5 Ways to Start Woodworking NOW!

[Music] there’s definitely one question that we get asked the most from people that watch our videos or know our work and that is how can someone get started woodworking it’s a fair question and it’s actually a really good question it’s also a question that’s hard to answer i would even go as far as to say that the hardest part about doing just about anything is getting started so how do you go from having zero experience in something to actually doing the thing that you want to do and in this case that something is woodworking or even just making things in general the obvious answer and it’s an answer that i see a lot of people give is that we all need to start with a certain group of tools essentially a starter pack for woodworking there are a handful of inexpensive and wildly useful tools to springboard any aspiring woodworker into actually building things and it really makes a lot of sense and could be a great starting point for a lot of people but i don’t necessarily want to focus on that here what i want to do is take a step back and boil it down i want to eliminate from the equation the idea that we all need certain tools or specific items to start creating something and i also want to do my best to help people avoid the feeling they get when they see other people with a bunch of tools and a big workshop and feel they need all of this to get started i definitely know i’ve had those feelings in the past essentially i want to eliminate any reason someone would have for not getting started because it doesn’t matter how we do it or the tools we use as long as we just get started so let’s get into it and let’s say you’re just at the beginning you have no tools and you don’t want to invest much money into a hobby that you haven’t even tried and you’re not even sure you’d like yet how could you possibly be a woodworker with no woodworking tools and not wanting to buy any woodworking tools well i think there are a couple ways you could go both of which were things that both chris and i actually did before we really got started first let’s start with the lowest barrier to entry find a pencil and some paper and start drawing i know it might not be actual woodworking but it’s easy and almost free so draw whatever comes to mind any idea is a good idea because without ideas there is no woodworking and to this day the first thing i do when i start any woodworking project is draw pictures of my ideas and honestly i’m pretty bad at drawing but it doesn’t matter because all i really want to do is get the ideas out of my head and into the physical world because from there it’s much easier for those ideas to start to take shape and that’s really the end goal even if you don’t have the means to turn them into reality by drawing them you can essentially build a piece on paper and honestly getting an idea from my head into some physical form is like 75 of the payoff regardless of what that form actually is beyond pencil and paper there are other ways to get the ideas out of our heads and into the world chris and i both use three-dimensional modeling software like sketchup and fusion 360. for me this part of the process comes after drawing with pencil and paper but i know chris goes straight to the computer with his ideas and bypasses drawing anything by hand which really seems to work well for him but whatever process we use it’s essentially just a different way to get to the same end and that end is to have a three-dimensional digital model of an idea for a long time i went straight from pencil and paper to the real thing when designing furniture and didn’t realize how much i was missing by modeling my designs digitally it’s really about as close to making the real thing as it gets which helps scratch that itch and seeing the piece in a 3d space really motivates me to start actually building i guess there can’t really be a perfect cheap alternative to actual woodworking but like i said for me so much of it is about the creative aspect of getting ideas into the real world so with that mindset getting started is actually pretty easy but let’s say you aren’t just an idea person you want the actual satisfaction of making something real or let’s say you’re someone that thinks they might be interested in woodworking but doesn’t want to invest money into a hobby that you aren’t totally sure you like how can you give it a shot without going into debt up to your eyeballs i’m in debt up to my eyeballs well here’s the answer or at least what i think the answer is and it might be a little oversimplified but just start making something doesn’t matter what it is just make something and the easiest way to make something with zero investment is to use what you have and i imagine you can find a piece of wood somewhere and either some sort of sharp object or even just some sandpaper i’m of the mindset that there is something about physically creating an object that you just can’t get from a drawing or 3d model and you already know i’m a big fan of drawing and 3d modeling but to be able to hold a piece in your hands that you created with those same hands is a pretty cool feeling and on top of that you get an absolute first hand experience with working and shaping wood and there’s no better way to know if you’re going to enjoy something than to actually try it out for me the most rewarding part about woodworking isn’t necessarily building big pieces of furniture or intricate objects it’s simply the act of creating something myself no matter how big or small so go ahead and grab a pocket knife a chisel anything that’s sharp or even just a piece of sandpaper and start making something a simple off-cut chunk of wood and some elbow grease will get you started pretty easily a cutting board a spoon or maybe something like this tiny little treat doesn’t matter what it is but as long as you get started before you know it you’ll have made something you can be proud of all right now let’s say you’ve either been drawing or modeling your ideas and you love it or maybe you tried your hand at actually making something and you love that too or maybe you just want to go straight into some more serious woodworking but you still don’t want or just can’t take that financial plunge to buy your own equipment well guess what there are plenty of ways to get your hands on some tools or shop space without breaking the bank things like community colleges or local maker spaces often have woodworking classes or maybe even a local woodworking shop or woodworker will have a class to take i used to teach beginner cutting board classes in my shop and had people participating that had never even touched a saw and they always finished the day with a nice cutting board my goal was to make it as unintimidating as possible for somebody that had zero experience to take that first step chris actually took a woodworking course at a local community college before he got started in woodworking hey chris sorry to interrupt yeah real quick didn’t you take a college class when you first started woodworking yeah i took two that was kind of how i actually got more deeply into this stuff so i found a local community college they had night classes in the first class that i took we basically built this cabinet that the instructor designed then in the second class we actually got to design whatever we want so i designed and built an original coffee table we got to be in this huge shop probably like two or three times the size of this learned you know how to be safe around the tools what tools i wanted and it was really the springboard that got me into woodworking and let me move into it and buy equipment with you know some knowledge and knowing what i actually would use that’s awesome that seems like a good way to go it was definitely well worth it i highly recommend i interrupt you what are you what are you working on oh yeah thanks for asking i’m actually building this hey chris sorry to interrupt but i forgot to thank squarespace for sponsoring today’s video both chris and i have been using squarespace to build and maintain our websites for years now and honestly it’s one of the best choices we made when starting our businesses at the time i had no idea what i needed to do to build a website but squarespace makes it super easy to get up and running with plenty of professional looking templates to choose from as well as making things like purchasing domains really simple squarespace also has plenty of e-commerce tools to help you grow your business things like inventory management a simple and secure checkout process and unlimited products allow us to easily manage online transactions and not get bogged down with mundane tasks so that we can devote more time to doing the things we enjoy like getting started in woodworking so if you’re thinking about starting a website or even if you already have one go check out squarespace to see if it might be a better option for you head over to squarespace.com four eyes for a free trial then when you’re ready to launch use the offer code 4i to save 10 off your first purchase of a website or domain all right thanks squarespace and sorry chris what were you saying you’re not really interested in what i’m doing or you don’t have the time but it means a lot for you to show that um you are taking an interest i appreciate that anyways getting back to it i guess the point is if you want to try more serious woodworking without the investment there’s always options it might be a little bit harder to find or take a bit more effort but it’s a great way to get some experience once you’re able to find what works for you at this point with all the options we’ve talked about if you haven’t started woodworking i don’t really know what to tell you but let’s say you’ve been watching and you’re thinking that’s all nice and great sean but i don’t want to just draw pictures and go to school i really want to get rolling with this thing i want to start woodworking seriously well i have some good news for you because we’re going to talk about exactly that to be fair this part is going to sound a bit like the advice i said we are going to avoid at the beginning of the video but bear with me while i get into it so of course if you’re serious about wanting to get into woodworking there’s going to be an investment but luckily these days you can get some really great tools at an affordable price point things like a drill a circular saw and a sander are all great places to start and honestly they’re pretty much a requirement but let’s pretend you’ve made an initial investment in some basic tools i want to talk less about those specific tools and more about the approach to get started one of the most important aspects to think about is materials and plywood is one of the best materials to start working with the thought process for this is that as a new woodworker the tools we’re least likely to own are milling tools or tools that turn rough lumber into smooth straight workable lumber so what material can we use that doesn’t require these tools well we have a couple choices first we can use plywood and the main thing is that there is no need for milling plywood is consistent and even and depending on the quality you find it can often be almost flawless in terms of the way it looks and its structure it’s also easy to purchase most of the time you can get it in varying sizes and finishes and it’s easy to work with the plywood might not be the most beautiful material to work with and we often do things to disguise the fact that it isn’t solid wood it greatly lowers the barrier to get started by eliminating tools needed to mill rough lumber which means that with just a few simple tools you can start making actual pieces that can be used and enjoyed in your home or even sold if that’s part of the goal of course there are also ways to get started with solid lumber many lumber yards sell pre-milled boards that can be used without much work or finding old material to modify and use in a different way is a great place to start as well i made this dining table with a jigsaw and a drill and two clamps that’s it the table top was from an old table that no longer had legs so i made new legs from pre-milled lumber it wasn’t the best piece of furniture i’ve ever made but it was the best piece of furniture i’d made at that point and i made it with almost nothing and my sister and her family still eat at it to this day so that’s pretty cool so where do we go from here well at the very least i hope that we just keep making things no matter how we decided to start when i was at the point of getting started in my woodworking i had a handful of small hand-me-down power tools and a garage to make stuff in so i just kept doing exactly that i started making things out of reclaimed wood and wine barrels and whenever i sold something i would buy a new or often used tool i would get a commission every once in a while and eventually was selling enough stuff to purchase higher quality tools i bought a used saw stop table saw a drum sander dust collection and just kept making stuff so at the end of it all as long as i continued to make things i continued to move forward and there’s only one way to continue to make things and that’s just to get started …

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