Showing posts with label where. Show all posts
Showing posts with label where. Show all posts
Monday, February 10, 2014
Its Wanderful Part 1 Where to Begin
About 3 months ago my Sister-in-Law asked me to make her a wand to take to the premiere of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II. It’s not that she often requests things (though she does have a bookcase I built), it’s that she’s A) a harry potter fan and B) a follower of mine on Google Buzz.
Fast forward to May of 2011 and as the movie date approaches I get asked to make wands, wands for my Wife, Sister-in-Law and her partner. Wands like Kenneth made.
Had Kenneth made a tool cabinet or a vacuum boom arm, I would have jumped right into the project. However, as Kenneth’s wand was faithful to the original (in that it is round and has carvings), it was a project well outside of my woodworking comfort zone. I’ve never worked in the round or carved before. As neither round work nor carving have held any appeal for me, I’ve never even read up on them (as I have with many other woodworking methods that I am interested in but have yet to try).
My first reaction was to stall. I didn’t really think about the project for 2 or 3 weeks. When I finally did begin planning, I went right to the source and contacted Kenneth about the wands. He was nice enough to provide some details on how he made his wand and some more detailed photos. The instructions still left this carving virgin wondering how I was going to make the wands. The photos though, were a fantastic help and a full 8.5” x 11” print out on photo paper served as my plan for making my wands.
Following Kenneth’s advice, I then contacted the best and most enthusiastic carver I know, Kari Hultman. Unfortunately, my total carving naiveté was a deficit that even Kari’s detailed email instructions could not overcome.
Frustrated, I then turned to my Dad, a rather proficient carver in his own right, for advice. He pointed me towards his vast collection of carving tools and said have at it. Unfortunately, as sharpening is a task I’m only slightly better at then carving (and his curved carving tools looked awfully hard to sharpen), I turned down his offer to lend me his carving gouges and I decided to make the wands from my own tools that I knew how to use.
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| Kenneths awesome wand that made my Sister-in-law go "Oh." |
You see, in November of 2010, my friend, Kenneth Woodruff, wrote a blog post about the fantastic Harry Potter wand he made for Halloween that year. As I was truly impressed, I of course shared it on Buzz. I happened to be visiting my Sister-in-Law at the time, and as soon as I shared it “that’s a cool wand” could be heard from her corner of the living room.
Had Kenneth made a tool cabinet or a vacuum boom arm, I would have jumped right into the project. However, as Kenneth’s wand was faithful to the original (in that it is round and has carvings), it was a project well outside of my woodworking comfort zone. I’ve never worked in the round or carved before. As neither round work nor carving have held any appeal for me, I’ve never even read up on them (as I have with many other woodworking methods that I am interested in but have yet to try).
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| Kenneths great carved wand handle. |
Following Kenneth’s advice, I then contacted the best and most enthusiastic carver I know, Kari Hultman. Unfortunately, my total carving naiveté was a deficit that even Kari’s detailed email instructions could not overcome.
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| One of 16 draws worth of carving gouges my dad has. |
What projects have your family talked you into?
Where to get easy Woodworking Plans for Beginner
It doesnt seriously matter if youve practiced woodworking for many years or if youre still a beginner, you can always have use for those easy woodworking plans. It will be much easier for you to end your projects if you stick to easy woodworking plans and I likely dont have to mention that it is critical to check out the exactness of the plan when you start working.
Its all up to you where you want to opt for your woodworking plans. You can find hundreds of them on the internet but not all of them are precise. Its more likely that youll get a great plan for your new project if you consult a book about the woodworking craft. A membership for a woodworking magazine might help you a lot too. Internet is a good source for many things and its a good place when you want to learn articles and study much about a specific subject, like woodworking, but its not the ideal place when you want to get easy woodworking plans.
It is crucial that youre aware of the fact that it will be possible for you to make several actually good pieces of furniture even if youre following easy woodworking plans. You can do a rocking arm chair or a good bureau if you would like and it doesnt have to be as difficult as it might seem. You should know that its not easy to be a talented and skillful craftsman even though and you will need to practice a lot if you want your furniture to look good.
Woodworking doesnt should be your career, you can have it as a hobby too. If you practice much you will be able to make most the furniture thats needed in a home and that can help you and your family to save lots of money since you wont should get all the high priced pieces of furniture in a store.
When youve done a few projects you might want to try more difficult plans and thats okay but you should always remember easy woodworking plans can be used even if you want a great final result. Its your work that matters. You can also come up with your own plans if youre skillful enough to figure out how to do it. That creates the craft of woodworking much more exciting definitely.
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Its all up to you where you want to opt for your woodworking plans. You can find hundreds of them on the internet but not all of them are precise. Its more likely that youll get a great plan for your new project if you consult a book about the woodworking craft. A membership for a woodworking magazine might help you a lot too. Internet is a good source for many things and its a good place when you want to learn articles and study much about a specific subject, like woodworking, but its not the ideal place when you want to get easy woodworking plans.
It is crucial that youre aware of the fact that it will be possible for you to make several actually good pieces of furniture even if youre following easy woodworking plans. You can do a rocking arm chair or a good bureau if you would like and it doesnt have to be as difficult as it might seem. You should know that its not easy to be a talented and skillful craftsman even though and you will need to practice a lot if you want your furniture to look good.
Woodworking doesnt should be your career, you can have it as a hobby too. If you practice much you will be able to make most the furniture thats needed in a home and that can help you and your family to save lots of money since you wont should get all the high priced pieces of furniture in a store.
When youve done a few projects you might want to try more difficult plans and thats okay but you should always remember easy woodworking plans can be used even if you want a great final result. Its your work that matters. You can also come up with your own plans if youre skillful enough to figure out how to do it. That creates the craft of woodworking much more exciting definitely.
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