Time to cut through the years of lies. 

Thank you for watching. Please let me know in the comments any advise you have to add.

As a beginner woodworker of 2 years, I agree with nearly all of this - especially the "don't show people your mistakes" and "be careful who you seek advice from (facebook). Other advice I would give to beginners : Start with the result first : Focus on what you want to achieve : are you making for yourself, friends, family or are you trying to sell the stuff ? Are you prepared to spend money on wood (only one of my projects has involved spending money on wood) Don't worry about your workshop at the start. I started outdoors in good weather only. I used a stack of pallets as my workbench !! JUST GET STARTED - the most fun in a project comes from the screw ups where you have to find a workaround

The thing I've learnt over the years is to keep tools sharp. Sounds obvious but the difference it makes is huge.

Great tips, thanks. As Steve Ramsey says, "Put the crappy side against the wall"

Plans?!? What is this thing you speak of?? I get a thought and see what comes out the other end. My wood is pallets, so there's that. All good stuff Mark Thanks for putting your stuff out here. Take care & stay safe.

For me, the BEST part of woodworking is Learning New Things! I enjoy using hand tools for the shear joy of watching sharp steel slice wood. Ever since I bought a quality diamond stone, sharpening tools is fun. It's quiet, it's not dangerous, and it doesn't spew dust all over the shop. Fitting joints together is joy!

Keep posting Mark. You're a positive push in the right direction for many (myself included) that ate new or not even started yet ❤

Yet again Mark, another fantastic video share. I have been a beginner woodworker for years now and it's fun. I would like to add this bit of advice. Get a first aid kit. Keeping your tools sharp will minimise the damage most blunt hand tool cuts make to your body. First Aid, then call for professional help if needed/worried. Aim small, miss small with all your woodworking cuts. Stay safe out there and enjoy this wonderful hobby.

Great video Mark. Lot's of very good advice in it. 😃 The only thing I'd add to it is that when I built my guitar at Crimson Guitars I was told "make mistakes into features" that way no-one but you will know as your harshest critic is YOU.

And never underestimate 'starting with a clean/tidy workspace' 😊

The chisel towards the open veins in the arms cracked me up 😂😂

Im still a beginner but to add on to the not pointing out your mistakes is this “Don’t see only the mistakes when you look wt your project “ This has been the toughest thing for me and while guests have loved the planters I made for our house last summer when I look at them I just see the bad. Over time I have been able to live with them by telling myself “They aren’t perfect but I am still learning so neither am I”

Mark, great user friendly ‘newby’ video - really supportive to beginners with, as usual sound advice from a practical point if view. Nice one.

You will not believe how often I see the inverted circular saw being used for rip cuts on site. Most people don't even think of it as sketchy, they just want to get the job done. Gonna suck losing them digits when it happens looool

Great advice. I'm two years into my own accumulation of tools and building my workshop. A few good reminders and lot of advice as you stated “I wish I knew earlier”. My favorite and the advice I need to heed the most is “slow down, take breaks, plan, and don't point out the flaws in your work. I've just come across your channel and I've watched three of your videos. Well-presented, were you a school teacher? The problem I'm having is that I want to watch more, but I should be wood working 😁👍👊

Found you for the first time the day after you posted. Only 3 months in to woodworking and devouring all the knowledge i can. Love this video... Now shut up and take my subscription!

Great video Mark - Our first boxes look remarkably similar, right down to the artistically inspired curved lid, which was obviously a design choice and definitely not because of wood movement 😂

I made my first piece of furniture with just a 4" flush cut saw, a drill, a speed square, and the not-broken pieces of flat pack furniture a neighbor was throwing away. I've since learned that sawing would've gone much much faster with almost any other kind of hand saw. It took forever but the cuts turned out really clean, and after some paint and butt joints I had a usable piece of furniture that I'm proud of! My one splurge was on good quality screws in a color that looked nice with the paint I already had to make those butt joints a design choice. Seconding your advice and encouraging others with limited tools to try a first project! Though if you're like me and need to buy a cheap saw to get started, maybe pick a saw blade that doesn't flex. Way easier to get square cuts that way. Live and learn I guess!

Always learn from your mistakes but don’t feel bad about making them. We often expect way too much from ourselves. Thanks for making this video.

Hi Mark, good tips and advice as always. I am no expert or perfectionist just a DIYer and enjoy what I do and when I make some thing it is always the first time for me making or building is more of an enjoyment for me I'm not doing this for what people think of what I make I'm doing this because I enjoy it. I will always watch you tube it's full of good channels and most of all it's always full of advice, like your self. As always a great video Take care

That’s a brilliant video, I am fairly new to woodworking but learning a lot as I go. I can relate to your comments exactly!

Thanks for the video. Interesting, useful and love your presentation style.

Thank you for sharing your wisdom. “Don’t show people your mistakes.” Then, like me, points out all the mistakes. Priceless 🌞

Thought provoking. The one thing I wish I knew from the start is NOT to buy a tablesaw! Get a tracksaw, buy an MFT top with a replacable cut slot, get a few 'dogs' and you will have a way of cutting to size that is a lot nore fun and a lot less stressful. It's tracksaw and bandsaw for me all day long. Tape measures - my view is just have the one for small jobs and go with the Hultafors Talmeter, it has this special 'arm' and is different to all the others, I say stick to one and get to know it. As a beginner I think a whole project is too much at first, I think you are better off building up each step when you start out because it can be a bit overwhelming. I know we all made egg timer holders and pencil boxes in woodworking class at school but they also seemed to take the whole term and even then the teacher would help a lot. Also by yourself there is always the old chestnut of how to get the wood square in the first place! Or you finally get the stuff square only for it bizarrely to go out of square after the glue up like my router slot jig did. Would be nice for beginners I think if you went through the 'how do I get my wood square' routine and look at a few different ways to sort this, even without tracksaw or tablesaw say. Just would be good to look at the different options I feel.

Day 1 clean up, day 2 do something.... weekend gone.... rinse and repeat.

Great video man! I am starting my woodworking journey this weekend. Got my saw horses, circular saw, drills, clamps, squares, and kreg crosscut station. Looking forward to having a lot of fun with this. Can't wait! Thanks for all the great advice!

All great points! Thanks for a great video and all these wonderful reminders for ALL of us!

Very sound and logical advice, thanks a mil, have a blessed year.

Wow, love your ability to teach

Really, really great set of advices. Thx!

Amazing video Mark as always as a new woodworker I found all these tips helpful. Thanks for sharing your experience and knowledge have a great week.

Always look forward to, and enjoy, your videos. This one was no exception.

Thank you for the tips. Very helpful to me.

That first tip instantly made me think this was going to be another "my favourite ways of doing things" video but everything after that was valid and well presented. The tip at 17:21 where you mention about posting in groups for creative criticism/tips/suggestions, one will always receive crappy comments from some of the others, you get it everywhere so be prepared for it and ignore them. Those are the people who seem to have forgotten they had to learn at some point. I have to deal with it from someone I know, just thankful I don't have to deal with them often.

Stunningly accurate video. New sub!

Awesome video about the wood; if one listens carefully they are also life lessons to be learned!👍🏿

Some really good advice, thank you.

Relative dimensioning for the win!!!

Thank you Sir...incuriging!🎉

Seeing your mistakes was a cathartic moment for me!

You covered good points, thanks for this.

Great video Mark, a lot of common scenes advice.

Great video Mark, well organized, well put together and with a good sense of humor where applicable. Also, I love your accent lighting, gives a real Pro touch. There were many of the "don't do this" points during which all I could think was BTDT. Hand positions, during chisel use?? Oy! 🙄 Great information here, for everyone. Thank you. 😁✌🖖

Great advice. I would add clean up excess wood glue squeeze out before it sets and go over with a slightly damp cloth. The finishing always show it up otherwise.

Hi Mark, great to see how your channel and your skills have come on. I first commented on your router video a while back and have watched everything since. Thought I'd drop in and say that it was great to see the cabinet scraper making an appearance it is still one of my favourite tools. During my apprenticeship we were shown how to make them out of old handsaw blade. Something I do to this day, that way you can make any shape you need. With today's good quality cheap handsaws which are not made to be sharpened you quickly get a source of material.

Excellent tips

Excellent video and advice Mark

Great advice pal. Fully appreciated

Excellent video, Mark. All really good tips, with many that I've learnt since watching you. I would definitely say, take your time when on a project. It's about enjoying the journey as well as the destination. Also, practice some of the more tricky stuff on old scraps of wood before using your good stuff (or your good stuff will become old scraps of wood)!

I like to set out the tools I'll be using for that day and prepping them. Oil, sharpen, practice on a trash piece of wood. I spend a little time up front to give me confidence the entire day.

Thanks for yet another great video, as an old timer woodworker some good advice here, cheers Mark, stay lucky

Great advice for people at all stages of their journey. Thank you

Really solid advice. The only piece I'd add is to not go too deep too soon in terms of cost and complexity, if you've barely wielded a saw before then going to town on an expensive piece of spalted maple in the hopes of creating a centrepiece of complex angles and friction tight joinery for your front room is probably not wise. Do a mock-up in cheaper wood first so those inevitable mistakes are less costly and leave you more experienced and better prepared

Thank you for your positivity and can do attitude. I think I would have given up by now if not for you! I can Mt afford all the posh stuff and you make things possible. 🎉

Well done! Thank you

Hi Mark, Another great advisory video mate. It’s good to see how your workshop is coming along and how your ideas have developed the space and storage around you. Like you I’m enjoying that journey of discovery that every project brings. Have you ever made any small wooden toys? Same skills required but I’ve found it hones your finishing skills. They do seem to be making a comeback so I’m dusting off the Blizzard books. W

nice video i have found i will make the thing 3 times, i am on small projects intermingled with making garden fences. i make something look at it what can i change were did it go wrong, make alterations to the project look at tools used, do again. then look at it again have the changes improved the look the finish. and go again. but my things are pallet wood objects and throw away items so cheap and cheerful. its 45 yrs since i did woodwork and you tubers certainly help lessen the mistakes, you are one of them thanks keep posting

Great Video Mark! Love it, your shop is starting to look really sharp!

Areet Mark, I've learnt a ton from your channel, your channel amongst others was the reason I thought I would give it a bash and take up the hobby, but ya reet only buy the tools ya need and not the tools ya want, I've now acquired quite a few tools and still adding. But if I looked back at the start I would of needed a few numbers on the lottery to afford them all :) Top Notch Mark and to the viewers who are reading this comment, Mark is proper canny and ya'll find some proper gems in his videos

Nicely said.

Keep your tools sharp and your mind sharper...wow mark you just keep amazing me, you are not only beyond smart but an absolute comedic genius thank you for your advice mate i just keep luring new thing from your great channel all the time. I loved the listening to the wood skit that was brilliant, u crack me up :0 :0 take care mate ill be looking forward to the next one.

i see you have the #164 low-angle smoothing plane! it basically works in any grain direction.

My dad's skillsaw from the 70's has a flat top and receses for clamps to do exactly what the thumbnail suggests.😅

Great advice. I always try to watch these beginner-oriented videos as I feel they tell you a lot about the state of woodworkers in general. Are people actually being helpful or are they being condescending? You, sir, are one of the good ones. Everything you said was solid advice for any beginner. for that matter, I still struggle with seeing only the errors or slight imperfections. Constructive criticism from trusted people have given me the confidence needed to keep going in the hobby over time. The only thing I would add to your advice, is that I only use one brand of tape measure. I have found, at least here in the states, that that can lessen the variance between tapes. Likewise, for fine measuring I am upgrading to all the same brand of squares and rulers, as they all match up.

One of your best!

Amazing what you can do with a 1/4" drill bit and some dowels. Spend money on tools you need.

As far as the buy once, cry once. Ironically the one tool that I regret buying and am looking at getting a better one is a shop vacuum. You can be very careful around power tools, there isn't a ton you can do about airborne sawdust.

A corollary to "keep your tools sharp" as well as "buy once, cry once" that I've heard is, like sandpaper, good blades are worth the money - you can often get a better job done with a good blade in a cheap tool, than with a good tool with a cheap blade...

Good video Mark 👍

Answers must come from within. To heck with what anyone else thinks. You do you.

What should I say? Ok, thank you! Thanks! Thx! 👍

Hi Mark, great video with lots of sage advice. Re tip 18 'Don't be afraid to use a new tool that you think might be beyond you'... Is it about time to psych yourself up to make friends with your Stanley #45?😂. You know I'm kinda teasing you here buddy, but only because I forsee a future 'thing I wish' video where you wish you'd used it sooner. My tip for new woodworkers is a blend of some of the tips given here, and is 'Don't set high expectations when you start using a hand plane'. My first attempts at planing were awful, the plane jammed and juddered, the mouth constantly clogged and the finish was abysmal. I almost gave up on woodwork entirely! By watching RU-vid videos I did start to progress, but those videos also further raised my expectations to cut gossamer thin shavings leaving a perfect smooth finish. Five years later I'm still learning, but I think I'm pretty close to having perfectly set up planes and enough knowledge and experience to know how to get the best out of them. And if any new woodworkers are thinking "5 years... I might as well give up now!" I will confess that my obsessive love for restoring antique hand tools did slow this process considerably... "Why restore one Bailey style plane when I can restore ten instead". Yeah I know, 'my bad!' But it has been a fascinating and enjoyable journey so actually 'not my bad'... just different expectations. On day one I expected my tools to work perfectly with minimal time spent on their maintenance, now I know to include maintenance time into every project schedule, and by not rushing timely sharpening etc. my tools work really well and reward my efforts.

I've been making sawdust since 1974 and I would say that the most difficult one is not pointing out the mistakes. So many times I've seen people say "what about this crooked hinge" or some other non perfect thing. And this is often hard to stop doing.

Hi Mark, a good and informative video. I recently made a pair of internal french doors to match the other doors in the house. I made a couple of mistakes but decided not to mention them. They stand out like a sore thumb to me, but my good lady has yet to notice, even after 5 months!

So glad you included Tip 15. Trying to measure / cut / etc to an exact, pre-determined millimetre (or 1/32" for those measuring in 'freedom units' 😂) is a fools errand and the use of in-project, referential measurements is such a time - and frustration - saver. A great example is this video from Peter Millard: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-7HTeoPNl9VI.html - where he uses just a bit of string and some folded strips of paper to get all the dimensions needed for some very nicely constructed cabinets. (There's a nice 'gotcha' in there too - always handy if you can learn from others mistakes...) Great video as always, Mark - keep'em coming...

I came over all unnecessary when you did the chisel towards the wrist 😱 Nearly passed out 🤣🤣

I was raised by a house builder. They are the worse to take care of safety though he slowly moved into wearing eye protection more times than not. After he got out, big changes. He takes care of all Ppe in everything but he also just had grandkids so I think it’s more bc of that. Not just taking care of them better but he could ask those younger kids if it was loud or when they cried about something from the wind into their eye.

Hi again, hope you are ok! Thank you for sharing such an important and useful content with us, as I believe, “Our World is a Shared Experience”… I have to ask you one thing that I am trying to find without any success (so far that is), if I may. Can you please tell me where you got the Formica (black) that you put on the work table? Thank you in Advance! Remember, *_Life_* is *_Short_* so, *_Live Long_* and *_Prosper_* … 🖖 Cheers, matey!!!

Great vid mate, How long have you been making stuff? Just to let you know, the footings are in and the floor is going down next week. Then I can start framing. So I will be watching your entire build again this week. Have a good un.🍺

Never met a person " just wanting to START MAKING" they have a project that they need to do or are excited about which leads to others NO ONE wakes up with the urge to make something anything I just have to make something!!! What ucking idiocy!!!!

Your subscribers are expanding along with your knowledge and ability....... keep up the great production of quality videos and content. Thank you

Safety? Pfah! BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD!

Lets go start making video 👍👍👍 back shortly

Cracking video mate. Always glad to see you pop up on Saturday morning. My only other couple bits advice first you kinda touched on with the plane older tool's (fb market place) is always a good way to go the other one i have to kidna disagree with you and is the.... . You no what am gonna say. Sandpaper. I get the point to the 3m stuff but a can't justify it just yet. Slightly cheaper alternative ive been looking at klingspor abrasives similar stuff (mesh/cubirton) cheaper price oh and my go to finish Danish oil. Catch up soon 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿👍 ps will share this today or tomorrow mate 😊

Made that tape error - had a small hissy fit binned the class II tapes and got one class I tape and some rulers ( and checked them all against each other )

Hey Mark, great video, like your wit! New sub here. 😉 What’s the Makita circular saw that you show in the vid? I didn’t find that among the listed items in the description. Many thx! Greg

You know what they say. Safety 12th.

New mic or did you nick that shirt and forget to remove the security tag from it? 😁 j/k great video, as usual

Heyyy how you doing? Where do u get more exotic hardwoods from in the uk My local timberyard only deals with pine? I dont do bad for a welder lol

Changing thumbnails confused me at first I kept coming back thinking you'd posted a new video 😅

Love the production of this video. This is a brilliant video. Good advice for younger woodworkers. You've hit on the philosophical nature of woodworking. When I was in high school, there was a book called, "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance." No one has done the same for woodworking; but, as you know, once in the zone of making it does become quite Zen.

What time stamp is the upside down circular saw part?

Hmmmm, I’m not seeing all your posts despite having all notifications on.

I’d love to buy a Stanley plane for 15-20 quid, not possible outside of GB, eBay and co charge that just for postage As for the rest of the advice, some very good examples for us to think about there, thx loads Greetings from 🇩🇪

My one piece of advice is to buy a 1M/3’ steel ruler keep it in the shop and regularly check your tape against it 👍

"Take a break when your mind starts to wander". Tell my ADHD brain that, its always wandering.

Here I am wanting to write about the width of the mouth and tearout and ten seconds later... nevermind ( :

Dash of filler, dab of paint, makes a craftsman what he ain't.

On tip 12: wood can be replaced. Fingers can not.

Brill