IMG_0351I have been out of commission for a week or so with some horrid bug – that’s the down side, the upside is that I have had a chance to catch up on my writing,  reading about woodwork —Woodworking craft by The GMCGroup, and watching online videos from Phillip Lowe’s low Boy at Fine woodworking and Richard Maguire’s videos – The English woodworker (if you have not seen these first class woodworkers in action, I highly recommend them for their instructive and very entertaining style.

I read and watch woodworking videos to gain insight into another person’s ways of working and to learn different/new techniques. But it is one thing to study and watch videos, and quite another to go through the process oneself.

Attending a woodworking class can give you a clearer understanding of what you’re doing and takes away the guesswork of “Am I doing this properly?”.  Not that there is  proper way…

There’s an old adage: Tell me and I’ll forget – show me and I’ll remember but let me do it and I will learn.

Becoming a woodworker is a skilled craft. Every minute, hour and day spent in the woodshop is time spent learning and enhancing your skills.

I received my first tool kit when I was about 7, a wooden box filled with every tool, someone else assumed, an aspiring woodworker needed, but a key tool missing was a mentor. At that young age it was my father, learning mostly by observation. After that it was my secondary school woodworking teacher, who instilled in me a passion for working wood and the respect and care of tools. I have been making sawdust and wood chips ever since.

When woodworking there’s a natural progression at play, but only if derived from an understanding based on personal experience. If you have a plane and develop a connection between the plane, eye, brain, muscle, hand, tool and wood, you will gain an understanding of how the tool responds in the hand and also its limitations.  The more you use the tool the sooner it’s use will become second nature in your hand.

If it is your goal to build a piece of furniture, or to find satisfaction through the growth you achieve with your hobby or you have always wanted to try your hand at woodworking? Contact me if you are interested in learning the basics of woodworking.
Check out the classes on offer at Sawdust and Woodchips

Look forward to hearing from you.

Michael