Woodworking covers a big number of various activities, including turning, woodcarving, marquetry, cabinetmaking and joinery, however, every specialist craftsman or craftswoman has at some time mastered the basics of measuring and marking, dimensioning, assembling and finishing considered the fundamentals of woodworking skills that are the center of any woodworking calling.
The power to think in 3 dimensions is required to mark out the wood for a project and to imagine how one element fits with another and in what order is needed of a woodworker. You'll too need to know which tools will give the best results, depending on the degree of accuracy needed and the properties of the wood you are employing.
Dimensioning is the action of reducing raw materials accurately to size. This almost invariably entails planning components square and true - a procedure that is simple in principle but takes more practice to become perfect.
Cutting and assembling a diversity of joints are part of all but the simplest of woodworking projects. Long been regarded as a measure of a woodworker’s skills, joinery requires a steady hand eye coordination, but experience will tell you the best method to fasten one piece of wood to another beautifully and discreetly without sacrificing strength.
One essential plus to these crucial skills is an appreciation of how wood behaves. It's a singular, living material that continues to swell and contract with alterations in humidity, a factor that a woodworker must deal with in the design and building of every project. Some woods are easier to work with than others, and each piece, regardless of the species, is single in the way the grain turns and twists.
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There is no one right method to do anything in woodworking. The correct method is the way that works best for you and what works best is a balance between the time something takes, the tools available, the pleasure you take in the operation and the quality of results you are seeking.
There are arguments for both the use of hand tools and the use of machines for woodworking. A few say that using hand tools permit you to develop the ‘knack’ of cutting and shaping wood without tearing the grain. While other woodworking experts proclaim that you can often complete a project in less time with hand tools because of the set up needed for the mechanical tools. Others believe just the opposite.
With a little patience, the correct tool and techniques and a good set of plans, you have to build something you’ll treasure for years to come.
