Woodoworking Experience/Expertise

Love the accent, Al. Reminds me of the old back pain adds "Back pain, doont tack it layin' doon"

Interesting poll, Kris.

Firstly, I still have and use the two coffee tables I made in secondary school, way back when. So I musta done something right there.

Secondly, I've been sanding and polishing floors for the past seventeen years and every week I have to rip out and replace either rotten, stained or broken boards. Along with that I also get lumbered with replacing floors where walls have been removed and a gapping hole has been left, plus I then have to replace skirtings, quad, architraves and on it goes.

So, with the repair side of things, I used to do it hard, just using a circular saw, some chisels, a plane and a lot of paitence.
Every time I went to Bunnings I used to watch the Triton video and think to my self "This has got to be an easier way than what I'm doing now"! To the point that I actually folded up the display workcentre to see how heavy and/or awkward it would be to lug into the homes I work in. To my pleasent suprise no worries. So I bought one, and the Router and table and biscuit joiner and finger jointer and super jaws and on it goes.

Simply, from at first 'needing' the workcentre for work, to now using it and all the other gear weekly to make things has turned me into a woodworker, of sorts.
I feel that I'm pretty damn lucky to be able to use the gear every week at work, as it has given me the opportunity to learn just what it's all capable of, and what I'm capable of. To the point that I have made up a jig to rout out the ends of the boards I'm replacing, making it both faster and neater. Also, I'm able to make my own floorboards from wider stock if I have trouble finding a rare, narrower size.

All this practice at work has given me a lot of confidence for my in the garage type work. Currently, I'm knocking up a dining table, which my wife is taking step by step photo's of along the way, so I'll be able to share the project with you guys.

I gotta admit, the more I use the woodworking gear the more I love it.

Wot Craig and Driver sed...


I did WW at school, then handyman stuff on my house. When I started turning, (~1996) In also started with making odd furniture pieces, in between the turning, so based experience from that time.

Alastair

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Originally Posted by ozwinner

Goad Moaning
Leets hoop eet stoops weath the doaurs? :eek: :D

Chairs, Aloon :)

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Er you traying to toke the puss?

As the son of a cabinetmaker, the nephew of a carpenter,the grandson, the great grandson and the great, great grandson of carpenters and a carpenter myself then just how many years should I admit to? :confused: :confused:

Why don't you expand the poll to include those who are tradesmen?

why not just ask how old everyone is ????/ the old pharts (like midge, oz, doorstop, soil-lentC etc....) can then say "when I was a lad, we used to live in a shoe box by the side of the road eat raw gravel fur breakfast AND pay for the priviledge, wake in the morning 4 hrs before we wen' to to sleep and work in a coal mine for tuppence" in between all thier bleedin' whinin' they will give sage advice like "respect yurr mutha", yabba yabba yabba..... "yes I remember when I was a lad the master usta beat us apprentices for wasting a nail or spilling some shellac... you could say we got a darn good shellaking Hahhhahhhhhaaaa!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!, you young'ins dont know 'ow good youse got it... ow, me gout is playing up, must be going to rain tonight..."

I myself have less than 1 yrs experience (see my age...) I'm a fast lerner.

I spent 5 years as an apprentice patternmaker, spent 15 years in all trades areas of the building industry including building my own 33 square home and only outlaying $350 in outside labour because the council wouldn't let me do the septic.

Because the plumber I got did such a rotten job I had to redo half of it. All he did was glue up the poly pipe (and missed half of the joints) and organise the council inspector.

See, the trouble with young people today is that they have NO RESPECT...

Whats that Guys???,
Can't quite hear youse, bit deef ya know

Can I count my 10yrs+ building car/home Audio, all MDF Fibreglass and car bog!

When combined with the poll on how many fingers do you still have - you get a pretty good idea on skill level:D

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Originally Posted by echnidna

Because there are so many different facets to woodworking the questions dont show skill levels in specific areas.

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Guys, we are almost thee, we need four more people to look at and use the poll in this thread to see the average yers of experience. Thanks to all those who have participated.

Cheers

Kris

The results are in and overwhelmingly, it seems we have a lot of experieince in the 1-5 year bracket (42%). This is great, being that many people are obviously using this forum to gain tips and advice from the experts out there such as 27% of people reporting they have over 20 years of experience.

Thankyou for participating in this poll and taking the time to reply. Don't forget to keep voting in it as it might be interesting to see those figures agin in a year or so.

Cheers

Kris