Thread: Wow - I'm impressed

Originally Posted by adhmad

Hi fellow woodworkers,
This is my very first posting, as I've just discovered the forum. All I can say so far is - 'Wow - I'm impressed' - there are some very talented and innovative members out there. I am a (retired) marine engineer who is a relative beginner at wood working. The art of box making caught my eye. I have a special project in mind, however I will have to start from scratch, before attempting anything complicated. All advice (on tools, methods or materials) would be most welcome. I have chosen 'adhmad' as my user name - it is the Irish word for timber or wood.
Talk to you all soon
Adhmad

Welcome

Well starting from scratch is hard and you being Irish n all it takes about 15 years for the tree to grow .

Someebaut timbers where your from your tools will depend on your box and project in mind I guess.
Basics are best and only buy what you need as you need it.

Ray

Gday Adhmad,
Good to see you found the site, I'm Irish myself(just migrated to Oz), only a new member too, the Taunton press do a good book called "the complete illustrated guide to Boxmaking" by Doug Stowe, also check out www.andrewcrawford.com for boxmaking inspiration. On tools ,methods and materials,as Whellinround says,it really does depend on your aspirations, basic hand tools are a start, a good set of chisels etc, you'll need various types of clamps, I could go on and on here. Irish ash is a beautiful timber and works well, cherry, oak. If you have a box plan with dimensions, a fast track way to start would be to source your timber from a local joinery and have it dimensioned(i.e. planned to size and thicknessed), although if you starting from scratch you will probably need to know how to do all this by hand even for a better understanding of the process.Good luck with.

Charlie

G'day Adhmad,
You've come to the right place to have a good informative source of box making expertise.
Plus a lot of fun!!
The most interesting time can be had by searching the box making forum, its full of ideas, good designs, and heaps of info.
Enjoy yourself.

Welcome to the forum adhmad.

Check out this video from our Moving Pictures section. There are quite a few free videos in there which will get you started

Dovetail Box making Video

Instructions on how to download them are contained here...

Downloading Instructions

Thanks everybody for all the advice - Gumby, the video link was espically helpful. Must go & start making some boxes - Adhmad

Welcome to the forum. I have only been a member myself for a short time myself but have learned so much from the guys here its awesome. Good luck with your box making.

Welcome to the forums mate!

As the guys have said, great place to research anything woodwork related. Have fun browsing the forums

Irish?? are you sure??? Sounds middle east to me. However, I've never met an Irishman I didn't like. So welcome to the forum. I'm rather new myself. Just remember: you cannot have enough tools and he who dies with the most planes wins.
Make yourself an acurate shooting board. Boxes don't call for large timbers and the best way to square up small pieces is your own very satisfying shooting board.

windbreaker

Welcome adhmad, another retired marine engineer,
The hardest thing I found with this wood working game is trying to not over engineer every project. not everything has to be greaser/ab proof

Rgds
Russell