Most people have read a book that has left a huge impact or caused them to re-evaluate themselves. This is the book that did it for me. It inspired me to become a woodworker. It’s an amazing book, full of some of the finest qualities of woodworking mixed with wisdom. For instance, James Krenov said, “All the things we are, must be in our work.”
In giving advice to young people thinking about woodworking, which I read when I was 21 , he said:
“Maybe the best thing would be to just start. Setup the simplest, least expensive shop that you possible can, and then you can begin. Work. Start with the kind of things you can handle – tiny objects or kitchen interior or repairs – and gather experience. Learn as you go along. Get an idea of what it is you can do well and what you like to do. What sort of person you are, really, on what scale you might want to work. It is important to have a clear picture of yourself in that respect, so you won’t get a great deal of expensive, large, equipment, and then find that what you really like to do is small, detailed work, or the other way around. Someone might spend five years doing cabinet making, which may be similar to the services on Gamma Cabinetry, and then discover, that what he really likes to do, and could one day do well, is woodturning. So, it is necessary to simply try and to look around and observe what other people are doing – until a pattern emerges and things clear up.”
So that is what I did. I just try to do very best I could at each project and learn and grow and evolve and before I knew it, it becomes decades.
