I'm sure we all have stories about how we got into this addictive pastime. Let us hear yours.

For me, it was the need for a coffee table when the wife and I were in college. Just two simple MDF boxes with an MDF slab across them. Applied black, textured Formica to all of it. Used a TS and router. 

Didn't do anything else until we got moved to AZ and bought the Shopsmith. My/our hobby has been a source of enjoyment and a money pit ever since.

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Gene
'The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him.' G. K. Chesterton

I'll have to look tonight and see if have pictures of it, but I built a book shelf to surround the TV, have a place from my Speakers and places for all of the components of the stereo system. It also gave a place to put some items that collect dust. It was crude at best. At the time I knew nothing about Dado's, wood glue or screws for better holding. It was all nailed together with everything being a butt joint. As I think about it, it amazes me it stood at all and supported all that expensive stereo equipment.

So that is the shelf unit in the background. Sorry I am in the picture and you can't see it that well. My year deer hunting had not been a good one and so my wife cross stitched a piece saying, "Deer Tracks Make Mighty Thin Soup." When I would get home each time from hunting she would ask if I got a deer and my answer was no, but saw a lot of tracks.

This was the first Christmas I was married way back in '74 and I got my own tool box and set of tools. My brother-n-law was an electrician and gave me a pouch and complete set of Kline tools.

My dad and I both got one of these but I couldn't find the photo with me which is fine. You could mount a Circular saw or Jig saw under the table and use it like a table saw. So I guess this was the first table saw I got if you can really call it a table saw.

I did a fair amount of framing work with my dad as we built barn style utility buildings and installed them onsite for customers. So it wasn't till later after my children were grown that I really wanted to set up a shop that I didn't have to tear down and move all the tools. My wife had started working a second job, so it seemed like a good time to really get into woodworking.

I decided that I wanted to build a real piece of furniture. So Beth as me to build us a bed. I figured it would be easy, not that many parts to a bed, right? Then she brought me a picture of the bed she wanted and it was a pencil post bed. I was thinking all square cuts, now I got to do eight sided and tapered. Well after all the episodes of The New Yankee Workshop I watched at least knew the terminology now and started on the bed.

Afraid I would mess up expensive lumber, I built the post out of pine 2x4's laminated together to get the thickness and started working on the post. Well they turned out pretty good for a first shot and I built the head board and put the fails on. I was going to give it away of just do away with it and the family said no, you have to finish it and put it in the house. So I did and we sleep on it every night, well except for the six weeks I was in the recliner.

I made a pattern for the headboard from MDF but the headboard is also just pine. An early look at the shop when it shared space with bicycles and everything else. Not sure how I build much of anything. Of course today, I don't have room with all the tools to put a bed together in the shop.

So I finished it and put it in the bedroom.

That in a short story is pretty much how I got started.

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John Moody
Site Administrator


John Moody Woodworks
http://www.johnmoodywoodworks.com

Boy John, when you started, you went big time. A four poster, wow! It sure looks good in the bedroom.

I'm anxious to hear of John Morris' first forays. Do you think he started with a Maloof rocker?

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Gene
'The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him.' G. K. Chesterton

I wouldn't doubt it Gene. He may have even gone bigger than that.

Gene Howe said:

Boy John, when you started, you went big time. A four poster, wow! It sure looks good in the bedroom.

I'm anxious to hear of John Morris' first forays. Do you think he started with a Maloof rocker?

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Gene
'The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him.' G. K. Chesterton

Oh geez, junior high wood shop! 7th Grade and I was hooked since. Dad taught me most of what I needed to get started, the biggest thing I took away from Dad in my teen years while my woodworking grew, was to be creative and plans don't mean a whole bunch, he was really good at just building from the top of his head, and I have picked up on that and it's stuck with me.

I like to say my Dad was the first man using reclaimed lumber before it became popular, coming from a very frugal background, we used to peruse the ally's for pallets and tossed scrap wood, and he'd build some pretty cool stuff. We actually teamed up on a bar for my uncle that was made entirely from fruit wood limb sections, it was quite artistic, but actually it was out of necessity as we didn't have the funds to purchase the lumber for the bar, but we wanted to do something really nice for uncle for Christmas, so we sliced up the fruit wood limb trimmings from the back of our friends home after they trimmed the tree, and off we went! So my beginnings, mainly in Junior High, and in Dad's lil one care garage shop. Great memories.

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John Morris
The Patriot Woodworker

Watching my grandfather in his work shop

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Lew Kauffman-
Wood Turners Forum Host

Time Traveler and Purveyor of the Universe's Finest Custom Rolling Pins!

Poverty.

Everything nice  that I wanted for myself or  family that  could be made from wood from bunk beds to living room furniture to a guitar were all way way way outside the range that my minimum wage job could  handle.  Raising a little family during the recessions that Carter brought on was a beast, and nothing I wanted, could I afford - - So I made  those things.

So what got me into it?

Poverty.

 

My Dad was a wrench turner on cars and motorcycles. The only time I saw my Dad buy a woodworking tool or even use one was when he bought a Skil circular saw so he could cut up 2x's to make an engine stand when he was restoring his 1952 MG-TD. I got my first taste of working with wood when I was in Webelos with our leader Mr. Puerto who had a full wood and metal shop at his home where would meet. When I got into Jr. High I got into Industrial Arts and got deeper involved with woodworking. In High School I took Wood Shop my Freshman and Sophomore years before the shop program was shut down due to budget cuts so woodworking went out of my life. I got married at 21 and we had a condo which I did a lot of home repairs and renovation. It wasn't until 1997 after my 2nd and 3rd back surgeries that I started back into woodworking. We had this dining room table that had a zig-zag pattern table that was dated and my wife wanted a new table that more country in style with a tile top. So since we did not have much money and decided to re-do the table top with tile. I borrowed a Craftsman table saw from my step dad and cut the the side rails and top rails and then tiled the table. It turned out really good which surprised me and I enjoyed doing it. So after that I started doing other simple projects. I bought my first table saw which was a Skil 10" bench top model from Home Depot that came with a stand and stamped metal wings. I made a lot of stuff with that saw. I picked up tools as I went along and things took off from there. I continue to learn and build and pick up new tools when I can afford them. When I upgrade tools I pass along my old tools to others who can use them. I operate my shop in a 3 car garage that I still have to share at times with my wife's car. All my big tools are on mobile bases so I can easily move them around. I am still learning new things and still enjoy it. 

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Allen Worsham
Corona, CA

allenworsham@earthlink.net

'Graze in every man's field, but always give your own milk.'
J. Vernon McGee

“Our greatest fear should not be that we won’t succeed,
but that we will succeed at something that doesn’t matter.â€
D.L. Moody