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!

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!

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

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.

I've been making all kinds of stuff lately lots of interesting little gifts for friends and family. I got a little carried away with toothpick holders, as I've now made about 8 of them. I've given several of them to friends.

But the various trees are for a larger project that I'm working on. I still need to turn a few other things for that project. A couple of small cups at this point, as well as several Christmas ornaments and even a couple of tool handles.

The pictured tool handle is for my own version of a commercial tool called a decorating elf. But my version will accept various 1/8th-inch shaft bits. It'll be interesting to see what I can turn out with that. Pun intended there.

I originally was gifted a lathe that wasn't working; I fixed that with a capacitor. Then I got so caught up with that that I upgraded with my credit card rewards money by getting a Grizzly. What a massive difference. It's so much quieter, and the variable speed drive is awesome.

For me, the best part is the fact that I get to use one tool for the vast majority of the work. Yes, I swap around the cutting implement used on the lathe, but it's basically just the one machine. You don't need a ton of space to store a lathe (mid-size). And they are just extremely versatile. If it can be round, it can likely be made on a lathe. I keep finding new ways to use it and new project ideas. My wife is getting more excited as she's found videos on making pendants and other jewelry-related items that can be made on the lathe. It's a good thing when your spouse can get behind the idea of things being made that benefit their crafting itch as well.

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.)

Feedback is welcome, though I'm quite happy with the result 😄

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.

Randomly found a FB marketplace ad looking for a woodworker to make some shelves to hold her syrups. Told her I could do my best out of fence pickets and little pine. Basically charge at cost so I could get reps. Had a nice time!

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'm a beginner and I've been practicing doing kitchen utensils. I brought in a batch of willow and birch (about 2 years old). And I only noticed after applying oil (linseed) that they all have these grey-ish stains. I assume its some fungi since this is on the inside of the wood and not the discoloured sun-tanned version. Does anyone happen to know what it is? Is it still safe to use?

Learned a bit and enjoyed it, except for the hours of sanding to get rid of pits/tear-out from flattening with my router.

Making a sawhorse, cutting 15 it looks unsafe but actually pretty stable

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 redoing a section of my banister that got weathered down, and I’m hoping to imitate the original finish. Any insight/tips would be much appreciated!!

I got this table second-hand, but unfortunately, it has a crack in one of the legs. I don't have a car, and I'm on a tight budget, so I'd like to try fixing it myself at home. Could you please help me figure out the easiest and cheapest way to repair it?

**Salut à tous Besoin de conseils pour stabiliser mon lit à baldaquin fait maison.**
Je suis en train de fabriquer moi-même un lit à baldaquin en bois, avec quatre poteaux de section 9 × 9 cm et de 2,20 m de hauteur.
La structure est montée et les fixations sont serrées, mais j’ai un problème : lorsque je pousse légèrement le haut du lit, toute la structure bouge. Les quatre poteaux bougent ensemble, aussi bien de gauche à droite que d’avant en arrière.
J’aimerais trouver une solution pour rendre le lit beaucoup plus rigide et empêcher complètement ce balancement.
D’après vous, quels renforts seraient les plus efficaces ? Faut-il ajouter des diagonales en bois à 45°, des équerres métalliques renforcées, des traverses supplémentaires ou un autre système de contreventement ?
Si possible, j’aimerais garder les quatre côtés aussi ouverts que possible, sans trop encombrer la structure.
Je suis preneur de vos conseils, de vos retours d’expérience et de photos de vos réalisations pour m’aider à trouver la meilleure solution.
Merci d’avance pour votre aide !

I saw an ad for this saw, used, but with "minimal use".

Any thoughts? Good, bad, stay away???

It's listed for $300 CAD ($215 USD).

I’m building my painting studio, and one of my personal projects is to build a 72” easel. I’m looking for this specific type of easel.
Do you have any idea how to best approach it?

#begginerwoodworker

What aftermarket bandsaw fences you guys using?i am buying a 14 inch bandsaw this week but I know the fence isn't great nor sturdy and want to get an aftermarket one.any help would be appreciated

I picked up this unfinished cherry desktop from a local hardwood dealer. I noticed these parallel lines after applying some arm r seal. I thought they might be chatoyance but considering they go across multiple boards, I’m dreaming.

I hand sanded so maybe it was me. I also know he has a mechanical planner so maybe it’s from that.

Lastly, I got a little heavy handed and poorly applied the first coat of arm r seal and now it’s splotchy and streaky.

How could I fix my issues? Seems lots of sanding is in order.

So, yeah, I know it's a cheap POS but I'm broke and I saw people talking about being able to get it to work online. I bought the $13 honing guide as well and got to sharpening. That went fine, and I got the iron to shave my arm, cool. Tweaking the chip breaker went fine as well, I got it flat and moved on to mounting it all together for flattening the sole.

Right before I start doing that I get a little excited, and so I want to run the blade out and take a shaving off of a scrap. I try and it gets caught right before the blade extends out of the mouth. I add some wd40 to lubricate the adjustment knob but it still gets stuck. I look at the plane as I lift the blade to see what's going on and I find that the chip breaker screw is running into the frog.

Now, this is not something I have EVER heard of, so I'm asking here, am I doing something wrong or should I return this thing? Should I hone the frog as well? I'm at a loss.

I found a ~1 - 1.2 inch diameter young sugar maple in my yard that was bent over with no leaves. Seemed to be dead or dying with roots still in the ground. About midway up the trunk I cut out a nice 5 foot length to turn into a walking stick!

I already debarked and sanded the stick (keeping the knots and natural shape) when I learned I should season the wood before applying any treatment or stain. How long should I wait for it to effectively dry? I’d prefer using it before winter but from the research I’ve done I might have to wait several months?

I’m new to woodworking concepts so I’ll take any tips you’ve got about treating it too!