G'Day from Bendigo

**Grandad-5** · 19th July 2011, 12:46 PM

G’day all,
May I say before anything else, what a goldmine of knowledge this place is?
It’s been my morning read with my coffee for a while now, and I’ve only just scratched the surface.

A little bit about me.
What I know about woodworking came from my first F.I.L. He did his cabinet making apprenticeship back in the days before whiteboard when cabinet makers used real timber. Along the way, he picked up qualifications in upholstery.
Upon completion of his apprenticeship he found work in short supply so soon thereafter started another apprenticeship as a wood machinist with a company that made windows, doors stairs etc. He again opted for some extra courses in trade school and qualified as a joiner as well.

By the time I met him, he had a small cabinet shop and was plodding along quite nicely. His shop had a Luna combination machine…(Table saw, sliding table, thicknesser, buzzer, shaper and mortiser)…That, plus a pedestal drill, radial arm and overhead sander meant there wasn’t much he couldn’t handle.

I worked with him whenever I could, for as long as I could and enjoyed some of the best times in my life in that shop. I got to the stage where there wasn’t much I couldn’t tackle, especially with him there to answer the “How do I’s….”

Looking back however, I realize that EVERYTHING we did there was done on one machine or another. I recall very, very few instances of ever picking up a hand tool.

Flash forward several years and I found a niche market in the Dandenong Ranges of Melbourne building decks. There in NO flat land in the Dandenongs, so if you wanted to go outside, you better think “Decking”.
The chippys from down on what we referred to as “the flats” or the eastern suburbs of Melbourne were hesitant to travel to the ranges much less work there on 45 deg slope blocks. There was easier work to be had in the building boom of the 80’s.

So I had the Dandenong Ranges all to myself for a little over 5 years and supported my family in the process. There was no such thing as re-dryed treated pine, and nothing was stress graded so we had to grade it ourselves and work out ways of working with wet timber.
The only span chart available was a small booklet from the Timber Merchants Assoc.
Over time though, I built up a relationship with the building inspectors from the area, and when a particularly tricky application came along, we could usually nut something out between us.

I took a year off to build myself a timber framed house in Montrose before moving to Bendigo.

As it stands now, I have an old 12” 3HP table saw with a bent cast iron table, a 15” thicknesser and a 6” buzzer sitting, stacked up in my garden shed with nowhere to put them.

I’m now making animal enclosures in steel and mesh so my focus is on metal fabrication.

But I yearn to have a woodshop set up once more and reading these pages has given me yet more desire to somehow get one together, someday.
I reckon I’ll start by slowly restoring the machinery I have so they are 100% spot on.
Then figure out where to put them.

Sorry for the long winded intro.
Cheers all
Jim

**chambezio** · 19th July 2011, 01:03 PM

G'Day Jim
What a great story! You sound like a very adaptable bloke being able to pick up and run with different skills. Your FIL would have been a fascinating fella to talk too as well.
The gold mine you referred too is especially good due to its diversity of subject matter. there is very little that some one can't help you with.
I for one will keep an eye out for you as you contribute

**wheelinround** · 19th July 2011, 01:38 PM

It is at that a good tale.

Well how about a shed you can share with others for now and foster the desire more from what I read The Bendigo Woodturners do more than just turn and so close too.

Welcome to our forum

**Grandad-5** · 19th July 2011, 04:13 PM

Originally Posted by chambezio

You sound like a very adaptable bloke being able to pick up and run with different skills.

Well, I guess that's something else I have to thank the ex FIL for. I commented to him once that a guy working on the same site as us looked like a good tradesman.
"Hmph!" he replied. "Anybody can be good at their own trade. That's what they're trained to do and get to practice every day. It's when a bloke steps outside of his trade that you get to see just how good he is. And THAT guy is Bl*^%$y hopeless"

Your FIL would have been a fascinating fella to talk too as well.

We had our fair share of arguments. Can I tell you a little story?

We were working on a fit out at a new house and we had to swing some doors. He showed me how to recess the hinges into the door.
"First, measure down from the top 7" and up from the bottom 11". That's where you put the hinges"
"Why?" I asked.
"Cause that's how you do it. It won't swing right if you don't"
"Nonsense" I replied. "Makes no sense at all"
"JUST DO IT....And tell me when you're done."

Ok, I did as I was told, but for the life of me I couldn't get an answer for my question WHY do you do it.

Many years later, long after I'd lost contact with him, I was swinging a 4 panel Victorian door I'd restored in my own house.
I noticed I had better place the top hinge to clear the tenon for the top rail.
Same at the bottom to clear the bottom rail tenon.
As I looked at it, I realised the top hinge was closer to the top than the bottom one was from the bottom.
The light bulb went on.
I grabbed my white rule and measured.
Sure enough, the top hinge was roughly 7" from the top and the bottom one about 11" from the bottom.
"THAT'S why, you silly old bugger. You never knew why, just that, that was how you were shown to do it. The why never mattered to you"

What is it about this place that seems to bring on a case of verbal diarrhea in me? Ah well, bear with me. I do know how to shut-up. Been married a number of years.

I for one will keep an eye out for you as you contribute

I'll be doing more reading than contributing I think. The standard around here is WAY above me.

**Grandad-5** · 19th July 2011, 04:22 PM

Originally Posted by wheelinround

Well how about a shed you can share with others for now and foster the desire more from what I read The Bendigo Woodturners do more than just turn and so close too.

Closer than you think. Just down the road in fact.
I see their stand regularly in Bendigo. The stuff they do is incredible.
But to be honest, turning and scroll saw work has never interested me.

Now....What DOES interest me, for when I can stop having to earn a living and can just work to please myself, is these timber scale models I've seen on this forum.
WOW! That stuff is incredible. I'd love to have a go at that when I have more time on my hands.
A Durden Pacemaker would be considered a BIG table saw for that kind of work. A drill press probably, maybe a small lathe? All stuff I could fit in anywhere. Even the little shop I have now.

**John T** · 19th July 2011, 04:31 PM

welcome aboard to the forum of good mates.john

**Christos** · 19th July 2011, 06:41 PM

Welcome to the forum. Very interesting read.

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