Comments on: Woodworking Fundamentals

By: GunnyGene

GunnyGene — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 20:51:39 +0000

That’s a legitimate concern, especially in a production/business sense. But, I’d caution that “fancy” should not be confused with good workmanship. I’ve seen many “fancy” items that were poorly made. Much of woodworking – especially joinery – is considered ‘fancy’ (dovetails for example), but is really a very structurally sound method that offsets “use abuse” to a great degree. Form follows function, and durability against abuse is part of that equation.

By: Ixzed13

Ixzed13 — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 11:48:09 +0000

I am interested in doing more with less. Less tools, less work and less finishing. It might sound anti-crafty or lazy but there are numerous examples of simple functional furniture that I don’t want to make too fancy because it is going to be abused by use.

By: Adam Cherubini

Adam Cherubini — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 18:04:01 +0000

Hi Gunny, I’m not sure if that’s a fundamental skill or not, but I agree its the right place to start. Part of the reason I got involved writing was because I was dissatisfied with many of the (contemporary) books written on the subject. I think I read every ww text in my large local library. I wanted to “set the record straight”. I read Anthony Guidice’s book and was enthralled by his treatment of bowsaws. I started hand sawing with them, having no habits or preferences. I worked with them for years before realizing Guidice was wrong. Bow/frame saws possess few or no advantages over traditional western saws. There may be a few cuts where they can out perform panel saws. In his defense, Guidice didn’t have saws like mine available to him.

So your advice to read old books is sound. Frankly, I have my problems with some of them as well. As far as hand tools go, I guess my approach is to read everything, and trust no one. Everybody, including me, reports from their own perspective. We’re all blind men examining an elephant.

By: Adam Cherubini

Adam Cherubini — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 17:55:17 +0000

Thanks Mike. I agree that these are necessary skills. You can’t work wood with hand tools if you can’t sharpen.

And just a plug, your hand tool Olympics really highlight fundamentals. I hope you and Dean can keep it up.

By: msiemsen

msiemsen — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 14:08:21 +0000

I was just musing on this question this morning. What is the primary skill a woodworker should learn? I decided it was, ironically, metalworking. If you can’t file, grind, hone, whet, strop or otherwise sharpen your edge tools you are dead in the water. Being able to make and modify and repair tools is also a major advantage, especially if you refurbish old tools.

Learning how those tools work is of course essential, as is learning the properties of our material, wood, as those two go hand in hand.

Then comes layout. I have been actively working with wood for a good 40 years and there is always more to learn (or unlearn) than you can shake the proverbial stick at.

I hope this finds you well,
Mike

By: GunnyGene

GunnyGene — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 18:02:12 +0000

One of the things that should be on your list is building a library of woodworking related literature. Chances are that anything you want to do has been done by someone already.

If you’ll forgive the link to another site, here’s a list of downloadable free books to choose from. All were written prior to 1929, so copyright protection is not an issue. http://www.wkfinetools.com/mLibrary/mLibrary_index-1.asp

I have everyone of these on 5 CD’s . As well as many being enjoyable reading, they are a terrific reference. Of course, supplementing these with modern books that discuss the use of modern tools and techniques is an ongoing adventure.