If you are looking for a new hobby to occupy your spare time woodworking is an excellent choice. The list of projects that you can come up with is virtually endless. It is a great outlet for your creativity along with the satisfaction that you will experience in crafting and building something that you can be proud of. Many people who become interested in woodworking will focus on creating functional pieces that will add beauty to their homes while others will find that they want to take it to the next step and start bringing their creations to local craft shows and flea markets and create a residual income. In either case the first step is to find some woodworking plans and information that spark your interest and creativity.
Equipped with the right plan you will have a list of materials needed for your project, the tools and equipment required and assembly instructions complete with easy to follow diagrams. One note here is that when you are using equipment for the first time it is very important to understand how to use it properly to avoid injuries and to make sure your projects come out right. You can talk to the store where you are buying the particular piece of equipment, go online to the manufacturer’s website or talk to a friend that has some expertise.
If you are new to woodworking you may look at a piece and think that it would be easy to make when in fact that may or may not be the case. You want to start with simple projects. This allows you to get your feet wet in reading plans as well as becoming proficient in the use of both manual and power tools that you will be using as you progress.
One good place to start is to build a workbench for yourself. The reason for this is twofold. As you find more projects to work on you are going to need a strong steady surface to do this and secondly it is a relatively inexpensive project. If you make a mistake you will not be wasting a lot of money to correct it. You will find that this one piece will get a lot of use.
Other projects ideally suited for the beginner would be a picnic table, a bird house or a garden chair. These will get you familiar with varies techniques of woodworking that you will need to advance to more sophisticated projects such as a queen-sized bed, a bamboo covered coffee table or any other piece that will add beauty to your home.
A very good resource that you can use is online forums. There are a number of these on the internet that can provide you with invaluable information if you are just starting out. Many people are more than happy to share their knowledge with you and you can learn a great deal from them. I started out in woodworking after buying my first house because there was little to no money to furnish it. I wish at the time that the internet was around as it would have made the learning curve much quicker and more economical.
In conclusion, once you have completed a few simple projects you will find that you will be looking at a piece somewhere and say to yourself “I can do that better”. At this point you are only limited by your own creativity and ingenuity.