Sunday, December 16, 2012

It all started...

It all started with an episode of Roy Underhill's The Woodwrights Shop. I think it was the Roubo bookstand episode. I was so intrigued by the idea of not using power tools, that piqued my interests.   Fast forward a few months, and I took the plunge. I started with Paul Sellers book Working Wood vol. 1 & 2.  His pragmatic but straightforward style really resonated with me.  I soon also discovered the likes of Chris Swartz,  et. al. as I think most do on this path. I have learned a lot from the blogs and videos of others so I want to make my contribution and hopefully help someone else along the way.  To provide a little insight into my perspective, I am a surgeon by day and I appreciate the subtleties and intricacies of observing the differences in wood types and it's response to our tools.  Additionally, this makes me feel like I have less of a chance of separating a finger from my body and prematurely ruining my day job.
Particularly of interest to me is the ability to learn the most subtle of movements from videos of the modern day masters of this style of work, and I appreciate them making videos of their work available through you tube or their appearances with Roy Underhill.  So begins this new journey.  I hope others can learn from my errors, and I can learn from anyone who reads this and feels like sharing some wisdom and advice with me.

1 comment:

  1. There's nothing more encouraging than a fellow total novice at something going and doing and sharing their learning process from zero. I am now at the stage where you were four years ago. For me it all started when I read about raised garden beds and saw a very beatifully made from wood. I went ahead and bought some power drills and some rough lumber and ended up with a nice raised garden bed. Well ok, the top was out of square, the legs went weird angles and now that I have filled it with soil I'm afraid to move it in fear of breaking! But there is something very satisfying to work and produce something with hand and wood.
    Being a generator distributor by day, I have zero experiences working wood but thankfully I have Paul Sellers' books and videos as my main source of knowledge and teacher, along with many others modern master woodworker. Now my Paul Sellers' workbench' top is in the making! It can be intimidatng at times and these kinds of blog are what I and other novices can look up to as encouragement and visible goal to strive for, thank you!

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