Thread: Introduction

welcome cabinet girl. Nice to see another face here.

Good on you Wendy!!
Toni

Hi Cabinet Girl

With a name like that, there was no way I could have missed you

Welcome to the Wood Whispering Women area.

I'm sure you will feel right at home here with us fellow female woodworkers

I have to ask, would you tells us how you came to work in the Cabinet shop?

Cheers
Wendy

PS - Thanks Toni!

Hi Toni - nice to meet you! (nice pens )

Wendy, when I moved to Boston a couple of years ago, I didn't get a job right away because I just didn't know what I wanted to do with my life. I just knew I was unhappy with what I had been doing (bookkeeping, administrative assistant etc) and my husband kept telling me to wait until I found something I would love. One day my brother-in-law asked me what I'd really like to do and I told him I'd like to make something - at the end of the day have something concrete and not just an empty in-box! Turned out he had a woodworker friend who was looking for help. I never thought I could get a job like that without any experience, but his friend was willing to train.

I really like it and I'm much happier than I was in an office!

About 60% of what we do is custom doors and the rest is a mix of mostly cabinetry and architectural millwork (crown mouldings, baseboards etc). I would really love to learn wood turning and furniture making.

So that is my (very long) story.

-CG

Wow - what a great story and it's true!!! What a fantastic opportunity. I totally agree that while an empty inbox is pretty good, nothing beats holding something tangible that you have made made.

So what are the people like that you work with? How many in the shop? and ...





Cheers
Wendy

Originally Posted by rufflyrustic

Hi Cabinet Girl

With a name like that, there was no way I could have missed you

Welcome to the Wood Whispering Women area.

I'm sure you will feel right at home here with us fellow female woodworkers

I have to ask, would you tells us how you came to work in the Cabinet shop?

Cheers
Wendy

PS - Thanks Toni!

aaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh flamin eck Wendy that hurts
What you shoulda said me sweet wee red leatherette wearin goddess of whisperin wood is thus corrected by yer ol mate... moi!

Originally Posted by rufflyrustic

Hi Cabinet Girl

With a name like that, there was no way WE could have missed you

Welcome to the Ubeat woodworking forums

I'm sure you will feel right at home here with us fellow woodworkers

I have to ask, would you tells us how you came to work in the Cabinet shop?

Cheers
Wendy

PS - Thanks Toni!

Memba me wee wubbly one...

we are one
we are many
from all the lands on earth we come
we are woman
we are men

ooohhh yeah we are together!

we are wood nuts an wood boobs
an together we share our love of wood
ooooooohhhhhhh we come together
under Neil oohhh yeah an under
the mighty gods on high...

oooohhh yeah ooohhh yeah
We come to ubloodybeaut forums
to share our other love...

to share...

ooooh yeah to share!!

havint got the music down but Im workin on it

the fellas on here are seldom anything less than helpful and courteous. Why have we isolated ourselves? (As women, I mean.....)

Welcome Andrea
I can't speak for everyone here but I have not isolated myself. And yep could not agree more the guys are great here. Some of the nice blokes about but I also think this forum is brilliant like shed girl finds it great as she is very beginners and said she is glad to be in a girl forum. I really doubt she is alone. I think it a good idea but that does not mean I am going to abandon the woodturning board because I am not. I have learnt so much there. but anyway that my 2 cents. I am glad to see it here. and I love seeing the guys coming in here too.
Toni

Ah, great tune Dingo. Well, great lyrics, I'm not so sure about the tune....

A little about our shop before I have to run to work...

There are two guys who rent bench space & mostly work on their own jobs (some really great furniture) and then there is my boss and me, with the occasional extra hand for really big projects. All of the guys are about fifty and have been quite welcoming and helpful. Always willing to answer questions no matter how stupid. Although everyone seems to have their own way of doing things. It's really funny to watch them when they get to arguing about the "proper" way to do something.

I was kind of surprised not to run into any of the male-chauvinism (sp?) that you might expect, but wood workers really seem like the friendliest group of people!

Wendy, how did you get involved with this forum and moderating and woodworking? And anyone else who doesn't mind sharing?

-CG

Originally Posted by Cabinet Girl

I was kind of surprised not to run into any of the male-chauvinism (sp?) that you might expect, but wood workers really seem like the friendliest group of people!

And when you match that with boat lovers... aaaahhh a match made in heaven

Originally Posted by Cabinet Girl

Wendy, how did you get involved with this forum and moderating and woodworking? And anyone else who doesn't mind sharing?

-CG

I will try to get in before Wendy does

first... I found this forum by way of a coule of pms from a couple of blokes who also post over at the woodenboat.com forum who thought I might like to have some Aussie input into my multitude of wood related questions... either that or they thought I needed some help... either way they were right

Wendy is just a wee bit of a sheila who has a penchant for red and how she got here to ubeat is one of lifes little mysteries but were all in accord were glad she did!!

second... I swore black an blue ages ago that I would never be a mod... Im just too damned troppo to be serious for longer than a nano second of time ... wendy on the other hand is so damned sweet an nice {also rather cute if i do say so meself } that it was a given that sooner or later neil or would ask her to get on board as a mod... see all she has to do is bat her wee blue eyes wriggle that red leatherette covered bum an us fellas fall apart at the seems... obvious choice really eh?

third... I have always since a nipper loved mucking about with wood... over the years Ive worked in many areas of the industry and there wasnt one that I didnt enjoy... but life sorta got in the way of getting into it seriously and so over the years I continued to muck with wood with little to no actual training as such and very few tools... after getting married and having 8 nippers upon the sale of a property 2 years ago and moving down here I made the decision {and amazingly her bloody highness the loverly possumpoop agreed! oooh shes a true wonder! } that I would have a fully functional wood workers workshop for my retirement in a few years... and over $20,000 later I have Now as I slowly ease myself out of the work force I enjoy nothing more than tinkering around in the shed especially if either of my 2 sons or my 1 year old grandson comes out there with me

Wendy I just think she sat her wee widdle red leatherette covered bum down one day got a splinter in an area where the sun dont shine and heard a lot of whispered "oooohhh"ing and "aaaaahhhh"ing from the splinter and after a long whispered affair while her spanner - petrol head of an other half tried to remove it from her wee precious bum she decided she kinda liked this wood whispering caper... and the rest is as they say history

Welcome to the forum Cabinet Girl, and to hear that you have discovered work that interests you and provides job satisfaction. That is something that is very rare to find I would have thought.

Lovely city Boston, my daughter spent 2005 there and would have loved to have stayed on, but you are welcome to both the humid summers and bitter winters.

Cheers, John.

Originally Posted by Cabinet Girl

Wendy, how did you get involved with this forum and moderating and woodworking? And anyone else who doesn't mind sharing?

-CG

I got into wood turning. I was suffering severe depression. I was burnt out. I had been giving all my time to my family and my kids and I was neglecting mum totally. My doctor actually said that i had to find something that I can do that is just me time. So I could recharge a bit. So I did a search and I have always had a fascination with wood turning so I talked to hubby and he said go for it. So we bought a GMC lathe mistake on it own. I used it 3 times first time the tail stock broke. Wood flew out. 2nd the nothing but shook like mad the 3rd time the tool rest broke. Hubby said that too dangerous so we took it back and got our money back. Nearly gave up turning. my father in law got into turning together we were talking on how we love to turn pens so I went I search to find out how to make pens. THis led me to Jim Carrols woodcraft. Big mistake Then I paid off a leda lathe with Carrols. Best thing I ever did. There no going back I am hooked enjoy the saw dust and the finish product. I get such a buzz out of making pens. I love the finish product. I love to try new things. I love how each piece of wood reveals a unique grain. NOw I have just got my new nova. I am happy no pills for me no grumpys I love it
bye Toni

Hi CG,

This thread https://www.woodworkforums.com/f108/started-45117 I hope will help explain how I got started in my woodwork.

I suppose it was all helped by needing to redo the kitchen and knowing that I didn't have the skills to build the kitchen. So I set about learning and building the skills and am still doing so before I go near the kitchen. besides, I'm having way too much fun to even think about the kitchen yet

Originally Posted by Cabinet Girl

.......

I was kind of surprised not to run into any of the male-chauvinism (sp?) that you might expect, but wood workers really seem like the friendliest group of people!

Wendy, how did you get involved with this forum and moderating and woodworking? And anyone else who doesn't mind sharing?

-CG

I wasn't really going to say this here, but the time is right.

When I started getting into woodwork, I had a very hard time finding any other true, female woodworkers around. I had a look around the internet but at that time, I only found the sites that seemed too touchy-feely feministic-like i.e. they weren't what I was looking for. There were no women woodworkers that I could find easily in my area. I wanted to learn the woodworking skills using the handtools my grandfathers used, the 'old' way of woodworking rather than jump straight into using those 'big' and 'scary' powertools (and expensive too).

After looking around, I realised that there seemed to be only men around who fit what I was looking for, so to learn what I wanted, I would have to 'join' in with the men, so to speak. I was introduced to this forum by a workmate and couldn't believe how this place totally matched what I was looking for. The question was then, whether I could fit in and if the members would teach/encourage/be patient with me.

Well, the Forumites here have definitely done that and as a result, I became a passionate Woodworker and Forum Member, to such an extent that the Owner, UBeaut, asked me to become one of the Super Moderators. Here was a chance for me to give back to the forum and its members, everything that it had given me.

To be honest, the biggest gift that the forum and its members have given me, is encouragement.

This is also part of why I am now joint Moderator of the Wood Whispering Women's Forum. If I was looking for other fellow female woodworkers and couldn't find them, then I won't be the only one. Now, I'm easily identifiable, find-able, approachable and able to encourage others like me.

Chauvinistic? My personal opinion and experience is definitely not. I've come across more male chauvinism at work and in tool shops than elsewhere, but I've found that after about 1-2 shop visits, I can get the message across that I'm genuine or else look out.

With fellow woodworkers, you have an almost instant common ground that you can talk about. As I have said previously, The WoodWorking Australia's WoodWork Forum has become my internet home, where I don't feel wierd or alone or an oddity anymore

Cheers
Wendy

Originally Posted by HandyAndrea

the fellas on here are seldom anything less than helpful and courteous. Why have we isolated ourselves? (As women, I mean.....)

Hi HandyAndrea,

Do we seem isolated? Perhaps you might like to PM me as to why so I can address that for you?

The aim isn't to isolate us, but to make us easily found by other female woodworkers.

I hope my previous post might help explain that in more detail for you. If not, please do ask me.

Cheers
Wendy

PS I agree the fellas are more than helpful and courteous as well

but once things start to get split along gender lines, then there IS the danger of the "little woman in the kitchen" syndrome, if you know what I mean!

I'm 60, and I've spent most of my life farming, here in NZ, with my (now late) husband. To start with, we had to "educate" the people we had to deal with - the bank manager, the accountant, the dairy company, stock firms and others all had to be taught that ours was a true partnership - we worked together on every part of our business, and I knew just as much as my husband about what went on. It took a while, I have to say!

However, apart from the issues of hand size and brute strength, I never met a tool or a machine that cared a jot about the gender of the person who used it! I want to know about how to do things properly. Like you, I LOVE to make joints the old-fashioned way. I am yet to make them perfect every time. I love old tools, and want to know how to care for them. I've enjoyed wood all my life, and I have enjoyed being part of a group, here, who care about the woodwork.. who couldn't care less about the fact that I'm female. I haven't the machinery (yet) that some of these guys have got, but I go to a night class and use theirs!

It was just a concern that we might be relegating ourselves to the back room. Since I'd found the guys to be genuinely helpful, I wondered why. But, perhaps some of the ladies feel a bit self-conscious. I never have, since I've always worked in "a man's world".