Introduction

I'm an amateur woodworker working out of my garage. I've only been woodworking for about 4 years, but have had an interest in woodworking for quite awhile. I've never had the space to do any real work, so I had to settle for watching woodworking shows and reading books and magazines. Not long ago my wife and I moved out of our apartment and bought a house. I made sure there was at least a small area where I could explore this craft.

My exposure to woodworking
I have always had an interest in woodworking. Even as a young child I was always doing something with wood. I had my first shop class in Junior High and couple classes in High School. I left school with all of my fingers, even though many of shop teachers were missing one or two. After finishing High School, there weren’t many opportunities for me to expand my woodworking skills. I did some work for our local community theater, building sets and props. I also got my sawdust fix volunteering for Habitat for Humanity. For the most part I was a spectator watching woodworking shows and reading magazines.

With the one exception of Roy Underhill (The Woodwright's Shop), all of the woodworking shows on TV were power tool oriented. After years of watching these woodworking shows, I was quite the power tool guy. At the time I didn't quite understand or appreciate what Mr. Underhill was try to teach us. Needless to say I became a power tool junkie and a Normite. The first tools I bought were the power tool junkie's staple: table saw, jointer, planer, phmatic nail gun and assorted power hand tools.

Then things started to change. I came across David Marks (Wood Works) on the DIY channel. This show was different from most everything else on TV at the time, or even now. David was still a big user of power tools, but he also used hand planes, spoke shaves, card scrapers, and other tools not seen on a "normal" woodworking show. David did a show on woodworkers that influenced and mentored him. One of his mentors was James Krenov. The interview with Mr. Krenov sparked an interest in me. I wanted to find out more about this guy, that I had never heard of. After researching James Krenov, I was ashamed I did not know who he was before. I bought a couple of his books, and they changed the way I looked at woodworking. I don't think I will ever have the vision James Krenov has when he looks at a piece of wood, but I have gained greater appreciation for this craft. I’m more thoughtful now when it comes to woodworking and what I want to achieve in my skills.

The next event that sent me further down the hand tools path was a Christmas present from one of my sisters. She gave me a couple DVDs by David Charlesworth and Rob Cosman. I’m not sure what really triggered it, but a spark was lit inside of me. I was amazed at what these guys were doing with hand planes and handsaws. All I can say, I wanted to learn and know more. I’ll talk more about these two gentlemen and others I have learned from, in future installments.

What kind of woodworker am I?
Am I: A Normite, a Neanderthal, a Galoot, a Roy Underhill disciple? I find myself in a unique position of having a little bit of everything in me. I have a very open mind, which as allowed me to experience a lot of what each has to offer. Although, you can’t go down the hand tool path and not realize there are things hand tools can do better than power tools. On the flipside there are things power tools can do that take considerable more effort with hand tools. You will find my postings will be focused on hand tools, but I haven’t and won’t condemn the use of power tools. Like myself I just ask that you keep an open mind.

I’m pretty new to woodworking. It’s my goal to journal my experiences in learning this craft. I’ll share my successes and failures. As the name of the blog implies, I want to learn as much as I can in this immense topic of woodworking.