All of us manly men (and lots of women too) have always dreamed of some day building some pieces of furniture for their homes. We all go to the Restoration Hardware store and admire the beautiful, solid wood furniture and then look at the price tags and think, I can do this same job and pay for just the wood. If only it was that easy. But in reality it can be easy, but like anything else in this world that will be worth doing, you need to spend some time learning how to it and also you will need the correct tools. With the right tools and the proper education, just about anyone can build great looking furniture.
If you are really good at teaching yourself, go to Home Depot or any bookstore or library and get yourself some project books. There are dozens if not hundreds of these available for the simplest job to the most complicated. It is highly suggested that you begin with something simple before tackling a larger job. Some simple woodworking projects that you can learn fairly easily are things like benches, small tables, shelving, etc. You may not want to tackle a dresser just yet or a large kitchen table or even chairs which are much trickier for the novice.
Woodworking projects can be fun and very satisfying, but they can also leave you very frustrated, especially if you dont have the right workspace and tools handy. Tools can be very expensive and you need to study the project guide first and buy all of the tools that the project guide recommends. Sometimes the project guides do not recommend every single tool that you will need for the woodworking projects that you choose so you might have to take a few trips to the hardware store.
Your workspace is very important and you need a place that is large enough to accommodate the tools and workbench as well as your materials. It needs to be well ventilated in case of sawdust and fumes from stains, paint, and thinner. Your workspace for woodworking projects has to be private so that you are not constantly interrupted when you start. You need to think of yourself as an artisan or even an artist. Your dedication to your craft requires that you have a private place where you can concentrate on the woodworking projects at hand.
In order to get the very most of your woodworking projects experience you need to have some sort of basic knowledge first. Books and guides are great but cannot beat a real live human teacher who can take you from beginning to end. There are lots of great classes out there, especially at the junior college level. You can do a simple google search for woodworking projects and classes and you should get lots of results in your local area. Nothing beats expertise and experience and if you can learn the basics most of the time you can then learn more advanced techniques on your own.