The angle brackets were installed as support for the overhang, but when I went to slap it and say “yep that’ll hold” it really wanted to tip so I repurposed as feet instead. Now I have somewhere to put my kitchen aid and bread maker. Need to figure out how I’m going to finish the body of it, probably just paint.

From paper, to real life. Edition #1 in the collection. Just completed this! Feel free to rip me apart

It’s about 95" x 59", built from pine. The play area is a 4' x 7' recess, 2.5" deep, with a 1/2" maple ply bottom sitting on flat slats, and a black play mat on top. Outer frame is 2x4s.

All photos: https://photos.app.goo.gl/t6DLseVpHz5dZxgj7

65 hours total, $610 in wood, hardware, and consumables:

- Design, wood sourcing, experiments and buying lumber: 7h

- Frame, legs, brackets, rails, aprons and joinery: 34h 45m

- Play area, slats, cup holders, plugs and details: 8h 25m

- Sanding: 8h 35m

- Finishing coats: 5h 35m

Thanks to this thread for all the ideas and answers.

Cheapo kit from Woodcraft on sale for $5 this summer.
And I got a box of black walnut strips on Facebook. 16 pieces for like $40 shipped!
Finish is Odie’s Oil which I had on hand.
So this costs about $10 total.

But I mean… that black walnut is insane. I don’t like the cut walnut smell but the finished piece is a beauty. My first time with it.

I'm trying to replace a couple rotting treads on our front porch the wood is 1½ shouldn't this 3/4 roundover ran on both sides create a full bullnose?

I’m looking at my first miter saw, and the DEWALT DWS780 is down to $449, the lowest I’ve seen. I was planning to spend less, but I’m wondering whether buying something I can grow into makes more sense.

For those who started woodworking with a cheaper saw, did you outgrow it? Or would the DWS780 be overkill for a beginner?

I highly recommend signing up for in-person woodworking classes.

I took a hand-tool class earlier this year at the Port Townsend School of Woodworking in Western WA, and we built a three shelf bookcase out to black cherry. The general dimensions were fixed and set by the instructors, but part of the class was talking about furniture design and they let us have free rein over the curves and profiles.

Aside from the dimensioning and rough cutouts for the curves on the bandsaw, everything was done by hand.

Dados were cut with a backsaw, chisel, and router plane. Curves were refined with spokeshaves. Shiplap was cut with a skew rabbet plane, beads were cut with an antique molding plane. And all the finishing was done with a smoothing plane/card scraper.

The class was 5 days long and we used all of the time to get these built. I did the final edge profiling and finishing back at home.

Also, black cherry is photo-reactive, and over the past couple of months it is really starting to get this rich, vibrant tone to it (last pic). It’s gorgeous.

Felt a little inspired so I made some dice boxes for me and some friends. Learned to cut and dye leather just for this project and boy am I hooked.

Hubris to think I could do a hexagon as my third attempt at a box/tray. (For avoidance of doubt the finished product is nowhere near a hexagon.)

tl:dr / Built a test bench before tackling a coffee table build. It will probably fail due to weight, bad weather on the balcony, or improper joinery techniques.

I plan to build the Four Eyes Furniture "Spider Coffee Table" soon, so I thought it would be a good idea to test some of the joinery and building techniques on a prototype first. I built this bench using Douglas fir, and a local community workshop helped me by jointing and planing the rough lumber to final thickness. Cutting the Swiss edge was a bit easier than on the actual coffee table design because I could process each slat individually using a miter saw and table saw. For the legs, I built a crosscut sled for my table saw, which was an absolute game changer. After half-shaping the legs, I used a router to cut the slots for a miter joint reinforced with maple splines. The individual seat slats and the legs were attached internally with Dominos, while the main frame connection was made using four large custom loose tenons that I routed and inset into both the top and bottom.

I was honestly a bit concerned about structural stability — especially since I’m not a light guy — but it turned out rock solid with zero wobble. My main concern moving forward is wood movement: I suspect the top slats might eventually split or pull apart at the joints over time. As for the legs, I’m actually quite optimistic that they will hold the weight. Overall, it was a great test piece to see how the geometry and joinery behave before starting the main build in hardwood.

Would be happy to hear your thoughts on stability and where you think it will fail :)

Aaaaaand please don't kill me! I still consider myself a beginner since I only started woodworking 10 months ago, so this subreddit felt like the right place to post this — especially since it's just a test piece

Recently tried my hand at making my first cabinet ever. Its pretty crazy and my eye for measurements is like my eyes for food. Way too grand lol! While it came out bigger than expected im pretty happy with it. Its 42" tall by 43" wide by 26" deep. Its got a pull out printer slide and plenty of storage space for our office. I cant help but feel its like a big monolith, besides decorations on the top, any ideas what I can do to polish it up? I can't help but be hard on myself. Some issues I had were plywood splintering a lot even with a brand new blade. Learned to use tape there to make them better but one big thing I split the bottom when I applied the rubber feet. Maybe I should of attached toe kick separate and made it with solid wood rather than plywood?

I have all my fingers, and I will continue wearing my PPE forever.

I was cutting down a 4.5” piece of 2x4, and the wood kicked and it sounded like a gunshot. This is the aftermath.

It’s because it’s too short, I think, but I’m trying to make sure I REALLY learn how to never have this happen again. How could I have prevented this/prevent it in the future? And what do I need to check on my saw before using it again (besides the fence…)?

Gotta goer shorter bolts but for now imma keep rolling bby

Planning to do a glue up of these pieces of maple and one of walnut. But im struggling to get the glue joints to fit smoothly.

I cut the maple on a table saw but with the stock blade (rutlands)

Would a better blade help this? The project will be a cutting board so obvs I dont want the gaps you can see in tbe image.

Is it my technique? Am I applying too much pressure as I push the wood through? There is some burning not lots. But the cut pieces have circular marks

Slowly putting together a firewood shed built out of mostly scrap wood from my work. Only thing bought has been the pressure treated 4x4’s, joist brackets, metal roofing, and the basic hard wear.

Not quite done but getting there! Need to finish up some more trim, fascia boards, some rear supports, stain. and other little odds and ends.
Rather inexperienced when it comes to building so it’s been a good learning process. Definitely been fun putting this together with random bits of lumber, from rough cut, to premium studs, to cutting the warp out of other bits. Ain’t straight or pretty, but it’ll keep firewood dry!

22ft long, 8ft tall, 3ft wide deck, 4ft roof. Just about 325.00 into the project so far.

60mm Japanese hand plane. The blade came a bit wonky so it was a pain to set up, but I feel it’s gotten to a good point of working.

I cut these finger joints using my table saw but noticed that they have these arches at the apex of the cut. Is this normal or am I doing something wrong? Possibly just the type of saw blade I’m using?

https://www.humblebundle.com/books/woodworking-turning-and-carving-an-encore-by-taunton-press-abrams-books

Humble Bundle has a bunch of woodworking books available, cheap!

Not talking about something like Ryobi or Pittsburg here where you pretty much know you're only getting what you pay for, and maybe there's a few here and there that punch a little above their weight.

I'm talking about the opposite.

What is the absolute worst tool you've ever purchased from a brand that is known for making pretty good tools that you've only had good expeiences with otherwise?

My example would have to be the Stanley multibit ratcheting screwdriver. It was a $35 screwdriver and Stanley is usually pretty solid in my expeience. This thing is the worst. The pockets that hold the extra bits are set so deep it's near impossible to get them without using a second flathead screwdriver to pry them up, and it's not easy. The ratcheting mechanism started slipping within a few uses, too.

Looking to build a coffee table for our house. My wife is asking for something like this. Anyone know of any pre existing plans? Or how I could go about making plans for something like this?

Thanks!

Hi everyone,

We are redoing our kitchen and struggling with what to do with the ceiling. Previously, our kitchen (left side) and dining area (right side) had a wall separating them. The kitchen had a white ceiling and the dining room was wood stain (i assume, I guess it could be something else). With the wall removed, we want our ceiling to look uniform.

We’ve already stripped the white paint from the kitchen and are in the process of sanding. Tonight we realized we still have a long way to go…

What are your recommendations for getting our ceiling to match?

(1) Keep sanding and then find a stain to match the dining room ceiling
(2) Give up and paint everything white, it will be impossible for everything to match anyway
(3) Sand the entire ceiling, including the dining area and stain everything the same color, or use something like linseed oil

Hey everyone!

I'm a university student in Lahore, Pakistan, working on a brand for our Consumer Behaviour course. We have an upcoming university bazaar where we need to create and sell an original product that isn't already common in our local market.

We initially planned on making reclaimed wood decor, but realized that sourcing and working with reclaimed wood would be quite difficult given our limited experience, budget, and time.

One idea our professor approved is “Kathputlian” — little wooden block pets, each with its own unique design, personality, and certificate of identity. "Kathputlian" literally means "wooden dolls".

We're now researching what people would actually want to buy, and I'd love some input from people with woodworking experience.

What are some unique, creative wooden products that:

• Are relatively easy for beginners to make, or can be produced affordably through a local vendor?
• Have good potential to sell to university students (ages 19–23) and faculty?
• Can be personalised or given a creative twist to stand out from typical wooden decor?

They don't necessarily have to be decor products. I'm open to ideas for functional items, collectibles, gifts, or anything else that could work.

Any suggestions, including products you've made, seen sell well, or think would work with simple tools, would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

back in my shop again (excuse the clutter). anyways, it feels like taking a break and coming back has helped put things into perspective. no need for perfection. just enjoy creating something.

i also made one of this knock off gripper things after learning how to make dowels this weekend too! my fingers have never felt safer.

ps, this common board pine crap sucks to work with. never again doing dovetails with this.