Woodworking projects and skills for everyone
Handmade Baby Toys, or the Elephant in the Baby’s Room. Two of my daughters recently gave me grandsons (a month apart). I had to stop and really think about what I could make for these guys. I am nervous about anything they can put in their mouths, that might come apart, so I made some baby toys that are going to be more decorative, at least until they get a little older. Continue reading Elephant in the Baby’s Room – Making Baby Toys
So, I decided it was time for a new desk. I spent a lot of time on the internet and Pinterest looking for ideas. I thought about an industrial design, or up-cycling found objects. I decided that I wanted to build a vintage desk, styled from this one that can be seen on “brown dress with white dots”.
To create a solid wood panel for a desk or tabletop, you need to glue boards together. You need to know how to glue up a panel! How do you do that?
There are several ways to build a drawer for a desk, a dresser, or your kitchen cabinets. And while the traditional dovetail is a “hallmark” of a well built piece of furniture, the truth is, they require time, experience and tools that the average person doesn’t have. For someone starting out in DIY, there has to be a simpler (cheaper) way to get the job done!
Guess what, there is… Pocket Holes – In fact all you need for tools is a saw and a pocket hole jig! Continue reading Let’s Build a Drawer!!!
From the moment we moved into the new house, the wife has been looking for a side table for the living room.
She looked everywhere, and we tried several tables of various shapes and sizes to no avail.
Finally, while at a furniture store, she found a table made from what looks like an old baluster, that she thought was a great inspiration piece.
Continue reading How to Build a Table From Reclaimed Column for Less Than $35
So you built a table from one of those on line plans, maybe one with breadboard ends. Six months later you are wondering “why did my table top shrink?” Why is is cracking and splitting? What causes wood movement?
The biggest reason is what it was made with. You see, solid wood is like a big sponge. In the winter, with central AC, it drys out and shrinks. In the humidity of summer, it soaks up moisture and swells. Every kind of wood reacts a little differently.
Continue reading Wood Movement – Why Did My Table Top Shrink???
When we found the new house, it had just been “flipped”. Almost everything was done. The one obvious item left, was in the living room, around the fireplace. The house is 50 years old. Why no one had added custom built in cabinets during that time, I won’t ever understand.
Continue reading Custom Built in Cabinets – A Fancy Fireplace
Recently a friend asked me to design and build a hall tree for her entryway. Her husband farms, and she was tired of his muddy boots on her floors! She sent me some pins (Pinterest) of what she was thinking. I designed the piece two different ways for her using Google Sketchup. One as a corner unit, the other as a single bench.
Continue reading Hall Tree – How to build one from scratch
Sometimes, when we watch those DIY or woodworking shows, it looks like you need a huge shop and a lot of expensive tools to do anything. Well… it’s not true. I started with a few hand tools in the driveway, and stepped up to a skill saw and a sander, and a small shop, when I got married. With this massive set of tools (ha ha) I built our first dining table (with benches), a bookcase, end tables, an entertainment center and a chair. Now, this wasn’t the most beautiful stuff, it was a knock of of Cargo Furniture’s style (it was supposed to look like it was made from crates). These pieces of furniture lasted my growing family almost 15 years, before we sold them to someone else in need of some solid basic furniture.
Continue reading Getting started with a small shop (or no shop)
