How/Where to learn Woodwork?

Hi everyone, Im really interested in learning about woodwork.

I first done it in high school and took a liking to it but never continued with it afterwards because I never had/made time for it. Anyway, Im at a stage now where Im looking to explore interests and Id like to get into woodwork.

Im interested in trying to make all sorts of things like tables, cabinents, tv stands, chairs, toys anything that could be made in home set up.

I live between Newcastle and Maitland, NSW and have googled for any local classes for beginners without much success.

Any recommendations for local classes that I may of missed or other ways to begin learning like youtube?

Sorry if Ive posted in the wrong area or left out information, just let me know and I can fix it.

What about a men's shed?
Not many have classes - you sort of learn by doing stuff.

Nothing and I mean NOTHING beats being able to to do something while you can be watched working by a skilled person so they can correct your (often subtle) mistakes.
Being able to show your work to a teacher for critical feedback at various stages along a project is second best.
One hour working with a skilled person is worth hundreds on you tube.
There's also lot of poor safety practices and the blind leading the blind on youtube.
It can be useful once you have a solid grasp of the basics.

Welcome to the forum Andy.

Welcome to the forum Andy,
I would say look for your local men's shed too. There are the odd woodwork courses around but few and far between. Usually specialising in one area of woodwork and expensive. Having done it at school is a good start. Those basics of getting things square and proper marking out already put you in front of most starting out.
Regards
John

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Originally Posted by BobL

What about a men's shed?
Not many have classes - you sort of learn by doing stuff.

Nothing and I mean NOTHING beats being able to to do something while you can be watched working by a skilled person so they can correct your (often subtle) mistakes.
Being able to show your work to a teacher for critical feedback at various stages along a project is second best.
One hour working with a skilled person is worth hundreds on you tube.
There's also lot of poor safety practices and the blind leading the blind on youtube.
It can be useful once you have a solid grasp of the basics.

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Yeah that would be ideal to have someone in person to teach and watch you on a project. I'll keep searching.

Ill look into Mens Shed, havent heard of that before.

Yeah makes sense what you said about Youtube.

Thanks for the reply.

Thanks old1955!

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Originally Posted by orraloon

Welcome to the forum Andy,
I would say look for your local men's shed too. There are the odd woodwork courses around but few and far between. Usually specialising in one area of woodwork and expensive. Having done it at school is a good start. Those basics of getting things square and proper marking out already put you in front of most starting out.
Regards
John

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Ok thanks John, I will look into it

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Originally Posted by orraloon

Welcome to the forum Andy,
I would say look for your local men's shed too. There are the odd woodwork courses around but few and far between. Usually specialising in one area of woodwork and expensive. Having done it at school is a good start. Those basics of getting things square and proper marking out already put you in front of most starting out.
Regards
John

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Thanks and yeah I will look into the local Mens Shed.

Welcome Andy ,definately a men's shed is a positive for sure a lot of folk there have yrs of experience ,most are only too happy to share .
Don't forget other sources to compliment such as in using a local Library to find well intentioned reading on various aspects of wood usage.Check the Market place here on the forums for tools,,books etc that may fall within your budget.

One suggestion I have (not a lot of point leading you to Mens sheds when you have said you will check them out) is to look at some of the free access videos on finewoodworking.com. They are one of the main American mags and have a range of generalist short videos intended for beginners, plus a wide range of subscriber only videos that are more in depth, either detailed ways to achieve a single objective such as a particular joint, gluing up a top etc, or series to create a specific project that has been in a magazine. To access the subscriber only content you need to buy an online subscription, which gives you online access to their magazine library as well, but the range of free access will give you an idea of their production quality etc and help you decide whether you think access to the subs only might be useful. A lot of people turn their nose up at American content because their designs are in imperial dimensions and we have metric sized timber here, but they are a good source of inspiration for people who can understand the concepts used and design something quite similar that suits the locally available materials, space to accommodate the finished object etc.

Highlandwoodworking.com and woodsmith.com have some similar content as well.

These are not in the same league as supervised hands on training and experience, but give you good exposure to processes and methods, and the projects give you a chance to understand the reasoning and planning that goes an item.

I have been watching how to videos by Paul Sellers on you tube he has some pretty damn good tips from sharpening a chisel to restoring old hand tools (but don't let the hand tool restoration bug bite ya like it bit me and it bit me bad lol)

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Originally Posted by John Saxton

Welcome Andy ,definately a men's shed is a positive for sure a lot of folk there have yrs of experience ,most are only too happy to share .
Don't forget other sources to compliment such as in using a local Library to find well intentioned reading on various aspects of wood usage.Check the Market place here on the forums for tools,,books etc that may fall within your budget.

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Cheers Johnno

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Originally Posted by Skilsaw

I have been watching how to videos by Paul Sellers on you tube he has some pretty damn good tips from sharpening a chisel to restoring old hand tools (but don't let the hand tool restoration bug bite ya like it bit me and it bit me bad lol)

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haha Ill look into Paul Sellers now

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Originally Posted by malb

One suggestion I have (not a lot of point leading you to Mens sheds when you have said you will check them out) is to look at some of the free access videos on finewoodworking.com. They are one of the main American mags and have a range of generalist short videos intended for beginners, plus a wide range of subscriber only videos that are more in depth, either detailed ways to achieve a single objective such as a particular joint, gluing up a top etc, or series to create a specific project that has been in a magazine. To access the subscriber only content you need to buy an online subscription, which gives you online access to their magazine library as well, but the range of free access will give you an idea of their production quality etc and help you decide whether you think access to the subs only might be useful. A lot of people turn their nose up at American content because their designs are in imperial dimensions and we have metric sized timber here, but they are a good source of inspiration for people who can understand the concepts used and design something quite similar that suits the locally available materials, space to accommodate the finished object etc.

Highlandwoodworking.com and woodsmith.com have some similar content as well.

These are not in the same league as supervised hands on training and experience, but give you good exposure to processes and methods, and the projects give you a chance to understand the reasoning and planning that goes an item.

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Thank you very much, appreciate the reply. Ive made a note of the links and have some resources to start looking into.

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Originally Posted by jaygon79

I just got this and love it, you've got to have a look..
I understand finding the right detailed plans to build some projects to meet specific needs can be very difficult. This is among the most common problems woodworkers face today I donno if you might be interested but below you can find Easy-to-understand step by step instructions. I hope this will help you.

https://53682i4cuedl8mehk01np-ud1q.hop.clickbank.net/

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This seems like a blanket text from spam account. Will not be clicking that link.

Sorry if thats not the case.

He was a spammer. He is gone.

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Originally Posted by Andy1234

haha Ill look into Paul Sellers now

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Paul is a very good teacher of technique, you can't go far wrong watching him. I think the one basic step you need to learn is how to sharpen blades and chisels and what constitutes sharp. If you have to drive 200 kilometres to do that it will save you a lot of money and time because very few people when they start out have any idea of what sharp is and they waste a lot of money getting there. It would be a good short course for all new WW's if someone was to run one.

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Originally Posted by Chris Parks

Paul is a very good teacher of technique, you can't go far wrong watching him. I think the one basic step you need to learn is how to sharpen blades and chisels and what constitutes sharp. If you have to drive 200 kilometres to do that it will save you a lot of money and time because very few people when they start out have any idea of what sharp is and they waste a lot of money getting there. It would be a good short course for all new WW's if someone was to run one.

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I'll second that. The first thing I learned when I did a course with the late Les Miller was how to sharpen blades & tune planes. The first thing you learn at Sturt is the same. You will be surprised at how much easier that makes everything else.

Don't worry if two different teachers teach two different ways, as long as they both work. In most aspects of woodwork there is more than one way that works. Learn both, but use the one that works for you.

I don't know if you have a local community college, but they often run woodworking courses.