What we're building and what you'll leave with
Okay. So here's what we're doing for the next several weeks.
We're building a small shelf. Nothing fancy. Something in the range of 24 to 30 inches wide, one shelf or two depending on how you want to use it, meant for a wall in your entryway or your office or wherever you've got a spot that needs one. This is the same kind of project I built for myself back in 2011, when I had boxes of scanned family photos and documents and nowhere to put them. I couldn't find a shelf the right size at the store, so I made one. It was not great, but it held. Four years on my wall, actually, before my wife Mary pointed out one edge dipped a little. We'll talk about why later.
I picked this project on purpose. A shelf teaches you almost everything you need for the next ten projects without asking you to learn ten skills at once. You'll measure. You'll cut straight lines. You'll deal with a joint. You'll sand more than you think you should. You'll maybe learn to like sanding, actually, which sounds strange, I know.
What you'll actually leave with
By the end of this class you'll have a real shelf you built with your own hands, one you can hang in your house. But the shelf is not really the point. Here's what I care about more:
You'll know how to measure so your errors don't stack. This sounds small. It's not. I feel like most of the mistakes I made early on, and most of the mistakes I see people make now, come from measuring twice from two different starting points and thinking that's the safe way to do it. It isn't. It just gives you two chances to be wrong in two different directions. I'll show you the real trick, which is picking one reference edge and measuring from that same edge every single time.
You'll know how to cut a straight line with a hand saw before you ever touch a power tool. This is a little bit of an opinion of mine, and not everybody agrees with me on it. Most people want to get on the table saw right away because it looks like the real woodworking. But I think you should feel a hand saw bind up in a bad cut at least once. You feel the wood fighting you, you feel what happens when your angle drifts, and that teaches you something about what the power tool is doing at speed, where you can't feel it happening. So we start with hand tools. It's slower. I'm okay with slower.
You'll know what a dry fit is and why I do one every time, no exceptions. I glued a joint upside down once, years ago. Didn't notice until the clamps came off the next morning and the whole thing looked wrong. Now before any glue touches any wood, I put the pieces together dry, no glue at all, just to make sure everything goes where I think it goes. Takes thirty seconds. Saves you a ruined afternoon. I recommend this to everyone, every time, and I'm going to keep saying it through the whole class because it's the single easiest habit to skip when you're excited to finish.
You'll know why sanding matters more than people think. Most beginners quit two grits too early. This is the part of the project people actually touch with their hands for years afterward, so it's worth slowing down here instead of rushing to get to the finish.
What we're not doing, and why that's fine
We're using pine. Softwood, the cheap stuff from the hardware run, not a fancy hardwood. Some people bristle at that, like they want to jump straight to walnut or oak for their first build. I get a little tired of that idea honestly, because pine is forgiving. It's cheap enough that ruining a board doesn't sting, and it cuts and sands easy while you're still learning what your hands are doing. Save the hardwood for your second or third project, once you can cut a straight line without thinking hard about it.
And I'll say now, because it's fair to you: finishing is not my strong suit. Stains and varnishes give me fits, I get drips and uneven color more than I'd like to admit. I'll teach you what I know, but if you want to get serious about finishing, you'll want to look past me for that part.
One more thing while we're on the topic of edges. Early on I tried to route a fancy decorative edge on a shelf before I really understood what the router does, and it tore a chunk right out of the board. Ruined the piece. I stayed away from the router for two years after that, mostly out of embarrassment. So we're keeping the edges on this shelf simple. Clean and square is a good look. It's also a look you can actually pull off in week three of your first class.
Before next time: if you can, go pick up your pine a few days before we start cutting and let it sit in your garage or wherever you'll be working. Utah air is dry enough that wood moves as it sits, and I'd rather you cut a board that's already settled into your space than one that's still adjusting.