Thread: What was your first woodworking project

The first full on, tool acquisition approved project was a slab coffee table for my wife . . . 10 years later I had to make the daughter one as well

Both are in daily use and the center points of their respective lounge rooms.

So you may make a "crappy" item now, but your family will love it and one of your kids will "ask" for one like mum's.

My first project, if you could call it that, was making a model caravan out of wood way back when I was about 16 years old. didn't have any tools to speak of, just a hand saw and a hammer and a hammer wasn't much use making models.
First useful project I did was a sewing box for my mother in the early 1960's and is still going strong today, the sewing box, not my mum. I turned my hand to larger projects when I became the proud owner of a Triton Mk 3 in the early 90s and my first project on it was a library cupboard which turned out pretty good. I still have it today in my office here at home.

I will post a pic of it later today.

The first project worth mentioning was the bed my wife and I sleep on. I'd do it differently if I started again, but I'm still pretty happy with it. 2 1/2 years from start to finish though.

It was 7.5 years ago, 6 months before my daughter turned 2. I came up with this idea, it was to make a rocking horse for her second birthday.

I had a drill, a circlar saw, a hammer, an old plane and a few screwdrivers. Sounds a bit too ambitious doesn't it?

Originally Posted by Wongo

I had a drill, a circlar saw, a hammer, an old plane and a few screwdrivers. Sounds a bit too ambitious doesn't it?

Not for you Scott.

My first attempt at woodworking (at age 18) was a 19th century Windsor rocker that I faithfully copied as a birthday present for my mother. I turned all the legs and sticks on a Black & Decker drill and lathe attachment and cut the rockers etc. with a Black & Decker jigsaw. The drill died in the process.

All things considered, the chair turned out really well and I was quite proud of it. My mother made all the appropriate signs of approval, but a short time later it disappeared and was never mentioned again.

In retrospect, it wasn't really compatible with her other furniture and it was more my desire to copy the Windsor rocker than any consideration of what my mother would like that drove me to make it. So I have no idea whether it survived in the long term.

I made a coffee table and an upholstered stool when I was 10. My mother still had them until the last house move, when they were unceremoniously turfed out.

My first solo wood work project was when I was 6. I wanted to make a toy reindeer from pine cones I found in the school yard. You know the kind where a large cone is a body and a smaller cone is the head attached to the body with a 4" nail. Likewise the legs and antlers are nails.

Of course this requires using a drill so I went into dads shed and could not find a drill but I found a brace & bit but the vice was too high so I tried holding the big cone between my legs and started using the B&B. After a couple of turns I slipped and succeeded in spearing myself in the upper thigh.

After a trip to the local hospital where they gave me a tetanus shot with a needle that looked much bigger than than the bit (they made me lay face down, showed me a horse needle and then used a regular needle on my behind) I wanted to go straight back to the shed but I had to lay low for a while.

Later Dad drilled the holes and I banged the nails in.

Sorry I lied. I thought we were talking about our first ‘real’ project. I did make a few crappy projects when I was younger.


I made a cabinet (a box with a door ) at school. It was made of chipboard and held together by screws. My mum still uses it. I took a picture of it when I visited her in HK last year. Want to see it?

Of course Wongo!


I framed an old duchess mirror in rustic silky oak, but didn't hang it anywhere as it was too big and way too heavy to hang up. It sat around for a couple of years, before I ended up pulling it apart. I've still go the mirror too

Will post it when I get home.

At the age of thirteen ( 1947) my first project was to make a Bond Wood dingy under my fathers guidence, the boat was eight foot long.
Every piece of timber for the boat, that is keel, ribs and frames had to be all ripped down and dressed by hand from timber stock that my father had stacked away in his workshop prior to the outbreak of World War Two. The task of doing everything by hand was to come invaluable in the future as it taught me the valuable skills of handling a rip saw and planing a piece of timber straight. A skill I have maintained to this very day.
That boat was used in exploring the reaches of the Swan River from Rivervale to Bassendeen regularly by myself and my mates for quite a number of years. It was eventually sold for about 50 pounds .
Those where the days.
Cheers, Mac

I made a simple breadboard as the first project on a part time woodwork course. Learnt how to hand plane and sharpen as part of the process. Simple thing, but it turned out well and I use it daily and love it.

This is the first "real" project I did on my trusty Mk3 Triton. As you can see, it was pine stained with walnut (Yuk) This was in the early 90's. You can also see that I wasn't game to try and install hinges the way they should have been installed but I was happy with it and it has survived 2 moves in that time one of the moves being from Sydney to Brisbane and it didn't fall apart. I must have done something right.

Attachment 150835

As you can see it is still in use in my office at home so it has stood the test of time for nearly 20 years.