Hello all,
i'm past due to introduce myself. My name is Daniel and I live just outside of Hickory. I started woodworking back in the summer of 2019. Before that, I would have laughed at you if you told me I'd be interested in making furniture one day. Growing up, nobody in my immediate family did much woodworking. My grandfather had a small shop, but I'm starting to think everyone from that WWII generation did... so many men from that era seem like they could do anything.
One day back in the spring of 2019, I was surfing around on YouTube. I saw some guy (Paul Sellers) "shaving" wood with a hand tool. I had no idea a hand tool could be so sharp. Then I saw what he could do with a sharp chisel - I was hooked! Before that, any thought of woodworking conjured up images of loud power tools... to know that I could build things without loud power tools got me in the game. I wandered into the Klingspor store one day and bought a #4 plane. I soon realized I needed a bench... but I couldn't build one of those nice benches Paul had without some other work surface to build it on... so I built a basic garage bench to get started and then bought a bench vise to go with it so I could start making some shavings. Fast forward a year later to summer of 2020 and I finally built the bench I originally wanted. I've also gotten over my dislike of noise and collected some power tools to make a few things easier. I have discovered a love for tools I never knew I had... especially measuring/marking/layout tools.
To date, my interest seems to be focused on table type things. For my first project, I made a white oak top and bolted on some metal legs and called it a coffee table. This summer I opted out of buying the stand for my bandsaw and decided I could "make one cheaper"... big mistake - so wrong, but now I have the nicest walnut bandsaw stand a guy could ask for. I'm currently working on a small trestle-style dining table and benches for our breakfast nook area. As soon as the finish dries on that I'll post some pictures.
I am surprised how much time I spend reading about finishing. It seems like science, magic and art all mixed together some days. But I can't stop buying new finishes. After all, I told my wife I was done buying tools for a while -- but I didn't say anything about finishing supplies!
I'm excited to be here and wish I had found this interest earlier in life. I love thinking that something I make will hopefully be enjoyed by generations to come. I work with computers by day and everything about that world is so intangible. I spend all day clicking around on computers and have little to show for my time at the end of it all. My young kids ask me what I do at work and it's so hard explaining or pointing to something. I love being able to point at something and say "I made that". Shaping wood into something useful and maybe even beautiful is such a pleasure by comparison.
Nice to meet you all and I look forward to posting more soon.
daniel
i'm past due to introduce myself. My name is Daniel and I live just outside of Hickory. I started woodworking back in the summer of 2019. Before that, I would have laughed at you if you told me I'd be interested in making furniture one day. Growing up, nobody in my immediate family did much woodworking. My grandfather had a small shop, but I'm starting to think everyone from that WWII generation did... so many men from that era seem like they could do anything.
One day back in the spring of 2019, I was surfing around on YouTube. I saw some guy (Paul Sellers) "shaving" wood with a hand tool. I had no idea a hand tool could be so sharp. Then I saw what he could do with a sharp chisel - I was hooked! Before that, any thought of woodworking conjured up images of loud power tools... to know that I could build things without loud power tools got me in the game. I wandered into the Klingspor store one day and bought a #4 plane. I soon realized I needed a bench... but I couldn't build one of those nice benches Paul had without some other work surface to build it on... so I built a basic garage bench to get started and then bought a bench vise to go with it so I could start making some shavings. Fast forward a year later to summer of 2020 and I finally built the bench I originally wanted. I've also gotten over my dislike of noise and collected some power tools to make a few things easier. I have discovered a love for tools I never knew I had... especially measuring/marking/layout tools.
To date, my interest seems to be focused on table type things. For my first project, I made a white oak top and bolted on some metal legs and called it a coffee table. This summer I opted out of buying the stand for my bandsaw and decided I could "make one cheaper"... big mistake - so wrong, but now I have the nicest walnut bandsaw stand a guy could ask for. I'm currently working on a small trestle-style dining table and benches for our breakfast nook area. As soon as the finish dries on that I'll post some pictures.
I am surprised how much time I spend reading about finishing. It seems like science, magic and art all mixed together some days. But I can't stop buying new finishes. After all, I told my wife I was done buying tools for a while -- but I didn't say anything about finishing supplies!
I'm excited to be here and wish I had found this interest earlier in life. I love thinking that something I make will hopefully be enjoyed by generations to come. I work with computers by day and everything about that world is so intangible. I spend all day clicking around on computers and have little to show for my time at the end of it all. My young kids ask me what I do at work and it's so hard explaining or pointing to something. I love being able to point at something and say "I made that". Shaping wood into something useful and maybe even beautiful is such a pleasure by comparison.
Nice to meet you all and I look forward to posting more soon.
daniel