I have been doing some woodworking for the past couple years now (still very much an amateur). My woodworking started with making some standing bottle openers as presents (kind of like these [0]). All it required was some cheap pine, a bit of stain, a sander and a saw (I used my dad's table saw, but you could just use a hand saw). I have since made some various pieces of furniture, odds and ends like random shelves around my house and some cutting boards. My advice:
- Hand tools are a great place to start, they are cheap they don't take up much room, they don't make too much noise and dust. Working with hand tools can be pretty relaxing, and can also be a good workout (which could be a bonus or a negative). I do have a decent collection of power tools now but still not everything. The power tools I use the most are drill, miter saw, circular saw, and sander.
- Check craigslist often, both for cheap (sometimes free) wood and for cheap tools.
- You can make something really cool out of something else. I made a kitchen island out of some old wall cabinets and a butcher block I got off craigslist. I also made a pirate ship wheel out of old stair spindles and a garden hose reel. This allowed me to try out skills on a bigger project while using someone else's work to kind of start from. I didn't have to first learn how to make cabinets or learn to turn wood on a lathe.
- Youtube is your friend you can learn how to do almost anything. The maker channels are great but often times they do have a lot of specialized expensive power tools. The "This Old House" youtube channel [1] is pretty good and has a lot of good basics. Also "Woodworking for Mere Mortals" [2] as the name implies is also good at showing how you get things done without investing in super expensive specialized tools.
- You will always notice the mistakes you have made, but hardly anyone else will. And you will make mistakes, I have made plenty and there are still plenty in my "finished" products.
- Routers are super cool tools and with the different bits you can get you can make awesome professional looking patterns. I got my router and a set of bits off craigslist as well, but there are some cheap options out there.
- Hand tools are a great place to start, they are cheap they don't take up much room, they don't make too much noise and dust. Working with hand tools can be pretty relaxing, and can also be a good workout (which could be a bonus or a negative). I do have a decent collection of power tools now but still not everything. The power tools I use the most are drill, miter saw, circular saw, and sander.
- Check craigslist often, both for cheap (sometimes free) wood and for cheap tools.
- You can make something really cool out of something else. I made a kitchen island out of some old wall cabinets and a butcher block I got off craigslist. I also made a pirate ship wheel out of old stair spindles and a garden hose reel. This allowed me to try out skills on a bigger project while using someone else's work to kind of start from. I didn't have to first learn how to make cabinets or learn to turn wood on a lathe.
- Youtube is your friend you can learn how to do almost anything. The maker channels are great but often times they do have a lot of specialized expensive power tools. The "This Old House" youtube channel [1] is pretty good and has a lot of good basics. Also "Woodworking for Mere Mortals" [2] as the name implies is also good at showing how you get things done without investing in super expensive specialized tools.
- You will always notice the mistakes you have made, but hardly anyone else will. And you will make mistakes, I have made plenty and there are still plenty in my "finished" products.
- Routers are super cool tools and with the different bits you can get you can make awesome professional looking patterns. I got my router and a set of bits off craigslist as well, but there are some cheap options out there.
[0] https://www.etsy.com/listing/174667441/personalized-wood-bot...
[1] https://www.youtube.com/user/thisoldhouse
[2] https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBB7sYb14uBtk8UqSQYc9-w