New member, new to wood working, Fayetteville, NC

[mattiep]

Greetings, one and all.

The way I found this site is kind of round-about. You see, I'm not a wood worker, at least, not yet. We'll see if I ever turn into one. Here's the story.

I am in the Army and currently deployed to Afghanistan. A short while ago I was home in Fayetteville on R&R. I had a couple of projects that I needed to work on, which I enjoyed immensely. I completed a tree house/fort for my kids that my brother had started back in November and I built a chicken coop for my wife.

Both these projects were out of character for me, in the Army I do communications and I've never built anything from scratch before. Also, my wife and I are born and bred city folk, never had chickens before. But as I said, I enjoyed doing them immensely. Building something solid and permanent was extremely rewarding to me and I would like to learn more.

So on the way back to Afghanistan I had a layover in the Atlanta Airport and happened to see a magazine from Fine Woodworking called Power Tool Techniques, which I picked up. Lo and behold I read it and have now subscribed to their magazine. In their online forums I happened to see a link to this site, and here I am.

So, to sum up, I have some construction carpentry under my belt and would like to learn more. I look forward to learning more about this fascinating craft.

 

[b4man]

Welcome to the virtual sawdust pile Matt! What a great story. We have several members stationed at Ft Bragg and some are deployed all over the globe. You will find no shortage of great knowledge here and support for any endeavor.

Thank you for your service to our country and I look forward to seeing more of your post.


Barbara

 

[Trent Mason]

Welcome to the site Matt. :eusa_clap:eusa_clap:eusa_clap:eusa_clap:eusa_clap That is a wonderful story. Thanks so much for sharing. I'm glad that the tree house and chicken coops came out well. I'm sure that was very therapeutic and that you'll find woodworking to be very enjoyable from here on out. I started off doing woodworking and then ended up in construction for a while. They are similar and each lends itself to the other. Anyway, this is a wonderful community that you've found here. It is great to have you with us. :icon_thum Also, thank you very much for your service for our country. Please visit and post often and when you're home, maybe you can make it to one of our events. ccasion1

Trent

 

[red]

Welcome to the forum.

Red

 

[Sealeveler]

Thanks for your service and welcome to a friendly group.Lots of info here too just ask.
Tony

 

[Gregory Paolini]

Matt,

Welcome to the site! And more importantly, thank you for doing what you do! Your service and sacrifice do not go un-noticed, or unappreciated.

There are a lot of great folks on this site, ready and willing to help you with any woodworking concerns you may have - Just ask away!

Best,
Gregory

 

[Bill Clemmons]

Welcome to the site, Matt. I hope you enjoy it as much as I have. And more importantly, thank you VERY much for serving our great country. You'll find the folks here not only helpful in your woodworking endeavors, but also extremely appreciative of your service. :eusa_clap:icon_thum:eusa_clap:icon_thum

Whatever direction your woodworking takes you (turning, carving, flat work, etc.), you'll find plenty of expertise here.

Bill

 

[NCGrimbo]

Thanks for your service to our county Matt and welcome to the forum.

 

[Ray Martin]

Matt,

Welcome to our pile-o-sawdust. It's a good day when another woodworker joins us. I disagree on the 'not a woodworker yet' comment... you built a tree house and a chicken coop. You're one of us.:gar-Bi

And thank you for all you have done, all you are doing for our country.

 

[Joe Scharle]

Welcome! You going to find a nest of experienced and helpful members right around Fayettville. Just ask.

 

[mattiep]

Well, thank you, everyone, for the warm welcome. (I started naming names but my connection can't keep u pwith the replies) I do hope that I will be able to learn a lot from the content on this site, and possibly in person on my return to NC. And I, and every other servicemember, appreciate the support for our service.

As I stated, I am pretty amateur in wood working, less than 2 weeks ago I didn't know what a joiner and jointer were, much less that they were completely different tools. Also, a router was something my computer used to get to the internet.

But anyway, I picked up the magazine figuring I could learn something useful about tools in case my wife thought of any other projects (oh yeah, she wants a goat too, but we'll have to move to the country first). And then I saw the bookcase the one guy built and remembered the nice built-in bookcases with a built-in bench by the window in the last house I rented. And then I thought of my empty 120 gallon fish tank that only has a cast-iron frame to rest on and wouldn't it be nice if I made a nice cabinet for it. And so on. I'm pretty sure I won't be doing anything along those lines any time soon but if I don't start I'll never get there.

Matt

 

[Mt. Gomer]

Welcome Matt! I'm glad you found us. This is a most excellent group of people and I'm sure you'll find the support you're looking for and make a bunch of new friends on the way! As has been said already (but bears repeating) THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE!!!!!!!!

 

[michaelgarner]

Welcome to the best WW site on the internet. What unit are you with? I was at Bragg for six years, in Germany right now.

 

[sjack]

Welcome to the site Matt. There are more and more coming by from Fayetteville. This site is great. Anything you ask you will always find all the infromation you need. They all love to help us just starting out. .So you are over playing in the sand haha. Again like everyone else, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU.

 

[cpw]

Welcome to the site, and to the wonderful hobby/vocation of woodworking. And thank you for your service to our country.

 

[Dean Maiorano]

Matt,

+ 1 welcome to the site
+ 1 thank you for your service

You will find some of the most kindhearted and helpful people here, I hope you take full advantage of all this site and its members have to offer.

Stay safe and stay well.

Dean

 

[scsmith42]

Hi Matt, welcome to NCWW! Enjoy Afganistan (said tongue in cheek...); a few months back my nephew returned from 16 months there (he's a Commo guy in the Marines) and had some vivid descriptions of the "moon dust" and wonderful environment. Seriously, thanks for your service.

There are lots of great NCWW members in and around Fayetteville, so if you need some assistance or want to kick ideas around when you're back stateside, just make a post and you'll probably get a bunch of responses.

When you return home, if you ever need some oak or cedar for your projects, give me a shout. NCWW members receive a 20% discount from my business, and active duty military folks get another 10% off of that.

Take care, and keep your head down!

Scott

 

[Canuck]

Welcome to the site, Matt!

Glad to see you join us in our sawdusting frolic.:wsmile: Sounds to me you are off to a great start in the wonderful world of working wood. Nothing like taking on a project and building from the ground with your own design and labor.

Stay safe over there and thanks so much for your service to this great country.:icon_thum:icon_thum

Wayne