Tips to Help You Get Started

As you begin your woodworking journey, there are a few tips I can give you to help guide you on your path. 

Set up a work space

Having a designated work area is important. This does not mean you need a whole garage set up with a workshop and bench, just an area where you can work in. When I was living in an apartment, my workshop was set up in my living room with a cloth tarp on the carpet where I cut, glued, sanded, painted, screwed, and nailed all my projects together. Having your workshop in your living room really makes you want to complete the project quickly, but the con is that you live within that project until it is done.

Learn how to read a tape measure

Learning how to read a tape measure is so crucial to building with wood. Cutting a piece of wood even 1/16th of an inch off could throw the whole project. A side note I must add is to use the same tape measure for the whole project. I am not sure why, but some tape measures are different and when you switch back and forth, you will get different lengths and it is frustrating.

You don’t need heavy duty tools to get started

When you first start, you should start small. When I first started, I had a hand saw, hammer, screwdriver, and a hand-me-down hand drill that my father gave me with a handful of bits to go with it. You don’t want to overwhelm yourself with power tools like Skil Saws or Miter Saws just yet. I used this Hand saw with miter box for all my cuts at the beginning and still use it for small projects today. The only con is that you need some muscles to get the cut going!

Get to know your wood

There are many kinds of wood species. Most of the wood at hardware stores is pine, which is a softwood. The main difference between softwood and hardwood is how dense it is. However, softwood can be used in almost any project in place of hardwood. Pine is a great wood to work with in my opinion. The one recommendation I have when buying pine from stores is that you must sand it before staining it. For some reason, the boards have a finish on them which prevents some stains from being absorbed by the board. Being able to read the board is also very important. Knowing what 2x4 stands for along with knowing that its not actually a 2x4 is key.

There are so many more tips that I could get into, but I will dive deeper into them later. I hope these tips are helpful to you in starting your journey!

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