Keith Nuttle wrote:
On 11/20/2015 12:20 AM, Leon wrote:
On 11/19/2015 10:19 PM, Bill wrote:
I was reading Chris Pyes, book, "Woodcarving Materials, ...", Vol. 2,
recently and he brought up the topic of "Beginners Syndrome". He's
wrote
that it's common enough phenomenon that he thought he should say
something about it. Apparently it's characterized by reading a lot of
books and buying a lot of tools, and not making so many wood chips. I
haven't bought "that" many tools, but I can still identify a little
with
the poor suckers he's talking about. So instead of hovering over the
new
Marc Adams (School of Woodworking) catalog, that I just received,
like I
usually do (they are rather out of my budget anyway), I scanned it
more quickly without hovering, determined to get my shop in order : ).

It has started to occur to me just how much stuff is sold to people, in
various hobbies or pastimes, that might similarly suffer from
"Beginners
Syndrome". Just regard this as a PSA message. You might possibly know
someone suffering from BS.... ; ) Toss them a hammer and a nail and
ask them to make the knife--and to get on with it! When one has work
that takes all that you'll give it (a feeble excuse!), it's all too
easy
to fall into the BS trap! I think I need to learn how to cut a
pizza...into 7 slices... ahhhh!! Maybe 6 slices...okay.

Bill


That describes a great number here.
I think there is another factor to consider. Buying tools is one
thing, but buying materials is another.

When a person sees this piece of furniture he like, he goes out to buy
the materials. He finds the materials is a couple of hundred dollars.
wood, finish, handles, etc. He then see something similar for the
same price at a local store.

His choice is, buy the similar item, or try to build it himself.
Because he is unsure of his skill, he is most likely to buy the
similar item, rather the messing up it up and have a couple of hundred
dollars worth of expensive firewood, or an unfinished piece of
furniture sitting in his garage forever and still buying the similar
piece.
He could/should start with something smaller. The quality of
the "lesson" does not really increase with the size of the piece. I am
being systematic about choosing my lessons. Hopefully, I'll create my
second BBQ grill handle soon, this time using my (auction found, Stanley
#51) spokeshave. I need to sharpen it first (small hurdle). Yes, the
first handle I made, designed much like the original one, that it
replaced, only worked right for a year, but it is/was not an expensive
piece of firewood. And, I've since figured out a way to do better than
the original, and my "duplicate". I will be adding a "set screw" (as
the manufacturer should have used)! Hopefully, once this admittedly-tiny
and cheap project is complete, I'll have some confidence with a
spokeshave! Besides that, it sounds "fun"! FWIW, vegetable oil finish
worked fine.

Bill


I have been there done that.