Build your “Woodworking Village”

Ask SAWS: What’s the best way to get into retirement woodworking?

One of the questions we get from prospective members is what is the best way to get into woodworking? There is not one simple answer to that question. My personal view is that you should start by building a woodworking village.

A bit of background that has shaped my perspective.

I have been a woodworker for many years and continue to learn and be inspired. I started as many did working with my dad, in the school shop then on many home projects. SAWS showed me the wide range of woodworking and inspired me to make things better. I slowly built up my tools and shop until I had a three car garage with all the good machine tools (and only one car to park).

Due to my wife’s failing health we were forced to downsize to a condo with a small garage. The major machine tools had to go but they found a new home at my daughter’s cabin. I get to visit them occasionally. The silver lining of our move to the condo was that the “village” recreation centre included a complete wood shop. By a major stroke of luck I was asked to develop the shop.

It was a wonderful opportunity to build a new shop with someone else’s money.

The shop is open to any of the 800 residents after they have an orientation which includes the rules of use and a tour of the available equipment. The users range from young people in their 20-30ies to a couple of 90 year young people. Their experience ranges from sheer fear of the machines to trade experience.

A lot of the users are retired and come from a house, had some tools and did the usual home projects. Just as we were building a group of users the dreaded COVID hit us and shop time was blocked or restricted to only one person. The major issues come from the wide range of users who have varying degrees of experience and respect for the shop and the equipment.

Our process now is to educate by person to person or notes placed around the shop. It was/is our intent to form a loose “shop group” who could gather for community, education, sharing, and routine shop duties. Our best day so far was a cleaning and sharing day where about 12 people thoroughly cleaned and maintained the shop in three hours. It was a hoot!

We are looking forward to reenergizing the “spirit of the shop” after this pandemic is over.  

Village people

I think that whether you are young or at retirement age and considering woodworking as a hobby or careers, we benefit from building a “village” of people we can learn from and SAWS is a good place to do that. There are lots of people here with lots of different skills, and my experience has been that these people are happy to share their experiences.

Test drive options: SAWS is a good way to test drive interests, to find ways to try different equipment and understand options available as you find what interests you. I like old tools for example and know several people in the organization who do as well.

Find tools and equipment: We often have people selling tools and materials to get you started.

Get training: We have rebranded SAWS as a place “Where woodworkers learn.” The simplest of these is mentorship, members with skills, some who actually offer training opportunities and courses in their own shops. Others are there to answer questions and share knowledge as mentors.

Facebook: Our SAWS.ca Facebook community is a place to ask questions and get answers. And SAWS is hoping to offer more extensive training options in the future.

So I would encourage new woodworkers to think village as they start out. I have found it to be a rewarding and effective way to learn and to build friendships.

A few project completed in the village shop

Guitar stand

End table

Wine bottle tote