Woodworking enthusiasts thread

[Darkbreeze]

If you are reading this, then greetings to you. While we usually focus primarily on PC hardware and tech here at Tom's, at least most of us veteran members do, there are a good number of tech enthusiasts who are also enthusiasts in other areas as well and woodworking is one of them.

So, we thought it might be a good idea to create a community thread for those of us, and any of you, who enjoy building things from wood using woodworking tools and techniques, whether as a one time gig, as a hobby or even if you build things for a living. Posts could include anything from woodworking projects, to woodworking tool finds or restorations, questions on tool usage and techniques, or anything that is reasonably related to the topic of woodworking, tools or shop practices. Yes, there are woodworker specific forums out there, but this is for folks who don't want to stray too far from their usual stomping grounds, and are not the "elite" woodworking crowd, so anybody might feel free to participate here regardless of whether it's your first project or your ten thousandth one.

Posting images is certainly encouraged as are sharing details or asking questions of any kind.

If you need to know how to post images, you can learn how to do that here:

How to post images on the Tom's hardware forums

 

[Darkbreeze]

I'll start things off by noting that I recently picked up a pretty basic Jet wood lathe a couple of months back for 125 bucks, and while I'd never used a lathe of any kind before previously I was always interested in doing so, but never had the opportunity or funds to make it a reality. So I picked up this lathe, used, did a bit of TLC to it, bought a couple of new chucks for it and an extra cheap-o set of of turning tools and gouges, and went to town on some chunks of wood I recently got from pulling up a Japanese maple that we planted a couple of years of ago that didn't make it through the winter this time. Not much wood really, but enough to get a feel for the lathe.

That first effort, resulted in this, which is self explanatory, but was to replace the handle that I busted quite a while back.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Second effort was a little more involved, and is more of a "proof of concept", or in my case "can I actually make this at all", project as I built it with a piece of cheap wood pole I found in the alley that looked like it had been sitting there for about ten years. Now that I know I can do it, I'll probably get a maple or ash blank and make a full size version from an appropriate wood. Still, pretty pleased with how it turned out considering it's only the second thing, ever, that I turned on a lathe.

 

[USAFRet]

The bookcase, daughters wedding present.
Bamboo sides, African Mahogany shelves, 3/8" oak dowels. No metals were harmed in the construction of this.

The bamboo side panels started life as hotel stair treads. Ended up in our local Habitat for Humanity ReStore. I should have bought more.
The mahogany is from a local store that carries a lot of specialty species. This was a compromise between "looks cool" and price.

Several years ago, I had seen a pic of a bookcase like this online. Of course, couldn't find it again. So, I'll wing it.
My first attempt at "furniture".

Rhino3D render

Mockup in 1" pine, just to get a visual

Is it strong enough? Yep.
6' span supported only at the very ends, 200lbs of me in the middle. 11mm deflection.

Lacking a drill press and large tiltable table, how to drill 30 holes at the same repeatable 15 degree angle

Glue drying (strapped on my living room floor)

The dowels

Doesn't tip, doesn't break (excuse the fuzzy...NOT my pic)

 

[USAFRet]

Wedding present for my stepson and wife, last year.

All cedar, stainless steel screws.

 

[Darkbreeze]

And as I've said before, BOTH of those are very impressive especially considering you don't have a dedicated, extensive wood shop to work from. And even if you did, they'd still be impressive.

Stuff is a LOT harder to make and get right, and far more time consuming, than people might think if they've never done something similar. Especially if you are not all set up with big, nearly automated tools, with large fast work surfaces, dust collection, project specific jigs and templates, etc. Very nice man.

I'm looking forward to being able to make some things now that I never would have been able to before, especially not without buying additional items. Now, I can make my own dowel rods. Sure, takes longer, but costs very little as those can generally be made from pieces that would otherwise have been too small and useless. Can make fluted legs and columns, like for stools, shelves, etc. Probably will attempt a full short stool at some point although I won't be able to turn the seat on the lathe because my lathe is simply not big enough. I already want a much bigger one but I literally have no place to put it because all my space is already taken up with other tools for work etc. Work tools have to take priority over "fun" tools. Mostly anyhow.

I did recently go buy a band saw to complement the lathe though. I was going to get a little 9" box store (Lowe's/Depot) Porter cable or Ryobi model but the reviews of them were so poor that I decided it wasn't worth the 200 bucks, plus every store within 100 miles was out of stock and no idea when they'd get more with everything that's been going on with the supply chain so I took a 70 mile round trip to Woodcraft and bought a 10" Rikon band saw that was twice the price but has quite a few features lacking on the cheaper models plus a little extra throat and height clearance. This unit, apparently, is a LOT more capable of doing some light resawing whereas those box store models it's pretty well known that resawing is next to impossible. I don't plan to do a lot of resawing, but it would be nice to be able to do it if and when I need to.

https://www.finewoodworking.com/2019/11/12/tool-review-rikon-10-306-bandsaw

 

[USAFRet]

Apparently, I'm going to have to make a kid size chair to go with that pair.
Next spring...

 

[USAFRet]

And yes, building this stuff is a lot more work than it looks like.

A one off prototype is a serious pain. You find a LOT of things you would do differently the second time around.

For the chairs, now that I have all the dimensions and angles down, I could run off 2 or 3 per day.
But for the 'first one', its always a case of..."How does this fit, how does this look, will it work like this"

A hopeful project for later this summer is reconfiguring the garage. More "project friendly".

 

[Darkbreeze]

There is simply no way to reconfigure my garage, to be more ANYTHING friendly. When room is gone, it's gone. You can move ten things around and there still is the same amount of room as before. Which is none. It's just in a different place now. LOL.

What I NEED, is a bigger garage, because mine is extremely small. I do have another shed and some outside storage cabinets, all of which are also full of tools as well. I may need to add an addition to the side of my garage in the not too distant future if I can figure out a way to put aside the money for the materials I'd need. Nothing immense. Just maybe push out the yard facing wall about 8 feet deep by about twelve feet long. A "bay" so to speak. Probably not though. Always something else to siphon off the funds.

On a non-lathe related note, I did make these a while back. Simple, made from leftover materials from the new fence I put up in the back yard last year and other projects.

 

[USAFRet]

One of my early projects:

And yes, it folds up.

 

[Darkbreeze]

I'm sorry man, but it just really doesn't look very comfortable. Especially in the first picture.

 

[USAFRet]

I'm sorry man, but it just really doesn't look very comfortable. Especially in the first picture.

I had the same thought.
The finished product is actually a LOT more comfortable than it looks.

 

[Darkbreeze]

I won't argue with that. Probably like those wooden bead things that go over your seat for your back. They look REALLY uncomfortable, but they're actually not bad at all.

 

[gardenman]

A lot of complicated angles in the above. I like it, especially the 1st chairs and the "flower pot houses"? I'm not sure what those are called, but I like them.

Last year, I wanted to build a new desk. I decided to start small with a stool with storage since the new desk wouldn't have drawers. This was the first time I've done wood work in probably 20+ years.

[More Pictures]

I was satisfied with it except for the spray-on stain. It looks blotchy and off-gassed until I covered it with a few coats of poly.

I put a bit more work into the desk. I cut it outside, built it inside, took it back outside for sanding/stain/poly then brought back in for final assembly. The pictures of the desk really don't do it justice, it's nicer looking in person. There's currently 3 PCs and 1 laptop on it. I'm only using the laptop and bottom PC.

[More Pictures]

See the "More Pictures" link above. Ignore the "cable management", if that's what you call that squid hanging under the desk. It will never be 100% done. I could add a background behind the monitor (the plan was a skull flag or something), new lighting, the "PC shelf" front door, and more.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Those are both nice man. The flower pots are actually "wishing wells" that just happen to be plant holders. Supposed to look like old wishing wells and they actually do, once painted with rusty colored barn red type paint or stained using various "aging" techniques. I only built a couple of them but will probably build more. I'll get pics of the completed version at some point.

That desk is quite unique. Obviously, it was "purpose built", because there is nothing like it you could buy through any retailer or furniture supplier that I've ever seen. Nothing wrong with that at all.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Finally set up and working. You have NO idea what a PITA it is to set up a bandsaw. Even a fairly decent one without all the problems common to much cheaper 9" box store stypes. Works good though. First band saw and I'm pretty happy with the money I spent on it.

 

[Gam3r01]

I guess its probably time I start posting here as I work on some stuff.

First up is what im working with, not exactly a shop but ill take it.

Going to get some supplies this week to start working on some cutting boards, always wanted to make some for gifts/sale and now I finally have the means.

Recently got a sweet deal on a dewalt XR orbital sander, XR jigsaw, and XR oscillating tool, so looking forward to putting those to use.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Well hell, you definitely have a LOT more room than me. I'd call that a shop, it just happens to be one that is in need of a few more tools and a little organization, but I'd be happy as hell to have that much room.

Consider, in my little "shop" which is really just a very old single car garage, and by single car garage I literally mean there was room to park a single small car in it and get out if you were careful not to slam the door into the wall. Or to park a larger car and open the door only part way. Trucks? No. Forget that. It's literally about 11ft from side to side and about 18ft deep. The garage door only has about 7ft of clearance so parking a truck inside can't happen, ever.

And to clarify, I have an 80 gallon compressor, wood lathe with extension bed, big 'ol vise, bench belt sander, bench grinder, brake lathe, solvent sink, sandblast cabinet, a sandblast pot blaster, two shop vacs and a home brewed dust collection unit, two full sized small parts drawer bins, a full size 56" rollaway tool cabinet, 7 smaller tool cabinets, a home brewed engine hot tank, an engine hoist, a metal chop saw, a 6' tall drill press, a large service cart, a 10" bandsaw, two 4 ton floor jacks, a Lincoln stick welder, a ton of repair manuals, half of the parts off my spare parts Mazda 626, a stereo and two 3.5ft tall speakers (Hanging from the ceiling), a large old school Napa rolling battery charger, a 12 ton shop press, a full size home made bicycle service stand and a WHOLE BUNCH of other miscellaneous crap, all stuffed in this one room. Plus, the engine and all the associated parts to my truck, which I desperately need to finish building and get it put back in my truck so it can be used but more importantly, so it is OUT of my way.

Oh, and don't forget the giant, homemade belt sander I made out of a treadmill too. LOL. Yours will get there too, but at least you'll have room for it, which makes it a lot nicer to want to work in and deal with. You've got a really good start on things going there for wood working though.

 

[Gam3r01]

Well, first project in over 6 months began this week, havent had the time due to work but I finally have some reliable free time every week.
Im making an end grain cutting board for my friends birthday, she loves hand crafted stuff and Im trying to convince her to cook more.
Board is mostly walnut (2 tones) with some cherry accent boards.

Laminating some chunks:

Cross section:

Rough design waiting for glue:

A leftover chunk, oiled for a preview:

 

[Darkbreeze]

Damn, that's going to be nice. Can't wait to see the additional steps and finished product. I've thought of doing some cutting boards, but I don't have the access to the right materials in any kind of cost effective reality. Very expensive here in Colorado to get the right kinds of hardwoods in the sizes that are required because we simply don't have many of those trees here and they have to be brought in. We do have some Norway and Sugar maples, but that wood is really expensive and not normally found in the sizes that are needed as it's culled for manufacturers.

 

[Gam3r01]

Damn, that's going to be nice. Can't wait to see the additional steps and finished product. I've thought of doing some cutting boards, but I don't have the access to the right materials in any kind of cost effective reality. Very expensive here in Colorado to get the right kinds of hardwoods in the sizes that are required because we simply don't have many of those trees here and they have to be brought in. We do have some Norway and Sugar maples, but that wood is really expensive and not normally found in the sizes that are needed as it's culled for manufacturers.

Yeah I paid about 3 bucks a foot for 1x3 boards, going to cost me about 30 in materials.

 

[Math Geek]

got my brother in law, who is the actual woodworking person, to help me build a desk with the pc inside it. got inspired by a video i saw and now i simply have to have such a thing. only have some rough sketches so far but i intend to go all out and watercool it to make airflow easier and lay it out as nice as i can. should turn out nice since i got a pro helping me with the actual building of it.

gonna mount my 2 monitors and try to keep the desk as clear as possible except for the wireless mouse and keyboard of course.

i still have to plan out what parts to use to for the pc and what front panel ports i need and so on, but that's the easy part for me

this is my inspiration though i won't be going as big. but it's pretty bad ass for DIY and i plan on using better wood and such for mine.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_rc7_2EvM4

i've seen different builds but i like the overall layout of this one. just built a new pc a couple months ago but will go totally new for this one as well since i don't want to use half of the other one and still have to get other new pieces anyway. probably will be another 3700x build though i might go 3900x for the fun of it

 

[Gam3r01]

Im on the hunt now for a jointer, been squaring stuff on a table saw and it works, but not great.

Trying to decide if I wanna buy a new tabletop or a old used one.

If im able to square stuff up real nice that would save a lot of finish work

 

[Deleted member 217926]

Yeah that cutting board looks great.

@gardenman you should have left your desk post. It looks good too.

 

[Turb0Yoda]

niiiiiice