My name is John and I live in the West Midlands. I am retired, but I still work out of a single-garage woodwork shop. (The 'garage' was never designed to hold much more than a roller skate and a scooter. Well okay, a Mini would go in, but once inside you'd never open the car door to get out. So I turned the place into a woodworking shop.)
I left school in 1954 and took a job as a prospective cabinetmaker's apprentice. But I got shoved around a little and I learned how to make tea. I was never any good at being someone's lackey, so despairing of ever learning anything, I didn't sign. Instead, I joined the RN, at 15 and a half, preempting the call to National Service.
In the Navy, I learned most of my woodwork, from Shipwrights. (Now, they really can make wood talk!) In 1964 I de-mobbed and found work in a local, well-respected Joinery works. Very soon, the works manager decided he didn't like trade 'improvers', (which made me wonder why he gave me the job in the first place.) So I left and set about employing myself.
I like making furniture (small stuff now, as I can't lump the heavier pieces around anymore!) I never did like built-in furniture, but I have made enough of it. All my own stuff is freestanding, but showing its age now. (Some of it wasn't made as it should have been, as I had neither the skills nor the proper tools then. But it's lasted and after 45 years of good use, it is all gradually being replaced by 'proper-jobs', as I work my way from bedrooms down to the cupboard under the stairs!
I am happy doing what I do and what I do makes me feel happy and useful. So who can argue with that?
So, it's nice to meet you all, and I hope to contribute more than I take away.
Regards
John
