New to Woodworking

[Steve Hsu]

Hi All,

My name is Steve. Nice to meet everyone. After moving into our new house in the Dallas area, I realized a few things while furniture shopping. 1. It's hard to find the color and the style that we want and when we find it, it's not too affordable. 2. Even if we can afford the piece, after careful inspection, the quality is just not there. 3. Finding 1 piece of furniture then trying to find another to match it is even harder. After many nights of browsing, I am starting to think building my own furniture might just be the best way to go. Instead of jumping into it I would like to know more about woodworking and learn more about it before I turn my garage into a shop and be able to give my wife good reasons why our garage will be filled with saw dust =) I understand that power tools are not a requirement but it definitely helps when it comes to woodworking. I currently have a power drill, 12" dual bevel sliding miter saw, circular saw, and a kreg jig k5 kit. It seems like I would need a table saw, planer, and/or jointer to make pieces flat and square since the lumber from either the yard or BORG are just rough cuts? My second question is that, I currently do not have a workbench. Can I make a workbench with the tools that I currently have or should I buy one to start with then make a workbench as I go? Any suggestions on books, website, and YouTube videos that I should watch before I first attempt on anything? It would be great if I can find a mentor but unfortunately I do not know anyone who is into woodworking. Any advice for a newbie like me would be highly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

[Jim Becker]

Steve, welcome to SMC and the wonderful world of woodworking. :)

You have a good start on basic tools and you've mentioned a few things to add that will insure you have the things you need to make things as you learn the ropes. Please be sure to add dust collection to your list...it's important. Really.

I'm going to caution you on one thing, however. While your ultimate goal may be to make furniture for your home, please be realistic about the time it will take for you to learn and get comfortable with the techniques to make quality pieces. Start out with simple goals...a book case; a side table, etc., and work your way up to more involved projects. Get some successes under your belt. There are many SMC community members in your area, so hopefully, you'll start meeting some folks that you can commiserate with over donuts and coffee, too. :)

[David Bassett]

... I am starting to think building my own furniture might just be the best way to go. ...

Welcome. While I'm not sure someone needing the answers you seek can fill a house with furniture in a timely manner, that's not what you ask.

First suggestion I have is to find a class. I don't know what specifically is available in your area, but shops (e.g. many Woodcrafts), maker spaces, community colleges, and even adult ed at your local high school are possibilities. There are many specialty schools that offer courses, though again I don't know of any around Dallas.

My other suggestion is less about your specific tools, but rather a thought about selecting tools to meet your need. E.g. a table saw is traditionally the center of a home workshop. But they are big and the goods ones are expensive. I think you can do anything a table saw can do with a track saw, though usually less conveniently. (A few things, e.g. breaking down panel goods are easier with a good track saw. So trade offs.) Another example is a home planer. Seems like most people find it a huge work saver, but some find its limits constraining and frustrating. (If you have space & money for a 20" planer and 20" joiner, go for it! I'm jealous! :) ) Even with a planer, you need a way to flatten your first side & square an edge. Many compromise & use hand planes. If well set up and used with skill, they can be surprising efficient and some find they enjoy planing to thickness too and stick with just planes. (See Neanderthal sub-forum.) Etc. etc.

I'd pick a project and get anything I didn't have to complete it. (Maybe asking for more specific advice then.)

[Steve Jenkins]

Steve, welcome to our forum and welcome to woodworking. There is a club in town called The North Texas Woodworkers Assoc. Web site I’d NTWA.Org. We meet on the third Tues of every month at 7:00 pm. Check out the website. There are usually 35-40 at every meeting. From newcomers to serious hobbyists with 30-40 years experience to pro’s with the same.
I’m about 45 minutes north of Dallas near McKinney. You are welcome to call and come by any time.

[Jim Becker]

Steve was actually one of the folks I was thinking about in the Dallas area. LOL And clearly, he knows where you can connect with a whole bunch of folks!

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Steve,

Welcome to the Creek and woodworking. It's like owning a boat. Woodworking will consume what ever dollars you want to contribute!;)

I would highly recommend the organization that Steve recommends or others. Getting mentors to guide you in the process of gaining the precise skills to make quality furniture is, by far, the quickest way to gain those skills. Take advantage of it every chance you can!

Again, welcome to the Creek!

[Ted Derryberry]

I'd get a table saw before a track saw unless you plan on building everything out of plywood. They're just way more versatile. If you don't want to be sitting on the floor, or milk crates, for a long time you will need a jointer and planer, not hand planes. That's assuming you already have a full time job and plan to keep it and can't devote 40 hours plus a week to building furniture. I started to list some other things you'll probably want/need, but then I realized how long it would be. Probably the best thing to do is start with simple projects like Jim said and see what tools you need as you go. You can do a lot with a little, it's just going to take longer. I could easily buy a house full of high end furniture for less than what I have invested in tools. If you're not planning on keeping up the hobby or doing more for other people or on the side don't think of this as a way to save money.

As for a workbench, they're more a necessity for hand tools than power tools. I've been doing this professionally for almost 10 years now and don't have a traditional workbench. I do have two 4' x 8' outfeed/assembly/glue-up/finishing tables. They are reasonably flat with 3/4" MDF tops and no dog holes, vises, etc. you find on work benches. When I do need to hold a work piece I usually just clamp it to the edge of the table, and on occasion clamp a clamp to the table to hold it. Although I don't have one, a Moxon vise (google it) would be a compromise.

[Joe Jensen]

Welcome to woodworking. Lots of folks enter the hobby with the objectives you stated. I would echo what some others said.
1) it will take you time to develop the skills to make things that rival commercial furniture
2) if you can find what you want off the shelf, it's probably not a lot cheaper to make it yourself.
3) if you want things that would have be be custom made, either to fit a particular space, design, finish, sytle, etc and not available off the shelf, it will be cheaper to make yourself.
4) nothing you make will be even close to the price of anything from Ikea.
5) If you take the hobby up, the things you make will be very special to you and you will get a bolt of joy every time you see them. 37 years ago I made a hope chest for my wife who at the time was not yet my fiance. It is very crude by my current standards but every time I walk past it I get a jolt of joy.
6) go to a store that sells hardwood lumber and hardwood veneer plywood. You will find that quality Hardwood ply is around $100 per 4 by 8 sheet. Hardwood lumber is more per square foot. When building you will have about 30-40% waste so count that into the "savings" you are looking to achieve. Then there are drawer slides, finish, hardware, etc. I routinely spend $20 per door/drawer just on the pull, and another $20-40 per drawer on slides. Mind you this is for very premium quality furniture but this stuff adds up and the savings you want to see may not be there.

[Steve Hsu]

Thank y'all for the encouragement and the heads up about woodworking. I am way passed the point where I would consider Ikea as a furniture store. It's more of a death trap to me if a fire would ever occur if you know what I mean. My main goal is not just make my own furnitures but it's really to have a hobby that I can focus and enjoy. Whether my work is ugly or unpolished, it will be something I am always willing to and can improve on. It's a learning process for sure and it seems that everyone here enjoy woodworking very much which leads me to believe that there is got to be a secret to the joy.

[Dan Hulbert]

My first furniture project was a pair of end tables. My tool set was a skill saw, jig saw, 1/4 sheet pad sander, and a 3/8 drill (all from sears). I also had (and still have) a workmate. My shop was in a spare bedroom. The tables were made from construction grade 2x4s and were held together with lag bolts. When they were done, they could support a truck. We kept them for 20 years or so before we passed them along. I think they're still in service in a family cabin.

After 40 some years of practice, skills and tools have improved. I can build just about anything my wife can dream up and some of my projects even win prizes. This is a hobby that can serve you well for many years to come, it just takes practice and a patient family. Anything you build will likely take much longer to get in place than if you went out and bought it, but it will be a source of pride and a chronicle of your increasing skills. I mark and date each of my pieces to help keep track. The grand kids look for the mark on the things I make them.

The internet is a great source of information, but you can get bogged down in "best" debates to the point of not doing anything. Resist the urge to find the "best" and find what works for you. The way to figure that out is to build stuff and try the techniques. Only you can decide what is best for you. I love old tools, and have amassed quite a few over the years. I don't think any of them are "best" examples, but they all get the job done. Yes, I have a few oddities that I picked up along the way that don't work well, but I don't recall every paying more than $10 for a tool that I didn't expect to work well.

Welcome to SMC.

[David Eisenhauer]

Welcome Steve. If you are ever in the Austin area, come by my place and you can see a garage building turned completely into a woodworking shop (e.g. no lawnmower lives there). I think you have expressed some of the same thoughts concerning woodworking that many of us have had over the years and could have the advantage of taking up Steve's and the NTWA's availability to help you get where you want to be. Something like that would have made a big difference with my startup in woodworking. Advise - Take your time on tool/equipment acquisition, as your perceived needs will change as you become more experienced. A You tube/web based power-tool woodworking guy that comes to mind for some "how-to" viewing is called the Wood Whisperer. He does seem to own every power tool imaginable, but it is good to see how things come together in his shop. Just clicking on to his videos will lead you to others. Stay away from, or at least watch for "how-not-to", the guys that use pocket crews exclusively to put everything together. Pocket screws have their use, fine furniture assembly is most likely not the best use of their attributes. Build a workbench out of BORG "tuba fours" and plywood ( I use through carriage bolts on the legs and stretchers rather than nails) with a lower shelf and that will get you started. That bench, doubled as a table saw outfeed table, has been the mainstay of many, many woodshops. Someone else told you to definitely plan for dust control if you go the power tool route and I heartily second that advise. And then there is the whole "hand-tool woodworking" path.........................

[Robert Engel]

Steve,

Ikea is actually ok for cabinets, bookcases, builtins, etc. My brother has used their cabinets many times in kitchen remodels. I was pretty skeptical when I saw the cabs I was impressed with the quality. Cabinets are one thing, but when it comes to furniture, you, like many of us find it impossible to buy furniture, from a store. Some of it isn't even furniture IMO.

Suggestions and a word of caution:

--Build a workbench before you do anything. There are many designs that employ sheet goods that work just fine. Later on, when you build your 'once for life' workbench, use it as an assembly table.

--Your first machine purchase will be a tablesaw. It is the core of a ww'ing shop. I suggest looking for a used contractor saw with a good name like Powermatic, Delta or Rockwell (old Delta). Pay close attention to the fence. I would stay away from the older craftsman machines especially the ones with the grip fence handle you tighten they are dangerous machines.

--Buy surfaced lumber at a hardwood supplier. This will delay the need for a jointer or planer, which are big expenses.

--Educate yourself. Surrounding yourself with ww'ers is a very good thing so if there are any clubs absolutely join up!! There are tons of very good videos on UYT (Univerist of You Tube) as well as websites. Paul Sellers will teach you a lot about layout, marking and measuring as well as joinery and hand tools. Fine Woodworking has an excellent library of information and videos that are well worth the membership fee.

Last but not least, don't make the mistake I did and start out with cheap tools. I had the mindset that since I'm not very skilled I should buy cheap tools to learn on. BIG mistake!! I can promise you inferior quality tools will hinder your skill development and lead to frustration and self-doubt. Sometimes that's what the budget dictates but its so important I would work with a few quality handtools until I could afford a quality machine.

Which leads to my final point: concentrate on developing hand tool skills before you get into a lot of machine work. Use simple projects to practice joinery skills and be prepared to chuck a bunch of stuff in the burn pile. ;)

[Steve Hsu]

Steve, welcome to our forum and welcome to woodworking. There is a club in town called The North Texas Woodworkers Assoc. Web site I’d NTWA.Org. We meet on the third Tues of every month at 7:00 pm. Check out the website. There are usually 35-40 at every meeting. From newcomers to serious hobbyists with 30-40 years experience to pro’s with the same.
I’m about 45 minutes north of Dallas near McKinney. You are welcome to call and come by any time.

Steve sure is a great name! I used to live in McKinney and recently moved to The Colony so I do know the McKinney area quite well. I will definitely give you a call to set a time for a good chat.

Thank everyone for the warm welcome and replies so far. I was thinking my first project would be a coffee table and two side tables but after the suggestions, I believe building a workbench would be my first project. I have seen work bench that's very elaborate to something very simple but useful. Any plans that you guys recommend? Hoping for one that I can do with a sliding miter saw and a drill.

As far as saw table is concerned, I am considering either the Delta 36-6020 or the DeWalt DWE7490 RS - Opinion on those picks?

I have a 3 car garage with 2 cars parked so my space is limited to that one car garage unfortunately. Dust collection is a must but I think a shop vac would be all I can fit at the moment =\

[Keith Weber]

Steve,

I'll make the assumption that you're married since you said "our house". If you have plans on getting into woodworking to save money by furnishing an entire house, you're going to be in for a disappointing ride. If you were young and single, you could probably pull it off, because... well... young guys can go for years using cardboard boxes as bedside tables next to a mattress on the floor. It's going to take years to get set up with tools, learn how to use them, how to work wood, how to design furniture, how to finish furniture, and then actually build the furniture that you want. They'll be countless mistakes and learning experiences along the way. As you advance, you'll decide that you want different tools and may regret buying some of the earlier ones. Going years without furniture will put a lot of stress on your marriage. You'll find that the time and money invested in tools, setting up a shop and building the furniture will not save you nearly as much money (if any) as you think.

My suggestion would be to buy furniture. Maybe cheaper furniture than you would like to have eventually, or maybe even used furniture off Craigslist. Make your home comfortable. Happy wife = happy life. Once you get your home in order, then you can decide to take on woodworking. Start small, make something simple. Buy a new tool for every project. You'll get a good feel for what YOU need and want in tools (never go out and buy all the tools that someone else tells you that you need) . Build a workbench. Always make sure that you spend time with your family. Eventually, you'll gain the skills to build high quality furniture and you can add to the furniture that you have, or even replace some of the things that you don't like.

If the hobby hooks you, it will be a very rewarding and satisfying part of your life that you will enjoy for many years. If you go in full tilt to build a house full of furniture with time pressures, you are not going to have the same happy outcome. Not trying to bum you out, just trying to put some perspective into what you're trying to accomplish. Welcome to the forum! Lots of experienced woodworkers here to help you when you get stuck or don't understand something.

[Rick Potter]

One step at a time.

You need a workbench to do anything, so go to your local Habitat Restore and buy a SOLID CORE used door, for $10-20. Put it across two sawhorses, and you have your first workbench.

Then, make your first project, building some drawer cabinets to replace the sawhorses. This will be a learning experience, so make them out of ply, or even particle board.

It's all practice, for when you do a real project for the house. A good starter would be a bookcase.

[Steve Hsu]

My house is decently furnished at this point but I am missing 2 coffee tables and 2 side tables mainly because we can't really find what we both loved at first sight. I am a 37 years old middle class that works hard and continues to improve my daily life. After browsing around big box store like Pottery Barn, Crate & Barrel, or Restoration Hardware, it's really not the fact that I can't afford the furniture from there but it's more of the fact that I can't bring myself to pay what they want being in the factory side of things. Purchasing is my job and I deal and visit factories overseas on a monthly or yearly basis. It really ruined me in a few ways lol

I am not looking to start building a coffee table that's elaborate. In fact, I can live with a plywood tabletop and 4 legs. i think the important thing to me is that, it's something that's made by me and it can be improved and will be improved as I improve.

[marlin adams]

Steve, Keith Weber hit the nail on the head. As a fellow woodworker I just got back into it after a a long time and I am doing wood working on my deck since I dont have space to setup inside my shop/family storage :). Buy some cheap funiture and just replace it with stuff you want to build, that is what I am doing and I am working on a few book cases then I am doing my wife and I kingsize bed frame to replace the one I got plus I am going to build me another computer desk. So far I have a black and decker plunge router, Rigid R4516 contractors saw (I build my own base to get the height I wanted), porter cable fix base router and a older craftsman fix base router in which I am planning on using for the portable router table I am building. Workbench well I have to use the 2'x4' Centipede I can collapse and store but misc other tools including dowl jigs and dovetail jigs.

But as you mention you are new to this so like the others said check out the woodworking clubs in the area and you will get alot of info on tools and stuff you might want to get and help on anything you need to know. And home depot got a 72 inch folding bench for around 80 bucks.

[Dan Hulbert]

When my wife and I cruise furniture stores, one of us always has a tape measure. A few key dimensions and some phone pictures can provide enough information to make the item (and make it better) when we get home.

[Ray Newman]

Since you live in the Dallas area, the local Woodcraft offers a two day, "9 to 5", "Basic Woodworking" class. Class size is limited to 6 participants. Might be worth your while to look into it.

Also agree with Keith Weber that getting started in woodworking will take time and money, and then throw in frustration from the inevitable mistakes and errors.

As for the two construction site saws you mentioned, think again. From looking at the on-line owner's manuals, apparently that there is no way to correct any error if the saw blade is not parallel to the miter gauge slots. The De Walt made no mention of dado blade capability. While the Delta claims it will spin an 8" dado blade, I have my doubts.

Get a working knowledge about the various aspects, qualities, etc., of a table saw, then start looking for a good used contractor's saw on the local craigs list. I would avoid the older Sears saws as the miter gauge slots were a non-standard size, plus parts are [U]unobtainium[U].

[Scott Bernstein]

I was in a similar position about 2-3 years ago:


We had been in our first home for a few years with two smallchildren and a house full of furniture my wife and I had in our apartments beforewe were a couple. We had also acquiredsome hand-me-down items from family members, and some pieces from friends andcoworkers (reduced, reuse, recycles, etc…). Some of it was good quality older furniture, but of course none of itreally matched. But it was functionaland with two kids and both working full time it was fine. Then 2-3 years ago the kids were gettingolder and more independent (they are elementary and middle-school aged now) andtaking care of them started to get a little easier. Around that time we decided to install awood stove fireplace insert (which has been fantastic) but it needed a newsurround and mantle. We could not findanything off-the-shelf that we liked. Iwas online looking for ideas and I came across an episode of “Ask This OldHouse” in which the carpenter built a fireplace mantle for a young couple witha new wood stove insert. I watched thatepisode about a dozen times, then went out to the Big Box store and came homewith a sliding compound mitre saw, a pocket hole jig, and a bunch of poplarlumber. I got that together in a coupleweekends and it turned out great – it’s the first thing you see when you walkinto our house. It’s not complicated byany stretch – just a simple design that will never go out of style. So from there, I had some leftover materialand I decided to build a small bedside table for my daughter. Well, this was the incentive I needed to buya table saw – I ended up with a Bosch benchtop portable table saw. It got the job done but after that one littlefurniture project I could tell I had already outgrown it. Nothing wrong with the saw at all – it’s justtotally inadequate for good furniture projects. Well now my son wanted me to build something for him, so I decided tomake him a bookshelf – you know, one that would not sag if you put actual booksin it. That project led me to the bestwoodworking investment I could make: a real table saw. I spent more than I ever thought I would forany kind of tool – but boy was it worth it. A real cabinet saw really took things to the next level for me andwoodworking became super fun. With eachsubsequent project I purchased another big stationary tool for the woodshop(aka: our garage) until I had: table saw, 6” jointer, 13” lunchbox planer,bandsaw, disc/belt sanding station, and a drill press. Along the way came a few different types ofsanders, routers, drills, drivers, tracksaw, Festool Domino, lots of clamps, avariety of measuring and marking tools, and various purchased and home-builtjigs. I have supplemented the hand-heldpower tools and stationary power tools with what I consider some “middling”tools – not quite hand-held and not-quite large stationary tools. Things like a dovetail jig, a HybridPantorouter, and a Router Boss. The lastpiece of the puzzle for me is to acquire a real dust collector – which I planto do in the next few months.


As others have said if you include the initial investmentsin tooling, this is probably not a money-saving investment compared tolow-to-medium quality purchased from a store. However, if you were planning on purchasing only the highest quality and/orcustom furniture and a full set of custom kitchen cabinets…I suppose you couldbreak even in the long run – assuming you consider your time to be “free ofcharge”.

I am pretty mechanically minded and so using all thesedifferent machines is the easy part for me. Other woodworkers have a great talent for (unpowered) hand tools; someare experts at turning on a lathe. Some guysare strapped for cash but have lots of time; others are super busy but have theluxury of some disposable income to purchase all the time-saving machinery theyneed. I suppose if you have neither anytime nor any money you’re in a difficult spot and probably making furniture isn’ta priority… You have to find whichaspect of the hobby you enjoy the most and best suits you. Ipretty much learned on my own and by watching old episodes of Norm Abram’s show“New Yankee Workshop”.

I try to get the whole family involved. My wife is usually the source of the nextitem on the list to be built, and we design together. Our tastes our relatively easy to make,fortunately for me – best described as shaker, scandanavian, and mid-century modern. The kids help with some hand-sanding, gluing(which they enjoy), painting, etc… Justenough to hopefully develop an interest for it one day.

Some of the items I have built in the past 2-3 yearsinclude:
Fireplace mantle (poplar)
Bedside tables (poplar)
Coffee table (sapele)
Kitchen work table (poplar with cherry top)
Computer desk (Ash)

Single size bed (poplar)
Queen size bed and matching pair of bedside tables (hickory)
Bookshelf (maple)
Bookshelf (maple with purpleheart inlay – yes I do thinkthey look good together even over time)

Things I plan to build:
Full size bed
Basement cabinets and shelving
Garage cabinets and shelving
Kitchen cabinets
Dining room table and chairs
Entry way sideboard
Nesting tables
Drop-leaf “handkerchief” corner table
Various cutting boards, checkerboard, game table, othersmall items

Good luck!!

[Hoang N Nguyen]

I'm no master carpenter and don't claim to be one but I will say I've come a long way in just under 5 years. 5 years is all I've been doing woodworking and I can build nearly anything the wife wants me to build. It all started when we built our last home and my next door neighbor was out in his garage building furniture for his house. He had nothing but a 20 year old job site saw that's no more than 20" square, a 12" craftsman miter saw, a kreg pocket hole jig and a power drill. He made due with what he had and was able to build nightstands and dressers just like how his wife wanted.

I got to talking with him and next thing you know, I'm coming home from Sears with a 10" miter saw, table saw, 18ga brad nail, a pancake air compressor and dewalt impact driver. I made due with that for over a year and was able to build my own work bench, built-ins for our family room, a stand for our washer and drier and a few other things around the house. This made the wife really happy, more importantly it made me happy. I found something I really enjoyed doing and I wasn't too bad at it.

Realizing I didn't suck at woodworking,I slowly started to upgrade some of my tools. I got rid of my 10" craftsman miter saw for a 12" dual bevel dewalt saw. I picked up a small 1hp jet dust collector and somehow a SawStop cabinet table saw followed me home. A few months after that I outfitted my shop with a Powermatic 8" jointer and dewalt lunchbox planer.

Fast forward a few years, we built our 2nd home and I now have a 1600 sq. ft. basement workshop. My tool collection has continued to grow and my pockets continue to empty but I now have life long tools and a shop outfitted with powermatic jointer, planer, mortiser, SS tablesaw and a bunch of green Festool systainers everywhere.

The last house was a wash money saving wise since I spent so much money on tools but my current home isn't. I've saved at least $20k within the last year alone building things for my house and I'm not where near done with my wife's list.

I've never taken a woodworking class in my life, but I do watch a ton of youtube videos and have learned a lot of them. I learned a great deal from a guys on youtube called "the wood whisperer". I've also learned a great deal from all the wonderful members here on SMC. If I ever had a question on anything, people here are always willing to help.

If you're dedicated enough, you can go a long way in a short amount of time. Look through my profile and check out some of the build threads I've posted to give you an idea. I can also show you the first thing I've ever build. It's a work of shame but I still have it just as a reminder of how far I've come.

[Marshall Harrison]

Welcome Steve,

I too am just starting out though for the 3rd time. Moves and health lead to the demise of my first two shops. The process can be confusing and aggravating as you research and try to decide what to buy. Take advice from here or elsewhere then make decisions that make you feel happy. We will all gladly spend your money for you but ultimately if you have your heart set on a piece of equipment then you may not be happy if you let someone talk you into something else just because it works for them.

Good luck.

[Mel Fulks]

Hoang, congratulations on your progress. You have a good story of optimistic determination. Some of us are thinking ....
"there's got to be an easier way!" But you know there isn't. Enjoy!

[Mike Cary]

Hey Steve, I’ve been lurking on the forum for some time, but registered just to talk to you. Congrats, you are my inaugural post.

First, count your fingers, barring an earlier “incident”, most of us have ten. You should try to avoid subtracting from that number. Learn safety. Not just for you, your wife, kids, and friends.

Next, despite a lot of good advice, I think you got the cart ahead of the horse a little. This happens when your dreams start with the destination instead of the journey.

First, I would ask you, how do you react to the phrase, “Some assembly required”? If it grates a little, then chopping up wood and slapping it together with pocket screws is not for you. But maybe you like getting something accomplished in the little time off you have and collecting those kudos. Or do you like a challenge, the look of fine wood, grain patterns, intricate joinery, oh yeah, that’s the stuff. If you figure some of this out early it will guide your choices. Buying the right stuff now is much cheaper than buying after a garage full of wrong stuff later.

Some suggested the first thing you should do is buy table saw, I disagree, I thing you should get a firm handle on your expectations. If you are going to do this as a hobby the most important thing is that you enjoy it. I was where you are 15 years ago and it has soured. But I absolutely love working wood, not so much “building stuff”, so my entire approach is changing, I’m doing it right this time and really enjoying it. You need to relish the journey.

Amen, sermon is over

Mike

[Steve Hsu]

Hello Mike,

Thanks for the reply. I fix my own car from building engines to a simple brake job. I detail cars as a hobby and I have no problem spending 20-40 hrs on a show car that I can see myself in. Every project I have done is something that I am proud of and always remember.

The story goes like this... We were shopping for a coffee table and we would find tables are the styles we like but the colors are off or the opposite. Next thing you know, I am on Craigslist browsing through coffee table just to see what's out there and what's available. I noticed there are some people that are posting their work unfinished and said that it can be finished in any color of our choice. I told my wife about it and she started looking as well. One thing led to another we found a site Ana-White.com and from the videos. A compound miter saw, kreg jig, and a drill are pretty much what it takes to make what we saw on Craigslist. I went ahead and bought the miter and the kreg jig for pocket holes and that's when I realized that I like to keep all my fingers. I wanted to learn more before I make my first attempt on the coffee table. The more I read the more I realized I need to learn. From one site to another here I am.
Every trade has its own set of tools. Just like everyone have replied so far, I do need to buy all the tools slowly. Learned some hard lessons from stripping bolts to paint work, quality tools are worth every penny. Thank everyone for your advises so far!!

[Mike Cary]

Hint: there are quality tools and there are good enough tools. You don’t need a $20,000 Felder combo machine to make nice stuff. If you have a budget, you may sacrifice something because you blew it all on the best wizbang when just a good whiz bang works fine. Just avoid crap and tools with limits which your interest and skill may over take. Also, a lot of woodworkers, me included fall into the tool collection trap. That’s bad m’kay.

[Mike Cary]

Sorry to be so chatty, but as a post script I would add to what Ray said about your saw choices, you said dust collection was a must, these saw types were designed to run outside, I doubt that they have much in the way of dust collection. They are light weight and usually sound like a jet taking off and shake like Michael J Fox. Much of the utility of a table saw is because of jigs and sleds, these saws have small tables limiting those items. It will rip a board, outside, but so will a skill saw bolted upside down on plywood.

[Marc Jeske]

Steve - Ana White stuff is a great place to start.

Simplified construction, inexpensive materials, not requiring lotta tools.

Confidence and experience building.

Start with a few of the more basic pieces and build your skills from there.

As many have said, mistakes will happen, and you will learn from them.

Don't be overly self critical.. the next project will turn out better !

Having worked on cars you have already developed alot of skills that you will use in woodworking... like even the most basic like watching where your knuckles will get bloody when the ratchet slips kinda stuff.

And not having your thumb on workpiece next to a screw you are driving.

As time goes on you will see where your interest goes.

Ten years from now you may be restoring a vintage vehicle, or.. maybe building a complex piece of furniture.

Start w a Ana style coffee table w the tools you have and go from there.

Have fun, and accept non perfection in projects is reality.... but you already also know that from the car experiences !!

If you don't have a sander yet here's a great one for the $ -

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00BD5G9VA/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Marc

[Terry Hatfield]

Steve,

18 years ago I was in a very similar situation as you find yourself in. My wife wanted a big dining room table. She is the quintessential hostess. After searching out tables and chairs that fit the bill, we were dismayed at either the quality or the price or both. I made a rash statement, "I bet I could build a table and buy some unfinished chairs." The rest is proverbial history. I already had a nice shop space where I was doing automotive work. I was in the body shop business and did some show car work at my home shop. I converted 2/3 of my home shop to woodworking and began to build. Couple of end tables to start with. I still have them. I look at the occasionally to remind myself of what I though was good work. lol...

Bottom line is that all these years later I have built virtually every piece of furniture in our house that is feasible for me to build. I milled every piece of trim. I build many cabinets and all the interior doors. I am very proud of the furniture. I believe that it will last for generations. It was/is a learning process. Start with your coffee and end tables. Learn from the connections that you have already made. You are already off to a good start. I look forward to watching your progress.

[Andrew Pitonyak]

Step 1: Decide what you will make for your first project.

Step 2: Decide how to make it and identify what you need (skills and equipment) to make it.

Step 3: Buy what you need to make it.

When I first started, my goal was to make some boxes. I never did make those boxes. I was not sure how to join the boxes so I started cutting dovetails by hand. That took time to learn

I took a class at the local wood craft where we built a book case. We used a Kreg Jig. After only using hand cut dovetails, it was eye opening.... fast ans strong. That is now how I build cabinets. The Kreg jig is easy to use, not that expensive, and, where appropriate, fast and reliable.

Ideally, you could find someone local who could mentor you. I found that I received really good advice from people working at my local wood craft, your mileage may vary on that.

I do not know if you are able to create your own plans, or, if you need to buy plans, but as part of Step 2 and Step 3 above, you may need to figure out how to best build (plans, for example) what you want. Do you need to cut a mortise? Can you avoid a mortise?

I bought a work bench because I was not even sure that I could build one of those at the time. Pretty sure I could do that now, but, if I had just thrown one together, it would not have had a wood working vice on it..... but do you need one of those yet?

[Don Bullock]

Thank y'all for the encouragement and the heads up about woodworking. I am way passed the point where I would consider Ikea as a furniture store. It's more of a death trap to me if a fire would ever occur if you know what I mean. My main goal is not just make my own furnitures but it's really to have a hobby that I can focus and enjoy. Whether my work is ugly or unpolished, it will be something I am always willing to and can improve on. It's a learning process for sure and it seems that everyone here enjoy woodworking very much which leads me to believe that there is got to be a secret to the joy.

You’ve got the idea now. It’s a great hobby and making furniture and other things from wood is a bonus. You’ve had some excellent advice in this thread to get started. Taking some classes would be high on my suggestion list. I took one at a Woodcraft store where we made a Shaker table. It was an outstanding and helpful experience.

I’ll add in one important one that has helped me greatly. Don’t start woodworking without support from your wife. She needs to understand that tools and even most wood is expensive. I wouldn’t be able to have the shop, tools and materials that I have without my wife’s support. I’m not saying that she and I always agree on spending money but we’re able to work together to budget major purchases as well as the smaller items. For example, when I discovered SawStop table saws my wife realized, especially because she knew my frustrations with my old Craftsman table saw, that I should get one. We worked together to figure out how we could afford to buy one. She’s continued that support for other purchases and as a result I now have a well equipped shop. No, I still don’t have everything I want so we’ve continued to budget in things for the workshop and a mini-split is our next major purchase.

[Chris mcadoo]

By all means, build your own work bench. Be creative with storage. Learn from your mistakes. Woodworking is a very individual thing. Enjoy

[glenn bradley]

My house is decently furnished at this point but I am missing 2 coffee tables and 2 side tables mainly because we can't really find what we both loved at first sight. I am a 37 years old middle class that works hard and continues to improve my daily life. After browsing around big box store like Pottery Barn, Crate & Barrel, or Restoration Hardware, it's really not the fact that I can't afford the furniture from there but it's more of the fact that I can't bring myself to pay what they want being in the factory side of things. Purchasing is my job and I deal and visit factories overseas on a monthly or yearly basis. It really ruined me in a few ways lol

I am not looking to start building a coffee table that's elaborate. In fact, I can live with a plywood tabletop and 4 legs. i think the important thing to me is that, it's something that's made by me and it can be improved and will be improved as I improve.

Kudos to you Steve and Welcome! While it is not always true that we can make furniture for less than we can buy it, we can certainly make much better furniture than many of us can afford. :) It is good that you are open to replacing things as you go. Many of my early pieces had to be wrestled from SWMBO's hands to be fed to the scrap pile. Parts of those now live on as secondary woods in the pieces that replaced them.

We all learn at a different pace and all start with different natural abilities. I recommend diving head long into online resources such as Fine Woodworking, Woodsmith and Wood magazines, joining or at least visiting wood working groups in your area like Steve Jenkins mentions. I read and re-read articles and watch and re-watch demonstrations of methods and processes. Then I practice them.

Although many folks have reached the point where they have built their last workbench, I think I have a couple more versions ahead of me and I'm in my 60's. Build something that will work well for you now, learn from its use what things about it you would keep, add and leave behind. For example, all my benches have had front and tail vises and all have had round dog holes. Those features have proven their worth to me and follow from bench to bench.

You are at an exciting phase of this craft. I wish you much enjoyment and look forward to having you progress along with the rest of us.