Which Area of Woodworking Appeals to You?

After a lot years as a professional woodworker, I think it’s about time that I speak about some of the choices I had to make. You will be faced with the same choices. The choices depend on what you love and what you are skilled at in woodworking. My thinking is that for those of you just starting out, it might be helpful to learn that there are quite a few ways to go. You will have to take your own path and, in light of that, it might be useful to be aware of what your options are. This is so that you can start off in the most suitable direction from the very start. For those of you with a bit more know-how than that, it’s still not too late to redirect your overall focus and gain knowledge of something new.



To begin, there are two principal areas of woodworking to ponder (carpentry and fine woodworking) and, when you have decided between them, you can go on from there into your chosen area of expertise. These choices should be made not only on what you aspire to do but also what you can do well. Not everybody is born to play the violin or be an astronaut and so it is with woodworking. To begin, what I recommend is to pick a section of woodworking that you like or that suits your purposes, give it your all and determine if you have the aptitude to go further and be really proficient at what you do. If you realize, at some point, that you are "barking up the wrong tree," so to speak, don’t give up, just try something new. If you become skillful in one area of woodworking, that does not necessarily mean that you will do well in all kinds of woodcraft.



Using myself as an example, I found out early on that while I was OK using hand tools, I lacked the skill of an artist. I tried woodturning on the lathe and had a similar outcome. However, when I began to design and fabricate furniture, using machines, my pieces started to turn out so well that I went into business doing that. In no time at all, I had customers at the door and up to seven employees working hard to produce my furniture designs and fill the orders that were coming in. Speaking of talent, I hired two, distinct types of woodworkers: Those who fabricated the furniture and those who sanded it smooth in order to ready it for finishing. Everyone had their own range of expertise and everyone who worked for me was happy to be in their own area of skill.



That’s just what happened to me. It will most likely be quite different for you. Let’s look at the big choice you will be required to make right away between carpentry and fine woodworking. Make no mistake about it; I have great admiration for both kinds of skills. I see them as equally difficult but in different ways. To me, carpentry is the art of building structures like houses, decks, sheds and gazebos. Materials include construction-grade wood, usually fir, plywood, concrete, drywall and the like. There are carpenters who build forms for foundations, framers who fabricate walls and roofs out of studs and rafters, drywall installers, roofers and finish carpenters whose skills are like those of a fine woodworker but different. There is always the goal to get the work completed on time and within the budget but there is also the absolute necessity for professional-quality work.



Fine woodworking, to me, is about fabricating gorgeous pieces out of rare hardwoods. The success of any piece is in the eye of the beholder. Imaginative but functional design is everything. Each piece is a work of art, in its own way. Extreme care and a high degree of precision are essential at every step of the way because the price of a board foot of Ebony, Cocobolo, Rosewood or Koa is way beyond that of a fir 2 x 4. There's an old carpentry saying, "measure twice, cut once" that is even more meaningful in fine woodworking than it is in carpentry. Carpentry needs precise blueprints or plans. The same is true of fine woodworking, only more so. Fine woodworking is usually performed indoors in a woodworking shop whereas carpentry can be done outdoors or indoors.



In fine woodworking, there is about an equal amount of time involved in sanding a piece as there is in building it. Sanding fine woodworking is an art in itself. While I have found both men and women to be about equally skilled in building furniture, almost all of my sanders were women because they seemed to have a finer touch and more of the patience required to turn out a flawless surface, ready for finishing.



Finishing is also an art unto itself. The purpose of all finishes is to armor the wood and to show off the grain. Any flaws due to a less than perfect sanding job will be as apparent as the nose on your face after the finish is applied. At this point, the only recourse is to sand off all the finish, re-do the sanding job and apply the finish once more. This is not only time-consuming but expensive if you are in business to make a profit. That’s why practiced sanders were so essential to my business.



There are numerous specialties and sub-specialties within both carpentry and fine woodworking. Some of them, in fine woodworking, are: design, assembly, wood turning, sanding and finishing. While it is quite customary for a fine woodworker to be talented in more than one of these areas, it is doubtful that he or she will become an expert in all of them. Keep working and trying new things and soon you’ll be doing what you love and you might even become really skilled at it!



About the Author:



Bob Gillespie writes on many subjects including fine woodworking. He is a full-time Internet marketer, woodworker and author who lives on the island of Maui in Hawaii. Learn more about fine woodworking at Bob's blog at:



http://woodworking.inetwyoming.com



and at his web site at:



http://www.perfectwoodworking.com



Another blog of possible interest



http://woodworking-plans.inetwyoming.com