I’ve headed into the big list of drafts in the back end of my website because I’m in the mood for writing blog posts and sharing photos at the moment. This one, in particular, has been over a year in the making, so it’s about time I cracked on and finished it.
I’d wanted to be more practical and do things without using a computer or a camera for some time. So last year (that’s 2025), I decided to pull my finger out and teach myself how to use woodworking tools. I already had all sorts of bits and pieces in the cellar, which had been waiting for me to find the time and inclination to use them. After reorganising my working week, I managed to set aside half a day, with the intention of dedicating it to woodworking.
As time has passed over the past year, things have inevitably changed, and I haven’t been able to spend as much time learning as I’d hoped. However, if my abilities were based on the number of YouTube videos I’ve watched, I’d imagine I should be able to make things relatively well by now.
Of course, I’m no expert and have only a very small amount of practical experience, but I’m quite pleased with the little bug hotel I made for our balcony, which is shown in the photograph accompanying this blog post. (It’s due a small upgrade with a mesh front, which I hope to fit soon, once I’ve also made a few other small things, such as a modified and reinforced desktop between two IKEA office units in my home office. I also have a little pile of various ideas and test pieces sitting next to the woodpile in the cellar.
I have plenty of wood to be getting on with because a house was rebuilt on our street last year, and the builders had quite a sizeable pile of leftover pine beams. Expecting to have to pay for them, I left a note pinned to the top of the pile with my telephone number. I was amazed—given the fact that we’re in Switzerland—to receive a phone call saying that I could simply take whatever I could use, free of charge.
The thing I’m most looking forward to making is a linen-basket-style unit for my home office. It will be triangular because of the peculiarities of the remaining space in the small room. Hence, a decent amount of measuring and trigonometry, for the first time in many years. There’s a lot more maths involved in woodworking than I anticipated.
As I’m a big fan of buying fancy bits of kit for my hobbies, I also have to keep a lid on buying anything new until I’ve actually made a few pieces. My interest doesn’t lie in small, fiddly projects, but rather in practical solutions to things I need. Since starting this new hobby, I have invested in a drill, a jigsaw, and plenty of smaller bits and pieces. Jo bought me an electric planer and I found a great little precision mitre saw in the local brocante for next to nothing, and a project in the office I rent for work saw the purchase of a Dewalt sander. This saw some proper use at home last summer, when I finally got around to restoring the tops of our dining and coffee tables.
I don’t need any more picture frames, as I think I already have at least a few dozen that I’ve bought from various places at various times, many of which are collecting dust. That being said, I would like to make myself a nice panoramic (3:1) picture frame at some point, which will be custom-measured to align with the maximum size of print and passepartout I can prepare at home. That’s one of my favourite approaches to photography; I’ve been taking panoramic photographs for so many years that I have a regular supply of new images that I can swap in and out whenever I feel like it.
All I have to do now is find the time to get back into the workshop in the cellar of our house, as the landlord used to be a professional woodworker. Autumn will hopefully be full of hiking and photography, but once the weather turns cold and the mountains turn white, I’m sure I’ll be able to devote a few more hours to staying indoors on a more regular basis.
For me, it’s all about enjoying the process: producing something with my hands and getting a great deal more pleasure than I probably should from simply cutting a piece of wood at the correct angle, finding a solution to something I’ve never tried before, and not relying on a computer to do all the work for me.
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