Carpentry is a wonderful area of craft to get into it, because it means you can do some serious work on your own home and get creative with it, without having to bring in contractors or outside help. Whether it’s making your own furniture pieces, or being able to remodel certain aspects of your property, carpentry is a significantly good skill to have.
However, getting started in carpentry from a novice point of view can be very overwhelming; what tools do you need? Where would you even start? How long does it take to learn?
If you’re thinking of getting started in carpentry, let this guide help you.
Decide Where You Will Have a Workshop
A good carpenter needs to have a workshop space, and it’s a good idea to try and arrange this as early as possible, as you will need a designated space to store your tools and hone your craft. Depending on you situation, a workshop space could be attached to your home, such as a garage or outbuilding, or you may need to set up a new building on a piece of land nearby.
Steel framed buildings are great for those customised workshop needs if you don’t have the space in your property.
Practice Your Skills
In order to improve your carpentry skills, you need to be able to do the following:
- Design items and be able to design a full plan for a piece of work before putting anything into action. If you struggle with your creativity skills or perhaps lack the means to put them down on to paper, you may want to practice your design and sketching skills, and find the right outlet for you, whether that’s drawing on paper or putting your designs on to a smart device using a computer-based illustration program.
- Measuring very precisely. It may sound simple, but if you’ve been estimating measurements the majority of your life or going off eye alone, then you’ll need to make sure you can measure effectively, and at different lengths (such as extremely long or awkward shapes).
- Skillful cutting with a variety of different materials. Practice trying to get as steady a hand as possible.
Get the Right Tools
A workman is only as good as his tools, and this is true when it comes to carpentry. If you cut corners when it comes to your tools, or opt for the cheapest possible, your work is going to suffer as a result.
If you’re serious about carpentry, then you may want to plan a budget for the best tools, and wait until you can comfortably afford what you need before you start anything. You don’t want to be impatient and rush for the cheapest tools in the first instance.
It’s also important to do your research and find out about the best tools suited for what you have planned. Make a checklist for the right tools needed to properly kit out your workshop, then you can make a price comparison and shop around.
With these basics, you’ll be creating amazing pieces in no time.