Newbie to newbies

[Moe]

Hi:

There's an excellent book on WW for beginners that I bought on sale for $17.95 at Lowe's (original price $29.95.) It's titled "The Complete Book of Woodworking," published by Landauer Corporation.

The book has step-by-step guides on WW techniques, tools and lots of tips and jigs. Of the 480 pages, 317 are dedicated to 40 projects with layout, shopping list, cutting list, and order of assembly among other useful info.

Just wanted to contribute. (I have nothing to gain on this.) I've been hovering in this NG for a while, lapping up on the knowledge here. I feel indebted. Since there's nothing I can contribute to the knowledge of the group, I contribute this to newbies who, like me hover silently in the background.

Thanks Moe

[Bay Area Dave]

you can contribute PLENTY to the group by merely asking WW questions to increase the S/N ratio. :) With Watson gone, more threads will likely be WW related, but we can always use more.

dave

[john knight]

[Groggy]

Moe,

I keep a reference page for WW book info at:

you don't mind, I'll add your comments next time I do an update.

regards,

Greg

[Mutt]

Moe: Once you finish reading that one, do yourself a huge favor and buy a copy of Tage Frid's two volume set on woodworking (they issued it in paperback in one volume). See:

He also wrote one volume on finishing. It may contain more information than you need just right now, but also has discussions of basic technique that will make your projects better, and if you are still working from plans, you will find yourself making changes to the plan to make the piece better. I have no affiliation here other than an incredible respect for the man's craftmanship.

Regretably, Tage died a month or so ago, so we won't see any more books from him. If you read his book, you will find he was a practical man, and his views on technique were 'whatever gets it done properly' (with the emphasis on properly) and this approach is, in my view, of great use to folks whether they've been working wood 1 year or 25 years. I refer to the book often to see "how Tage did it." Now I guess, its how Tage would have done it.

Mutt

[AArDvarK]

Thanks Moe! Need to know all I can here... havn't even made cut-one myself. Alex

[charlie b]

snip

I'm betting he's still doing it, just not where we can enjoy watching and listening. I'm certain that he's already got God chuckling and asking His Kid about woodworking. Imagine THAT Father Son project! Then again - maybe we're it.

charlie b

[Nate Perkins]

Hi Moe,

Like you, I am pretty new to the hobby too (a year or two).

My first books for learning were the set of paperbacks (in a slipcase) from Taunton, called "Essentials of Woodworking."

I also heartily agree with the recommendation of another poster for "Tage Frid Teaches Woodworking vols 1 and 2" in paperback. That book will really grow with you.

Cheers, Nate

[MG]

I'm glad to know there are more newbies like me out there. I'm just in the process of having a shop built on the garage of my new house. Met with the architect today. I'm sure I'll be asking a lot of "dumb" questions.

[nospambob]

[Thomas Bunetta]

[Mutt]

Panel the walls with wood (I used 3/8 CDX) so you can screw things to them without worrying about studs. If code requires wallboard, think about putting the CDX underneath. Run plenty of outlets, spec 20amp wiring, get a bigger sized subpanel so you can add more service. Plan for wood storage high on the walls.

Mutt

[charlie b]

Go with surface mount electrical outlets - you WILL want to move them or add to them as you set up and start using your shop. It's much easier if the wiring is done in exposed conduit than buried in a wall behind ply and/or drywall. Use Quad boxes (holds two duplex outlets) - better to have too many outlets than too few.

Always have your lights on a separate circuit, or better yet on two separate ciruits, than your wall outlets. You don't want to be in the dark with spinning carbide!

And screw rather than nail ply to the studs. Much easier to open up a wall later.

Wood floor if you can - chisels and planes won't self destruct on impact with a wood floor.

just somethings to think about.

charlie b

[Mark Jerde]

Amen, brother! I had this happen once before I did something about the wiring in my gar^H^H^Hshop.

-- Mark

[Kevin]

Make sure you have a few 220 outlets for those larger power tools.

And you can't hardly make it too big. I have an 11' x 20' (3rd garage bay) shop and it just isn't big enough. I want to get good enough to make furntiure for my home. But I can already see that I am going to constantly be struggling to manuever around in that small space. You can make it work, but you end up trading the time you spend moving things around for the money you saved by not making it larger.