I’ve had a liberating experience tonight chaps. I’ve been putting thought to what I want to spend the rest of my life doing as a career, and at the grand age of 33 i’ve finally decided to commit to becoming a joiner (of sorts).

I want to create bespoke built-in furniture, and be able to turn my hand at any other typical woodwork related job.

It’s not a complete flight of fantasy, I have experience of working with wood and other 3D media through my HND & Degree courses, I just never had the nuts to rely on my skills before..

With all this in mind I could use some advice. I need to rediscover my old skills and co-ordination, plus learn how to build things ‘proper’.

To any woodworkers out there, what’s going to prove to be the best way of gaining the skills required?
Are there any certificates/courses that come highly recommended or even essential?
I’m already planning an evening course or 3 over the next year or two, but the choice seems almost overwhelming. What particular courses etc should I focus on?

I did this.

Did an NVQ II in Bench Joinery at the grand old age of 31 and swapped career. Booked into my local college and was planning on doing an ICT in Joinery (non voccational) the got made redundant 6 months before 2 year course finished and very luckily got a job in a boat builders as a joiner and they allowed me to do all of the vocational stuff at work. Ace.

You will never stop learning, every day is a school day. I make doors, galleys, lockers etc in multi million pound yachts, a lot of ply and veneers. But quite a bit of Teak work.

As a hobby I have made 2 guitars, which is where my heart now lies as a true career, but mortgage commitments dictate otherwise at the mo.

Hope this helps, if not ask more.

First youll need premesis, and woodworking machines are noisy, then dust and chip extraction, along with decent machinery, possibly an office to plan in and have a cup of tea, away from the dust and to meet customers in.

I did a 4 year aprenticeship and got 6 city and guilds.

As for courses a wood maching course would be helpful to teach you how to use big nd proper machines, not the stuff from Band q.

Visit loads of shops and see how its made, and assembled,go to trade shows eg woodmex at the nec.

Have seen and dealt with a couple of amputations on panel saws in my 9 years (am the shop first aider). The machinery is very dangerous so has to be treated with great respect, so to highlight Projects point, a decent machinery course would be a must.

As a side note one of the accidents was to a chap 8 weeks before he retired, who had worked in shops all of his life. He said afterwards he was thinking of the future not the machine at the time. He always did it that way, buy this one occasion a small lapse and 3 fingers gone. Very surreal being on hands and knees with the ambulance crew trying to find his fingers.

phsychobiker, would you mind trading a few emails? i’d be really interested in hearing more about your experiences, pro’s/con’s etc..

project, I couldn’t agree more. i’m lucky enough to have a potential workshop available at very minimal cost.
I shall look into the trade shows, cheers

with regards to qualifications, what’s supposedly the best to have on your CV as such? and, at what point do the qualifications become handy in the workplace? ie, job interviews? quoting?

Its customers you need, and tbh if you want to make furniture, describe yourself as a cabinet maker 🙂

I enjoy carpentry also, and for years messed around with mdf and the like. Lately we’ve taken on my folks place which we intend to both extend (separate annex utilising an existing outbuilding) and do up.

First thing I made has been a tack room for my wife. Very enjoyable.

im really buzzing at the thought of doing a job that I know will bring me great satisfaction.

I just need to settle on a course or two at local colleges to get the ball rolling.
My son is also unaware that Daddy is going to turn his bedroom into a playroom dream in MDF..

Good luck!

I have just started my own business having worked in the same industry for over 20 years – sanitary ware and commercial washrooms.

You will end up working twice as hard but will enjoy it so much more when it’s your own business.

Don’t forget that the joinery bit is only a small part of what you will need to do. Who will do the purchasing, quoting, invoicing, PAYE, VAT etc? The list goes on.

Hi Slimjim78, whereabouts in the country are you?

I’m the technician/instructor on a furniture making course in Leamington Spa, Warwickshire. We run a City & Guilds level 1,2 and 3 qualification teaching furniture/cabinet making. We offer full-time 2-3 year courses in the above and also run very successful evening classes 4 nights a week in our workshops.
Click click…

My background is, that I myself did the course here in 1995 and went on to complete a degree in furniture design & Craftsmanship at Bucks College in 2000. I then worked for various bespoke cabinetmakers and architectural joinery companies, 2 years building narrowboats, another 2 making one-off fine furniture. Now I’ve come full-circle and work back at the college where it all started for me, alongside a friend I met at University who is the course leader here.

There are loads of opportunities for career progression after something like this and we have tons of ex-students who demonstrate this, many starting their own businesses and many working in all manner of related trades.

I think training would be a good route for you. I was 28 when I started my degree so also a bit of a late-starter. Don’t worry about that at all.

Depending on where in the country you are, you should be able to pick up some advice about where to start.
We are slap-bang in the middle of the country but we have links with other colleges who also provide similar courses.
Off the top of my head;

Oxford & Cherwell College (Also an ex-Bucks College course leader)
Burnley College
Shrewsbury College (I think)
Falmouth
Bucks College, High Wycombe

Anyway, its a good thing to get into I’d say although like any career, the working conditions can vary hugely. I’ve worked in furniture factories when I’ve been deprived of my senses(I may be over-egging this a bit) with ear defenders, mask and goggles on all day and loading chair legs in their hundreds onto a CNC Lathe, to working in a rural furniture cowshed and making one-off very expensive furniture from drawing right through to delivery.

I enjoy my current role as I get to do all sorts of creative things and also like the feeling of helping those new to it through the little stumbling blocks they encounter.

Feel free to give my colleague Jamie or me (Oli) a ring at Warwickshire College and perhaps we can help you out.

Incidentally, we just had our end of year show on Friday. We had some great pieces(The exhibition is still on for a week or so) and I got to have a little play with my new toy, a Gopro camera so did a little timelapse… You can’t really see any furniture, except for the interesting Union Jack table made by a Canadian international student, but it was just an excuse to use my new gadget 😀

[video]http://vimeo.com/44973788[/video]

Good luck in whatever you get into…

Very surreal being on hands and knees with the ambulance crew trying to find his fingers.

When i was doing my apprenticeship, a lecturer at our college had lost his thumb, while working in industry on a planner machine with a square block, theyre now outlawed.

also an untrained chap decided to cut a railway sleeper in half on a large circular saw, a highn risk of it jamming, it did jam so he piulled the sleeper back and gave it a good shove,his hand slipped and he took off this thumb and finger, and somebody had to sieve the saw dust in the pit below the saw to find them, before rushing to the hospital and sewing them back on.

Finally some great advice from Kayak above, who has been there and done a course, and now instructs on the course, well done that man.

Spend a few hours here

http://www.ukworkshop.co.uk/forums/index.php

Some very skilled and knowledgeable guys in there

SlimJim no problems email is marcel@kerrou2.wanadoo.co.uk

guys, thanks a bunch for your very helpful replies.
psychobiker, kayak23, I will be in touch shortly.

🙂

BTW, I’m based in Surrey, but not a million miles from Bucks/Wycombe

And if you’ve space it means that often bargains appear on ebay due to their size. I got a Swiss-made planer/thicknesser recently, for £58 – all 75kg of it.

ball is in motion, open evening visits being arranged, have even applied for an apprenticeship 😯

Excellent Slimjim78, good luck with it. 😀

i’ll still be touching base with you if that’s ok?