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My wife recently passed away. I used my time off to build her a giant bookshelf

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Re: My wife recently passed away. I used my time off to build her a giant bookshelf

#201

Post by monksy »

ragebol wrote: post #21
Jaruzel wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> presumably by taking classes at a technical college? Trial and Error is all you need. I've never formally trained myself in woodworking and I'm pretty good at it. I could definately replicate what this guy did if I had the time and money. My wife and I have a book collection that currently lives on eight 2.5 metre high by 1 metre wide Oak bookcases that fully line two walls of our living room (which we call the Lib…

I really liked OnShape for my latest woodworking project. Allows to make 2D drawing and assemblies etc, even animate joints. It's not open-source unfortunately though. Example: https://cad.onshape.com/documents/72898c3fef68768a08c1287a/w...

Looks like it is free for hobbyists. https://www.onshape.com/products/free?hsCtaTracking=12ef09fd...

Re: My wife recently passed away. I used my time off to build her a giant bookshelf

#202

Post by monksy »

sokoloff wrote: post #65
wegs wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's less expensive than pre-made furniture. A good place to get started is construction lumber -- just 2x4s. They're not bad once you clean them up with a sander and potentially planer and finish them, and they have a certain industrial aesthetic raw. They're cheap enough that if you mess up or change your mind, you can throw them away and try again. And if you want to redo a piece of furniture, you can do that too.…

I wouldn't expect a beginner to have a planer. (Nor would I put it in the first $2500 of tools to recommend to someone starting out.)

Nor should they. A planner won't even get the board flat. It'll trim a small amount off the top.

Re: My wife recently passed away. I used my time off to build her a giant bookshelf

#203

Post by tclancy »

brianush1 wrote: post #156
nicolas_t wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I didn't see much of that, most of the comments seems to be nice and supportive (at least I've felt a bit uplifted from how nice a lot of the comments were)

Most of the bad ones have been removed now: https://www.removeddit.com/r/DIY/comments/j321gz/my_wife_rec... Lots of comments talking about how it's too little too late and accusing OP of karma-whoring.

Hell of a way to do it.

Re: My wife recently passed away. I used my time off to build her a giant bookshelf

#204

Post by dr_orpheus »

pen2l wrote: post #5

It seems so fulfilling, being able to make such beautiful things. But also a bit expensive eh... to get the woodworking skills (presumably by taking classes at a technical college?), the equipment, and the time involved. If any folks here are capable of doing this stuff, would you please share details of your journey, I feel inspired to learn some of this myself. Did you feel it was all worth it, what would you do di…

I have been doing some woodworking for the past couple years now (still very much an amateur). My woodworking started with making some standing bottle openers as presents (kind of like these [0]). All it required was some cheap pine, a bit of stain, a sander and a saw (I used my dad's table saw, but you could just use a hand saw). I have since made some various pieces of furniture, odds and ends like random shelves around my house and some cutting boards. My advice:

- Hand tools are a great place to start, they are cheap they don't take up much room, they don't make too much noise and dust. Working with hand tools can be pretty relaxing, and can also be a good workout (which could be a bonus or a negative). I do have a decent collection of power tools now but still not everything. The power tools I use the most are drill, miter saw, circular saw, and sander.

- Check craigslist often, both for cheap (sometimes free) wood and for cheap tools.

- You can make something really cool out of something else. I made a kitchen island out of some old wall cabinets and a butcher block I got off craigslist. I also made a pirate ship wheel out of old stair spindles and a garden hose reel. This allowed me to try out skills on a bigger project while using someone else's work to kind of start from. I didn't have to first learn how to make cabinets or learn to turn wood on a lathe.

- Youtube is your friend you can learn how to do almost anything. The maker channels are great but often times they do have a lot of specialized expensive power tools. The "This Old House" youtube channel [1] is pretty good and has a lot of good basics. Also "Woodworking for Mere Mortals" [2] as the name implies is also good at showing how you get things done without investing in super expensive specialized tools.

- You will always notice the mistakes you have made, but hardly anyone else will. And you will make mistakes, I have made plenty and there are still plenty in my "finished" products.

- Routers are super cool tools and with the different bits you can get you can make awesome professional looking patterns. I got my router and a set of bits off craigslist as well, but there are some cheap options out there.

[0] https://www.etsy.com/listing/174667441/personalized-wood-bot...

[1] https://www.youtube.com/user/thisoldhouse

[2] https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBB7sYb14uBtk8UqSQYc9-w

Re: My wife recently passed away. I used my time off to build her a giant bookshelf

#205

Post by gcheong »

codingdave wrote: post #30
pen2l wrote: post #5

It seems so fulfilling, being able to make such beautiful things. But also a bit expensive eh... to get the woodworking skills (presumably by taking classes at a technical college?), the equipment, and the time involved. If any folks here are capable of doing this stuff, would you please share details of your journey, I feel inspired to learn some of this myself. Did you feel it was all worth it, what would you do di…

I'm a bad woodworker. My furniture has bad joints, gaps between pieces of wood. I don't use good wood. I do a poor job painting or staining it... and everyone still just sits down on my chairs and says, "This is so cool that you make your own furniture." Start small, start bad, improve on each project... and give it time.

Same here. Every project I finish is something where I go, "Well if I were to do it again, I'd do it like this instead..."

Re: My wife recently passed away. I used my time off to build her a giant bookshelf

#206

Post by dr_orpheus »

saalweachter wrote: post #119
Loughla wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Woodworking is one of those skills where you can see literally every flaw about your finished product, because you know what greatness looks like and you cannot achieve it. And nobody will notice but you, and maybe another woodworker. But generally they're nice enough not to say anything mean. I like it because it keeps me humble. Just when I believe I have the largest amount of domain knowledge related to my job, an…

It's also one of those frustrating life lessons about putting in the work. Like, sanding. When you first start out you're very tempted to just give it a very cursory sand to get any splinters off the edges or whatever, but once you sand something butter-smooth once, you have the frustrating realization that you're going to have to keep investing that much time and effort on every project you make going forward.

Sanding well is huge. It can be the difference between "yep, you nailed some 2x4s together" and "oh my god, that is so beautiful"

Re: My wife recently passed away. I used my time off to build her a giant bookshelf

#207

Post by mauvehaus »

monksy wrote: post #201
ragebol wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I really liked OnShape for my latest woodworking project. Allows to make 2D drawing and assemblies etc, even animate joints. It's not open-source unfortunately though. Example: https://cad.onshape.com/documents/72898c3fef68768a08c1287a/w...

Looks like it is free for hobbyists. https://www.onshape.com/products/free?hsCtaTracking=12ef09fd...

So was Fusion 360. I'm glad I hadn't gotten around to putting any time into learning it.

Re: My wife recently passed away. I used my time off to build her a giant bookshelf

#208

Post by gcheong »

pen2l wrote: post #5

It seems so fulfilling, being able to make such beautiful things. But also a bit expensive eh... to get the woodworking skills (presumably by taking classes at a technical college?), the equipment, and the time involved. If any folks here are capable of doing this stuff, would you please share details of your journey, I feel inspired to learn some of this myself. Did you feel it was all worth it, what would you do di…

Depending on where you live you might be able to find classes through different groups, not just a technical college. For example, here in San Francisco, the Randall Museum has a fully equipped shop and several levels of woodworking classes.

Re: My wife recently passed away. I used my time off to build her a giant bookshelf

#209

Post by dr_orpheus »

adsjhdashkj wrote: post #78
codingdave wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm a bad woodworker. My furniture has bad joints, gaps between pieces of wood. I don't use good wood. I do a poor job painting or staining it... and everyone still just sits down on my chairs and says, "This is so cool that you make your own furniture." Start small, start bad, improve on each project... and give it time.

Stupid question - would it be sane to get involved in this stuff without having a means of transporting large objects? Every time i look into wood related work, be it home repair or artsy stuff, everything is huge. I have a Prius. I'm not too thrilled at the idea of buying a 2nd car (truck), and i don't want to drive only a truck.. so how am i to get the supplies? Sounds like a silly question, but yea - things are ju…

Transporting the full sheets of plywood can be really hard. But I have a hatchback and that's the only thing I have had really a lot of trouble with. I have had 16' long pieces of trim hanging out of the back of my car. As long as it isn't dragging on the ground you can still get it home! Now getting those 16' pieces down in to my basement was the real challenge...

Re: My wife recently passed away. I used my time off to build her a giant bookshelf

#210

Post by dr_orpheus »

zimpenfish wrote: post #42
Jaruzel wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> presumably by taking classes at a technical college? Trial and Error is all you need. I've never formally trained myself in woodworking and I'm pretty good at it. I could definately replicate what this guy did if I had the time and money. My wife and I have a book collection that currently lives on eight 2.5 metre high by 1 metre wide Oak bookcases that fully line two walls of our living room (which we call the Lib…

> measure twice and cut once. I've had to amend that after a shameful disaster with a half-lap joint beam - "Measure twice, think once, cut once."

Yeah, doesn't matter how many times you measure if you did your math badly. Definitely happened to me a couple of times.
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