for other people old habits die hard 'have all power tools now for a long time and still want more not need them but want them 
thanks for postinh this blog and the trip down memorey lane
branch


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## RealtorJim (Nov 17, 2009)

I've spent the last 25 years woodworking for tools! The rule of thumb in my doghouse is "a tool better pay for itself the first time it is used!". That means the money saved in labor and the end product must be better than the tool price. You can bet I have "found" projects that need doing over the years, of course with the addition of new tools to do it. I knew I made progress (after 15 years) when my wife actually started asking me to make things. Then when she asked me to make something for a co-worker of hers I knew my work was finally presentable. She now wants a custom TV stand. Problem is I have all the tools to do it!


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## patcav (Mar 3, 2009)

I initially got my interest when I was in high school but after graduation I didn't have access to tools for quite some time later. Then about 12 years ago, a friend asked me to help him with some military shadow boxes. I realized how much I missed it and bought a table saw, then a router and the before I knew, the obsession was born. I know have people who come to me to ask for help with all types of projects and I'm happy to oblige. I learn something everyday I check out the site and of course from in shop experience. Thanks for asking Jim.


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## GuyK (Mar 26, 2007)

Lets see, 1971 when my wife and I bought this old house we live in. It was either learn to do things yourself or don't get them done. So I started to learn, mostly from my father in-law and his brothers. They all had the knowledge to help me. 
Then about 6 years ago, I decided to put in a full workshop for my self. Thing have just exploded from there. I am addicted to building furniture and I am in the process of putting together another work shop for the farm where I volunteer. When that gets to the building stage I will update everyone here. Great topic Jim. Thanks for starting this one.


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## unisaw2 (Feb 2, 2010)

I started building and remodeling houses & buildings in the mid 1970s for my Dad. Still doing it today.

I have always had a keen interest in fixing things. It drives me nuts if something does not work as intended, and I will do what is needed to get it fixed.

My Grandfather got me started in woodworking in his tiny basement workshop in Ohio.
I can't remember the person's name that I just met, but I can still remember the exact details of the first time my Grandfather let me cross cut wood on his table saw. I could'nt have been much older that 9, and I was scared to death. Still remember the sights, sounds and smells of that shop.

I'm on about my 7th workshop now, but I feel like I still have a long way to go with my woodworking. Taken some classes, and I read a ton of woodworking books, but finding the time for a major project will have to wait. Work and a great family, (wife, 2 kids, a dog, and a big yard to play) are more important to me right now.

On TV in Chicago "Wood Works", "New Yankee Workshop", even "Woodsmith" don't seem to be on lately.
I'm finding that this LumberJocks is an awsome place to learn, and maybe even contribute to.

So to answer the original post, since that first table saw cut in 1969, I've been woodworking for 35-40 years, and still have a passion for it.


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## a1Jim (Aug 9, 2008)

Welcome and enjoy unisaw


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