Carpentry

wannabedamned

wannabedamned

wannabedamned

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Does anyone here do any?

I've just been looking around the web for a nice wallunit, Modern\minimalistic. And the prices are ludicrous! £600-£700 for the ones I'm liking, and they're 3 vertical pieces of wood, with 2 horizontal pieces of wood and 7 various sized shelves! Then it has an added black or white gloss finish.

It's not like I would make it myself now, I'd end up with a horrendous disaster I know. But it's made me want to try and learn the basics and possibly move in that direction. I have a very local timber yard with an ex school friend who works there (Dont know him well enough to get him to help)

I just wondered if we have anyone here who does this sort of stuff? Could you perhaps give a beginner some tips? What sort of tools should I look into buying, Any good websites you visit? What's a good beginning piece of wood work to attempt to create?

Thanks for any help :)
 
it's the equipment required that you will need to invest in that will be the deciding factor on how seriously you want to take this. a local joiner will do you a bespoke unit for a similar price, a much better option.
 
There's a big difference between carpentry and cabinet making a decent carpenter probably serves a 5 year apprentiship followed by a lifetimes experience. My fathers a carpenter by trade but certainly not a cabinet maker. A capenter can work out of a van with protable tools a cabinet maker needs a joinery shop with lots of bench tool planers / sizers etc.

I just spent two days working with green wood with handtools only and a kiln, great two days and I made a small stool which my daughter now uses to sit on and have breakfast, hopefully it should out last me

The timber you talk about is probably 1/3 of the cost a 1/3 labour and a 1/3 OH&P when you break it down it's probably about right, I looked at making a unit for my xbox sky box and a few bits in oak but the timber was so expensive it was cheaper to buy a mass produced ready made unit in oak
 
I spent two days here marks woodwork and made a simple stool see the one on the right however you can make some really nice pieces like this high chair with a couple of hundred quids worth of tools and enough room in your back garden, it's called bodging and is really worthwhile, you make most of your tools yourself like benches and pole lathes but you have to buy the scrapers saws axes and knives
 
It's on my to-do list to learn more about it. I already have a pretty good table saw, jigsaw, circular saw, reciprocating saw and a miter saw. I'm not sure I want to go any further down the road though because it starts to get quite spendy: Router, drill press, planer, dado blades, router bits, jointer, various jigs, the wood itself, clamps, vice, dust collection system, band saw, belt sander, orbital sander, hand tools.

You need a lot of space and a lot of money.
 
Firstly, carpentry has been around for centuries, long before electricity was discovered. That rules out the need for power tools.

You would be best starting out on small projects, that will not use a lot of wood but will introduce you to some of the basic techniques.

For me a starter kit would contain:

Wood Plane ~£30
Coping saw ~£11
Set of Chisels ~£20
Wooden Mallet ~10
Screwdriver set (philips and slotted) ~£20
Set of Clamps (g-clamps, f clamps etc) ~£30
Hand Saw ~£10
Tenon Saw ~£7
Square ~£7
Assorted Glues ~£20
Set of Rasps / Files / Sandpaper ~£20

Total ~£180

Above prices are from screwfix and may not be the cheapest - but give you an indication.

The only other piece of kit that you will need, and this is possibly the most important is a good workbench. You can pick up traditional ones (with a vice on the side, and a trough in the middle) for about £150-£200.

Learn some basic wood working skills before attempting any furniture.

Key areas:

Joining wood together.
Different wood characteristics
Different Finishes

If you decide to get into it seriously then yes you can spend a fortune on it with all the power tools etc. I plan to start learning again and I am going to use the above as a starter. If things work out I will invest in power tools, but until then I want to learn how to work wood and the above will help me to.
 
We could make you one of these, but it will cost ya ;)

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I did a 5 year apprenticeship as a cabinet maker after school and i've been a cabinet maker ever since.

There will be hundreds of books at your local library on the basics of woodworking. I agree that power tools are not needed at first, they do make things a lot easier but if you have time and patients on your side there not essential.

One thing that is essential is a good work bench, something that is good and sturdy and has a decent vice, a tail vice is also handy but not essential. a work mate wont do and will just frustrate you.

get some good quality hand tools, second hand tools are often better then new ones and they will be cheaper if you know what to look for.

Do lots of reading and understand the basics befor you start a project and when you do start pick something simple to see how you get on.

learning the basics is easy, mastering the techniques takes decades.

most of all enjoy it. i love my job and would not change it for the world.
 
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You should make your workbench, your saw horses and your tool boxes first, it'll give you a good start and it won't matter if you fluff a few things, I assume the first thing the guys above did at college was make there own, I know my engineering course we made a tool box / chisels / thread tools / de burrer / punches / etc first which I still have and use
 
I would possibly make my own saw horse, tool box, but I would make them on a bought workbench.

What would you make your workbench on if you didnt already have one? I know you could, but the key part of any wood working is a solid bench. I believe if you are starting out having a good quality premade bench is the best option.
 
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