As a professional woodworker I can say that woodworking can be a great for hobby for your leisure time.
But whatever is your wish, you have to know certain things before talking about woodworking as a profession or as a hobby.
Woodworking is one of the most beautiful forms of art and it gives your mind and body a pleasurable exercise. When you create something like beautiful furniture from a limb, it is one of the most beautiful feelings of creating a beautiful thing.
To pursue woodworking as a hobby and start woodworking as a beginner, you have to learn some very necessary steps of woodworking. We often misunderstand that woodworking only depends on knowing the woodworking tools. But that is not true. There are so many other factors you need to know to start a woodworking project. Let’s dig in.
How to start woodworking for beginners:
As a beginner in woodworking, you may feel very confused about where and how to start. It also happed to me when I was starting woodworking as a beginner. As a beginner, you need to focus only two things. One is woodworking tools and the other is practice. The woodworking tools consist of both power and manual tools. To be a great woodworker you must need to know each woodworking tool practically. After know the working tools you need to practice woodworking for hours to be a master.
You need to send 1-2 hours daily for a long time in practice. But we often don’t have enough time for that. So to be fine woodworking is not that easy for us. But if you follow the following steps it will be an easy process for you. Let me explain.
Step 1: Set up a workplace
Firstly, you need to find a workplace to begin woodworking. You need to set up your workplace with a woodworking table. It will give you comfort for woodworking. A garage or basement is a perfect place for setting up a workplace. But if you don’t have enough space for that, set up a table on an equal surface and start working.
Step 2: Understanding the wood
As a woodworker, the first quality you should have proper knowledge of wood. You also should know how to measure a piece of wood. Making furniture from a limber is a tricky job and you should know to measure the lumber correctly for making perfectly measured furniture.
Also, you need to understand the type of wood because all type of wood is not perfect for making all furniture. Basically, wood is characterized in two major categories. They are softwood and hardwood. You need to understand the differences and uses of both. You have to understand the type by seeing or touching or evening knowing the wood. More importantly, you must need to know which type of wood is ideal for which furniture.
Step 3: Tape measurement
For measuring the wood you need to understand the tape measurement. It is a very core part of woodworking. You will see some numbers like 1,2,3 in the body of the tape. They are the measurement of inches. Like 1 inch, 2 inch etc. You will also see for fractional number between the inches like ½. Actually they are the fractions of the whole inches. Like ½ means half of 1 inch.
Step 4: Understanding the tools
This is one of most important and difficult part of woodworking. Once you got enough practice on the tools , you will actually enjoy working with these tools. You should stand with the manual tools at first. The manual tools are easy to handle and less dangerous than the power tools. You also should start with some very basic tools like hammer, manual hacksaw etc. Check the most budget friendly bandsaw reviews on Toolsadventure.
After getting some experiences with manual tools than you should gradually start working with simple power tools like reciprocating saw, drill, jigsaw etc. After that you can start working with power tools like miter saw, table saw, band saw, circular saw etc. You always should stay very patience and careful while with any power tools. You need to take enough protection like gloves, eye protection ear protections while working with the power tools. Also must follow the user guideline for every power tools. Also if you can, take help from professionals and experts. Also, do enough research on Google and YouTube before dealing with an unfamiliar power tool.
Step 5: Start with easy and simple projects
Don’t go with a big and complex project at the beginning. Start with easy and simple projects. Start learning simple and easy things at first. Like how to make wood smooth, or How to cut small limbs etc. Gradually you will learn more and will able to do bigger projects.
These are the five very basic steps for starting woodworking as a hobby. Some of the researches have shown that woodworking can be a great solution for releasing stress from your mind. It also keeps you engaged and busy with creative work. So if you are interested in woodworking, start woodworking as a hobby from today.
