we all can't make furniture!

[Larry L.]

I've been here for a while reading and admiring other peoples work.

I'm a beginner woodworker and 70 years old I know great time to start huh?

so far my brother and I built a couple of bunk beds for his great grandkids using pocket hole screws

then I added a  handrail onto my deck so I wouldn't fall like I did last winter when climbing the step,s I sure looked stupid laying out there in the snow.

Yesterday I built a clothes hanging rod for the utility room no more hanging shirts on nails and staining the walls which means I need to paint them.

no we all can't build beautiful furniture but we can build something I'm having a ball doing what I can.

 

[John Schaben]

Hi Larry - I'm not much younger than you and just took up the hobby(?) a year or so ago myself. I just do what I think I'm able to tangle with.. Bedroom sets, dining room furniture.... not interested. Kitchen facelift, I am willing to tackle. Really just take on what I'm comfortable with and let others do the overachieving, at my (our) age, that's about all that's important.

Let's just not take any more falls, huh!

[kenny from Sundre]

Hi Larry; Sounds like you and I are on the same wave length. I got myself into wood working with the idea that I would like to follow my grandfather's footsteps and build some furniture. So far the only thing that could be called furniture is a small table for my wife's art studio. There always seems to be some project, either inside or outside of the house that will make life a little easier or better for my wife and I. I guess just makeing sawdust, any kind of sawdust, is fun, and so far my only claim to fame is that I can make as much sawdust as the guys that make the awesome furniture and cabinets that we see posted here.

[Jens Jensen]

Larry the main thing about woodworking is number 1 be safe at what you do  no your boundaries on the table tops of machines and second just enjoy what you do . Big or small  project makes no hill of beans cause final judgment is that you did it yourself

Have fun and enjoy

[Chris Crockett]

Keep up the good work.

[wallace freeman]

I see a lot of ole friends I used to work with and they all ask what I've been up too and I tell them I'm making short boards out of long ones in my shop, we laugh and I go back to doing what I enjoy,  making short ones out of long ones.  Good luck in your endevors and just work to please yourself.

[Leslee]

 Hello, Larry.

 I just do want I can with my limitations. I do believe that if you make things for yourself that you can use that's great.  I don't feel everybody needs to make furniture or big stuff. I made a tall table for my roommate's daughter. I also made a microwave table for a friend that needed one with storage and high enough so her little boy would not play with the buttons. I also made a workbench and storage cabinet in my shop because I needed both. I think you are doing just fine in what you are doing keeping yourself busy. Happy wood working.

[will delaney]

Larry that's what a hobby is all about. I believe that it is a great feeling of empowerment to be able to make something for yourself or others. No matter how big or small the project is. Safe and happy woodworking.

[justin waldron]

I'm a baby compared to you Larry and always had a fascination with making furniture etc, but I didn't know how to and my first question for the longest time was "how did they hide the screws"?  Later I found out that "they" didn't use screws, but joinery.  Luckily I caught Norm on one Sunday (Dad forced me to watch him when I was younger), and I was completely blown away by how things went together.  Between Norm, Wood Magazine and definately the Kreg site, I would NEVER be able to do the things I do today and I am by no means a furniture maker, but I am happy with what I can do at this point and we only get better.  I measure twice, cut once and order extra lumber in the begining my friend!! 

[Jay Boutwell]

If I may take few momonts of your time  I would like to pass on a couple thoughts.

 In order to fully enjoy the art of wood working you first have to have patience and understanding.  You must be willing to except that mistakes happen and never look at it as a failure but as a step in the learning process.   Learn how to correct the mistakes and through this process your skills and artistic ability will rapidly develope.  Follow the guide lines of the mechanics of careful planning and prepairing your stock and thoes of jointery and you will be amazed at your results.  So what if you make a mistake, take some steps and figure out ways of how to fix that mistake.   Once a mistake is made and you ralize it then fix it, and you will most likely not make the same mistake again.  Don't take it as a set back and use it as a excuse to say the words "I CAN'T DO IT".   When you say or think "I CAN'T DO IT, you have just defeated yourself.    Once you convience yourself that you can "do it " half of your battle with it is done.  The rest becomes a pleasent challenge and thus the real happiness and the joy of wood working will emerge.  As I have told many others, every one has talents some have talents for certain things that come easy and seem easy and natural.  Others have to work at it to develope it.   In all cases however you still have the ability to think and  thus master anything that you convience yourself that you can do.  I am a firm believer in the fact that if you don't make mistakes then you do not learn. 

 There are numerous exceptional good woodworkers in this community and if everyone one was to be totally honest they will tell each other that the more they work wood, the better they become at it.  I know that most if not all of us, have at one time or another thought to them selves and let doubts creep in, thinking that they could not build something.  Had they not have taken it as a challenge and proceeded with its creation then all of us would still be back there in time saying, " I CAN'T DO IT".

Your age or the amount of tools have nothing to do with the outcome of where or not you can be a woodworker.  It is the desire and the confidence in ones self that tells the ending story and displayed by the products of your artistery. You are  held captive only by the limits of your imagination and confidence in your ability to create.  My best to each of you and I am looking forward to seeing more members with products on display.  

Above all while enjoying this fasinating work practice SAFETY!!!!!!!!!!

[Robert Brennan]

Larry,

 

Keep up the good work, soon enough when the time is right you will be building furniture, it all comes with practice.

I made a cupboard many years ago using gang nails and plywood. My adult Boys still have it today although it has tools in it rather than little kids clothes, no Kreg tools around in those days!

When I look at it its finish is a bit rough but is still in use and has stood the test of time.

I later build a stand for the TV using two pieces of Glass I found  and it lasted for years, no fancy joints just butted together and glued.

 

While you are having a ball its really what its about anyway, I spend heaps of time making all sorts of "stuff" of which I do simply to enjoy it rather have any imediate use for the items and get a kick out of the results.

 

My wife keeps saying she is going to sell them at the markets, good on her if she can but I couldnt be bothered thats not what I built them for I built them because I enjoyed it.

 

Attempting to build something when you are unsure of your skills an somebody waiting for the result is sometimes a path to disaster anyway.

 

I get a lot of ideas from this site and attempt to replicate them if they dont work out they go in the bin or get modified into something else, mind you I have some pretty fancy nail and bit boxes in my shed!

 

Robert Brennan

[Jim Delorme]

Way to go Larry! Having fun is what it's all about. Some people like to fish, some like to golf, me, I like to go out to the garage with my trusty shop dog and work with wood.

ENJOY!!

[Larry L.]

 

I think I have it now,

work safe, buy long boards make them short and buy extra in the begining, work safe.

got it! 

thanks to all for the kind words

I have found out if you don't start today tomorrow you'll be older so might as well start today.

Larry