I first considered woodworking in my mid-thirties as something I could try. Our family of four had just moved from a townhouse in Guelph to a house in Breslau and with that came a new garage and room enough to get a few tools. I had discovered a website which gave step by step instructions on how to build wooden household furniture. I remember I had bought a whole lot of 2x4s and had convinced a friend of mine from Guelph to help us move them. He questioned what I was doing with all the 2x4s. One of my first wood projects was an 8 foot long shelving unit and all you needed were 2x4s, a chop saw, a drill and measuring tape.
I've slowly acquired tools over the last few years. It seems that with every new wood project comes the need for a new set of tools!
My young kids have taken some interest in woodworking. Whenever I'm trying something I might tell them about the type of wood (e.g. cherry, black walnut) and how some woods are harder than others. We made birdhouses a couple years ago and they hang off the side of our back yard fence. In the spring the kids excitedly look out and marvel at the birds that poke their heads out of the little houses. No birds have moved in yet but I think the location might suit a squirrel trying to move in.
One kind of wood project work I enjoy is working with epoxy resin. It can cause some panic especially when it comes to large pours (ever try pouring a liquid into something and having it slowly seep out a crack in your mold and then you only discover it once it starts dripping off the table?). That stuff you don't want to touch as it's basically liquid plastic. I ended up building a live edge black walnut river table out of it and am quite happy with it but am sticking to smaller uses like filling cracks in wooden clocks and charcuterie boards with epoxy and turquoise mica powder.
The wood in my projects comes from various sources, and at one time even from my parents' lot. They had a black walnut tree that needed to come down and I was eager to help them do it. Did we do the sensible thing and rent a chainsaw? No we cut the 8 inch diameter tree trunk using a handsaw. Over the period of 2 weeks different family members including my wife, father, mother, brother and myself would go out and take a try sawing the trunk. That tree ended up in several 4 foot pieces and in the back of my Mazda 5. I hauled it all the way up to Peterborough where my brother in law (a sawyer) cut them up into 2 inch slabs.
I've done woodworking for several years now and wooden spoons were the first kind of project where I could make something in a few hours and then have a unique and special gift for someone. Wooden spoons are practical, beautiful and give a sense of 'realness'. We so easily pickup a wooden spoon at a dollar store or grocery store and don't give it much thought. There is a person behind a carved spoon. It has thought and its shape was formed one spoon at a time. There are varying definitions of 'hand-made' and in my case I carve the spoon bowl and use machines like a belt sander to help shape the spoon. Sometimes I use an axe and saw to split logs and sometimes I use a bandsaw. There is always an element of uniqueness as I discover knots or cracks and then have to change the shape or original idea. Every spoon is a new experience. If I am making a spoon for someone in mind, I will think of them as I go through the process of crafting it.
Woodworking is in your grasp if you really want to try it. Admittedly it's expensive to acquire the tools, but once you have them (try starting with a chop saw, pocket hole jig and drill) and instructions from a woodworking website or YouTube, that should be enough to get you started. Let me know if you’re trying out any woodworking projects for the first time – I’d love to hear from you! We can learn from each other as the learning never ends with woodworking.