[roberthahn]

As a hand tool woodworker, I’m inspired to make something similar out of a block of wood.

When I saw the title on this page, I was hoping to see a version that was inspired by Apple’s iSight camera (with the perforated aluminum)

None of this is intended to take away from your work - it’s just so dang inspiring!

[b3kart]

Any advice on starting out in woodworking?

[roberthahn]

I see a couple of sibling comments giving you great tips already. I am still in the painful stage of failing my way to success (though closer to the end than the beginning)

I will suggest a few things. Follow up each of these points with more research if you can.

Spend as little money as possible and prove to yourself you’ll actually like it. Then buy only the good tools you actually need for the project at hand. I have tools I bought that remain unused and I regret spending the money. Its not the tool’s fault but me going in a different direction.

It doesn’t matter what species of wood your first projects use. Prefer wood with straight grain and you should be fine for your first half dozen projects.

Read widely or watch many YouTube videos. There’s a lot of space for ideas, from carving spoons to making stick chairs to making furniture of any style. Note what inspires you but be aware the path to making what you like may take awhile.

First project: make a cutting board (only one piece! Learn how to make it look great and learn a finish) Second project: make a simple box (learn how to make things square, learn some simple joinery)

Safety first! I put this last so it’ll be the first thing you remember. There are so many ways to ruin your health, from breathing sawdust to using toxic finishes. Hand tools are generally better for your lungs than power tools. Soap or wax finishes are healthy and easy to apply. Just about everything else is toxic and you must protect yourself accordingly. Invest in safety glasses, masks and gloves. And a first aid kit.

Woodworking is an extremely rewarding pastime and I hope you get hooked. Best of luck!

[mft_]

Try Steve Ramsey: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBB7sYb14uBtk8UqSQYc9-w

He's got a very nice approachable style (almost the Bob Ross of woodworking?) and has some great beginner videos. He also sells a course with plans for gradually increasingly challenging projects. No affiliation, just watched a lot of his videos when I was first getting started with woodworking.

There are also (as you'd expect) thousands of other Youtubers doing woodwork, too. Steve's just a great starting place.

[bsder]

See if you can find a local hackerspace.

While conventional tools are nice and necessary, having access to a gantry CNC machine for cutting wood is a HUGE thing.

A CNC makes many projects a single step. Anything having to do with cutting plywood to non-rectangular shape or stencils or carving letters or ... yeah, do it on the CNC.

And, even if the project isn't a single step, a CNC can compress a bunch of steps and make the project way easier. And even the canonical "cutting board" may require the CNC for a flattening pass (edge grain through a planer has issues).

[anymouse123456]

Whatever you do, do not get suckered into buying a bunch of machines right at the outset. They're loud, expensive, often dangerous and there's no limit to how many you might need.

Start with small projects and hand tools. People have been building beautiful things with a small variety hand tools for centuries and the lack of noise alone changes the entire experience.

I spent a couple years buying books and watching YT, especially Paul Sellers[0] before building anything at all.

The reality is that fine woodworking is a craft and takes years to master (I certainly have not mastered it), but one can create objects pretty quickly that feel wonderful to hold.

When you do get down to buying machines, a decent track saw can be much more versatile (and space efficient) than a table saw for a first purchase. FWIW, I have both and use the track saw 2-3 times more frequently because it's easier (though much slower) to safely and accurately break down large sheet stock. It's also the only Festool product I own.

[0] https://www.youtube.com/@Paul.Sellers

[mattbrewsbytes]

I'm going to counter this with a simple "I ain't got time for that". The "that" being hand tools. I did take a course from Roy Underhill and loved the crafty vibe of hand tools, even bought a No. 4 smoothing plane in the shop above the classroom that I use occasionally. My personal preference is to use power tools for the majority of work because hand tools take too long to learn in order to get good output. Given that its a hobby for me, I don't have a lot of time for projects so I want to complete them and not spend all my time just getting better with a hand plane or a chisel. I am impatient.

Another personal anecdote is having a US software engineer salary provides for a tool purchase not being a big deal. There are tons of people that have expensive hobbies like photography, guns, drones, 3D printers, etc. so to me I'd rather buy a $600 planer than have to hand plane boards to make a desktop. I did discover a Milwaukee track saw recently which hands down I should have gotten years ago. So I will agree that should be the first purchase for someone starting... you can likely use that for almost all use beginner use cases that might call for table or miter saws.

[anymouse123456]

Yeah, thanks!

These are good counterpoints people should hear.

I definitely use both kinds of tools.

Part of my position is that I was surprised at how efficient and accurate I'm able to be with a Dozuki hand-saw and chisels for dovetail joints.

I'd say hand-tools are more about the process and machine tools are more about the outcome.

I'd encourage people to choose a direction based on their interest, rather than budget (which I didn't say before).

[nativeit]

Learn to sharpen tools properly. A sharp chisel and plane, and something like a Japanese pull saw to handle the big stuff (with a measure of delicacy due to its flexibility) will get you an impressively long way. But such implements can dull quickly, and there’s nothing more dispiriting (or dangerous) than a dull tool.

[jabroni_salad]

See if your local community college offers a class. I know that's not a sexy answer but I think there is something to be said for having access to all the big tools and not filling up your garage with random bits of lumber before you know how serious your interest in woodworking is going to shape up to be.

[SoftTalker]

The old PBS New Yankee Workshop episodes are on YouTube. Norm Abram uses a lot of power and specialty tools especially in the later seasons but in the first season or two his shop and projects are pretty simple.

[megraf]

Checkout woodgears.ca :-)