*** SURVEY: THE IDES OF MAY ***

Re: *** SURVEY: THE IDES OF MAY ***

Mike Fitterling

>I've done carpentry longer than woodworking. I've never done it professionally, but do it to either help out friends or relatives or to build something I otherwise would not be able to afford if I had to hire out the labor. If I had not built it myself, I would not now have a separate shop that is well-lighted, has adequate power, and is an enjoyable place to pursue woodworking�I simply could not have afforded it. It also doubles, upstairs, as storage for the house. After Hurricane Charley, my garage had to be torn down and built back from scratch on the old foundation, money saved on labor on that job I was able to keep for other things, including upgrades to shop equipment. An addition is in the works right now that I could not afford to do without doing the carpentry myself, but which we need for our growing family.

While carpentry has given me a nice place to do woodworking, woodworking has given me a different perspective in carpentry. Generally, the structures I build are overbuilt, with features brought over from my woodworking. For instance, I didn't buy a garage door, I built one using pegged mortise and tenons to join the rails and stiles, and a panel for the field. Woodworking has also improved the accuracy of my carpentry and "good enough" is not good enough for "just carpentry."

Re: *** SURVEY: THE IDES OF MAY ***

Bruce, a MN Galoot

>I could answer this on either side, but it's quieter over here.

I learned carpentry first, from my father, starting when I was about 10. Not sure I was much help at first, maybe the most important thing I did was clean up at the end of the day. He was a small contractor and I would go to his jobs with him. I got to go swimming in the middle of the afternoon, so that was a good thing. My dad learned carpentry from his father-in-law, my maternal grandfather. He was trained in Sweden before he emigrated to the US just prior to WWI. They were both persnickety workers with a tendency to overbuild - "If it's worth doing, it's worth over-doing." I miss them both. I sure would like to know what they knew. I lost my dad too young for both of us, but from a WWking perspective, he was gone before I had learned everything I needed to know. So I had to learn it myself.

Neither of them taught me furniture, so I learned that myself, too.

So how much of both do I do? Pretty much all of it. As your post indicates, Ellis, there is a lot in common between the two, mostly the approach in quality of work. But as you said, there is a need to do this stuff, to make something. I enjoy making stuff. In my home, I've made part of the house, all of the basement, an addition, a deck, interior and finish carpentry. I've made most of the furniture, couches, tables, beds, dressers, chairs, hutch, some of the decorations - pic frames, etc.

Soon after I began to do these things, my wife started to raise her level of expectations of my work, and I asked her why. She said she learned that I could do a lot more than anyone else she knew, and she intended to get the best from me.

I like to do it all. I also like to make the tools that allow me to do it all. Through this forum, I've acquired a longer list of tool projects to take on: dovetail saws, marking gauges, squares, tool cabinets, etc. There's just not enough time.

I have to say that I think my growing ability in doing things wood-related has also helped me to branch out in mechanical ways. I've overhauled my motorcycle and have done significant mechanical work that I wouldn't have attempted if not for the confidence I gained with the wood.

It's a never-ending hunger.

Bruce

Re: *** SURVEY: THE IDES OF MAY ***

Jim in Burlington On

>I certainly got my start in woodworking thru the home reno field. I put a new porch on a few years ago and certainly looking back on it tapering and pre-drilling the holes for the flooring screws was over the top. If it has to do with wood and involves buying or making a new tool or two all the better. You know you have the sickness when you eye up construction lumber at HD and think of things you'd use it for and suddenly wakeup and stop looking for a cart.

Yes

Bill Houghton, sunny today yahoo in Sebastopol, CA

>This sounds awfully like bragging.

I was raised by a father who, even if he didn't use hand tools much, did teach me that things were for making. He was engaged in an addition to the house from the time I was about five, contracting out pretty much only the hardwood flooring installation. He also turned and fabricated a wooden knob and rack-and-pinion latch for the passage door into the garage and took on other ambitious projects like that. Not much for furniture-making, but he did his own car repair (I have a vivid memory of passing through the garage while he was repairing the transmission on the 1947 Studebaker truck on which, mysteriously, one of the teeth had gotten chipped after my older brother demonstrated to me that you can shift a crashbox without the clutch).

I haven't made as much furniture as I'd like - only a few pieces, and only one that qualifies as good furniture - but I've done and do outside and inside carpentry and remodeling {bathrooms, kitchen flooring, complete front porch rebuild, etc.), electrical and plumbing work (complete rewiring of the house), mechanical repair (kind of amazed my brother when I replaced the thermopile on the water heater one Saturday morning when he and my sister-in-law were on the way up for a visit, including the 10-mile drive to the parts source), sheet metal, car maintenance and repair (four engine rebuilds, endless tuneups), etc. My shoplet has four mechanic's rollaway cabinets, three of them filled with automotive and mechanical, plumbing, electrical, sheet metal, and suchlike tools.

My three biggest frustrations are (a) I can't find time for the furniture-making I'd like to do, (b) my shop's awfully small, and (c) [related to (b)] I can't figure out where to put the lovely Clausing-built Craftsman wood lathe I picked up at a garage sale last year.

My sons learned the lesson, too: the older son's primarily an artist and graphic artist, but he's confident enough to make what he needs when he needs it; the younger one's self-employed as a small-job contractor, doing darn near anything. It seems so natural I'm always startled when I run into someone in their age group who doesn't know what tools are, much less how to use them.

Re: *** SURVEY: THE IDES OF MAY ***

Thom D

>Absolutely everything from boats to bowls, construction to cabinetry. Instrument to Intartia (OK not the latter). The main exception would be carving and marketry.

I have quite a few hobbies outside of woodworking though it is the most dominant of the lot. I tend to like things that do things like guitars, hand planes, boats. I started with modern wooden boats and was rather captured with the idea that wood could hold it's own against other materials. Miracle fiber "W".

Follow up thought

Bill Houghton, sunny today yahoo in Sebastopol, CA

>There is a dark side to this: it's been a slow, painful process learning to hire some work out; I always feel like I'm failing in my responsibilities. I stopped deeply enjoying the car work some years back, but it's darned hard to pay someone else $100/hour to do work I can do. It's been helped by buying newer cars, which often require such specialized tools that I can't do the work myself, but I've really had to work at letting go and recognizing that time bought by having someone else do the work can be diverted to things I enjoy doing.

Re: *** SURVEY: THE IDES OF MAY ***

jim reed @ tallahassee

>Both grandfather and dad were ww. I learned carpentry from dad and taught myself cabinetmaking. That led to plane collecting which led to blademaking and metalworking. It is all about having fun and making things while doing it.

Re: *** SURVEY: THE IDES OF MAY ***

R.J.Whelan (Eastern Sierra, CA)

>Ahh, carpentry projects.

During our marriage the Faire Diane and I have added twenty-one rooms to houses we owned and renovated over fifty others. The reason(s) for doing the work ourselves were two-fold: economic, and the belief that we could produce results closer to our vision of the finished project better than a contractor or hired helper. Most of the time this approach has worked out; it has always saved money and almost always resulted in a level of detail and refinement greater than a contractor can afford to deliver.

I did learn early on that there are certain parts of a building project that (for me) are best handled by a professional. Footings, foundations and slabs are beyond my energy level; roofing mishaps (falls) have too high of a price to risk (ie: save a few thousand $$$ vs, a possibility of being off work for a month or more while recuperating from broken bones).

I have always enjoyed both the physical act of homebuilding and the final result of being able to enjoy surroundings that are both just what I/we wanted and the satisfaction of having produced them ourselves.

As I near completion of my sixth full decade I have to admit that projects that once were easy, take a lot longer to complete, and a lot more Bengay gets used at bed time. When Diane and I retired and relocated to our present home we fully planned to buy something that needed no work. How na�ve we were: the homes that fit the bill were out of our price range or located in areas in which we did not want to live. So, once again, we bought a �fixer upper�. For the first time, though, we did not have the pressure of earning a living while doing the renovation and we were able to spend nine months concentrating on nothing but transforming a home that wasn�t even close to what we desired into what we fully intend to be our last home. I have enjoyed this project more than any we�ve ever tackled: lots of sore joints to be sure, but ultimately as rewarding as anything we�ve ever done.

As long as I have the physical ability and energy I plan to continue doing my own carpentry and renovations: next fall an extension of the deck �. rj