I apologize if any of you have already seen this. Last year I designed and built this room for my wife. Never attempted anything like this before. Learned a lot, made a bunch of mistakes (many of which are still visible), had a blast. Currently trying to drum up motivation to work on some other rooms.

I posted it a few places last year, but I just now remembered I had compiled everything into a detailed photo album that I thought might be interesting to some of you looking to tackle a similar project.

Part 1: https://imgur.com/a/library-pt-1-YofOqft

Part 2: https://imgur.com/a/library-pt-2-RjCcMju

Thanks for looking. Always available to answer questions!

Started woodworking around 2 months ago, in that time I've built two workbenches, a stepstool, 2 garden benchs and tried my hand at a live edge end table. I've learnt a lot with these simple builds and I can't wait to get started on some more detailed projects.

Table I built, got some inspiration from a fellow redditor and internet. Still very much a beginners so lots could have gone better, but it’s solid.

The top is bolted on, so it can be removed. This is because it is a very heavy piece to move otherwise.

Quite happy with most of it, but the bearer between the legs did not work out too well. It is a mortise and tenon, but I did not get it to sit well in there as I had no clamps that length, and didn’t think to use ratchet straps at the time. In the end I threw some screws on there to, and plugged the holes.

No finish on it yet, but I will likely oil it. It is macrocarpa so i can just leave it to weather and it’ll go nice and grey. I tried to leave some of the rough sawn marks on there where I could to give it a bit of character.

Next step is matching benches.

I took an 8 week (3 hours once per week) class at a nearby workshop. Made lots of mistakes (no lost fingers) and learned a ton, and finished up a decent stool

Lessons learned:
- if you have dowels, make sure your legs are close enough such that the dowels pop out the other side
- sand with the grain, I scratched the top up here
- I wished I had shaped the top a bit more, maybe routed the top edges
- I cut the dados a little too big, so had to hand plane some shims and squeeze them into the dado slots

I've wanted to build a birdhouse for a while. I even bought plans for one, but never got around to using them.

Then I came across someone selling wooden crates that had been used for 155 mm artillery ammunition.

Living in Ukraine, unfortunately, things connected to war are never very far away.

I thought it would be nice to give one of those boxes a completely different purpose.

Something that once carried ammunition might now become a home for birds.

First time building a cabinet… just needs hinges installed to be complete! Pretty happy with how it turned out. Currently shimmed with 3/32” shims (I made the doors slightly large and scribed them). Made from 3/4” ply, 1/4” ply for doors, and s4s poplar. Only woodworking experience I have is installing new trim in my house, made new door/window casings, repairing a deck, and building a router table for this project. But I have a lot of previous metal fabrication/welding experience.

Built this with a miter saw, tack saw with foam insulation board on the ground, trim router on my homemade router table, and pocket hole screws. Wanting to eventually work up to be able to build inset white oak cabinets for my kitchen. Wanting to get a decent table saw, bigger router, and make a miter saw station for more accuracy and repeatability for the kitchen cabinets. If anyone has suggestions for a budget friendly table saw and router feel free to let me know! I’d like to be able to run a dado stack.

Lmk if you have any tips, tricks, or tool suggestions to help me make higher quality cabinets. Oh and for the kitchen cabinets, I will build individual boxes so I don’t have to have a shared plywood wall so I don’t have issues with mounting hinges or drawer slides, which is something I learned with this project.

Just finished building my DIY folding workbench, mainly to save space while still having a practical workspace. This is my attempt at a workbench project, so I’d love to hear your thoughts and any suggestions for future improvements!

This solid walnut table is available for free near me, but one of the legs is broken off. From the picture it looks to be a clean break at a joint.

I was thinking this could be fixed with a dowel and glue as well as sanding down any overhang from slight misallignment.

My question would be, whether a fix like this would be likely to hold, and if it is likely for an absolute beginner to produce anything close to seamless.

Also open to suggestions on projects that could be done with the wood from the table, should a repair prove too difficult.

I'm a very beginner woodworker and im working on the Rex Krueger Travelers Workbench. Things have been relatively smooth until I needed to use a 1 1/4 inch spade bit to drill the leg mortises. The bit really struggles to cut in both pine and red oak. It seems to kind of grind the wood smooth without cutting much. Another post with a similar issue recommended more force and a stronger drill. This sort of worked but took a lot of time, really heavy force, and produced a lot of smoke and heat.

I'll attach photos of the drills, holes, and the bit itself. My guess from looking at it is that the bit is dull out of the package but I've never used one before. Any help is much appreciated

I’ve got an old Victorian house that needs a lot of work. I’m fairly new to DIY, especially woodworking,but I wanted to build something in the alcoves either side of the fireplace. I made the cupboard pictured and then made the counter top out of ash. I really struggled to scribe it accurately though. The biggest gap is probably 5-6mm. There are plenty of imperfections in the entire build but overall I am happy enough with my efforts. What’re some good ways to hide the gaps? Just wood filler? I’m worried it will crack and wont match up with the wood colour.

I’ve watched a few YouTube videos on how to scribe but if anyone has some recommendations I’d love to hear them becuase I have to do the other alcove unit next week and i’m dreading it!

I've done a few 2x4 furniture projects but after seeing the cost of nice bed frames I decided to give it a go.

I went with walnut and a garnet shellac finish. I was surprised how easy the shellac was to apply and I really like how it came out.

And while there are some changes I would/should have made I'm pretty pleased overall.

First home first project!

My fiancé (24F) of a week now and I (24M) just bought our first home after moving 3 states north for work. And to kick things off I started the hobby that had been kept on hold for 4 year now - Wood working and remodeling!

Made aloottttttt of mistakes, had to redo a few things, and leaned new skills… along with spending wayyy to much on new and used tools, wood, and other gadgets I saw online.

Let me know what you think!
I know theres a lot of things I could have done better but overall I’m happy with the outcome and now know what to consider next time when designing drawers (gonna paint the wood to match the olive and white shelves)

My next project is going to be designing and building a work station in our up stairs balcony closet, but that will be another post for recommendations and ideas.

I’m practising making boxes(and making them square) , and never made dovetail joint before. Wanted to take the chance to practice cutting it and making a box out of it instead of wasting wood with just
random joints.

I’ve made a Japanese inspired style box with Paul seller video on dovetail box helped me to build this. Walnut and pine. I’ve decided not to finish it as the finish will make the pine turn yellowish, I like the white unfinished look.

Will be making more boxes with nails and joineries! It’s fun and so fulfilling.

New here and in woodworking generally

I have 3 old closet doors I would really like to use as sides for a bed. For environment reasons, aesthetics etc.

Am I likely to encounter any nails or similar when cutting? (besides handle and hinges obviously). If it means something to you they are from around the late 1940s.

Additionally, is there a clever way of joining them lengthwise? The joint doesn’t need to be seamless. They are a little too short for my mattress and could maybe later be cut down to size

Any other tips or thoughts are greatly appreciated

I’m building an outdoor teak table and I’m considering adding these splines above the boards running laterally underneath. I think it adds a nice design element but I’m concerned about wood movement. What do you all say?

How would you mount this top? The top is 1.75" x 45".

My initial plan was to half lap two \~36" x \~5" x 8/4 oak and cut a criss crossing dado into the top of the pedestal.

I could also do same approach, but with 8.5" wide boards and just secure them on top of the pedestal, leaving the top section intact.

I could weld an X using C-channel and conceal in the top.

My concerns are taking away too much meat from the top 2" section, allowing for expansion in the brace (no glue? Slots? Larger pilot holes?), and screwing into the end grain top. Would love to see how y'all would tackle this.

Oh and there will probably be a 4 and 6 year old trying to learn what leverage is.

I'm using some broken down pallet wood to make some stands for my patio. They are strictly structural, they don't need to look pretty or anything.

Is there any non-cosmetic reason to sand them down? Like, they are dirty and had been exposed to nature before i got them...

It’s an ongoing joke that “instead of buying a table, we spent 3x as much as 3 months building it ourselves.”. this seems to hold true with furniture pieces but what actually saves us a boat load of money?

i’m seeing a fair bit of custom built ins (entertainment centers, closets, pantries, etc) done by beginners which look fantastic. while they still may have cost thousands in materials and a few new tools, they look to cost $10k+ if you hired someone. (we are not paying for our own labor of course).

what other things are actually “worth it” for the beginner/intermediate to take on him/herself?

(to use an automotive example, i haven’t paid for maintenance in probably 20 years. it is definitely worth it for me to do a pad slap for $50 instead of paying a shop hundreds.)

Spent about 80 man hours on this bad boy but I’m proud of how it turned out. Followed plans from foureyes furniture.

Specs: Sapele hardwood, 1 lb wash coat of shellac, finish coat arm r seal satin