G'Day everyone

[wraybjoern]

Woodworking has long been a fascination of mine, and I'm finally living in a house with a workshop space

Interests - furniture restoration and building, wooden boxes and wooden boats ( I bought plans for a wooden kayak nearly 20 years ago ).

Looking forward to meeting everyone here and getting advice ( 'cuz I'm a n00b), a shoulder to cry on ( 'cuz I'm going to make mistakes) and compliments when I manage to do something right!

Intros ... hmmmm ... I'm an Aussie who grew up in Canada and spent the last 10 years in Japan. Just moved back to Australia after a 31 year absence ( I'm 37 ). I love wood - my father does woodturning in his spare time and I was lucky enough to visit the wooden boatbuilding school in Port Townsend (USA) when I was in my late teens, and often went to see people building small wooden boats at the workshop on Granville Island in Vancouver (Canada). My kids are old enough now that I have some spare time on my hands, and I can finally start really getting into the hobby that I've dreamed about starting

[Johncs]

The official welcoming party seems to have gone missing

I'm sure they'll be back, in the meantime welcome to the group. Just in case you haven't noticed there's a lot of info here, and quite a few experts. Some of those whove impressed me are majorpanic whose workshop furniture, some say, would look well in their house. There's derekcohen who likes to use (and make!) planes. You should have a look at his old woman's tooth. There's woodwould who's not as fast or able as he used to be and is getting back into it after a break. I seem to recall he's fairly good at reproduction furniture. And Wongo, renowned maker of rocking horses. And Ruffly and the Tea Lady (who does a bit of pottery on the side)....

[seriola]

welcome to the forum, there is indeed a lot of info to be had and what better way to learn but from your own mistakes and sharing the experience of others.

Lovely place Canada, my wife is from B.C. and we visit family there regularly. You are probably in a slightly more familiar climate in Canberra than the semi arid environment that she has adapted to so well here, well most of the time anyway.

[artme]

G'day Wray and welcome to cyber heaven.

Interesting background yo have. look forward to your posts.

[Ed Reiss]

....the "official" welcoming party not missing, just taking a break for a couple of cold one's!!!

[masoth]

I hope your father had the time and opportunity of involving himself in woodworking whilst in Japan - I've seen some fascinating stuff from there.

OH. BTW a big WELCOME.

soth

Hmmm? Just read your post again - maybe your father was not in Japan with you - oh well.

[wraybjoern]

Hmmm? Just read your post again - maybe your father was not in Japan with you - oh well.

haha - father is Danish, mother is Aussie. We went from Canada -> Indonesia -> Australia -> Canada... then I married a lovely Japanese woman and we moved to Japan for 10 years and then -> Australia (yay I'm finally home!!!)

This is my 33rd move and I intend to not ever move again!

On a side note - what I've always wanted to do is build a wooden boat (a kayak) for my first 'real' project (as in ... something I want to take a long long time making absolutely perfect). Any suggestions? I have to get my brother to send over those blueprints I bought so long ago, but ... I've been checking around the web for other plans and have come across some very nice ones like:

The Great Auk: which is supposed to be relatively simple to build (good for beginners) and also relatively easy to use. It's roomy, stable moves easily in the water, and has lots of room for camping gear Pics of The Great Auk

Have any of you ever built a wooden Kayak? Any suggestions / ideas for which to build? Something like the one I linked above that is good for a beginner to try?

Regards,

WB

[munruben]

Welcome to the forum. Great place.

[billrule]

Wow, that is (can be) a great-looking craft. (Web-site's pretty spic too!)
I reckon half the battle will be getting wood good enough to match your dream. A (very) aged relative-by-marriage decided to make his great-grandchild (yes, GREAT) one of the Couta-boats he used to make as a young boatbuilder in Victoria, so he contacted all his old mates and told them of his last project (he'd been retired for years already) and urged them to dig out any bits of Huon pine they'd been hoarding for that special job; I suppose he judged that this WAS a special job. Anyhow, they came through, and he made the last great Couta boat. I reckon THAT would have been a great project to work on or even observe first-hand!

Anyway, welcome and good luck. I feel certain that if more people tried their hands, boat-building could become a lot more common than it is.

Bill