Metalworker/Woodworker - Who's doing/done both?

[Dockertie]

A number of years ago all I did was woodworking, and I turned it into a business designing and building custom furniture and built-ins. Along the way I started doing metal working as a hobby.

Now I'm doing metalworking exclusively, I prefer it, and I'm doing no woodworking presently. My wife wants some cabinets made, and I'm balking.

So now I'm a one man shop, with just one satisfied client. I am semi-retired.

Question is, how many of you folks have done both, and what do you prefer? I always thought that machinists and wood butchers were really separate groups, but this site has shown me that's not the case.

Milacron himself was a professional woodworker. Another guy on this board had been a machinist and is now a very busy woodworker, and a big contributor to the Felder (high end WW machinery) site. Is anyone doing both at the same time? What do you prefer? Why?

Don

 

[rklopp]

I was into metalworking as a kid (using my Dad's tools), then took up woodworking in grad school because I lost access to my Dad's tools and woodworking tools were cheaper. I was reasonably good at the techniques, less so the artistic aspects. Switching to woodworking did not cure my lust for metalworking. I got back into metalworking as soon as I could afford it. I suppose any activity that requires craftsmanship and attention to detail would keep me happy. I like cooking for that reason, and have even tried sewing. Nevertheless, precision machining is my favorite thing to do with my clothes on, by far.

 

[me]

Don-
I am a professional woodworker whom has begun to venture into the metalworking trade for fun at this point, but see the potential to switch in business as well. I think that a lot of the same principals are used, and for me anyway, I enjoy being able to be more precise with metal that I could with wood.
I also think that combining the two industries allows me to even combine design and materials in one piece. Where other straight woodworkers try and create everything from wood, I have the luxury of making things with both.
Lastly, as my sences have been dulled over the years, not that I am that old, my nose no longer picks up the fresh smells of all wood, but the smell of cutting metal is unmistakable and I actually enjoy that.

 

[Milacron]

FWIW, what got me into metalworking was the creation of the Omnijig dovetail jig (for woodworking dovetails). I was too poor to sub out prototypes or pay a patternmaker, to build the first few jigs, so I was sort of forced to learn how to do that myself.

Eventually I performed tasks such as milling the castings and making some parts, but subbed out the actual aluminum dovetail templates to a teacher at the local technical school ! (who I suspect just happened to have "dovetail templates" as "CNC learning projects" for students !) Then I got a double headed Bridgeport Tru Trace and made templates in house, and still later an NC OKK VMC (note NC, not CNC !)

Much more to the tale, but too much off the subject already..

 

[J Henricksen]

I assembled and ran big mills for 20+ years at Ingersoll. When they closed, I started building custom stairways in some of the Chicago burb developments. Got tired of being on the general contractors "last to pay" list. Decided to start my own machinery repair business. Now one of my previous suppliers is one of my good customers. Take care of his wood machines.

 

[Joe D Grinder]

I did woodworking for years but mostly because I had this compulsion to build woodworking machines ( sawmills, gigantic wood lathes, bandsaws, etc.) and then had to use them until somebody bought them to justify having built them. Sounds screwy now. I milled mesquite lumber for five years and built cabinetry and tables and chairs and all sorts of things from the lumber. Turned big mesquite lamps on the oversized lathe I built. Somebody finally came around and bought the whole shop built wood shop and I said "thank you, GOD!" and went back to working metal. Only kept one wood product and rarely make them any more....Joe

 

[Frank Ford]

Woodworking, metalworking, that's about it.

Oh my, yes. I do both. I'm something of a new hand at machining, but I'm learning fast. (Like my pal who rides an old Norton says, "It seems fast to me.") I've made my alleged career doing hand wood work nonstop for the last four decades - I fix broken guitars and related instruments.

I got into metalworking late, and my aim is to develop and make tools to facilitate my main gig, along with a few other projects, including working on the machines themselves.

Visit my home shop pages, here:

http://www.frets.com/FRETSPages/Machining/

 

[stephen thomas]

I've always claimed that doing woodwork was the closest thing to a legitimate excuse to having a machine shop on the side that I could think of. Most income is from woodwork. But i could not do much of the woodwork I do, without a machine shop to make the edge tools, machine tooling & fixtures, and machines, feeders, dodads, & etc. Oh, yeah, and rebuild and maintain the primary woodworking machines. Honestly, i'd rather rebuild, modify, and design machines and set ups for special processes; and let other people run wood through them. But when I've been in the metal shop a long time, it is sort of a "relief" to be back in the woodshop, especially if the work requires hand tools. Then after a stint in the wood shop, I get positively starved for "quality" machining time. So i guess it all works out. Ideally, a person would be an exceptional business person and make it all pay. For me it alternates, and I do make money on both sides (wood & metal), but don't seem to have found a way to optimize it for efficiency. I've got better credibility and portfolio on the wood side. A buddy & I compare notes, and you tend to get a lot more built in everyday exercise as a woodworker. Especially when installing jobs.

smt

 

[Chet Spencer]

Both for the last 18 years, Pipe Organs are a perfect mix of wood and metal.
On the Monarch 10ee one minute, on the Oliver 260 dual arbor table saw the next minute

www.schoenstein.com

 

[Scott R]

I worked as both a Patternmaker and a Machinist. Tried my hand at some custom furniture work but never could make any $. Did do quite a bit of trade show display work which combined both woodworking and machining. Now I do mostly repair machining one off jobs and Patternwork

 

[Modelman]

So… what’s the difference, really? Both trades require the ability to read drawings, interpret drawings, make drawings at times. Both trades require the ability to take a two dimensional concept and turn it into a three dimensional object. Certainly the fits and tolerances are different, but a good craftsman will always work to the finest applicable tolerance, and have a good understanding of what the applicable tolerance is. Any craftsman worth his salt sees beauty in finely done work, no matter what the medium.

I grew up working as a carpenter with my Dad. I hung drywall nights in high school. I worked as a construction carpenter, did a stint in a mill shop, and ended up in a maintenance position.

I also built models (railroad) as a hobby. When I finally got bored fixing stuff other people broke, I turned the hobby into a business, and started designing my own plastic parts. That led to designing the tools, and eventually to building some of the tools. No formal training, but then I never had any in the woodworking trades, either. Anytime I blow it and have to pay for re-work, I just chalk it up to “tuition”.