If you want to get serious with woodworking, of course, you need to start somewhere and, over time, start showcasing your creativity.
By perfecting your woodworking skills, you also save yourself a significant sum of money in the long run in terms of repairs and making handy equipment you can use in your home.
But, you first need to understand the basics of woodworking before you get to such a point.
If this is what you’re looking to learn, look no further. This post will take you through the woodworking basics you need to know.
1. Know Your Purpose
There are different reasons why people venture into woodworking. Understanding your purpose now and in the future needs to be the first thing you do as this determines several things, including:
- Who should teach you woodworking? Is it a furniture maker or carpenter?
- Which tools do you need? Should you go for power tools or hand tools?
- Where do you plan to buy your wood?
- Which woodworking techniques do you want to learn?
These are some of the questions you need to ask yourself when you’re getting into woodworking.
While you shouldn’t necessarily have the answer to each of them right away, they’ll guide you as you pursue your woodworking journey.
This is because you’ll know which projects you should focus on, helping you learn a lot faster.
2. Learn the Basics
Once you’ve identified your reason for going into woodworking, the next thing to do is understanding all the woodworking basics.
You can choose to take traditional woodworking classes and be taken through beginner’s woodworking lessons. There are also online classes where you can learn the basics of woodworking.
After learning the basic details, you’ll now be a lot more confident to pursue your woodworking passion.
If you feel you still need further insights, you can look for additional woodworking info at Wood2New.org and other similar sites.
Understanding these basic skills is crucial as it ensures you won’t have a hard time doing challenging projects in the future.
3. Set Up a Dedicated Workspace
You’ll need a dedicated space where you can practice your woodworking craft. This workspace shouldn’t necessarily be huge or on which you should spend a lot of money.
Instead, it should simply be somewhere with enough space, where you can carry out your woodworking tasks with ease. Therefore, your basement or garage would be an ideal workspace.
When setting up your workspace, it’s best to avoid installing a lot of fancy equipment.
This is especially vital when you’re new to woodworking to reduce the chances of an accident happening due to lots of electrical cords scattered all over the place.
Instead, you only need to prioritize the essential woodworking tools.
You should also plan the layout of your workspace before putting in place your woodworking tools. As you do this, there are few factors to consider, including;
Storage:
You need to decide the storage space for your tools. The ideal storage location will depend on the environment where you live.
This means considering if the area is filled with dirt and dust, or if it’s moist. Knowing this helps you to pick suitable storage that safeguards your woodworking tools from damage.
Work Management:
This involves figuring out how you’ll maneuver around your workplace to ensure your workflow doesn’t get interfered by some items’ weird positions.
For example, setting aside a particular area for sawing, cutting, or storage.
This way, you’ll streamline your activities since there won’t be a lot of back-and-forth movement as you perform your woodworking duties.
4. Learn the Safety Measures
Your safety is important and is something that you should prioritize when doing woodworking projects.
And, while you might easily overlook this, doing this is necessary, or you risk finding yourself in the emergency room.
To avoid such unwanted situations, all you need to do is to observe the simple safety guidelines and use each tool as advised.
If you stick to these safety practices and habits, you’ll considerably lower your chances of getting involved in an accident.
5. Choose the Right Tools
There are many woodworking tools you can find on the market. But, when you’re still learning your woodworking craft, don’t get too much excited and get tools that aren’t meant for beginners.
You should start with the essential tools because doing so will allow you to quickly learn how to use them due to improved confidence.
The tools you should focus on getting include:
- Claw hammer
- Nail sets
- Circular saw
- Chisels
- Power drill
- Screwdrivers
- Clamps
- Speed square
- Block planes
- Orbital sander
- Utility knife
- Retractable tape measure
- Compound miter saw
- A workbench
- Tape measure
- Carpenter’s sharpener and pencil
- Layout square
6. Learn How to Take Measurements
You need to be very careful when taking measurements because even an inch is enough to make your fittings not match.
Therefore, you must understand how to use the tape measure and read measurements before embarking on your first woodworking project.
While it’s easy to disregard and assume that these are relatively straightforward processes, you shouldn’t have this assumption.
For example, if you need to measure 20 1/2 inches, you need to confirm that the tape measure reads precisely this and not 20 inches.
This slight mismatch is enough to cause problems for the wood fittings to intersect perfectly.
7. Sand the Wood
Sanding entails preparing a wooden surface and making it smooth enough in preparation for painting, staining, or finishing your wood.
It’s, thus, an essential step that you need to include when making any wood item. When sanding wood, you should use tools that make this entire process more convenient and easier.
If you’re doing a large-scale woodworking project, the ideal sanding tool to use is a belt sander. In contrast, an orbital sander is a better fit when sanding wood surfaces in tight spaces.
Takeaway
Learning woodworking isn’t that hard. But, for you to perfect your woodworking skills, you need to be patient and competent.
If this has always been your desire, but don’t know where to start, highlighted above are details that will help you in your woodworking journey to becoming a proficient woodworker.
