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!

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.

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.

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'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.

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

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

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.

It's my first project from scraps in the backyard. (2 x 4s, composite board, a random plank) I only had a manual hand saw and drill. And wood glue. No sandpaper or anything. The gap is big enough for finches and sparrows to get in DW

Anyway i did it ugly on purpose bc its my first project and i just needed to get SOMETHING finished, even if it was shitty :) I think the birds won't care Anyhow

Edit: 100+ comments?? 😭 Yes I drilled pilot holes 😂 And my grandpa showed me how to safely use a saw 😌 I have no idea why only that one panel split when i used the same bit to drill all the other holes lol. It was the thickness of the shaft and not the threads yadda yadda. Also I live in a desert so rain is a non-issue 😂 We get rain once a year maybe

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

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?

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.

Made using 3/4" plywood. Incredibly pleased with how it turned out.

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!

What are some of the best programs or applications for designing and planning your projects? Are there any good free options?

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!

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).

Inspired by the shitty bird house post. Used mostly old 2x4s my contractor tossed out in my yard. Bought some new ones since I ran out. Decided to use osb boards cuz those are so much cheaper than other plywoods.

Definitely not cut flush. I measured thrice, cut once, cut wrong.