Roy Underhill and Norm Abram are directly to blame for the lack of practice among woodworkers. Yep, I said it. Roy and Norm put in the time and sacrifice to be masters of their craft. For years we (the public) have been subliminally indoctrinated that fine wood working can be done in 30 minutes with three commercial breaks.

We never see the poor schmuck whose job it is hone the tools and tune the machines. And that schmuck more likely than not is also the host of the show. Also, most people are not aware that Norm Abram builds the project once to work out the kinks before they film the second build. I can only assume that Roy Underhill does something similar.

My start in woodworking began years ago with the gross carpentry involved in home ownership. Each project became more complex than the last. With complexity came more tools. Invariably the first incarnation of the tools were the cheap versions like the $99.00 table saw. When low skill plus cheap tools equaled crap projects, I became discouraged.

Fast forward a number of years and it is now ‘obvious’ that effort similar to what I have put in for my career is necessary to achieve the quality I want in the hobby I’m returning to. Because it is a hobby the time spent doing it should not feel like work. The drudgery of practicing menial steps is against our self interest in seeking peace, solace, escape, or whatever motivation is behind our hobby.

I have reached that point where in order for my hobby to provide further fulfillment, I have to put in that drudgery to master the basic hand tool steps.

I recognize the benefit of quality tools. With three kids heading for college what was once economic ignorance has become economic necessity. Still, I have managed to cobble together a number of quality tools. All of which I will be bringing to the next Woodworking in America show in an attempt to learn how to make them sing.

Neil, I did the brick & board bookshelf decades ago … but it would have been nice if someone told me *not* to make 4′ long shelves of particleboard, or to glue and nail a cleat to the back of each.

I’d also like to see more "why" articles/blog posts: "here’s why we chose this joint; here’s why we surfaced both sides of this componnent" …

But most important is the practice! I’d love for Pop Wood to run a series of practice exercises for new woodworkers, so we can learn to saw straight, plane a board, etc.

–Liz
* as in, if you are going to try to carve a spoon with a Swirr Army knife, don’t use kiln dried maple, and definitely orient the pattern the right way on the grain!

1) Getting the tools I need to do a certain task together and ready to use so I can concentrate on doing the task at hand instead of fetching tools.

2) Practicing patience. You said it yourself in the past Bob, slow down & enjoy what you are doing.

You’re already beyond getting the "beginning woodworker going" in this discussion. All the comments here are advanced beginner and novice. If a beginner were to read this post, he wouldn’t know where to start.

The most basic skill a beginner must possess is to see that he/she has a need that can be resolved by using wood. That wood is 3/4" S2S (already I’m confusing the beginner) that can be picked up locally. This wood may not even be cut, but rather fit in between 2 re-painted file cabinets. It is this sense of accomplishment that pushes the individual, not to practice, but to experiment in order to resolve the next need, maybe making it in all wood and experimenting to connect pieces of wood together, maybe not. As the need solver feels the sense that comes with more and more accomplishments, he/she seeks more knowledge. The individual isn’t going to practice, what the heck is he/she going to practice.

Make 10 gift boxes, realize you need a chisel and your chisel work gets better.

Once the individual overtime experiments with his or her knowledge as applied to woodworking does the door crack open and the real fun begin

By focusing on the end result, it doesn’t matter how long it takes; how many re-do’s of particular parts; or how many tools I need to buy and learn how to use. It’s part of life. Time is irrelevant. The better I make this project, the easier and better the next project will be. This makes it fun, educational, and high quality. Woodworking is cool. It just keeps getting better and better.

Albeit practice is cited heavily with hand tools, I think it is often overlooked with power tools. Everyone new to a table saw should have to experience reaction wood, knots, etc. It’s no fun to hit this situation on a production board. Working with lots of woods on the saw will teach you how to deal with all of it. Learn to set up every machine well and do it quickly. Try out some new jigs or fixtures.

I also consider every project practice in some form. Always do something a little new or challenging. But don’t neglect what you learned on the last project. Take what you did previously and try to make it better. Then add something new.

In our instant gratification society, practice is a ‘waste’ of time. I saw an interview with Chris Botti (unbelievable talented trumpet player). He said the greatest thing keeping people from reaching great heights in music was lack of dedication to practicing.

All that said, I don’t practice much/enough…

Dave Anderson