I wish I was good at wood working

The internet can teach you alot! Practical woodworking/carpentery is easily something you can teach yourself as long as you leave room for some trial and error. The difficult and intimidating part of it is the artistic element! (Finishing work)

Twisted is right, it's all about recognizing that there are 2 facets to woodworking, framing and cabinetry. Also that even high end furniture is mostly framing covered by cabinetry. Patience is key for doing the facing work. I've found that sketchup is an amazing tool both for roughing something out and planning your finish work.

A few basic tips:

• A good sander is your best friend. If you have the resources get both a belt sander and a pad sander.
• When you switch from doing low end pine or plywood to working your higher end oak/ash/whatever, clean your bench and dust collection areas first. Use your good sawdust as a gap filler when you glue up a project. It will stain like everything else so you don't have awkward glue fillets ruining your color.
• Buy that doweling jig. It is absolutely essential for precision jointing.
• Jigs in general will be your best friend. They can be as simple as clamping a stop to your miter saw or as complicated as a spiral router jig. If you're doing more than two of something, figure out a jig first.

I'll fill this out more as I get more experience myself. These are the things that stand out to me from the past.

My yard as of this week,

I am quite proud of how it looks now. I don't have any pictures of how it looked before but along the fence line where the mulch is used to be nothing but a mud run. The grass was in an abysmal state with dandelions and crabgrass peppered in all around. It's still early in the season and there is some seeding to be done but I am right on track with a kickass yard. I derive so much pleasure working on my yard to get it to a presentable state. Yet, it seems silly to me that we tend to cut out the weeds and hearty grass such as crabgrass to grow something that takes much more time, effort, and money to maintain. I could do nothing (like my neighbors) and have a lawn full of dandelions among a thick blanket of crabgrass. Makes soooo much more sense, yet I strive for this because it's aesthetically pleasing.

I always think of this picture when I'm working outside.

Nice work. What are those bucket things for?

If I had a house with a yard, though, I'd probably let it get overgrown with vegetation because I like that look. I'd let it grow inside the house, too. Like seep its way through the windows, or cracks in the walls or something. Hmm, I'd need it to rain inside so I wouldn't have to water the plants. It probably wouldn't be a very feasible living space....

The large buckets are called Crocks. I have still yet to get a definitive answer on what they are/were used for but I believe long ago they were used by people to store potable liquids. They were taken from my grandfather's place after he passed away and my wife likes them so in the yard they go. They also help to serve as obstacles, along side the giant lava rocks, so Ruby cannot run along there at high speeds, thus tearing apart my yard. You should patent your Rain Forest House idea. I feel like there is a market out there for that sort of thing. If you do I know the perfect house warming gift for you...Jumanji.

Finish work is why I suck at carpentry ... I'm way to concerned with function and too impatient with my own slow working ability to make anything look nice. For things that don't need to look nice I do all the work, for something that needs to look good I usually do as much as I can myself and hire out the finishing.

I like making the things I build look nice, and spending millions of hours on details. everything's gotta be functional art.