I’ve been drooling over cases at joystick vault, and I think I’m sold on making another stick completely from scratch. I’ll soon be starting a stick with a case I bought from sillypuddy (Thanks Joe!), but seeing these works of art is inspiring enough to make me at least look for classes.
I have a couple of questions though:
Is this work possible to do in a garage, given the right equipment? Would I have to go to a woodworking shop in order to complete this work, or could I get the tools from a Home Depot or a similar place?
This sort of work is perfect for a garage, I wish I had one. As for tools, you can get by with a power drill and a jigsaw with clever uses of straightedges and clamps. Bits and blades are expensive if you want quality ones, but if you’re not using a bit to make ~40 holes or cuts every day for a month, the cheapies will do just fine. Good brands for tools are PorterCable, DeWalt, and Bosch. Bosch has a jigsaw that is absolutely wonderful that I plan on buying soonish. Once I find the model number (and if you’re interested in dropping ~$150 on the last jigsaw you’ll ever need), I’ll post it.
Patience and attention to detail are the most important skills that are needed, followed by exceptional hand-eye coordination. It’s really not as difficult to get the basics down, but more advanced stuff (dovetail joints, how to bevel edges) will be a deffinate plus and make your work not only more sturdy, but classy as well.
One thing: you will need wood clamps. Lots and lots of wood clamps. If you are looking to get hardcore into woodworking (making cabinets, desks, tables, even instruments), you will be getting wood clamps for christmas and loving it.
Aww, it’s awesome, ain’t it? I’m gonna save me up some monies for a nice Bosch or something. Hell, the jigsaw/straightedge setup is so portable I could probably set it all up in the alley behind my apartment and whip out a few boxes in like a day.
Haha, nice, woodshop courses! I lucked out I guess, I took four years of woodshop back in highschool, so I know how to handle the equipment. Proper training really is key depending on what you’re working with, especially powered equipment. Even if you try to wing it yourself you wouldn’t learn the proper way to handle equipment, and that is very dangerous.
Good luck with your adventures there and I’m happy to see people taking woodshop seriously, I miss my old woodshop classes.
Thanks for all the answers so far. I’ll take these two classes into account, but first I think I need to take the fundamentals course:
Fundamentals of Woodworking with Lonnie Williams
It’s kinda pricey, so I may take that this summer and chill out for a bit before picking the others. I see now that woodworking is a great skill to have, so even if I don’t start a new case anytime soon, I’ll still look further into woodworking. It looks like it could be really rewarding.
All trades are rewarding, carpentry, plumbing, construction, electricians, the only offset is that it’s physical labor, something many people try to avoid.
