My first "project" - raw amatuer

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Right, this is mainly to encourage new guys because "there is always someone worse than you"....I am that guy :)

Brief history. We bought a property (5 acres) in a "horse" area this time last year. My experience before that was I once nailed a board to something, and I once cut some wood with a circular saw and didn't need to visit the ER. Thats it. So as part of the "deal" to moving is I got a workshop and I would try to learn how to do some basic woodworking, and I would love to try to learn how to do things with hand tools mainly. So it took the full year but I finally "converted" rather unique open style shed. Nothing is square, nothing is straight. The previous owner used some interesting methods but I got a pad installed than I tried my "first effort" at actual "work".

I added more corrugated iron to the space at the bottom. This is when I first discovered nothing was straight. I tried to "snake proof" things by adding foam at the bottom, screwing the sheets to the concrete or or fixing and gap filled the big open spots. Then I needed to add a front wall and door. I made my first stud wall....lots to learn, lots of mistakes, but we got there. I then made a door from some OSB and pallet wood. It kind of worked and learned a lot about hanging doors, fitting square doors to non square openings and making sure the grass in front of the door was lower than the frame :)

What did I learn?: When measuring for a stud wall, dont forget the top and bottom plate. Look above you when trying to figure out how to install something so you can fit the damn thing in. Corrugate iron is a nightmare. Never assume ANYTHING is level or straight. Sometime dodgy is best. Everything does not need to be perfect.

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So after painting the door, and fitting it I have a working, solid shed that now has electricity. Pretty happy for the low cost spent to be honest.
That pic is from a main window we have and that is part of the "view". So that needs fixing. I plan on putting a garden bed down the long side of the shed and some plants in front (on the corners). As part of the long wall I wanted something else to "take up room" and would grow some Jasmine around it.

So know the project. A geometric "wood art" type thing for outside. The goal was to just have a play. Use and old mitre box, tenon saw and my shooting board I had made. mainly using hand tools BUT no need to worry about flat as the wood I was using, was crap.

The base was a waterdamaged piece of plywood I salvage from a pallet that I was going to use as "scraps". It was not close to flat. I was also going to use offcuts of the pallet wood I used on the doors and other pallet wood I had lying around. I wanted this to be CHEAP and nasty. I just wanted to make some dust. Keep in mind I have no actual workbench but am using "techniques" to hold work. To plane parts I clamp a long piece of wood to the bench, than clamp the workpiece to that clamped bit of wood. Not ideal, but it works.

I tried to square up the plywood as best as possible remembering EVERYTHING was warped. Did a reasonable job. So I got out the wood, layed it out. Go an idea and went for it ;)

He is the initial "base design"

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Not going to lie, was pretty happy. So off I trot to Bunnings to grab an orbital sander (any excuse) and some small bullet head nails. I grabbed some white spray paint (mistake incoming) and some dark basic outdoor tint.

I used the mitre saw to make initial cuts above. Than used the shooting board with a #4 I sharpened up. To do the 45 degrees I clamped the speed square to the mitre board, it wasn't perfect but this job didn't need perfect. It was great experience though and I learned a lot. I had some leftover "liquid nails" and went nuts with that and some wood glue on the "joints". OH OH, I also jointed each long section of wood to get some chance of joining with the adjoining pieces. I didn't worry about this it was more for fun as I used my Great Great Grandfathers jack plane I receive through inheritance and his coffin plane. The Jack plane I set up to take some chunky shavings, the coffin plan more smoothing. AWESOME. Can't wait to use them in the future.

Once I had them on and weighted down with gym weights (no real setup to clamp effectively) I walked away. Next day I flipped it and trimmed the edges to the plywood. I then painted/stained the various areas and went to work on the edge. I had some old pine from a store I owned 10+ years ago that worked out perfect. Sized, cut, sanded then Boiled Linseed oil...painted the first coat. After the second coat on the project I attached the pine edging with the left over liquid nails, slammed some more nails into with the hammer, clamped what I could and walked away. ….and here it is.

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To be honest, I am pretty happy with it. Since this shot I planed the joints flush so will need a recoat of paint. Its not perfect, it was never going to be with the pieces I used. If I get 2 years out of it, I will be happy. I had some fun doing it and learned a heap...what did I learn.

Spray paint sucks. Apply first, than attach. Even using cardboard "shield" it still got on the main piece. Thankfully this piece was not for close viewing ;)
Nails...yeh they split wood, be careful on small pieces ;)
Oil based stain I will never use again, water based does my purposes well enough. The dark brown was oil based. Just harder to apply.
You need to a workbench. This will be my next project.
If I do this again (I will) I will do it with a WAY better condition backing board and try to size all the wood first. Would give a far superior job. This is obvious but not what I was trying to achieve.
I need a new mitre box and saw to go with it. Pretty easy to do, the old one from my uncle was....well...crap *shrugs*
Planing wood is awesome fun, especially with old sentimental planes.
Sometimes things don't go as planned, that's life, be prepared to adapt.

It was a simple project that I enjoyed. My list expanded for what I need to do in the shed (wall near the back for storage behind it, use the wall to hang tools, cabinets for the walls, workbench and other jigs) and for know I have to leave them as I need to get jobs done outside while the sun is shining. I can hide in the shed in winter. I have to teach myself how to setup garden beds, setup a leant-to shade house (frost is a killer here and my bonsais bit the dust last season), fix the rear fence as its non existent, start replacing horse paddock fences among other jobs that more want to jobs instead of need to jobs.

So yeh, if you are a newcomer, there is always someone worse...so don't be afraid to post your projects.

Good on ya Slothman for having a crack, we all learn by our experiences and you have learnt some lessons already.
keep up the good work.

Well done S,

Good start, keep posting

Thanks guys. Don't get me wrong, I understand 99% of you on this forum could knock a job like this out in WAY better quality in an hour or two (ok maybe 3 or 4) but this is aimed at the other 1%.

Its pretty intimidating reading through this forum and seeing the knowledge here. The level of workmanship, the experience and knowledge of tool maintenance, use and creation...its pretty awesome.

2 years ago, I would never even have considered trying to build a stud wall, or a door...or even tried to do this....umm..what do you call it "eye piece". I honestly have no clue so I figured, I can't be the only one.

I am also not going to lie...the sense of accomplishment for learning something new and creating instead of grabbing something from bunnings...yeh it was pretty cool.

So I hope other newbies just jump in and have a go. Don't worry initially about perfection, get familiar with what your doing and have some fun. The way I figured it, it cost me next to nothing to try (despite the other halfs request to just get a handyman to finish the shed) and the worst I was attempting was adding stuff that could be removed, so who cared if it went wrong.

Mate that looks great, you're far too modest.

It sounds like you've learnt a tonne and you're on the right track.

I did a workbench as my first project, too. Very satisfying. Best of luck with that one. My tip as a newbie with a workbench is think outside the box for wood and material. Because I wanted to add a lot of weight to mine because it was going to be small, I went to Bunnings and ended up dragging home some merbau deck posts which I'd never seen used on furniture but were big and heavy. I didn't have shooting boards or anything so ended up referencing them all by clamping them all together and going at them with a belt sander. That type of thing. It was all pretty rough and I had many frustrating setbacks (the front vice!!) but the end product works well.

What Cgcc said.
Never be afraid to ask for advice here. There's always someone here who knows the answer.

Quote:

Originally Posted by AlexS

Never be afraid to ask for advice here. There's always someone here who knows the answer.

And always someone else here who will benefit from having the discussion !

You have started. That's 1/2 the battle.
A large bench is a good idea. You are no longer grovelling on the floor.
My bench is crude, 96" x 32", so accidentally drilling a hole in the top is no big deal.

Shelves. Learn to cut and make up reasonable shelf brackets from junk lumber.
You can't have enough shelves in a shed.

The joke is that you can cut up a lounge room coffee table and make a perfectly good freight pallet out of it.