Shopsmith Forums

Farmer,

Glad you enjoyed what I wrote, except for that one thing.

Yes, Farmer, you can start there. But the problem is most beginning woodworkers will want to grow out the "carpenter" phase and make something more substantial. If they can't, they get discouraged, bored, and then give up the craft of woodworking altogether.

The tools you mentioned are all well and good, and most shops will be lost without most of them, but they are mostly carpenters tools. It will be hard to dimension and surface any lumber you need with these tools. You will be trapped into buying pre-dimensioned lumber which will limit your woodworking/project options.

You can start by purchasing your larger tools at garage/yard sales, but watch out. You will get what you pay for. There is usually a reason why they are selling them cheap, and its not because the tools are in excellent shape. It's usually the opposite of that. And there again lies another problem, most wouldn't know how to repair any problems with their newly-purchased seasoned tools, nor have the proper tools to make the repairs. Round-and-round it goes.

And for using a handsaw, not too many younger folks know how to use one, or even know what one looks like, or can tell a rip saw from a crosscut saw. Or how about even knowing how to use a hammer correctly. Sharpen a handplane, forget it. Most have no one to teach them even these basics, and that is where the biggest problem lies, and this problem is larger than the cost of tools.

I for one, have decided to take this problem head-on as much as possible and a few years ago opened my shop to the neighborhood kids who want to learn woodworking. Most have been growing up in my neighborhood since they were babies and have seen me working in my shop all their lives, and some have taken an interest in all of the things that take place in my shop.

It started out with all the noises coming from my shop and grew from there. I'm glad to have this chance of passing down my woodworking skiils, and my shop is open to any of them who are interested (and have their parents permission). This is what needs to take place if we want younger people to join our ranks. Otherwise, our skills will fade away when we do.

I'm just a simple woodworker, doing my best to keep the craft alive in my little place of the world. I just hope there are others doing the same.

markfive510 wrote:OKAY, Dave - I don't see sarcasm in my comments but I'll accept that. In the meantime I'll spend most of my forum time elsewhere. I've been living underground almost since I joined and maybe that is where I belong. My observations and opinions are rejected as criticism anyhow.

Markfive510
Truthfully what did you expect to happen from these your comments?

Does Anyone Do Woodworking
Anymore. It seems like the answer is no.
__________________
markfive510
Here in "Big Sky Country"

I guess I would expect some people to get a little upset, apparently you didn't and that is hard for me to understand why.
If you did expect them to get upset then I have to ask why the poor me the martyr reply we see above? Again I don't understand.

======================

Woodburner-

I didn't know you were interested in model trains, too! What scale are you in or collect?

BPR

I am sorry if my comments sounded critical or sarcastic. That was certainly not my intent. On the contrary, I was trying to say that we as a group might have some good things to bring to some of these young people. Please accept my apology, I meant no disrespect to anyone. I have at times in my life said things that I meant one way and they "came out" another. We have a young man in our community who makes his living with wood working. He got his start from an old guy who took him under his wing and tutored him. He was an athlete who was going to teach science, until he met one man with a passion to share. i am a teacher at heart, and I think many of the guys on this forum are as well. That was all I meant by my post. Thanks

woodburner wrote:I feel that it is are own fault that the younger generation (and even those who are my age) has lost interest in these type of subjects. How many of us reinforced the joys of working with our hands to our children? How many of us asked our children for help when we worked out in the shop? Not many I'm sure. I'm guilty of it myself. We only have to look at ourselves for this problem, not the younger people themselves.

Very good point. My son is 9 and I haven't really invited him to help me with projects until recently. But I'm trying to change that. I was given an old gutted arcade game cabinet and this has become "our" summer project. We're going to refurbish the cabinet, rebuild the control panel, add in a computer, and use it to play emulated arcade games. It will require a little bit of wood working, some electrical work, and computer building. He's gotten really excited about it and asks every evening when I get home if we can go work on it. Maybe it will spark something in him that lasts a lifetime.

I never had a shop class in school. Played in the band. But . . . I've always liked doing things with my hands. I was nailing boards together when I was just a kid. Did a built-in counter (very rough) in my mom's new office in high school. The REAL BUG finally bit about twenty years ago. Since then I've been enjoying the smell of cut wood, the taste of sawdust (isn't it one of the four basic food groups?), and the sound of tools in action. At 68 (yep, I'm one of the old guys) I've been teaching a few kids in my church how to turn pens and build bird houses. My 32 year old son and I are working together to build a slant-front desk for his new bride. So --- yes, there are some of us out here who still love to create things from wood.

As an aside, early in my "the bug bit me" era, HGTV carried Norm Abrahms on a daily basis, and there were other shows out there when DIY came along. You have to look to find woodworking (and wood turning) on TV these days. Stations and networks carry shows because people watch them. The don't when THEY don't. I'm grateful for the stuff coming out of ShopSmith.

Hi Farmer,

Wish I can find one of those cheap RAS's you are talking about. It's hard to find even a used one that's over 20 yrs. old for $100.00 or less where I live, if you can find a used one for sale at all.

Hey Rusty,

I remember when they were showing the repeats of those shows on those cable channels.

Fortunately, I was smart enough at the time to record them to VHS (VHS?) and have almost every episode on tape. Even the ones when Norm was using a Shopsmith in the shop. I learned how to use the timer on my VHS recorder and that helped quite a bit.

I'm in the process of transferring them to DVD. When I get done with that, I'll transfer them to whatever media they come out with next.

Now those channels are geared more toward landscaping and remodeling. They show the big picture but not so much the details of how to use certain tools. It seems the hosts of these newer shows are more interested in becoming some type of celebrity and less craftsman.

My local PBS channel seems to be showing less of "This Old House" and "The New Yankee Workshop" and I was really disappointed when DIY stopped the woodturning show and "Woodworks" with David Marks.

They only show what the advertiser's are willing to put their ads on the air with. That's the way TV has always worked.

My Dad didn't know much about building things. As a kid I enjoyed watching craftsmen build just about anything. As an adult I began collecting tools and convinced myself I can do anything I desire for myself. Just this morning thinking of the past reminded me of remodeling a postage stamp sized bathroom in our first house. I quite literally had room for only one towel rack and no money to buy one. I found scraps of wood and designed a towel rack built like an inverted pyramid. We were able to hang five towels on that simple towel rack. There was enough space between them so each towel had air space around it to dry. We enjoyed it and received compliments on it. I have often wondered if the next owner ripped it out the day he moved in. No matter, simply one more of those memories of solving ones own needs. I still get a rush every time I pull off one more simple minded solution. Man I wish had pictures of a few of those projects. The best part it that evey one of my kids and grandchildren have learned selfsufficiency in my shop. Any of them can think thru their needs as a result. fjimp