I have furniture in my house that I need, but what I am doing with my 5 year journey in woodworking is making the furniture I want. I had a revelation 20 years ago. A friend of mine (with some help/teaching me how to woodwork) built a desk that was in a Tauton Press book on Desks. I think I spent some about $200 on the wood and the money I paid him probably was spent on my feeding me dinners. This desk solidified my interest in wood working. Sadly it took me 15 more years before I started (moved for a new job and lived in a condo until I moved back into a condo 7 years ago). Also, I saw the exact same desk just after I built mine being sold for $5,000 at a high end wood working shop in Pioneer Square in Seattle, WA. It was a revelation that I could use sweat equity to make nice things that I couldn't easily afford otherwise.
Now, I feel that my skill is up to the challenge to start building these items though I consider myself still very much a beginner. The challenge I have been facing is how do keep track of the potential items I want to build. I could certainly do this electronically. I just prefer something more simple that doesn't rely upon a computer. What I have found that works is that when I see things I like, I make a copy of the article or passage from a book and put it in one of those simple accordion style folders. I keep this with my woodworking books. That way, when I start to look for future projects, I have an easy way of sorting through things I thought interesting in the past. It's simple and low tech and it helps me from stressing out that I will forget something I really liked and want to build. Do you have a system you use?
I spend a lot of time browsing different types of furniture on my iPad and usually save images to a favourites folder. If I see something in a book, I snap a picture. I find that antique sites and eBay often include enough views to get a decent sense of the construction.The photo collection is pretty huge at this point, so I certainly forget about cool projects but the process feels pretty organic. I'm furnishing my apartment, so the order of projects is based on utility/need.
ReplyDeleteIf I added up the wood, hardware, tools and time, it's hard to say there's any economy in what I'm doing but I need to tell myself I'm building skill. Like you, I've been building things I could never afford - Scandinavian painted pine wardrobe, Egyptian style chest on legs, Dutch veneered frame. If I live long enough, I'm hoping this place will look like the MET museum.
I've considered the computer route as well for sure. I completely understanding hoping to live long enough to have a museum like set of furniture in the home. In terms of my time, I figure it's a hobby and if I wasn't doing this, I'd be doing something else. I happen to like woodworking and it costs less as a hobby now that I have the tools than some other hobbies I could be doing.
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