Is woodworking overwhelming?

Issue 14, August 2021

Hi ,

Welcome newcomers! I mentioned this newsletter a couple of times in recent videos and am thrilled so many of you signed up. I’ve been sending these out on the first Friday of the month for over a year now and it’s really fun to hear from so many of you who have shared your stories. I like to think of this as a newsletter that’s sorta about woodworking.

After thirteen years of making YouTube videos, it’s easy for me to forget that every viewer is at a different point in their woodworking journey. As an instructor whose focus is on the beginning woodworker, I often need to remind myself that even the most basic woodworking concepts are new to a lot of people. If I mention a rip cut, I want to make sure I have a resource that specifically covers the various types of cuts. If I apply finish to a project, I need to also have a video that explains finishes.

Which direction should pocket screws go? Why are woodscrews partially threaded? How can I hide plywood edges?

Recently, I’ve been fascinated by creating YouTube Shorts to answer some of these questions. For those of you unfamiliar, these are brief (under 60 seconds), vertical format videos meant to be watched on a phone.

As a woodworking educator, these offer the perfect opportunity to provide quick answers to specific questions without the need to pad out a 10-minute long video with useless information. It’s a fun challenge to boil down relevant information to about 150 words.

But on a recent Short, someone left this comment:

“There are so many little things to learn about woodworking. I don’t think I can remember it all!”

It got me thinking about how much content we are bombarded with and how I myself am a contributor to this information overload. A new woodworker can easily feel overwhelmed. On YouTube alone, there are hand tool videos, computerized tools videos, project videos, organizing videos, tips & tricks videos, tool reviews, personal stories, journeys, shop flexing videos, reaction videos, arguments over techniques...it never ends!

A lot of people thinking about starting a woodworking hobby get frozen in their tracks and never take the first step because they feel as though, “Everybody else seems to know everything and I’m going to screw something up if I don’t learn everything about everything!”

Guess what? I still feel this way sometimes and I’ve been woodworking nearly my entire life. I still screw things up. I know a fraction of what other guys seem to know about woodworking. I get sloppy. But here’s the most important thing about woodworking you need to know.

There’s not a lot you need to know.

Look, when it comes down to it, you need to learn how to use a saw to cut a board. Anyone can pick up a jigsaw and make a pretty reasonable cut with no real instruction. Next, you need to learn how to assemble the boards you cut. You can learn how to drill a hole and drive a screw in about 5 minutes. Even the most advanced woodworkers approach every project with these two fundamentals. They cut lumber and assemble the pieces.

Everyone begins woodworking from the same starting point. The fun part of the process is learning and growing through hands-on practice. You don’t need to know all the tiny details...you’ll figure those out on your own. I know it’s hard to believe, but people were doing this stuff long before YouTube was telling us the “Five Best Ways to Pound a Nail!”

Start simple. Build a small table. You’ll learn more in that build than five hours of binging woodworking videos can teach you.

Wait, I just made a compelling case to not watch my show. Hmm. I need to work on this marketing stuff. ;)

Have a great month,

Steve

P.S. Have you seen or listened to my new series, The Woodworking Talk Show? I’m really enjoying interviewing other woodworkers and hearing their stories. It’s a long-format show with one-on-one conversations featuring guests such as The Honest Carpenter, Bourbon Moth Woodworking, Homemade Modern, Shara Workshop Diaries, Blacktail Studio, and many more to come. You can watch it on YouTube or listen to the show on Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts. I hope you enjoy it!

Whether you are looking for a way to protect a special item or hoping to use up some scrap wood, building a small box is a perfect project to practice making square corners and accurate cuts.

From housing microphones and jewelry to beautifying tissues, a wooden box has a variety of uses and is a great way to get familiar with your tools. Boxes are also inexpensive to build and make lovely gifts.

Here are just a few of the unique boxes made by members of The Weekend Woodworker and The Weekend Workshop.