Ranging from building chairs to a chest of drawers, woodworking contains a seemingly unlimited number of projects and centuries of craftwork. There’s a wide depth and breadth of knowledge to be obtained when it comes to woodworking, i.e — the various types of woods, craft techniques for working with them, and a wealth of designs. Our dialogue contained within will cover the basics of what you need to know.
THE JOY OF WOODWORKING!
Woodworking has become a popular hobby for many reasons over the course of the past few years. One of the reasons being that woodworking as a hobby offers a tranquil retreat from the stresses of everyday society. Upon entering a woodworking shop to create something, a natural focus of attention occurs, as the woodworker very much looks forward to create something new. The vision of what you want to create naturally unfolds before your eyes as you proceed to work on your new piece, and get gain a good sense of accomplishment. Certainly if you’re a beginner you’ll want to engage in simple woodworking plans, and you’ll encounter design and build issues as you learn, but this will give you much needed experience and enhance your woodworking problem solving skills. It truly becomes a process that provides great rewards! Besides there are plenty of woodworking articles and ideas for beginners and woodworking plans for beginners.
Whether you’re working on beginner woodworking projects, intermediate woodworking projects, or advanced woodworking projects just think of the encouragement and respect you’ll gain taking on fun woodworking projects for your home. You may get project requests from other family members and friends. You’ll most likely even save money by making some your own furniture. Also there’s the say “time flies when you’re having fun” and this certainly applies to the woodworking craft.
Woodworking 101
Woodworking is the method of making ornate and useful objects from wood, like cabinets, tables, utensils, bowls, and much more. It involves procedures like wood carving, carpentry, and shaping wood on a lathe. Learning basic woodworking skills is fairly simple to do, and as you take on more projects you’ll gain expertise.
Early humans first used wood as one of their primary materials for tools and utensils, and use of wood is highly related to the development of key features of early human life. It is known that early humans used wood to build sailing vessels, tools for hunting, idols of worship, coffins, tables and chairs and certainly many more things.
By way of civilization progressing, so has the craft of woodworking. Though the essentials remain mainly unchanged, woodworkers are taking advantage of innovative technology to form new equipment and tools and take on more advanced projects as a result. Are you a beginner? There are fantastic woodworking hobby kits to obtain and have fun with!
Some terminology and techniques:
Routing
Routing involves cutting, shaping, and trimming wood. This is accomplished with a tool called a router which finishes the wood piece edges and cuts shapes, for example making grooves in and furniture cabinets.
Jointing
The process of jointing is comprised of making the edges of wooden boards prepared for gluing them to another board. This technique is used for joints and surfaces that are flat.
Planing
Planing is the process of removing typically small strips of wood from a larger piece of wood in order to produce a a smooth surface, using a specialized tool called a planer.
HAND TOOLS
There’s been a resurgence in hand tool woodworking over the past two decades. Woodworkers have a variety of woodworking art tools and methods to choose from when embarking on woodworking art projects. There’s still a tendency to use manual tools over ones that are electric. Affordability is key when choosing your first set of tools, and is a goal easily obtained. However, as one gains more expertise a requirement for more sophisticated tool additions to your toolkit will most likely occur. Hand tools wood crafters perhaps engage with more of a connection to the production of their work. Certainly they will have to be more patient as they’ll dealing with a manual process that will certainly take longer, and most likely takes more time learning.
WOODWORKING WITH POWER TOOLS
The majority of wood crafters currently use power tools.
Shopping for power tools is half the fun of woodworking. For example your shopping list will most likely include such tools as: tools such as:
- table saws
- miter saws
- drills
- sanders
Keep in mind that safety is a major fact when considering using power tools and one should make it a point to view a good instructional video on the proper use of the tool. Certainly this isn’t a preventative message but more of a cautionary that you’re dealing with powerful tools that you need to learn how to user properly to avoid accidents.
WOODWORKING DIGITAL STYLE
Digital machines are another option for wood crafters, and though originally expensive, they’ve become recently more affordable as a result more appealing. First in line is the CNC machine which is makes precision cuts on horizontal pieces of wood by using a using a router. The design and layout of your work is programed on a computer, and from there the machine proceeds with cutting out all your pieces of your design. You can leave the machine unattended while it does the work
Another tool is a laser cutter, otherwise known as an engraver. With this tool one can make even more precision cuts compared to a CNC, and can be use where more artistic pieces are a design requirement
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Although the prices have come down for digital machines they’re still relatively expensive, especially for the hobbyist. A tablesaw will most like still be required as well as other power tools. Of all the tools, some people feel that digital tools give a feeling of disconnectedness, and takes away from the satisfaction and joyous feeling of the craft itself.
BLENDING WOODWORKING
Most wood crafters enjoy the benefit of using a combination of hand tools and power tools. They use the approach whereby the tool is chosen to fit the task. For example where precision is required on cutting joints, a manual tool would most likely be most suitable.
WOODWORKING WITH SPECIALTY TOOLS
Where artistic woodworking in required two techniques come to mind which involve scrolling and woodturning.
- Scrolling is the use of a scroll saw with the capabilities of of cutting very tiny curves and elaborate patterns. Much practice is required to attain proficiency, with this tool. Since the goal is to produce a more artistic piece this type of woodworking can be inherently more of a relaxing craft, as you can produce elegant, creative, artistic pieces. These types of saws are typically less expensive compare for example to a lathe scroll saw. They are pretty quiet and don’t make a huge mess.
Both tools have their uses in most woodworking shops, as they can be used to create more ornate pieces on furniture, for example on table legs, or drawers on a dresser drawer.
- Woodturning is the craft of creating spindles, bowls and other rounded wood item, and uses a lathe. Think of woodturning as you wood clay sculpting using a potter’s wheel. Woodturning lathes can be fairly expensive.