Carpentry, Etc.
Carpentry became a hobby when I realized how much it would cost to have a deck built by a professional. I read a book on how to build one and began to think it might be possible for me to do. I started with a small treehouse for my children, then another larger one, and eventually turned to the area off our kitchen. I was off and running with the gift of a circular saw for Christmas.A circular saw can be intimidating, but using one is the quickest way to slice through a 2 x 6, and it didn’t take long before I become comfortable. After some initial missteps, many stripped screws, and hours spent redoing this or that part, I finally completed one deck and eventually built three more. Every so often I would learn how to use another power tool- a jigsaw, a sawzall, and a grinder-and this led to the production of more refined projects like furniture.
Once I learned these house-related projects were doable, I began to take on other things like creating a frog pond, laying a brick walk, making built-in bookshelves, and tiling floors.
After my most recent project, a fence, I finally made myself a workbench!