Get Woodworking Week may be over, but don’t tell John.John is an 80 year old Korean war veteran who I’ve come to know because he wants to learn woodworking. While you’d be right to ask yourself why a one-eyed octogenarian who needs a walker is interested in learning a craft he currently knows nothing about, his reasoning turns out to be the same as many of us. John want’s to learn to woodwork because he needs a table for his computer and can’t find the right one commercially.John and I spent the afternoon in my shop where we discussed the basic table he plans to build and the method of building it. We went from hand cut mortise and tenons to routed floating tenons to pocket screws.

This joint is OK.

I know that while steering someone from a hand cut mortise and tenon to a pocket screw may be blasphemous to some, I was happy to do it.

This joint works too.

It’s not that I want John to be a power tool woodworker who only uses steel fasteners. It’s that I want John to be a woodworker. As he’s never built anything, I think jumping right into a table build with eight (8) hand cut mortise and tenons would be enough to turn anyone achoice in frustration. I stressed to John that as much as he’s eager to learn and practice joinery, it was also important to actually building something. The satisfaction and pride of actually building a pocket hole joined table will certainly nurture his love of woodworking more than the frustration of a table that won’t assemble because of miscut tenons.

Just be sure it ends in something like this.

I say this often because I feel it’s important. It is not about how you build something. It’s about that you do building something. Start small and simply. Let your first few projects succeed. Then, once you’ve learned the basics let your interest take you to any style of joinery method you choose.

Or like this. The important thing is to just build.

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The Wood Whisperer Guild is about to embark on their next group build -- the Tilt Top Table.

Safety first . . . and second . . . and third . . .

What is the Wood Whisperer Guild you ask? Surely you know already if you’re an active part of the online woodworking community. If you’re new, the Guild is the members section of the Wood Whisperer Site. Why be a member? There are many great reasons. If you’re not yet familiar with them, you can watch an exhausted and dreary eyed me talk about why the Guild is so great.

This build will be a neat project. It’s going to be a traditional tilt top table. While this traditional form of furniture isn’t quite to my taste, it is much to my wife’s. I’m sure that if it’s not quite your style either, someone you know will still love it.Regardless of style, it’s going to be an interesting build. It’ll be the first time a Guild Build breaks out the lathe. The flip top and gently splaying legs that extend the shape of the center turning will also be fun to build. Or you could bastardize the design and not turn or splay it, as I’d probably do.

That is the great thing about Guild Builds. Though it’s a community build of many Guild members building along with Marc, the project’s not as important as the community. I’ve never had as much fun building a project as I have with the Guild Builds I’ve participated in. Even when my own project veered off dramatically from the one Marc was building, it was still great to participate with the group and share the camaraderie that only comes from building along with a group. Short of sharing a classroom, the Wood Whisperer Guild is the best choice to enjoy you woodworking (and learn) with others.

Learn more about the table with Marcs introduction video.

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