Woodworking is all about using our tools and our wits to solve design problems, using appropriate materials and skills. But those skills are common to a lot of other activities, too. This month, I asked our visitors,”How many of you engage in other creative and/or mechanical pursuits, such as carpentry and other crafts, and how do you think they complement your woodworking?”
“I wanted to finish my basement, divide off a shop area, and make it look professional. I had the tools and familiarity with wood, and it came out great. I’m way too slow to make a living at it, but my wood skills came in handy.”
“I do the usual home repairs, and the furniture that I make wouldn’t be considered fine even by a caveman. Other pursuits are programming and photography. They all require thinking through a problem to come up with a solution,then a plan. Oh, they relate too because all of them can be thrown into the recycling bin!”
“I’ve laid laminate flooring, refinished kitchen cabinets, tiled countertops, and installed sticky tiles. My woodworking experience helped with planning and execution of every project. All my handywoman skills have significantly improved since I started woodworking.”
“By definition, engineers are problem solvers. At work, I’m frustrated since I can only be involved in one phase of a project. My work at home allows a full range of involvement, from design to construction to trouble shooting. Some of my favorite times are science or school projects with the kids. I’m working on an egg drop contest right now with the youngest.”
“Jeez, the whole range for me, from splitting firewood to $15,000 tables. I built our house from the footings up and relish smaller things like furniture as well. I do, however, have a transition time adapting my mind to the new scale of a job, if the previous one was different.”
“I built our house and deck. I like the challenge of doing it all and figuring out how things go together. The only pitfall is that I always start the next project when I am 95% completed with the previous one. Glad my wife is understanding.”
“I’m a retired engineer who also worked as a contractor. I can’t claim to make fine furniture, although I aspire to make items having that distinction: a blanket chest and a jewelry cabinet. I find wood a more challenging medium than metal or plastic. I have equipment to work metal, but confine it to repair work and jigs and fixtures needed to support woodworking.”
“I can honestly say ‘Yes, I’ve done it all with good success,’ but don’t try to hire me, thinking I’m an inspired all-around professional woodworker. I’m not. I have a big shop, lots of tools, and a lively mind that relishes learning new skills, but I’m not swift and competent at most phases of woodworking,”
“At a young age, I learned by my mistakes. Along the way, I tried my hand at finer woodworking with mixed results. Because of my experience with home repair, I’m willing to take on other skills necessary to complete a project.”
“All I make is furniture. It’s all come to that. When I left the Air Force, woodworking became an important source of income. I was offered a part time job in furniture repair, and within a couple of years, I was working for antique dealers and private clients. Now, I limit my furniture making efforts to home and family.”
“I usually stick with what I know. I try new things, but it takes some mistakes before I get it right. Only then, do I decide if I want to add these to my bag of tricks. I’ve progressed to the point where I’m a good cabinet maker. will alter plans, add custom touches, and use other skills, such as metal working. I can’t see many woodworkers not having other skills.”
“I do small carpentry repairs, when it is hardly worth the trouble of getting someone out. I’ve done some utilitarian furniture, but no fine stuff. What most shop time is spent on are luthery, carving and scrolling. For me, woodworking is a hobby; carpentry is a chore.”
“I have built some stuff for my home. Since getting older, I’m more interested in smaller stuff that I don’t have to manhandle to move around my small shop. I’ve been trying to set up my loom, so I can weave tapestries. In this, design is paramount. My interests include guitar, writing, travel, and recording books for a blind friend.”
“My grandfather was a millwright; my dad was an inventor/machinist. I stumbled through college with a music degree and spent 15 years in public broadcasting before the apple rolled back to the tree. On my day job, I build from aluminum, plastic, and steel. The home shop is focused on furniture and cabinets. Whatever the medium, it all comes down to problem solving. Working wood is in the end a matter of adding or subtracting, until the result is what you want.”
“I do ‘rough’ furniture work: pieces for shop storage or the barn. I haven’t done much construction, but post and beam-along with timber frame construction-employs the same types of joints that I’m familiar with in furniture, only they’re bigger and cut with an axe or a chainsaw. I consider splitting firewood to be fun, and I don’t need a gym membership.”
“I specialize in making bigger pieces of wood into littler pieces of wood. I like the design and problem solving aspects of woodworking, but making multiples of an item gets old quickly.”
“I specialize in carved precision wooden models, and fuse moves learned from father, grandfather, and my US Army training. Doing layout and fabrication of a Nike/Hercules radar fan isn’t all that different from constructing wall framing or rafters. Every discipline, skill, or art offfers something if you keep on open mind.”
“I have done carpentry from time to time, but my greatest interest is furnituremaking. Other crafts are knitting, sewing, quilting, and stained glass. Design and layout are common to these endeavors.”
“We needed more room, so I added an addition, then needed bathroom cabinets and bedroom furniture, so I built some. I am continually presented with problems and am required to solve them the best I can. Everyone should do one thing well, but wouldn’t life be dull if we did but one thing?”
“I learned carpentry with my stepfather and refined it with Habitat work. Only later, did I branch out to furniture. I can do rough blacksmithing and some jewelry making. I really enjoy baking, if that’s a craft.”
“I started work as a welder in the oil fields of West Texas. Progression to woodwork was natural with home ownership. I’ve not built any fine furniture by the standards set on this forum, but I have found it a good excuse to buy some nice tools!”
“I like to do carpentry, yet I’m striving to build fine furniture. Much more attention to detail for a much smaller piece. I’d probably get bored if I did only one thing.”
“I specialize in doing studio furniture, turnings, architectural elements, etc. All to my own design. I started carving before that, and became a carpenter before that. I’ve made tools all along the way, not to look good, but to work.”
“I worked after school as a carpenter from rough to doing kitchens. As years went by, the projects and the tools got better. Now, I tend to work in Arts & Crafts era furniture. You need to learn production methods to build mission furniture with all the #@!#$ mortise and tenons.”
“I love to do pure woodworking on furniture, but that tends to be a lower priority than getting stuff done around the house. I think it satisfies a need to create stuff with your own hands.”
“I am happy to say that I have the ability to fix or make about anything needed in my household, given a little direction, because I’m not afraid to try. Carpentry…yes. Fine furniture…yes. Save thousands of dollars by doing it yourself…yes!”
“I do most everything in light construction, plumbing, and electrical (with licensed back up) in addition to most of the furniture in the house. As I ventured into various woodworking and carpentry projects, all of them seemed to merge. I think it is inevitable that all forms of working with wood merge as you gain experience. It is indeed a question of design and tolerances, but it’s also knowing the materials that will render a proper and lasting result. The more skills acquired, the more opportunity there is to go at a given situation from different angles.”
“I am slow at household repairs, and cautious in my assessment/planning. They always cost 30% more than I thought, always take double the time, but at the end of the day, I did it.”
“I learned to make what I needed. I bought old chairs or dressers at yard sales and fixed them to re-sell. You learn how something is built by tearing it apart. Then an antique dealer asked if I could make spindles. I said ‘sure,’ and got a book on how to do it. My turnings now are almost all utilitarian. People who make things because they need them are also the people who grow favorite vegetables, paint their houses, and are the best role models. for a new generation.”
“I was a film maker/photographer living in the Big Apple, then moved upstate where my film and photo skills could not feed me, so I started building houses. A few wooden ships, a couple of skiffs, and over a hundred houses later, I am still doing carpentry, sometimes interesting stuff like doors, fancy windows, stairs, and cabinets.”
“I was about seven when my mother showed me how to do 3D drafting on a cereal box, cut it out, fold, and tape it up to end up with a toy truck. After that, I saw possibilities for any material to morph into anything. Anything where I get to work out a design problem, whether for aesthetic or functional reasons, is my preferred activity.”
“When I had a cataract removed, I gave the surgeon a small bowl of spalted Maple in appreciation. He asked, ‘How did you learn to do that?’ My reply was, ‘The same way you learned to cut open eyes just picked up a knife and started cutting. I must have misjudged his sense of humor, as he changed the subject fast.”
“My carpentry skills are minimal, but I love wood. After 30 years in the sales work force, I decided to make a change. I bought a Delta Midi, a Tormek sharpening system, a band saw, and a bunch of tools. I am hooked. I set up my Tormek in my van and have a reasonably successful mobile sharpening business that finances my turning habit.”
“A lot of my early furniture looked like carpentry. I do turning, furniture, toolmaking, blacksmithing, weaving and braiding, building looms, and etc. Just starting on carving. Once I start researching something, it tends to take on a life of its own.”
“I do very little flatwork; almost exclusively turning. I also grind and polish telescopes. My turning of fine details has been greatly aided by fine motor skills that I developed doing microscopic surgery as a neuroscientist.” “I did flat work for many years, then saw some hollow forms and thought
‘I can do that.’ In making my own tools, I’ve had to learn about working with metal. I like to make things that make my shop more efficient, and lead to some sort of design possiblities.”
“After Hurricane Charlie, my garage had to be torn down and built back from scratch. While carpentry has given me a nice place to do woodworking, woodworking has given me a different perspective in carpentry:’good enough’ is not good enough for ‘just carpentry?”
“I learned to build furniture myself. Soon after I started doing these things, my wife started to raise her expectations of my work, and I asked her why. She said that I could do more than anyone else she knew, and she intended to get the best from me. My growing ability in wood-related things also helped me branch out in mechanical ways. I wouldn’t have attempted other things, if not for the confidence I gained with wood.”
“I haven’t made as much furniture as I’d like, but I do outside and inside carpentry, electrical, and plumbing. My shop’s awfully small, I can’t find the time for furniture-making, and I can’t figure out where to put the wood lathe that I picked up at a garage sale. My sons learned these lessons, and I’m always startled when I run into someone in their age group who doesn’t know what tools are. It’s been a slow, painful process learning to hire some work out. I always feel like I’m failing in my responsibilities.”
“The faire Dianne and I have added 21 rooms to houses that we’ve owned, and renovated over 50 others. There are parts of a building project best handled by a professional. Footings, foundations and slabs are beyond my energy level; roofing mishaps have too high a price to risk. But I have enjoyed the physical act of home building and the final result of being able to enjoy surroundings that are both just what I’ve wanted, and knowing the satisfaction of having produced them ourselves.”
What are your thoughts on this? Add your comments below!