The Editors Mailbox

Inspiration from a Beginner

David Heim, contributor

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Not long ago, we polled users of FineWoodworking.Com to find out how they got started in woodworking. The following reply, from John Ryan, stood out from the rest not only for its poignancy but also for its optimism. We couldn’t resist sharing it. Here’s what John said:

I'm 42 years old and really new to woodworking. I've made some decks, put up a fence or two, and installed drywall and stuff in the house, but I've never made anything like furniture. In school, I went through computer science and now own an IT consulting firm and software development company.

Four years ago, my wife was diagnosed with breast cancer. She went through a mastectomy and chemotherapy. It was a trying time and she continues on some meds until next year. Last year, one of my daughters was diagnosed with leukemia. She’s been undergoing chemo for about a year and a half.

Running a couple of businesses and the stress of cancer hitting my little family twice drained me emotionally and physically. The stress has been immense and continues.

This past summer, I decided I needed a distraction of some kind. I set out to replace the 22 exterior shutters on the front of my house, after getting an $8,000 quote to have it done. As I started to do it, I bought myself a nice router and table, drill press, band saw, planer, jointer, and assorted other things and took over half of our garage. I built a worktable, bought about $500 in knotless pine, and off I went. I finished my shutters and in the process I discovered that, damn! I love woodworking.

I find myself going to lumber dealers just to look at the different woods they have. I'm absolutely loving it. I'm currently building a mantel for my fireplace. I can't tell you how excited I was to go to the mill early one Saturday morning to pick out the wood I wanted to use. I chose walnut, and it's beautiful. I also got birds-eye maple for some picture boxes I want to do, and materials for a finger joint-jig I want to make.

I'm blown away by how much the simple act of shaping and making something out of wood has helped me in the last several months. Thanks to Fine Woodworking and FineWoodworking.Com for the articles and the pictures and the videos and the advice. I look forward to asking many questions here and learning from all you experts out there. "Always forward," as we say.

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Comments (3)

rabbitrun writes: Great to hear how some of the "simple" things in life can be so important. Best wishes to you and your family.
Posted: 8:17 pm on February 28th

rgdaniel writes: Best wishes to John and his family. I know some of what he's going through. It's interesting how something like woodworking can go from being an escape to actually providing solace, of a sort.
Posted: 7:12 pm on January 8th

mvflaim writes: Excellent story! Makes you realize what the important things in life are.
Posted: 3:18 pm on January 8th

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