[MarkusWandel]

Matthias's brother here. Handy by general standards, but two left hands by the standards of Matthias and our dear departed dad. The most important thing about starting woodworking: Have something you want to make, and no exaggerated expectations. Example from real life: Want a little wall shelf for salt and pepper etc. for over the kitchen table. At the time I had no planer or circular saw, just a ragtag assortment of tools. But you can do a reasonably square cut with a small garage sale bandsaw, and I had a hand plane that was reasonably sharp, and a random board actually looked really nice once I planed it and put a clear varnish on it. Presto, shelf. What's there to lose from trying? http://wandel.ca/pic.cgi?a09614c7

Actually I think I also had one of those "Miter box" type guided hand saws, and used that to make the square cuts. If I were starting out now, I'd get a decent handheld circular saw and improvise a jig to make a clean crosscut with it. That too can be fun experimentation and construction lumber is cheap material.

Later wanted to hang a lamp over the table, and going all the way to the ceiling and back with the cable, for a lamp this low, didn't seem right. So added a stick of wood to an IKEA shelf bracket, and: http://wandel.ca/pic.cgi?4db2d897

The key is not to kick myself because I can't do as good a job as my brother or my dad, but rather take pleasure in what I can do.