Who or what started your WWing bug

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yanmarman2007

New User
Jody
Who or what started your wood working bug, for me it was my my first daughter. We needed a crib for her. The cribs that I thought worthy of holding my child, was simply out of my price range.
So off to sears we go. Skill saw and a square and a lot of sand paper and many hours of hard labor she had a crib worthy of her. I will try to find some pics later and post them.

My Daddy is a great inspiration as well. He was what he referred to as, a Jack Of all trades and a master of none. We changed engines in cars, rebuilt cars from wrecks, built rooms on to the house, beds, tables, you name we probably done it. I thought we were doing it for the fun of it, I later found out it was we couldn't afford it any other way. I learned a lot from my ol' man. Now and days my Dad is not doing to well health wise. Money wise he's doing much better. But you know I will always treasure those moments together with my Daddy. 42 years old and my Dad is still my hero.
I love you Daddy!:thumbs_up

I know too much information.
 
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CLetts

New User
Carl
Re: Who are what started your WWing bug

As far back as I can remember I've always been facinated with building things with wood. In my early adulthood I used to watch every woodworking show that I came across. I must say though that shows like The New Yankee Workshop KEPT me from actually doing any woodworking because of the way the show was edited down. If I attempted to build something and made a mistake that blew the whole project...in my mind anyway. Sometime in 2006 though, I came across a website while surfing on my computer. It was thewoodwhisperer.com and I really enjoyed the humor in Marc's videos and when I actually saw him make a mistake.......and then show us how to fix it....I got brave enough to start making things. Then in 2009 I came across a link where a guy was trying to help out a friend and was donating all monies from his DVD sales for one week...and to encourage DVD sales he put every one of his DVDs on sale for half price. I purchased several of them and when they arrived and I started watching them I was amazed at how much this guy actually knew about woodworking and how well he could teach ME to do it. Too late to make a long story short but I eventually subscribed to an online woodworking "class" he started in October of '09 and soon learned that he was only 5 hours from me. A few months after THAT I made plans to go visit his shop and I will admit that when I walked into his shop I was initially "star struck", but that lasted only a few minutes before I learned that he's just a guy....like you and me....he has a God given talent and he is more than happy to share it with anyone that wants to learn. Since then I've been back to his shop several times and am now able to make things I'm not ashamed to put my name to. So in a nutshell I have to say THE person that gave me the woodworking "bug" is Charles Neil.
 

DWSmith

New User
David
Re: Who are what started your WWing bug

I started in a 9th grade shop class, over 48 years ago. Prior to that I watched my Dad who was a foreman in a furniture plant. He could do anything and I mean anything. His life lessons and woodworking lessons helped tremendously. I'm' sorry I he died in 1974 before we could really get close as adults.

As for mistakes, when I make the many I do, I sit down and figure out how to correct it and how to avoid it in the future. I experimented with different procedures, found the ones that worked for me and kept refining them. The waste of the past has helped me produce less waste now. I watch the woodworking shows but don't put a lot of stock in them. To much editing and glossing over of details but I guess that is the nature of TV. I do like to watch Norm because he seems to take his time and explains more but I dislike the new show with Tommy Mac, talks to fast, acts like he is talking down to his audience and couldn't do a show without "okay", "alright" and some other buzz words.

Now I have settled into one item that I do well rather than try to make a variety of items although I still dabble in the other projects occasionally.
 

Cato

New User
Bob
Re: Who are what started your WWing bug

I started not that long ago when I needed to build a deck for our house and the contractor prices were too high.
I had a few tools in a storage unit that my dad left me when he died, so I got them out and then bought a few others to get the deck done and it turned out nice.

That's when my confidence factor started to go up when I realized that if I had the proper tools and took my time it was not so intimidating.

In the last year and a half I have pretty much revamped my tools and gotten away from the basic starter Craftsman stuff that many of us cut our teeth on and then get frustrated with.

I enjoy doing the DIY home projects and just starting to dabble in some finer wwking, now that I have upgraded the shop tools.
 

red

Papa Red
Red
Senior User
Re: Who are what started your WWing bug

Very simple. It was my woodshop teacher in highschool back in the 70's. I just wish I had paid even more attention than I did. When my work made print for the first time, I made sure to send him a copy with a big thank you.

Red
 

westisthebest

New User
Chad
Re: Who are what started your WWing bug

I started installing cabinets for Merillat. A few years ago they decided to make all the contractors become employees. Not too long after that I got laid off. What I thought was the worst day of my life turned out to be the best. I then decided I could build cabinets better than the ones I had been installing. It all started with a couple of friends that were builders giving me the shot to build their cabinets and enough land to build a shop, and now has just turned into general woodworking- custom cabinets, mantels, doors, trim, and furniture. So I guess what started my bug was necessity to make money to pay bills. And since that first day I realized I enjoyed it more than anything else I could do.
 

Larry Rose

New User
Larry Rose
Re: Who are what started your WWing bug

My Dad had a small shop when I was a kid and he would let me use the hand tools if I kept the shop clean for him. About the time I got old enough to use the power tools we moved and he had to sell it. When I got married, I had a small collection of hand and small power tools (circ. saw drill ect) but had no room for a real shop. When my wife and I moved to another house there was a small garage in the back. I told her that I was going to make it my shop and I was going to buy a table saw that would be the only thing I would ever need. Yeah, right.......30 years and 3 buildings later I'm still buying tools. Fortunately my son Sandy got the bug too so now I can give him my old stuff and have an excuse to buy new tools. The only thing I have from my Dads shop is an old plane that started my obsession with collecting old planes. I know, I've got it real bad but except for the occasional martini or scotch, it's my only real vice.
 

blbradford

New User
Bruce
Re: Who are what started your WWing bug

It was a box that I needed to make to replace a box that my mother gave me.
IMG_07312.JPG

From there it seemed like all I needed was "one more tool" to be able to complete that NEXT project.
 

skeeter

New User
Charles
Re: Who are what started your WWing bug

I also started with a cradle. LOML and I wanted to give our niece something special (handmade) when she was having her first child. We decided on a cradle. I ordered plans because I had no clue on how to build anything. After finishing the project, I had a placque made which said "Babies who have spept here" and had her first girl's name engraved and later did the same for her second girl. She has now stored it till it can be passed down to the girls.

Cradle01.jpg


After this, I definitely had the bug!
 

Bill Clemmons

Bill
Corporate Member
Re: Who are what started your WWing bug

Like a few others have said, NECESSITY was the mother of my addiction. When we were first married my wife and I rented a 100+ year old unfurnished house and couldn't afford new furniture. We bought used stuff and refinished / repaired it in a spare bedroom. Thus began my journey on a long, but rewarding, slippery slope. That was 41 years ago.

Bill
 

JimmyC

New User
Jimmy
It was my Dad. Growing up with three other siblings in an apartment we were always in need of things that we couldn't afford. We lived in a six family apartment building that my dad was caretaker for so we had space in the basement. It allstarted with a Craftsman tablesaw from the 40's that my father got from a neighbor in the early 60's. My dad was a roofer, carpenter, plumber, and electrician for that building and I was always at his side being the go-fer. Taking care of that apartment building was one of two part time jobs that my Dad did along with his full time job as a tanner/taxidermist for the American Museum of Natural History in NYC. I lived with my Dad until I bought my first house then he lived with me until he passed on in 2004. He was more than a father and a mentor, he was truly my best friend.

There's and old saying that finishes up with the line "We've been doing so much, with so little, for so long that we can practically do anything with nothing at all", this truly describes my Dad to a T.

Thank you Jody for bringing back such great memories of my Dad with this thread :eusa_clap!
 

Glennbear

Moderator
Glenn
Thanks for starting this thread Jody :icon_thum like you I learned a lot from watching/helping/hindering Dad and later on I found out that his efforts were a financial necessity. I remember banging together stuff as a child from wooden whiskey crates which we received from the landlord to help fuel our coal furnace. Woodworking in my family goes back generations to an ancestor who immigrated from the UK when it was discovered that the mercury used in hat making was causing his coworkers to go insane (mad hatter's disease) great great grandpa Manny gave up hatmaking and became a carpenter and built a lot of homes in a suburb of Newark, NJ.
My father's brother was a quality woodworker and made most of the furniture for his own house and worked the craft show circuit for years. My grandfather built his own house at the NJ shore and I have inherited his ancient circular saw which I intend to restore. My own woodworking took off when my daughter was starting college and needed a tack box to take to school for her studies in equine science. This box was built with not much more than a hand held router and a cheap Skil table saw in my cramped NJ basement. 4 years ago I took an early retirement, moved to VA, built a real shop, and started collecting real tools. This is the box that started it all for me:wsmile:
 
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Henry W

Henry
Corporate Member
Hmmm, tough to be original in this thread.

My Dad of all people got me started - he was a carpenter and builder, then a HS WW teacher. He had access to the biggest, greatest shop ever at school, and even had some tools at home (small TS and decent set hand tools; no router, DP, BS, or planer). I was not allowed to touch the good chisels, that was clear, but implicitly I guess I could use the other set (not sure I ever did).

I did not do much WW back then, but helped him occasionally ("Is that end flush? Hold it there, I'll nail it"). I guess a few basic concepts sunk in, the biggest of which was the that things could be made, not just purchased.

His projects were functional and practical - and I have done a few of those too. I however am much more interested in making aesthetically pleasing pieces - not art, but more 'fine woodworking' than plywood boxes with solid wood edges (done plenty of those too). I did learn to help support pieces coming off the table saw, to cut with a handsaw, and to nail pieces with reasonable proficiency; I may never master a hand plane to his level.

Skipping a few years, as a newly married graduate student I got started fixing, refinishing, and making things. Now almost 30 years later I am foolish enough to be willing to tackle most WW projects (no Queen Anne high boys or carved details yet though). I am now thoroughly hooked; my home shop is much better equipped with power tools at least, though I don't have access to the industrial sized wood shop Dad had.

Sidenote - His safety record in class was remarkable: 20+ years of HS shop classes with I believe only one significant injury (TS and a finger I believe :saw:). Given that these students were teens, that simply amazes me. Dad also still has all 10 as well.

Henry W
 

Mike Davis

Mike
Corporate Member
When I was 4 or 5 we lived in an apartment in downtown Tuscaloosa, AL. Behind the apartment was a small sign shop run by Mr. Bill Davis who was no relation but a kind father figure just the same. I watched him paint signs, build sign posts and sometimes more complicated wood work. He was a master painter and pretty good carpenter, but mostly he taught me that everything is just smaller parts of something bigger. In other words any project can be broken down into easily manageable pieces and one man working alone can do incredible feats over time.
 

DaveD

New User
Dave
Growing up in a generation where our parents were hard working factory people that couldn't afford to hire out work to be done. That progressing to realizing I could make things (furniture, cabinets, anything carpentry related) for the price of a few tools and materials and save money at the same time. On top of that I have always been fortunate to be around people with like mindsets and experiences.

Same goes for cars and car repairs. Although it gets harder and harder, if not impossible to troubleshoot modern computer controlled cars.
 

charlie jones

New User
Charlie
I got the sailboat bug. That started the boat building bug. That led to the WWing bug. That can be blamed for the shop building bug which led back to the Woodworking ...I still shudder when remember the 16 foot mast I tapered on a borrowed tablesaw without the fence.
 

Tiffany

New User
Tiffany
My grandfather is my inspiration to learn to work with wood. He was a farmer, but in his retirement he spent his time building furniture and turning bowls. I still cherish the hope chest he made for me.
 

cskipper

Moderator
Cathy
My first real exposure was building scenery in the drama dept in college. I was bored and they needed help. My first assignment was to cut a 6' diameter ceiling decoration that reminded me of a huge snowflake. My tool was a jigsaw, and I broke lots of blades. Many lifetimes later LOML traded in the gem cutting tools for wwing tools. I wanted to share a common hobby, but while we work fairly well together we each wanted our own space. We bought a cheap scroll saw and I took an ornament class. I quickly (within days) replaced the cheap saw, and bought the Delta Lowes sold for around $250. That really started me scrolling and then we found this site. I have to say that the encouragement and friendship I have found here that have spurred me on along my journey. During the last 10 years or so I have learned the basics of turning, a little bit of carving and could probably build something if absolutely necessary. Throughout it all, my true love is scrolling.
 

ErnieM

Ernie
Corporate Member
My story is a little different. No one in my family was handy or musical. My dad wouldn't know which end of a nail to hit with a hammer - if he had a hammer, which he didn't. Until the age of 10, we lived in an apartment building in the Bronx, NY. One block away was a lumber yard. When I started school, I would walk past that lumber yard everyday (yes, walked... no school buses back then) and fell in love with the smell of the place. On the way home, I would usually stop in the yard just to smell the wood and watch the men working amidst all that sawdust and wood scraps. It was intoxicating for a reason I could never explain or understand. Sixty years have passed and I can still smell that wonderful smell. The lumber yard is long since gone, but I know it was responsible for starting me out in woodworking. I still can't go past a lumber yard without stopping to take a whiff.
 
T

toolferone

I get to be different here. I started off installing car stereo's in high school. I needed to build the boxes for the large sub woofers (we now all hate LOL) These were mdes with particle board, glued and screwed together and covered in carpet. Thank goodness they were covered, the woodworking was pretty bad. From there a few small bookcases and the rest is history.
 
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