G'day from Brisbane

[DaveVman]

G'day all.
I'm a beginner although not entirely clueless. I have always been interested in woodworking. There is something about working this material that 'clicks' with me. I have messed around with some small woodworking projects many years ago off and on. I have built a few sheds and fences, boat repairs and little DIY things over the years. About 5 years ago I finally got a decent shed that I could use for a workshop. However I have been too poor and too busy with other things to actually do much in there. I thinkin all that time the most I ever did in there was to make a solid wooden door.That turned out well and is still going strong.

I tend to way overthink any project. I am slow and frankly not very good but I do really enjoy working with wood.

I am hoping that next year I might have some disposable income so that I can actually have a hobby.
I'm currently doing some renovations in the house.These have to be my priority at the moment. SWMBO has given me her blessing to take wood working up as a hobby as long as I don't get obsessive about it.

For many, many years I have been using a Triton 2000 workcentre. I still have it. However the table top has seen better days. I might have to invest in that to keep it usable so that I have some kind of table saw and cross cut saw. I really want a proper table saw and a mitre saw but I just don't have enough budget.

For the first time in my life I have an air compressor at home. It is a cheap and nasty one from SuperCheap Auto but I'm wrapped just to have one at all. Apart from that I have very few tools. Which is kind of nice because I love buying new tools. The draw back is not having the money to buy them! However I hope to very gradually acquire what I need.

Apart from a lack of tools, I have 2 initial problems to solve.
1. Where do I get cheap wood (e.g. pine) to do beginner projects with? The max I can tow is 750kg unbraked on a rental trailer.
2. I need a bench.

So I'll post questions about these topics in the applicable forums and I look forward to learning from others.


Dave.

[crowie]

G'Day & Welcome to a top forum "David",
There are a stack of members in Brisbane & S.E. Queensland plus the rest of the world.....
You'll find a heap of helpful & knowledgeable blokes & ladies on the forum and for most very willing to assist.
Make sure you show off your handiwork as everyone loves a photo, especially WIP [Work In Progress] photos with build notes.
Enjoy the forum.
Enjoy your woodwork......
Cheers crowie

On the bench....I've used a couple of recycled solid core door on a frame of 4" x 2" framing pine I got from Hudson's [but of course most timber merchants sell framing timber].
Most of the rest of timber I have I have scrounged from curb side cleanups, builder mates offcuts or just friends who want to clear out......
On the tools question...watch the forum "market place" as many members are very reasonable plus you can look at garage sales, deceased estates, clearance sales and the like for the older quality hand tools & power tools....

[surfdabbler]

Welcome to the forum, fellow brisbanite! (And fellow David).

A great starting workbench is a couple of saw horses and a door stuck on top. I have a temporary 'bench' like this and it works well when I need an extra temporary bench in the garage or somewhere else. Long term, you'll want a more solid bench, but you progress as you go with improvements to your workspace and your toolkit. What you need depends so much on what sort of work you do. Project size makes a difference, small boxes, larger furniture, or house renovation type work? All wood, or metals, plastics? Fine work with hand tools, or feeding lots of wood through big machinery? Or a bit of everything.

You might be able to pick up a second hand table and resize it to become a workbench.

Council pickups are a great place to pick up cheap wood. Check the council website to find out the dates for different areas around brisbane. If you aren't too fussy, there's plenty of old junk to be retrieved, and with a bit of work, you can turn it into something useful. Just be mindful of your storage space when working out how much wood to collect.

Anyway, have fun getting into it!

[DaveVman]

Thanks for the comments and ideas.

My main frustration of not having a bench is not having a vice. For example I now need to plane a board down to make some skirting boards to match the existing 50 year old ones. This is going to be a royal pain in the backside without a bench and without a vice.
Hence I definately want a woodworking bench with at least a front quick release vice.

[old1955]

Welcome to the forum Dave.

[Christos]

Welcome to the forum.

[DaveVman]

Thank you for the welcome messages guys.

[Bebbo]

Thanks for the comments and ideas.

My main frustration of not having a bench is not having a vice. For example I now need to plane a board down to make some skirting boards to match the existing 50 year old ones. This is going to be a royal pain in the backside without a bench and without a vice.
Hence I definately want a woodworking bench with at least a front quick release vice.

Make a mft top. Use some dogs.

Hit up caylamax at brendale some some old timber and demo stuff.

Im in ferny grove. Welcome aboard!

Sent from my LG-H815 using Tapatalk

[JJF]

Welcome to a forum