5 Best tips to a woodworking jump start

So, you want to know how to start woodworking or take woodworking to the next level, but you don’t know how or where to start, and you need some decent advice?

Well, after reading the 5 tips in this blog post, you’ll have a ton of information to help you make that woodworking dream come true.

These 5 tips to start woodworking are simple but very powerful woodworking tips, so read them carefully and implement them in your situation and workshop. Like that you will get the most out of your hobby and have a woodworking jump start.

I also can recommend you to read my article, how long does it take to start woodworking. You will find some valuable information there as well.

Disclosure: At zero cost to you, I may get commissions for purchases made through links in this post. I earn from qualifying purchases as an Amazon associate. Products featured are selected based on quality, performance, and reputation, regardless of affiliate relationships.

Woodworking Jump Start Tip#1: Take Care of Your Safety

Woodworking is a satisfying hobby, trust me.

It’s a great way to de-stress after a busy working day, it can save you money by making your own, and it gives you a lot of satisfaction to see your finished product.

But before you find out how to start woodworking, you need to become aware of the safety aspect. That is also the reason why I discuss this as the first tip.

Before even making your first cut or hitting the button on a power tool, you need to protect yourself, both preventively and curative.

Related article: 5 steps to plan an efficient woodworking project

Personal protective equipment (PPE)

You can protect yourself preventively by taking certain precautions, such as wearing personal protective equipment.

As personal protective equipment it is recommended to use the following when you work in your workshop:

• Safety glasses, 
• Dust mask, 
• Hearing protection, 
• Safety shoes.

To find good examples of PPE for woodworking, check out my handy guide Woodworking Safety – What PPE Do You Need For Woodworking? I wrote another, more in-depth article, on how to find the best woodworking shoe.
Visit this blog and learn how to find the perfect shoes for you to wear in your workshop.

Avoid accidents

Before starting woodworking, it is good to think about the efforts you can make to make your workshop as safe as possible and to protect yourself against accidents.

For example, you can ensure that your workplace is always tidy so that you do not trip over items lying around.

Another good thing to implement is to avoid loose clothes, and if you have long hair, tie them together in a ponytail.

Try to determine as best you can to understand what could lead to possible accidents at your workplace and find solutions to prevent this.

First Aid Kit

Accidents happen, even though we try to avoid them as much as possible.
When disaster strikes you better be prepared. That is why I strongly recommend having a first aid kit in your workshop.

I previously wrote a blog that explains what you should have in a first aid kit.
An absolute must.
Be sure to read that blog because there is a ton of valuable information there.

When an accident happens, a first aid kit can limit the damage or in some cases avoid death.

Woodworking Jump Start Tip#2: Learn the Types of Wood​

When you first walk through the wood department of your local store, you can become overwhelmed seeing the many types of wood.
However, don’t be discouraged as it is not as complicated as you think.

The wide range of wood becomes clearer when you narrow it down.
You can divide woods into 4 major categories of types of wood: softwood, hardwood, plywood, and fiberboard.

Softwood

Softwood is wood from trees such as pines.
Because these trees grow quickly, the wood is softer, making it easier to cut.
This type of wood is cheap, but the disadvantage of softwood is that it is less stable. Softwood is therefore used a lot in constructions.

Hardwood

Hardwood is a very stable type of wood that is extremely suitable for long-lasting wood projects.
The downside to hardwood is that it is more expensive and because of the density of the wood it can be difficult to make perfect cuts by hand.

Plywood

Plywood consists of many wooden sheets glued together. You can buy plywood that is made from hardwood or softwood sheets in a variety of thicknesses and grades.

Plywood is an inexpensive material, just like softwood, but it can still have the strength and durability that hardwood has.

The large surface of a plywood sheet allows you to build larger projects.

The only downside to these plywood sheets is the layers you see on the sides.
These layers can easily be concealed with edging bands or by mounting your workpieces against each other in miter.
But those sides don’t necessarily have to be a con. By thinking outside the box and using those laminated sides, you can create unique projects.

Fiberboard

One last category I want to discuss is fiberboard.

The most well-known fiberboard is Medium Density Fiberboard, better known as MDF.

MDF is made by combining fibers of softwood and hardwood and adding resin as a binding agent.

The density of MDF is somewhere between plywood and hardwood, but it is very easy to work with.

MDF is extremely cheap and relatively durable. However, MDF also has a few drawbacks. For example, MDF can warp easily and is heavy.

What type of wood to use for a Woodworking Jump Start

If you are a novice woodworker, I recommend building your first projects with plywood, fiberboard, or softwood. Because of the lower price of the wood, you can make a mistake without having to throw away expensive wood.

However, if you want to practice your skills without spending money on wood, there is an even better way.

Recently I wrote a blog in which I discuss 7 ways how you can find free wood.

With free wood, you can make really nice projects such as the shoe rack that I made from used pallets.

Be sure to check out that blog here! On that blog you can download the FREE PLANS I offer, and build that pallet wood shoe rack easily.

Woodworking Jump Start Tip#3: Tools you need to start woodworking

You can’t do woodwork without tools, I probably won’t tell you anything new here.
But if you want to buy woodworking tools, you will notice that there is a wide range of tools being offered.

To get a better overview of the tools on offer, you can divide them into 2 large groups, the hand tools, and the power tools.

For getting started in woodworking, you can choose whether you want to do woodworking where you only want to use hand tools or a combination of hand tools and power tools.

OK, now you know what groups there are, you need to know what tools you need for getting started in woodworking.

Well, to help you with this, I wrote blogs earlier in which I list the best tools to start with woodworking.
For this, I used the knowledge and experience that I have built up over the years.
You can find those articles on the 10 recommended hand tools and 9 essential power tools here.

What personally helped me the most in building my workplace is an online course that I took, the ultimate workshop.
It has helped me so much that I regret not having discovered it sooner. That is precisely why I highly recommend it to anyone who starts a workshop or wants to expand a workshop.

I’ll tell you more about it on this page. Be sure to consider taking this course as this guide is more than worth the money.

Woodworking Jump Start Tip#4: Learn from other DIYers / woodworkers

Woodworking is a hobby that you don’t learn overnight.
You will have to spend a lot of time on learning techniques and finding out what works for you and what doesn’t.

Here you can choose between two options.
You can choose to experience everything yourself, or you can choose to look at people with experience and want to share their experience with you.

Personally, I think the best and fastest way to learn about woodworking is to look at other woodworkers. That is the main reason why I founded my YouTube channel and this blog website. This way I want to share all my experiences and inspire others.

Since you ended up on this blog, it means that you are looking to learn from others, and you’re already implementing this tip unconsciously. You’re doing well!

Because you are looking for tips and tricks, you have come to the right place.
Explore my website and my YouTube channel to learn to woodwork or get inspired into woodworking.

Keep following me in the future, as there are still a lot of exciting topics to come.

Woodworking Jump Start Tip#5/ Find a Good project to start woodworking

Ok, with the previous 4 tips you have undoubtedly collected a lot of information with which you can make that jump start in woodworking.

Now that you are getting started in woodworking you wonder which project to create first.
The answer to that is: start with super simple projects.
I did that too!

My very first project ever, I was still going to school at the time, was to make a simple wooden box.
Gradually I was able to update my skills and grow in woodworking.

The benefit of taking time is that as time goes on, your skills improve, so you can tackle more difficult projects.

When I started more and more intensively with woodworking, my vision was to make woodworking jigs that make it possible to work better and better.
I still have that vision and recommend it to you too.

Start building small jigs that you will use a lot and use those jigs to build new projects.
When building projects, you find out which jigs you can build next and that is how you keep expanding your workshop.

On my website and YouTube channel, you can find inspiration and ideas for the jigs that may apply to your workplace. Feel free to look around and download all the free building plans you need.

If you want to get inspired to make furniture or other fun building projects, I recommend buying this online guide where a lot of construction drawings and ideas are available for a very reasonable price.