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”.
Sometimes you have a great piece of wood that has a natural edge, a bit of crook, or you want to put a taper on a board. There are a
couple of ways to get a clean, straight edge on a board. The quickest is, of course, on a jointer. You can also use a router table. But you can also do it with a hand router and a straight edge guide, just like cutting with a circular saw. In fact there are times when the combination of circular saw and router is the quickest and most flexible solution. So, here it is, how to joint a board with a router. Continue reading Joint This! How to Joint a Board With a Router
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?
In a recent post, I discussed the various tools for sanding projects (Tools for Sanding Success) , and just as there are a lot of ways to sand, there are a lot of options in sand paper.
Rather than going into a long technical explanation about sand papers, let’s explore the basics and make recommendations specifically for woodworkers. Continue reading Get a Grit on Sand Paper
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
One of the quickest ways to build “stuff”, is to use a pocket hole jig. Basically, the jig drills a screw hole at an angle into a board. This lets you put a screw through the center of one board into another. No dowels, no tenons, no dovetails, no fancy tools! It may not be a family heirloom, but most of the things you can assemble with pocket screws will hold up to a lot of abuse.
Continue reading Beginners Guide: Kreg Pocket Hole Jigs – The Mini
Here are some thoughts and recommendations for shop safety gear and Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)
Continue reading Shop Safety Gear – PPE
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
