Thread: What's the attraction

I reckon it started earlier than the cavemen. When we were still in the trees, safety meant hanging on to a good sturdy branch - so from then on we're not really happy without a piece of wood in our hand.
Cheers,
Jim

Originally Posted by Lignum

That’s brilliant Bob

what he said

regards
the block

Taking up the legacy of both my late Grandad and Dad who tried to pass some skills on to me, although I wasn't too interested at the time. But in later years taking the things I learnt and discovering the pleasure they must have also shared as father/son.

It is the memories of countless hours spent in my Grandad's workshop under the house on a Sunday afternoon after lunch, the smell and the sounds of his jointer or lathe starting up (which I have).

It is the memories of countless hours spent in my Dad's workshop under the house as a kid and passing tools to him and watching him working away. Then years later going up to the shed and doing the same as above.

On the other side of the coin, it is the pleasure of of starting with rough sawn timber and then discovering the grain and beauty of the timber, to the pure joy of creating something that will last beyond the tree that it came from to be immortalized into a new form that might be admired, not for the person that made it but what it is made from.

It is the feel of the timber (how many hours have I spent caressing a piece of timber? ), the smell, its tactile qualities, what it is and what it could become and using some of the tools from my Grandad and Dad to shape the timber.

Sharing a passion with friends and leaning against benches as you bounce ideas and work solutions.

For me it doesn't get much better... wait, it does, having your almost 2 year old son coming into the shed eyes wide eyed as he looks interestingly at everything in the shed and watching his mind tick over, and if he chooses, one day passing onto him everything in the shed and teaching him what I know/or what little I know.

...i generally dunt like woodworking per se...preferring to lounge about without much effort...

...but ...

...there is a certain sense of accomplishment (and surprise ...usually in the aesthetic dept) tht comes when a project made of wood comes together as a piece of art/work tht is quite unlike projects made of different materials...like metal/wires/electronics/pcbs...say...

...for me ...wood is one of the few materials that can still produce a surprise in an unsurprising wurld...

taking a sticking door off its hinges clamping it up taking my No6 plane out then taking tissue thin shavings off, feeling and hearing the timber being worked using a good quality tool and if client is near seeing their amazement as the ribbon of timber comes floating off

Originally Posted by Skew ChiDAMN!!

When I stuff up, I can burn the evidence?
...

so this is how the blisters really happened

I was actually thinking about this some more and have realised that it is perhaps that wood was/is a living thing, and has a beautiful uniqueness about every piece...

Cheers,
Dave

For me its the intrigue of not knowing what secret a particular piece of timber holds and the beauty it reveals when worked on. For me, no two pieces of timber are the same, each has its own identity and is unique in that way, the grain, the feel, the colour the texture and smell. To see an ordinary looking piece of "wood" turn into something of creative beauty is a wonderful feeling and the history behind every piece so mystifying. I have often wondered what it would tell us if only it could speak.I look at some of the boxes I have made sitting on my desk and wonder how many years they lived as part of a tree before I created these boxes from them, maybe some of them are a hundred years old. I it's intriguing.
I started woodworking when I was a young lad about 15 years of age model making and then moved on to other timber projects. I have never had any formal training in woodworking of any kind but I have watched plenty of others and use their methods and ideas in my own work. Having said that, I have had heaps of excellent help and advice from forumites here on various projects and without their help and advice would not be doing some of the stuff I am doing now. Woodturning, pen making, bandsaw box making.just to name a few.

Being a mechanic by trade i have spent my life fixing things,
now being retired with wood work i actually get to make things! not enough & too slow
according to my wife.
I love the smell & the grain of wood & the tools (i am a toolaholic).
Hate man made board, chip board & MDF furniture its got to be real
wood.
It gives me a reason to buy new tools.

Also, as a teacher of woodworking, its amazing to see the look of disbelief on students faces when you show them a small stack of rough sawn timber and tell them that in 3 or 4 days they will take home a piece of furniture that looks as if its been made by a pro. Then it’s incredibly satisfying at the end, to see how proud they are when everyone is standing around admiring and discussing the finished piece.