How Important Clamping Is For Woodworking

A little story about Car-Carpentry.

In Short

  • Starting a new woodworking project is all about getting as close to a perfect square, plum and level square to work off. The straightness of the entire project is severely limited by how well you join your initial pieces of wood together.
  • The key thing I was missing in getting this started was my ability to hold the first two pieces of wood firmly up against eachother when first joining them.
  • Clamps are exactly what you need here.
  • Buy several
  • Buy decent ones
  • Get used to the patience required to clamp and unclamp several clamps EVERY single time you need to join two new pieces of material.

I think about people that are skilled carpenters the same way I hear people describe software developers.

Carpenters do some sort of black magic to make things we interact every day with. Most of the time the black magic they perform is so potent that we don’t even notice how impressive somethings build quality is, or the elegance with which it was put together until it breaks.

I really enjoy trying my hand at the odd bit of wood working because it seems endlessly creative, keeping your mind and hands engaged. This is sadly not something you get these days with most office jobs, so to me it is somewhat of a luxury to get to say I am using my mind and my body at the same time.

My workshop on the road.

messy interior of a van covered in miscellaneous wood working equipment.

This might not be the most flattering image to share as its just the back of a van, however I think its representative of my attitude towards order during my woodworking projects – or lack thereof.

A spirit level on what looks like a barely level wood platform inside a vans interior.

You might not be able to tell it from a distance. Behind the camera was a very, very exhaust and elated Jonah. I was grinning ear to ear. I really, truly, felt as though I had reached one of my personal performance peaks in life at this moment. Don’t worry I know the platform was barely level.

This post is a work in progress and will likely grow over the next few days as I flesh out the rest of the lessons I learned wood working from my humble setup on the road. I like to publish these as I work on them as motivaiton to finish them and not end up with 1000s of posts that are half written. I appreciate your patience of reading this far.

A Different Kind of Developer Newsletter

We don’t spam! That’s yuck.

  • Building in Public: The ‘Back to It’ VS Code Extension – Part 1

    As a developer, I’ve often found myself staring at my code, trying to remember where I left off after a lunch break, a weekend, or even just a quick chat with a colleague. This frustrating experience of context loss is not just annoying—it’s a significant drain on productivity. That’s why I decided to create “Back…

  • Time, the Silent Exploit: The Unseen Enemy in Every Codebase

    You’ve got a bunch of gold sitting around because it’s holding its value great against inflation or because you are a dragon or something. The first thing you will want to do is protect your valuable gold. The most obvious thing is to start off with a wall. You do your research and build a…

  • The Mindful Coder’s Workweek: 5 Themes to Enhance Your Craft and Satisfaction

    TL;DR TL;DR for the TL;DR crowd: Screenshot this chart, print it out, follow it. Congrats, you’ve unlocked the cheat code to mindful coding. Now shoo – go be brilliant – or any other words that make you feel good. Day Theme Light Version In-Depth Version Mindful Fact Minimalist Monday Refactor one function to be more…

  • From Dirty Dishes to Clean Code: How Household Chores Mirror Programming Team Dynamics

    Ever felt like you’re the only one pulling your weight in a coding project? You might be experiencing the same psychological phenomenon that happens with household chores. Let’s dive into this unexpected parallel and see what we can learn about team dynamics, whether you’re wielding a mop or a keyboard. The “I Do More” Illusion:…

  • You’re Closer Than You Think: The Only 6 DNS Concepts You Really Need

    Feeling like DNS is this big, scary monster you’ll never fully understand? Here’s some good news: you’re probably a lot closer to mastering it than you realize. In fact, there are really only six core concepts you need to have down pat. The rest? You can offload that from your mental RAM. Let’s walk through…

  • The Wasabi Method: Shocking Your Way Out of Anxiety Attacks

    Ever felt like your anxiety is a runaway train, and you’re desperately searching for the emergency brake? You’re not alone. As someone who’s battled crippling anxiety from my late teens through university, I’ve been there. But what if I told you that the key to derailing that anxiety express might be as simple as a…

Join 39 subscribers

Hi!

I’m Jonah and I have thoughts that I share – sometimes. Join my mailing list to hear about new posts when I get around to it.

yes, I update this number manually

Sign up to receive awesome content in your inbox, every week, month when I get around to it.


Comments

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *