Types of wood for projects. This is always an item of discussion when we communicate with our clients. Most of the clients have specific woods they like because they have seen them on pieces, or have a preference for light over dark woods or vice versa. Some like straight grain some like highly figured wood. When choosing the wood for a project you need to consider these aspects. As in all purchases, Cost rears its ugly head and comes in to the mix, sorry it has to be a factor but it is in our shop on a daily basis. If it is not something you have to consider, that’s great, otherwise you are in the same boat as most of us. 
Now let’s get into various aspects of wood, including quality, grade, cost, grain, color, durability and availability, wow how am I going to choose.​ Rino has a good site to help, also woodandshop.com can help with your decisions.
A good thing to keep in mind if cost comes into the mix, keep your eyes open for material that others may consider scrap or just want to clean out some old wood in their garage. For instance my son-in-law was wanting to clean his garage and had some wood, most in the rough, he has been storing for years. I took most of it and found a piece of birch (in the rough) that had enough material for a small desk top. I cleaned it up in the shop and made a top for a treadle base I had purchased and refurbished last year. The wood turned out to be beautiful once cleaned up and coated with poly, sometimes like they say, ‘a diamond in the rough’, this was one of those cases. Oh yeah the Wenge (Inlay and border) was left over from another project and worked well as accent here. Good scrap hunting!!

Learning more about woodworking. Here are two sites for the beginners in the group. Steve Ramsey Woodworking for Mere Mortals and https://www.youtube.com/user/Jayscustomcreations. Steve and Jay provide easy to follow material that can help you get a foot hold into your woodworking future. A few tried and true folks are listed below and will give you information that will save you many hours of frustration trying to learn on your own, and make your learning process fun. Some of these are for the more advanced woodworkers but will give you encouragement to see what is possible in the future.
-        Marc Spagnuolo, AKA The Wood Whisperer
-        Matthias Wandel

​Keeping your tools in good working order. Most power tools come with clear instructions how to keep your tools in good working order. When I was in the Navy I learned that a good maintenance program was fundamental to keeping the ship in good working order.

We find in our shop that a planned schedule of maintenance works well also, so a suggestion from us is that you make a simple plan to keep your tools in the condition that is stated in the tools user guide as a minimum. For those tools that do not have specific instructions you can go online to many sites and find guidelines to us. Pay head to these and you will find woodworking is fun and safe.

We find it good to make sure your tools are cleaned, sharpened, etc. before you put them away so they are ready for the next job, if you wait to do it before the start of the job you may forget. Have a great time in your shop.

Okay now that you have the woodworking bug, Always keep in mind that you are using tools that have the potential to produce beautiful work that can be passed down generation to generation. They also have the potential to cause injury if not used properly. Always follow the safety instructions that come with all power tools and many hand tools. Use good common sense. Always keep your tools in good working order, sharp tools work easier and produce a better outcome.
​
Before starting your project give thought to the possible problem areas that could cause injury and make sure you understand the safety steps necessary to prevent injury. Keep your mind on the task before you, don’t get side tracked so your mind wanders when working with tools.

Don’t sweat it, you can do it and you will have many hours and years of enjoyment when you create. Send us photos so we can see what you are doing.

Okay so I have been asked to post one of my ongoing jobs from the early stages onward. This is not my favorite thing because I have to remember to take photos and explain steps etc. and my thinking and processes do not generally jive with normal folks. But I will give it a shot.  Background my wife and I were in Canton TX First Monday Trade Days with some dear family friends, we were looking for a table base for a breakfast table or dining table (I have some African Mahogany) I was going to make. We did not have any luck with that but did stumble across this console base, purportedly from the Adolphus Hotel in Dallas TX .

Here is an article about the hotel. The Adolphus Hotel, Dallas, TX - HauntedRooms.com. I am not into haunted stuff so that was not the purpose of the purchase, we just liked the look and possibilities. Let me clarify something here, I am generally not focused on refurbishing or repurposing but as with the treadle base in an earlier post and this I just liked the piece, remember I did inform you I think not like normal folks.
This was designed to be bolted to the wall in front of elevators as a console table and at present cannot stand on its own, that is why I have temporarily clamped the piece of plywood to the back as a third leg. Also note the orange tie downs, these are being used as the back right side is kicking out and I am trying to square this up. To have a permanent fix I will have to weld a piece across the back to maintain square. No problem ‘cause in my son-in-law’s garage cleanout he had a welding machine also so I now have that one (I like free things), we also have one in the shop for metal working.
So my plan for this was to fabricate a wooden cabinet inside with three drawers coming out the front and installing a wooden top, not sure at this time what wood to use. However my plans now are altered after conferring with my most precious better half. The new plan is to still fabricate a cabinet inside, but with two drawers on the front, left and right side, and two or three drawers on the rear center, with a fixed top on the console and in the space between the cabinet top and console top install a pull-out extension to add versatility to the whole piece. I will start the project by making a mock cabinet out of mdf to make sure of the concept and piece sizes so as not to waste good wood in trial and error fabrication. Another thing I did not state earlier, I have concepts in my head that I can only get out by building, I cannot seem to draw them with sufficient detail to fabricate from these drawings. I am sure there is a medical term for this but I am not looking to define it.
This project will take time as I have other things to enjoy in life, My wife (Thank God for her), my great kids and their families, and my great grandchildren. These things will extend completion of this piece, no hurry and no worry. Family, is cool.

For those folks that want to get started in wood working and don’t have time to go to ‘school’, here is a link to a beginner’s site that will get you started. You do have to go through their sales video, but in the end, for the price, you get a decent amount of helpful information in one place. Good Luck, we hope it generates a desire to create. http://www.tedswoodworking.com