Thread: Who was your Woodworking Mentor?

My Dad definitely, we were a 5-kid, single income family and Dad built and/or fixed evrything. Built his own table saw out of an old steel machine stand and spare electric motor, as well as a grinder using a recycled motor also. Fabricated sheet metal boxes with a home-made metal bender. Fixed all manner of electronics back in the days when Dick Smith was not just an offshoot of Woolies. Rebuilt car and mower engines like it was just basic maintenance. Built numerous kitchens, beds, cabinets, etc as a matter of course. Don't know how it learned it all. I have picked up some of it but still have about 25% of his nouse - a very clever man.

Edward Barnsley. Never met him, but the first time i saw his furniture i was hooked. Thats when i decided i wanted to work with wood.

Still to this day, i absolutely love the beauty of his design and crafstmanship. He was even a mentor and life long friend of my other woodie hero, Krenov.

My Dad was the greatest influence on my life. He was an engineer but also a child of the depression. His uncles were cabinet makers and he inherited a lot of their hand tools, which he passed on to me. His mantra was, "If you want it and can't afford it, either save up or make it yourself." He bought an old Hillman and rebuilt it, an old house and rebuilt it, an old boat and rebuilt it, giving his family assets that would otherwise just be a dream. These were things few people could afford in the early post war period. We built a boat together, then a holiday house and many pieces of furniture. The only power tool he had for many years was a 1/4" Desouter drill which had a 3" circular saw attachment. He taught me how to make drill bits from nails with a hammer and file and how to recycle used timber when my pocket money wouldn't stretch to buying what I wanted.
Geez, I miss the old man!!!
Cheers
Graeme

Yep Dad, he was a fitter and turner and always had a shed full of tools and machinery. As a kid there was nothing better than helping the old man on what ever the project was car restoration or what ever. He didn't do a lot of woodworking I think he prefered the precision of metalwork, built model steam trains. His idea of furniture in those days was a bit of chipboard on a dexion frame (knock it up quick) it wasn't until later in life he turned to wood. It was a sad day when he sold the machines and gave away all his tools.

Not a mentor but inspiration, I discovered David Marks a few years ago on Fox really admired his workshop, tools etc not to mention ability. That rekindled my interest in woodworking and triggered the slide down the slippery slope of tools, sharpening, machinery, wood, furniture anddah ubeaut WWF oh my gosh I'm hooked. SWMBO of course complains about the shed time, computer time and tools smuggled into said shed however the irony is she was the one who wanted Fox.
Cheers Mike

As a contrast my father and family have had no mentoring for me. While my father was a mechanic/welder we were never close and never shared anything tool related.

My fondest memory as a child is of my grandfather cutting wooden building blocks for me to play with. As a teenager I did wood shop in school however it never stuck with me. Outside of a terrifying lecture by the shop teacher of the danger of the electric router promising that it would eat your fingers. Still hate and will no touch them.

However I have never had a mentor outside of this forum. I think that the support of swmbo has been the closest to a mentor that I may have had to date.

I think a mentor would be a wonderful thing to have.

like I now want to do. My original inspiration was a Shopsmith demonstrator - that looked like fun! Like m2c1Iw, my current inspiration is David Marks.

I was brought up around woodies, both gramps were in different aspects of the trade. Loved it until High School, where I failed woodwork class miserably. "Failure to hand work in." How could I when someone else had already handed it in as theirs? And when I complained, all I got was a clip around the ear and "don't tell tales." I could understand if it'd only happened the once, but as it seemed to be "the rule..."

Went to U, did some other work for a few years, but eventually fell back into bad habits and picked up the wood again.

My mentors? Certainly not my teacher! But my grandfathers instilled the interest (both passed on before I was able to learn much, though ) and my first boss when I took up flooring taught me to take pride in my skills and not my tools.

From there it's all been make it up as I go.

Ikea

Originally Posted by Harry72

Ikea

Finally, someone being honest

My father was (is) a joiner, and my grandfather drove steam trains but turned wood for a hobby. I spent a lot of time working with dad in the shed, but looking back now I wish I had asked more questions. One thing I realise now though, and after reading this forum is it seems a lot of dad's don't go out of their way to actively pass on the talents. Now that I have a young son, (5yo) I now understand that you would quickly run out of breathe trying to teach something to a young one who wasn't interested. So I am glad I picked up what I did from observation rather than being told. Dad's shed was an absolute disgrace, you spent 10 minutes looking for a tool you needed to use for 2 minutes. So thank godness that didn't wear off onto me. I feel sorry for a lot of these kids from broken homes who seeing Dads on weekend visits must miss out on a lot of these moments which forums members have spoke of. 3 cheers for each and every good dad out there. Wish there could be more of them.

My father was definately my mentor. We have built on to our house three times. A shop, 2 story garage, and a den. We are currently framing up offices in a 4000 square foot building where my business is located. I own a landscaping company and store equipment here. The hands on experience with my father has taught me a numerous amount of things....

I have to mention 3 mentors - firstly my grand-uncle - old central-european woodcarver, built his own home by himself and filled it with the most fantastic furniture you could hope to see - used to work on the railways and had a bit of access to cedar from dead coaches, absolutely fantastic craftsman - introduced me to woodworking and gave me some tips and pointers. Secondly, John Lucas from woodshopdemos.com - over the last 3 or 4 years I've progressed so much due to this guy - his explanations and diagrams are so meticulous and useful. Thirdly, over the last 12 months - this forum - there's quite a bunch of you that are helpful and encouraging and the collective knowledge is awesome and personally stretching (and a couple of you that are in my 'hall of fame')!

a couple of you that are in my 'hall of fame'

Just let me know what address to send the framed portrait to