What does one start with

It is difficult to decide where to start. I guess a couple of photos of my garage workshop and on going projects and tools would be as good a place to start as any.

Recent side table in African Mahogany awaiting finishing.

A bed I made for my relative  using pine construction lumber (2X4) Birch plywood in the platform and Red Oak plywood in the headboard finished with a coat of wood conditioner and wax as topcoat. Regular nut bolts(6" long 5/16" dia) hold the bed together the wood used in the bed cost less than $30, plywood on the other hand needed almost one sheet(except the Red Oak plywood head board which was a scrap from another project) that cost another $30 it is good quality birch plywood as i felt using cheaper plywood would not give me satisfaction!!!

 Rails being buffed with wax indoors. The finish was decided based on the weather, I made this in winter and it was too cold to apply any other finish and having to cure the finish indoors limited what could use. Though I applied the finish outdoors and let it sit for a couple of hours I bought things inside as wax needs heat to be buffed. Even then it does give out some smell because of presence of volatile compounds in the commercially available wax. It needs to be at least 18-20 degrees Centigrade to apply wax. It was nearly 4-5 degree Centigrade those days.

 This is the first time I used any kind of finish on my projects. I had never got to mastering it so I left my projects unfinished as most were utilitarian. Wax with wood-conditioner (Kind of industrial version of shellac) gave me a pleasing finish I sanded the wood down to 320grit.

I had made tall shelves 6 feet in height about 2 feet deep thinking they will be useful in storing more stuff. That was a failure as storing small stuff in deep shelves is difficult and wastes lot of space. Things pile on top of each other and it is difficult to use. After a couple of years of tolerating the situation I have re-purposed the plywood of one shelf to make a cabinet to store my off cuts from various projects. Made this last week and believe me the stuff that you see stored in this shelf seemed ten times more when I was lying around in heaps and in corrugated boxes.

After 6 years of working on my own I decided to join a woodworking course in the community college. I had two aims one was to learn how to select lumber as an lumber yard seemed intimidating and they obviously could not teach you how to select wood. The other reason was to take their advanced woodworking course which was taught by a well awarded local craftsman. I was required to take both the beginning and intermediate course as a prerequisite to take up the advanced course. I ended up also taking up cabinet making course though I knew generally how to make cabinets. I am glad I did as the guy who teaches taught me plenty of stuff which the other two classes did not teach. It shows the importance of a teacher. Even though he was teaching a trade as opposed to a craft. Which meant focus on efficiency and speed and saving money and time. All the same he taught me more about wood working than the teacher who took the intermediate class. It goes to show that a good teacher matters a lot. I may not be able to take the advanced course after all as the guy who takes it has only one class in the year and I may move to India before that.

 This photo is of my bench made this in the college. At the last minute I decided that I preferred to keep the slats closer together for aesthetic reasons and wanted to start the back rest a bit more from the top than was in the original plan so I ended up two slats less. I still have to make those two and finish the bench. It has been giving good use even then for the last few months. I used pressure treated pine 2x4's for this bench. The blue tape you see is holding down a plastic sheet. I used it when I was spray painting the shelves I made for my sons room last year(another unfinished project... more on that later...)

 I made the table on the right as part of my basic course. It is made in African Mahogany. I believe Honduran Mahogany is the real Mahogany. Of late similar species are used, they have slightly different characteristics. Mahogany tends to turn a deep reddish brown on its own if it left unfinished. Even after finishing it eventually changes color though the process is slightly slower. It was a good learning experience for me to go to a lumber yard and actually make the selection and end up with enough wood and sufficient quantity. I had been buying finished lumber from Home Depot till then but was limited to Red Oak & Pine all surface finished on all four sides and available only in 3/4" thickness.

The table (Hallway table with drawers) on the left is part of my intermediate course that just got over.Table top, apron and drawers (not shown here) are made in Poplar. The legs made in left over African Mahogany. Poplar is priced about a third of the cost thus the choice. I did not want to use more expensive wood on learning projects. I had planned to move to India around then and I was not yet planning to take my household stuff in a container. So I decided to use a cheaper wood as I would have to just give it away at the time of moving. The thought of parting with my tools prompted me to think on the lines of starting a woodworking business in India!!!

I have most of the essential  machine tools that I need except a band saw. Only access to them is difficult as space is constricted as the garage is also used to store other stuff and till last year also accommodated one car when it snows or hails.

The Frame & Panel door shown above used here in the kitchen cabinet. I hope that a cabinet making business will  be financially viable in India. A change of profession is something difficult but let us see how it goes I will give it about couple of years to see if it makes sense. I did ask a few friends who are in the construction industry about the business scope. They  seemed to be positive. There are many variables though.  I thought that very few people are offering custom made wood cabinets  in India so that may be my niche. Though on costs etc the manufactured plastic/laminate board or imported stuff forms the majority of the market. So far I haven't come across anyone doing the kind of work I intend to do. Though I visit India almost every year I am not fully in touch with the trends. Problem is I don't have any friends in the woodworking business. May be some of you who have some idea of the trends and the knowledge of woodworking will help me with some info.

Most of my small tools are stored here. I made this shelf a couple of years back I cannot describe how much of a difference it made to be able to find my tool ready to go and to have place to store it back immediately after use. I found that I tend to spend upwards of 50% of my time in the shop searching for tools or going to retrieve them and store them and in setting up the tools for use as even the stationary ones don't have permanent place. It is a big problem. It will be quite some time till I have a well organised workshop!!  The Ridgid table saw is quite economical  sold through Home Depot it is incredible value for money and is quite precise and powerful  enough for most needs. The only problem I faced was that the blade arbor which holds the blade is not long enough. Thus it does not accommodate the 'Dial a Width Dado' blade . I discovered this a few years later after I purchased it. Still at $499 it is incredible value for money.  The closest competitor comes in at $700 and is not as good and is missing a few features.

Now I spent an hour  collecting the photos and discovered that they are quite messy and not of good quality and even an attempt to take pics of my workshop was a disaster as there is too much clutter and mess around. So I have decided to post a few pics of  each and a few of my projects(as yet incomplete :)). In the coming days I will try to make sense of the stuff I need to put up and the direction of the blog. So in the meanwhile just to get started here we go....

I also realized that I have got to stop using the phone camera!!

After some thought instead of posting anymore photos of my projects or shop I will post photos that I took of a furniture makers exhibition a few months back.  That will give me time to organize some of the information before I make anymore posts.