Woodworking Milestones?

[Bruce Farley]

[Dave Jackson]

Here's one of my milestones - I guess I've reached at least "seasoned" status because my body can trim out several rooms of a house all the while my mind is firmly planted on a project i have going on in my shop! --dave

[Eric]

The only milestone I've reached is finally completing a project where the finish item consisted of more bd ft of wood than the resulting scrap pile.

[John]

I have had many high points eg, Completing my trade certificate in Cabinet making, and Furniture Design. Having my own business. Seeing the smile on kiddie's faces when they purchase a Toy that I have Made etc. However THE MILESTONE, was a wooden letter holder I made for my grandmother when I was 11. She lived 600km from me so visits were rare. When I was 28 we moved to the same town as her and on her mantle piece was this letter holder I had made her. She died when I was 38 and my mother gave me the letter holder. It now sits on our mantle piece. John

Shit, I am getting teary writing this and I'm now 48 sheeeeesh

[John Grossbohlin]

Reminds me of a puzzle I sent to my grandmother on the left coast in the mid

60s. I made the puzzle on my father's Shopsmith scroll saw when I was about 8 years old. When my father was at his sister's house in FL a few years ago he found out that my aunt now has the puzzle--this is some 20 years after my grandmother died. My mother still has a walnut beverage tray I made in the early 70s. Knowing that these things have endured for that long is pretty cool.

In more recent times, despite winning a ribbon at a woodworking show last year I still don't feel like I've arrived. I'm pretty proficient at many of the mechanical tasks but feel that I have a long way to go in many areas. For example, design, rococo carving, and veneering are areas in which I'd like to develop skills. I also appreciate that I am terribly hard on myself and few people can see errors that stick out like a sore thumb to me!

John

[Nate Perkins]

amateur

...

project?

Well, I'm still not to the "seasoned craftsman" level. But I knew I was getting better when I entered a small show and won a first:

The daughter's smile is worth more to me than the blue ribbon :-)

[Silvan]

You want my take on it? People who call themselves a "master" of anything almost never are, while people who beat themselves up for years over whether they qualify to be a "master" yet are usually the true masters of any endeavor. So, ironically, not being sure whether you're really a "master" or not yet, you probably are. :)

[Silvan]

Having Dad come over for help or advice, yup. Me too. I think in my case the difference is that Dad has never been a craftsman, but simply a utilitarian, and a miser. Much of what he has done, he has done simply to save himself money. He's never been able to understand how I can pour money into something that doesn't save me money, and doesn't earn me money. He thinks it's all a completely ridiculous waste of time and resources.

Until he wants to use one of my machines or borrow some of my tools anyway. :)

[Silvan]

Me neither. Dave in Fairfax tells me I should do about 100 test runs before I try it for real, and I think he's right. I guess I'm just afraid I'd get two of them perfect, or three of them perfect, and bungle the last one horribly.

First large project. I made it out of cheap 1x2s that I cut with a cheap plastic miter box, and cheap plywood that I cut out with a cheap B&D jigsaw, finished with cheap Minwhacks stain, and I think Red Devil poly. I measured the space, drew it out on paper, figured and calculated and cut, and made it, and damn if it didn't fit.

This:

doesn't quite fit here. It fits the original window it used to sit in front of perfectly. The kind of neat thing about looking at this picture now, a year or two later, is that all of those plants are still alive. I finally found a collection of indestructible houseplants. I have killed teeming masses of the poor unsuspecting bastards, but these hardy critters can stand up to the worst kind of inept treatment ol' Silvan can dish out.)

First real lumber that wasn't from a BORG or recycled from something someone threw away. Hand in hand with this, first walnut, first time I ever used hand planes to make something out of semi-rough stock.

First halfway respectable table saw.

First shellac.

First time I did an entire project without using any sandpaper. (Planes and scrapers.)

[Silvan]

Sort of. I just mentioned this in another post on this thread, but I will mention it again:

is a large piece of furniture (about 7' wide and 5' tall IIRC), but it didn't take much knowledge of craftsmanship. It fits the space, and it works. Those are two good things I can say about it. After that, I start to run out of good things to say about it. :) I'd do it a lot differently now. More glue and fewer screws for starters. (It has 237 screws.)

[Rolling Thunder]

Ahh, but you should see the smile on your Dad's face.

[Rolling Thunder]

I think your Dad, who grew up during a depression and world war, is like most of his generation. They learned how to do things themselves. Everything from carpentry to auto mechanic to whatever. My Dad and Uncle were like that. They could tackle anything and do well with it. Jack of all trades but master of none.

Thunder

[max]

Did you take the "Masters" test? Actually, when I started doing woodworking I was also learning machine work. I build and repair photo equipment. I was eagerly learning to use a lathe, milling machine and the other shop tools. My boss told me that the test they were using for machinists was very easy. You have to make a steel triangle fit perfectly in a hole all three ways. I heard that and thought, that's crazy, I can do that. Well, it's not that easy. max

[Tim Douglass]

When I was young I knew a man named Gerald Bates, he had a son named Richard, IIRC. At that time kids didn't call adults by first names so Gerald Bates was always "Mr. Bates" to me. Only later did it occur to me that a hundred or more years ago unmarried men were referred to by the title of "Master", so this man and his son would have been Mister Bates and Master Bates.

Tim Douglass

[Doug Miller]

Even worse, the son would have been called "Dick"...

-- Regards, Doug Miller (alphageek-at-milmac-dot-com)

Get a copy of my NEW AND IMPROVED TrollFilter for NewsProxy/Nfilter by sending email to autoresponder at filterinfo-at-milmac-dot-com You must use your REAL email address to get a response.

[TheNewGuy]

Yeah, right now I'm at the phase of where *I* see something in a catalog and say, "I can make that." And my SWMBO looks at me w/ The Rock Eyebrow and says, "yeah, but WHEN?" Too many other house projects that don't require woodworking :(

-Chris

[Tom Watson]

My next milestone will be finishing the kitchen remodel and the bath remodel, so that I can actually do some bona fide wooddorking.

As with most milestones in the pursuit of excellence - although we appear to be walking in circles when seen from above, we are actually drilling down to a deeper understanding - when seen from a proper perspective.

tjwatson1ATcomcastDOTnet (real email)

(webpage)

[George]

English public schools and preparatory schools here which use their model call the instructors "masters." We had a Bates who was our music master, who provided music by playing a Hamilton during chapel.

Master Bates on the upright organ....

[TeamCasa]

Comfortable with sharpening your own tools to perfection. You create a piece of your own design - and someone offers you huge money for it. When people quit asking you to make something for them but start asking what it would cost to build .... Other professionals ask "How did you do that?" When you start to employ people to help with the process.

And the final milestone: You no longer have any desire to shop at Harbor Freight!

Dave

[JAMES Mankin]

my top milestone to achive is to be able to build in my shop with all these new fangled powertools projects as nice as my great grandfather did in the little linto he had off the side of his shed while only useing his hand tools

jim who still proudly displays several of great grand dads peices in his house

A MAN WITH THE RIGHT TOOLS CAN SURE SCREW THINGS UP