Idea Sparks

What's Next?

Audience: new to woodworking and deciding on your next project

In my teaching experience I often heard at the end of an intro class, "I like this woodworking thing, what can I do next?"

There are so many sources for helping you to decide on the next big project:

• Your maker space may have an entire catalog of courses, or a path, for you to follow

• Online you can find an unlimited number of projects, often with comprehensive instructions, even plans

• Your favorite new book on woodworking may provide a wide variety of projects to help build your skills

In fact, there are so many ways to turn, it becomes the 'paradox of choice.' You feel overwhelmed by the myriad choices and directions you might take. Here's some brief guidance that may help.

Tool Driven: You have access to multiple new tools, or are considering buying specialized tool for your own shop. Here are some examples.

• Bandsaw: you decide on a project that will require resawing, patterns beyond square lines, maybe some kind of sculpted workpiece, or bandsaw boxes.

• Lathe: Flatwork is not enough for you. You like the beauty of turned objects from single blanks of wood. Maybe you want to make cylindrical stretchers or legs.

• Table saw: There is a wide variety of joinery and special cuts you may do with a table saw. The dado stack might interest you. Of perhaps you want to work with some type of jig to create specific joinery.

• Hand Tools: Gravitating towards hand tools is a common beginner urge. There is a lot to learn about the character of different species of wood and hand tools allow for a special kind of familiarity.

Functionally Driven: Your SO sees your first effort and immediately asks for a variation, or something entirely different. Maybe a family member needs a custom piece of furniture, or kitchen storage and organization items.

Creative Expression: Where does the artist in you meet the woodworker? Well, in the shop of course. But the design process is in your head first. You indulge it by drawing designs or asking an AI agent to design based on your input. Now you have a design and it's something you really want to build out of wood and some auxiliary materials.

Logical Expansion of Skills: Weird, but think about being a furniture making apprentice, or joiner, in pre-industrial times. You may have been assigned a series of tasks that would slowly build your skills until you reached a journeyman status. A final stage in this process is your certification as a master and independent maker. It's a culmination after many small steps which may involve a number of things I mentioned above.