Just getting started

[Bruce]

I inherited a table saw from my Father and want to make use of it. I wanted to start with something simple. I need bookshelves. Is this a good project to start with? I know nothing about woodworking except what I learned in H.S. shop class 20+ years ago. Is there a woodworking primer available on the internet?
Any help would be appreciated.
Bruce

[mike]

the best place to get a book is at your libary.

[Glen]

But u have to return it. I like keeping my sources.
I suggest a book simply called 'tablesaw tips and tecniques.

[Ed Hanna]

Bruce,

Safety is a BIG issue for beginners. After you've done this for awhile, these little voices :'( say helpful things to you like "Not Safe!", "Find another approach!", "Clamp your work down" or "You're going to hurt yourself!". If you're like me, your shop teacher's voice will be among those voices. (Forty years later, I can still hear Mr. Brooks Kuhn, my 7th grade shop teacher yelling at me over the shop noise to "Put your plane on its side!".)

I don't have a table saw (being of the radial persuasion) but I've heard stories about how they can toss a board back and knock the wind out of you. :o (Always--without exception--use the kickback protection.)

Take a class, find a mentor to work with you for awhile, know where the danger is at all times, know where your fingers are at all times, and--yes--read some books (check your local Friends of the Library bookstore; I picked up two good woodworking books yesterday for $1.25). But best advice I can give is to tune in to New Yankee Workshop on PBS and learn from the Master, Norm Abrahm.

These are just a few suggestions to safely reintroduce you to this wonderful avocation. Once you get past the mechanical aspects of safe and skillful operations, you can better enjoy the many sensual pleasures of woodworking (e.g. the smell of the wood, the beauty of the grain, the feel of the wood as you work it with handtools, the sound of a busy shop, etc.). :D

Ed Hanna
Irvine, CA

[spear61]

Congratulations on safety.Its an issue never to be forgotten.Ilike to hang one or two fingers over the fence,been doing it all my life.thats the way I was taught.And watch out for unbuttoned shirt sleeves(around a jointer especially).For starters just take it slow and easy until you start feeling comfortable around the tool.dont push the work in to the tool but feed it through at the rate of speed that the machine is made to work at.