Tell us how you got into project-building!

[KregRep]

Tell Us: How did you get into project-building?  Tell us your story in a comment below.

[Jayson]

I walked into Lowes, and I saw the Kreg Jig. I thought it was cool looking and didn't even have a clue what it was. Me and my wife like to watch the DIY channel and that was when I 1st see them using the Kreg. I thought it was pretty cool on what they were doing with the jig and I knew right then that I wanted one. My wife and kids suprised me with the Kreg for Christmas. So far I have built 2 workbenches and a book case so far. These items were my 1st builds ever without any form of help. I am a cherry when it comes to wood working. Here is a picture of the book case.

[Christopher Richard]

I exited the military in 96 and wandered for a year before landing in TX.  Always liked to build and had my dream house in my head for a long time so after a year of scrounging, doing job site clean ups for material, and long hours I built my house and attached 1890's saloon to house my 30 year antique brewery advertising collection.  With my biergarten moving along I found myself needing another project so decided to build furniture to go with the time period. New to pocket hole systems and wish i had known about it when I built my bar and back bar. But life is a learning process. So now I find myself gutting the kitchen to build the cabinets my way, reworking the bar and back bar pieces, and building pocket hole deck and biergarten furniture to start.  Kreg has really opened my eye's to a new skill. After a couple month practice and working out techniques  rebuilding the barn and shop cabinets I should be able to tackle the main tasks at hand without worry.  Thanks Kreg

[TAMMYE STEVENS]

Thanks Ken...gave me some really good tips on getting started. That's exactly what I needed. Getting started seemed overwhelming to me but now will be much easier.  Thanks again!

Cant wait to make lots of sawdust! lol
 
Ken Darga said:

Tammye,

Set up your shop to your liking.

 

If you ask 5 different wood workers, you may get 5 different answers.

What works for one, may not be for you.

 

I’ve perused several different plan layouts, published in various mags.

None of them were to my liking, for my use.

 

To start out, locate the tools where you want them for now.

As you progress, you'll want to rearrange them to suit your needs.

 

1^st, locate the table saw, in the center or near the center of the floor space---

Position it where you can rip long 8ft boards, where you have space to load and unload the workpiece.

And, perhaps for two person use, one at the start and one at the end of the cut.

 

Personally, I arrange the tools, in the order that I use them to build a project.

Ripping, cross-cutting, router table(s), band saw, drill press, sanding station, assembly station,  etc.  A mobile shop vac, to move and connect  to the machine in use.

 

When a power tool on stand is not in use, I move it and store it against a wall.  Pull it out and position it to suit my needs.

 

Having the tools on dedicated mobile stands, makes for easy moving and rearranging.

 

Storage of lumber and materials can be against or on a wall.  Light weigh objects can be stored in the ceiling area.

 

Storage rack(s) with shelving, to store small power tools.

 

Clamp storage---large ones on a wall and smaller one in bins.

 

Mobile cabinet style unit with doors and drawers for small tools.

Label the drawers of their contents---handy to readily identify what’s in there.

Writing on a strip of making tape with a marker pen, will suffice.

As you move the tool(s) from one place to another, just move the tape, or make a new one.

‘til you find a permanent home for the tools.

 

On a table saw---store your saw blades, miter gauges, and associated tools with the saw.

 

Router table---store your router associated tools and items in the router table/stand, or nearby.

 

Band saw and scroll sawing and their associated components.

 

Kreg pocket hole joinery tools and the like, in separate bins, and labeled such.

 

Jigs and fixtures can be stored (hung) on a wall.

 

Store the associated tools with the applicable power tool(s), so they’re in an “at-the-ready” access.  (My portable power tools are stored on shelves and in cabinets).

 

Compressors, hoses and associated air tools together in a separate area. 

Portable air compressors can be moved to the area I’m performing the tasks.

When cutting outdoors, I can wheel the compressor  to the table saw, router, or the like---

And clean it up before putting it away.

 

I organize my tools by category:

Sawing (power and hand)--- cutting tools such as chisels, planes--- drilling, driving--- fastening (nailers, staplers), sanding, polishing, finishing, gluing. 

Fasteners in another location---screws, nails, and the like.

Wood working, electrical, plumbing, soldering/welding, air tools, grinding, sharpening, etc.

My sharpening tools are all together---I can take the tools to the work or move the work to the tools.

 

I need to have my tools organized in such a way, that I can grab the applicable tools---load-and-go to a job site. 

Whether its wood working, electrical or plumbing, tool sharpening.

If it’s a small job or task, I pack the applicable tools in bags or bins, load and go.

 

Enjoy making sawdust.

Works for me.

[Ken Darga]

Tammye,

Thanks for your thank you.

TAMMYE STEVENS said:

Thanks Ken...gave me some really good tips on getting started. That's exactly what I needed. 

[TAMMYE STEVENS]

That's a beautiful bookcase...I have plans on building some myself for some very special books I received from my dad.  I was kinda like you, saw Kreg on DIY show and had to have one. Working on getting the shop up and going!

Thanks for sharing the pic

Tammye
 
Jayson said:

I walked into Lowes, and I saw the Kreg Jig. I thought it was cool looking and didn't even have a clue what it was. Me and my wife like to watch the DIY channel and that was when I 1st see them using the Kreg. I thought it was pretty cool on what they were doing with the jig and I knew right then that I wanted one. My wife and kids suprised me with the Kreg for Christmas. So far I have built 2 workbenches and a book case so far. These items were my 1st builds ever without any form of help. I am a cherry when it comes to wood working. Here is a picture of the book case.

[Ben Howard]

I know this is an old post, but I figured I would add to it. 

I got into wood working projects because I am medically disabled due to kidney disease. I can no longer work, and was bored sitting around the house all day. I took shop classes in high school, and have worked in construction a little after high school so I was not new to wood working in general, just in practice. I started going around to various swap meets and garage sales looking for good used tools such as my bench top drill press and my delta table saw that is an older model with the 120v/240v option and steel top.  I have my father in law's miter on semi-permanent loan since he rarely uses it. I have also found 3 work benches all on casters, as is my table saw. I work in my 2 car garage where I have 1 side as my work area and the other side for my wife's car. When I am able to work, I move her car out and spread out in the garage as needed. I am not able to afford many new tools at this time as I have not been approved for Social Security Disability under the guise that organ failure does not necessarily constitute a disability.

Also as I do not have a lot of money I started out by looking around town for discarded pallets to build things out of. My wife's uncle helped me build a pallet buster out of scrap pieces of steel and a piece of pipe. When it breaks the welds or the forks get too bent out of shape, we just replace them. One day I bumped into a gentleman at a Menard's in the town I live in that had a truck full of pallets. I asked him if he had plans for them or if they were trash. He advised that he had a lot of pallets due to his job, and brought me a 16' trailer loaded down with pallets. All he asked for in return was for me to build him a coffee table and 2 end tables. I did this, and during my research for plans for the tables, I started reading about the Kreg tools. They were just too expensive. So I put them on my Amazon wish list in hopes that a family member might get one for me for Christmas or something.

I built the tables for him after a few restarts as I had issues with getting the table tops level. I learned that pallet wood is hard to get uniform. But after a couple of months of working a couple of hours a week, I finally finished. I wasn't too happy with them, but he and his wife loved them. I took a picture of the coffee table, but for some reason did not take pictures of the end tables. I was given a Ryobi Drill and Drive combo as a gift, and signed up for their news feed and took advantage of some of their plans to build something, which while not using the Kreg tool, I still loved the way it turned out. I had to modify the plans a little for my sister in law to work in a smaller space, and it worked beautifully. 

Anyway, I am still learning and perfecting my wood working abilities and seem to get a little better with each completion. I hope to be able to post more pictures as I get around to newer and better projects.

Thank you for the plans Kreg Tools. It makes building things so much easier than me trying to go from an image in my head since I have no ability to draw.

[Philip Miller]

I started when I was just a kid. Now that I have a family and a house, my wife wanted to purchase furniture but I didn't want to pay the high prices and I knew I could make something better. Someone told me about a kreg jig and that I needed one if I was ever going to make furniture. One of the first things I made was a coffee table and the second thing was a turtle child stool. That is how I got started and now I have grown into a YouTube Channel, Miller Furniture, Etsy shop and have my own website Philip Miller Furniture

[Rev, Scott Fair]

I had salvaged a bunch of 2x4 s, and bought a Kreg r-3. Everything has gone forward from there. Now I spend most weekends making some type of furniture. With the r-3 and the Rip-Cut, I can do almost anything!

[ronald knockeart]

I went to a trade school in south-west michigan learning the art of woodworking building cabinets, furniture, etc..now been in the field for 23 yrs....

[Scott Brubaker]

Watching New Yankee Workshop, This old house, and the like from a very young age

[DrPcFix]

I've been a wood worker all my life as I grew up in a home where my father was a wood worker.  Of course, banging together a bunch of 2x4s while certainly wood working is not what we're really talking about, but that's the level of wood working that I had been doing.

So when did I really become a wood worker?

Well, in 2007 my wife and I decided that it was time to update our 75 year old house so we hired an architect and subsequently a contractor to basically gut the house and redo it.

Well, the recession hit and I found myself earning far less than I had been.  And as luck would have it, just after the contractor finished the framing and outside of the house he too had to close shop as he simply could not afford to pay his insurance premiums.

So, for the next few years, I spent my weekends working on "finishing" this massive project.

I managed to get the 1st floor and by 2009 and began to work on the 2nd floor but simply ran out of steam in 2011.  Working a full time job and then working two 12 hour days on the weekends just burned me out.  So for the next three years I did absolutely nothing except install the tongue and groove floor in the new master bedroom.

In 2015 after much crying on the part of my wife I began to work again in earnest on finishing up the master so that we could finally use it but still was suffering from a lack of funds to hire anyone to do it.

First came finishing the floors which involves no more than sanding and applying poly -- not exactly a hard task, only time consuming, dirty and back breaking -- but I got it done.

Next came the closets -- two nice walk in closets which my wife wanted "California Closet" style built ins.

Needless to say, buying them ready made was out of the question -- not to mention, they are made of junk.

So, onto the Internet I went where I stumbled across the Kreg system and to work I went.  First my wife's closet with her 12 cabinets, then 14 cabinets for the bathroom and soon my closet and little office.

Pics to follow :-)

[Tommy TBones]

Do I tell the truth of why I purchased the Kreg Jig or make something up so I don't sound like a stoner? For 15 years I had been using a very sturdy but extremely ugly TV stand that I built and now I need to say that I'm not a carpenter or craftsman, 9 times out of 10 bend a nail and have to start all over again. I used 2" x 2" and 1" finished plywood. I had seen the Kreg Jig infomercials many times and this year I decided I would try my luck since I only had to cut, drill and screw. Now come the second issue, I could not find plans that gave me what I wanted so on top of not being a carpenter I had to be a designer.  I found 3 plans that offered hints to get started but still I had to make adjustments. Now it is day 4 and I'm thinking about doors and back panel which should be easy right? Guess again. I think I know what I'm doing for the back, finished plywood but the doors are another challenge, they also have to be light tight. I'm building a TV stand that will double as a greenhouse. I got in to this because I couldn't find anything that fit my need and at the same time fit in our 750 square foot condo