My first post as a newfound woodworking blogger!

Let's start where it all began.

As a young lad I worked on Saturdays for a local Joiner. This is where my passion for woodwork was born. It was a job I loved doing and it earned me that bit of cash that a young lad loved to boast about to his mates because they do nothing on a weekend other than watch TV. I was still at school and even though I lived for my weekends I loved that job. School wasn't where I thrived and it soon led to me being released one day a week to go and learn a trade (they obviously realised that a future in higher education was unlikely). It just so happened that I was in the early stages of this already and it leant itself nicely to me progressing this career further.

After leaving school with average at best GCSE results I was in full time work and on my way to becoming a fully fledged joiner. Everything was going brilliantly and I was absolutely loving my job and college until one day it all fell apart. There was a fall out at work and that spelt the end of my work as a joiner. I cant recall what caused the upset, I got on exceptionally well with my boss and we had a brilliant working relationship. Maybe this was a contributing factor, I don't know. Maybe we were to close. However it was the end and I still look back at that day and wonder what would of happened if there was no fall out. Would I be there now? Would I have my own shop? Thoughts not necessarily regrets.

Before I had aspirations of becoming a joiner, I was a young lad wanting to fight, get muddy and play Rugby, and as most young lads want to do at that age, I wanted to be a soldier. And here I am. A serving soldier with the British Army. 13 years into my career and I have enjoyed almost every minute of it. The army has its ups and downs as all jobs do but the people and the places are fantastic and the pros massively outweigh the cons. It offers. something civilian jobs simply can't.

Back to the wood work. The first real "project" I had since leaving the trade was to make a new bed for my youngest daughter. Now at the time I was based in Cyprus, the hottest workshop I have ever had the displeasure of working in (my garage). However, it was now my workshop and I had triggered something. Something that I had been missing for years. Less the sweltering heat, I loved every second of making that bed and what made it even better was that my eldest daughter could and did help me build it. Watching joints fit together as planned and creating something relatively simple yet very satisfying is what I needed to flick the switch.

This wasn't a reclaimed timber job, this was all off the shelf timber. My reclaimed wood passion will come later.

I had caught the bug and I loved it. I loved the fact that I still held the knowledge to do a bit even after all the years of being out of the trade.

Now, there is only one thing that I could possibly be looking to make next.

What would you make if you had a house on top of a hill that had a garden that overlooked the Med............? Thank you British Forces Cyprus.

Reclaimed by Jonny