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Woodworking / Furniture Building

Going back to my 1400 sq ft deck my father in law and I are building, my father in law threw me his router and told me to router the edges of the deck so that it has a nice round edge. Needless to say I thought it was the coolest thing and when my wife arrived I looked at her and told her "I need one of these". Now just doing the roundover on the deck was enough to get me to think I needed a router but I want to know what is your favorite use of your router? I can only round so many edges in my DIY projects.

On a side note, I just got my Masters degree and I had not known that my in laws were trying to figure out what to get me as a graduation gift. Needless to say I have a Milwaukee compact router headed my way.

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Went over to my stepdads shop yesterday, and he's building a small sailboat to haul behind his bigger one, for day trips, and shore landings and such. He's already built another sailboat himself, so I'm sure this will be a work of art when it's finished.

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Finally getting a project near completion that I have been working on for several weeks. Mrs. SirShives has wanted to replace an old buffet in the kitchen for quite a while and we could never seem to find the right piece that worked for her storage wants and vision for the space. She was constantly showing me things she liked that she would find online but we couldn’t seem to locate exactly the piece she wanted. Ultimately, I decided I’d try my hand at building this thing and started doing some of my own research. I’ve built some nice stuff in the past but nothing this large or quite this nice. Anyway, here’s some shots of the work in progress that began back in May.
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Part 2:
The butcher block top turned out really well as did the barn door style sliding track system. I got a big assist from a artist buddy of mine who works primarily on aluminum. The doors slide so smoothly and the wife is a big fan of the finished product. So am I. It turned out great. The shelves above it I also made, though they have been there for several years.
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Hey all, currently working on plans to refinish our basement which will allow us to move the couch and tv to our basement and finally give our growing family an actual spot to put a table to have meals. So i'm looking to build a simple farmhouse design dining room table but I'm wanting this table to be sturdy, but at the same time, not cost me an arm and a leg. What I'm hoping for are some suggestions on what type of wood I should use for the tabletop? My wife wants the top to have a light stain on the top so I would like to use something that has some pretty good looking grain. I may be able to save when it comes to the legs/support as she is wanting that to either be painted black, or a dark stain. Any suggestions on what type of wood I should use? Rough sawn is okay as I have access to a planer. My wife has a client whose husband own a lumber yard out here in Utah so I may have access to quite a few different species. That being said. I'm hoping whatever I choose will be budget friendly.
 
Also, Finished my first real "wood project" This past week. Went with the raised planter for my mom who already has a big garden. She is pretty excited to put her herb garden in it next year. Went with cedar, finished it by giving shou sugi ban a try. It was a lot of fun. If I had another week or so to work on it I would have probably 45 the corners instead of just butt joining them. I was also trying to use pocket holes on the corners as it was my first time doing it, I'm assuming I was doing something wrong as the screws just kept going right through the cedar sides. Another learning experience was instead of taking my two 8 foot 4x4's and cutting them in half with my circular saw, I should have pulled out the chop saw, measured out and created a stop so that I could more accurately measure the legs. When I just cut the 8 footers at 48" I found that when it was put together it was 1. way too tall and 2. the legs were not the same length. Learn and move on to the next one!
 

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There is some really quality work here, and and some serious skill being displayed. I have been meaning to post this for a while but it slipped my mind. I made this table out of two pallets and some 2x4s I had laying around. All in, you can make this with 2 pallets and about $30. I use it as my “all around” shop table, and to work on my golf clubs. All the tools are mounted on over length 2x6 boards So they can clamp down and be secure. The configuration is simple and versatile.
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@maxw72 I get Cherry and walnut cheap from my sawmill so I use a lot of that. One thing I would suggest for the top is Ambrosia Maple (wormy maple)
for the top. Here is a top I did for a blanket chest in our bedroom.


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It’s a very affordable wood around here and is very cool.
 
maxw72 said:
Hey all, currently working on plans to refinish our basement which will allow us to move the couch and tv to our basement and finally give our growing family an actual spot to put a table to have meals. So i'm looking to build a simple farmhouse design dining room table but I'm wanting this table to be sturdy, but at the same time, not cost me an arm and a leg. What I'm hoping for are some suggestions on what type of wood I should use for the tabletop? My wife wants the top to have a light stain on the top so I would like to use something that has some pretty good looking grain. I may be able to save when it comes to the legs/support as she is wanting that to either be painted black, or a dark stain. Any suggestions on what type of wood I should use? Rough sawn is okay as I have access to a planer. My wife has a client whose husband own a lumber yard out here in Utah so I may have access to quite a few different species. That being said. I'm hoping whatever I choose will be budget friendly.
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Honest to goodness “farmhouse” type tables are simple and sturdy in construction. Most examples I’ve seen have tops that are 2-3 wide boards that are not glued together and are just nailed individually to the base. They move individually and you’ll see seasonal gapping and movement as humidity changes (which may or may not be a problem for you depending on your local climate and tolerance for such things). For this I would look at standard 2x framing material (2x10 or 2x12). These are typically cut from the best sections of the trees and have the fewest defects. Pick through the stack for the straightest and driest pieces for the top. For a more “rustic” or “authentic” look you can get rose head nails for the top that will look hand forged. For a modern interpretation with a single wide top, I would go with @wubears71 suggestion of ambrosia maple.
 
SirShives said:
Finally getting a project near completion that I have been working on for several weeks. Mrs. SirShives has wanted to replace an old buffet in the kitchen for quite a while and we could never seem to find the right piece that worked for her storage wants and vision for the space. She was constantly showing me things she liked that she would find online but we couldn’t seem to locate exactly the piece she wanted. Ultimately, I decided I’d try my hand at building this thing and started doing some of my own research. I’ve built some nice stuff in the past but nothing this large or quite this nice. Anyway, here’s some shots of the work in progress that began back in May.
View attachment 8955440View attachment 8955441View attachment 8955442View attachment 8955443View attachment 8955444
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The butcher block top... did you make that? Nice looking buffet(y)
 
maxw72 said:
Going back to my 1400 sq ft deck my father in law and I are building, my father in law threw me his router and told me to router the edges of the deck so that it has a nice round edge. Needless to say I thought it was the coolest thing and when my wife arrived I looked at her and told her "I need one of these". Now just doing the roundover on the deck was enough to get me to think I needed a router but I want to know what is your favorite use of your router? I can only round so many edges in my DIY projects.

On a side note, I just got my Masters degree and I had not known that my in laws were trying to figure out what to get me as a graduation gift. Needless to say I have a Milwaukee compact router headed my way.

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Sorry this is late.
From what I read, DeWalt used to be the "standard" for the construction industry... and Milwaukee is taking that spot now. DeWalt offshored their production, cut costs and lowered quality as a result. Personally for me, I've got a Milwaukee 3/8" impact driver, a 3/8" drill (they came in a kit) and I love them. You can't go wrong with Milwaukee, BUT if you're already standardized on DeWalt, why change just to change?
 
JohnSinVA said:
Honest to goodness “farmhouse” type tables are simple and sturdy in construction. Most examples I’ve seen have tops that are 2-3 wide boards that are not glued together and are just nailed individually to the base. They move individually and you’ll see seasonal gapping and movement as humidity changes (which may or may not be a problem for you depending on your local climate and tolerance for such things). For this I would look at standard 2x framing material (2x10 or 2x12). These are typically cut from the best sections of the trees and have the fewest defects. Pick through the stack for the straightest and driest pieces for the top. For a more “rustic” or “authentic” look you can get rose head nails for the top that will look hand forged. For a modern interpretation with a single wide top, I would go with @wubears71 suggestion of ambrosia maple.
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Fortunately humidity isn't an issue we have here in Utah so we should be good on that case. The simplicity of the Farmhouse style is the main reason I gave the okay on it as I knew it was something I could probably throw together fairly quick.
 
Scorpion12 said:
Sorry this is late.
From what I read, DeWalt used to be the "standard" for the construction industry... and Milwaukee is taking that spot now. DeWalt offshored their production, cut costs and lowered quality as a result. Personally for me, I've got a Milwaukee 3/8" impact driver, a 3/8" drill (they came in a kit) and I love them. You can't go wrong with Milwaukee, BUT if you're already standardized on DeWalt, why change just to change?
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Yup I just upgraded to the same impact driver and drill as my Dewalt drill gave up on my last project. The Milwaukee impact driver and drill, paired with my router, and circular saw all being Milwaukee has made my change to Milwaukee quite enjoyable. I have in the past month and a half accrued a total of 5 Milwaukee batteries all with varying ah. On top of all that, I just converted my sons Power Wheels to run on a Milwaukee Battery so it has been a nice change for me and him as well as that thing moves and runs forever!
 
Scorpion12 said:
Sorry this is late.
From what I read, DeWalt used to be the "standard" for the construction industry... and Milwaukee is taking that spot now. DeWalt offshored their production, cut costs and lowered quality as a result. Personally for me, I've got a Milwaukee 3/8" impact driver, a 3/8" drill (they came in a kit) and I love them. You can't go wrong with Milwaukee, BUT if you're already standardized on DeWalt, why change just to change?
Click to expand...

Everyone has offshored production and some once respected professional brands are little better than DIY level now. IME brands had standards in tool types: e.g. A ‘skilsaw’ (circ saw) and ‘Sawzall’ (Recip saw). Certain companies were the “go-to” for certain tool types. Router? Porter-Cable. Jig saw? Bosch. HD Drill? Milwaukee, etc. Right now I can’t think of any portable power tools that are still made in the US, save maybe the PC 690 router.
 
You're right there. It seems that all tool manufacturers have off shored their production... but some have had better results than others. I do know I really like the Metabo circular saw I picked up the other day. And I'm satisfied with the homeowner quality of Ryobi tools. They meet my needs.
 
Scorpion12 said:
You're right there. It seems that all tool manufacturers have off shored their production... but some have had better results than others. I do know I really like the Metabo circular saw I picked up the other day. And I'm satisfied with the homeowner quality of Ryobi tools. They meet my needs.
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looks like Metabo is under the Hitachi umbrella now based on the tools i looked at in Lowe's the other day. I have a Ryobi belt sander that's been an absolute tank and use their cordless system since the batteries are cheap, easy to find, and work across all the tools.
 
Yep, Metabo is previously known as Hitachi. They made good stuff as Hitachi and I'm wasn't finding anything bad on their Metabo skil saws so I got one. I needed one because my skil saw was making a noise when I was ripping some wood the last time I used it. I think it either needs new brushes for the motor or the bearings are going out for the shaft or something. Regardless I wanted a new saw:D and that was my excuse.

Ryobi I'm finding is nice for homeowner quality. I picked up a drill and impact kit that came with 2 other tools (I gave the drills to someone and kept the other 2 tools) and also picked up a 1/2" impact. Everything does what I need them to.

I've got Ryobi jigsaw, belt sander, impact, hedge trimmer (that thing is awesome!!) and Milwaukee drill and 3/8" impact driver.

Now, I'm trying to justify to myself a Milwaukee cordless ratchet... but I have absolutely no need for one because I don't do enough work on my vehicles for it. But I WANT one. :D
 
baldguy said:
I've decided I need a new desk for my home office. I spend so much time in here it's ridiculous that I am still using this old desk I salvaged from an office closing. Looking around on the interwebs, it seems like for a given budget, I can build something much nicer than I can buy. I'm relatively handy with a decent selection of tools in my garage, and I have full confidence in my ability to build... but I've never built a desk or any real furniture before, unless you could things like picnic tables and benches. I tend to use my projects as an excuse to buy new tools... my wife's raised vegetable gardens got me a really nice sliding compound miter saw... I'm thinking this one will get me a table saw :D

This is a project that really catches my eye:

http://www.simplifiedbuilding.com/blog/diy-ergonomic-computer-desk-revisited/

He uses Kee Klamp fittings which aren't cheap, but combined with iron or steel pipe are very strong and easy to work with. I would make some changes to the design to fit my needs and workspace, but the concepts would be pretty much the same. If you look around on that site you will see lots of other projects using the same materials, and I think I'd end up doing the same thing. I've been toying with various ideas for the desktops, which is where the actual woodworking comes in. I want a nice looking top, on the darker side like the featured piece in that DIY article. The dimensions I'm looking to build are 30" deep, 82" from left to right, with an L on the right end that comes out to 72". Here are the options I came up with for the top:

Ikea countertop that is cheap, looks great, accepts stain and sealant, and really would almost be perfect as a desk top - http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/20057854/ - the only problem is I really want that 30" depth. The countertops come in either 25" or 39" depth. They have table tops in 30" but not in colors that I like. I suppose I could stain those table tops, but I am not 100% sure they will accept stain

This seems like a lot of work, but if I was trying to avoid work I would pay someone else to do it - http://www.sawdustandembryos.com/2013/06/how-to-build-butcher-block-counter.html - and I would have ultimate control over grain, color, dimensions, etc. I like this option the best, but I have yet to find a good source for reclaimed, scrap, or otherwise relatively cheap lumber. If I can't find that, this option becomes much more expensive than the countertops. I'm still looking.

The last option I came up with for the top is some biscuit-joined planks. The problems with that are basically that I can't find 2" thickness boards that look good and are long enough. Plus, I'm not confident in their resistance to warping, even if I oppose the grains. But that might just be my inexperience with woodworking.

With either of those last two options, I'm looking at having someone else do the planing. I considered buying a tabletop planer, but good ones are expensive and even those won't handle a 30" board.

So, for those of you who are woodworkers, what would you recommend? Has anyone built a project with kee klamp fittings before? Any other DIY recommendations for office furniture? Thanks!
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two of my brothers were very good furniture builders. One was an executive with Sears in the Tri-state area (Ohio,l Indiana, Illinois) and had tons of craftsman tools. His furniture sold all over the country. Pricey, but good. Both of my brothers have since passed away, but I have a nephew in Grass Valley CA who also has a shop. I once remarked to him that I did not have the same talents. He replied.."Maybe you were adopted_.
 
Hoping for some help from my fellow woodworkers. We are putting stairs to our unfinished basement (yes, our home did not have interior stairs to our basement, weird I know) and I'm looking at the railing I'm going to be putting in. Rather than go with the standard vertical balusters, my wife wanted to go with something a bit different, while staying away from the "trendy" metal railings. I must say that this is one of the times that I'm actually pretty excited about my wife's choice because it allows me to do some woodworking. The attached picture is the route we are going. That all being said, being in Finance and a bit cheap, I want to build the railing as cost effective as possible. Here is my initial thoughts:
for the newel posts I was going to go with a 4x4 wrapped in 1x poplar boards to give it a bit of a bulkier look at less cost. Then for the top and bottom rail I would find a nicer straight pieces of wood, around 2x4 with a nice rounded over edge done on my router. For the diagonals I'm at a bit of a loss as I'm not sure what exactly to use. Should I go with a 2x2? I was originally thinking of just using the wood balusters that they sell at the big box stores but I'm afraid those will almost be too thin. I then thought using redwood as you can get it for a decent price but I feel like the difference in poplar and redwood be noticeable if stained, but probably okay if painted.

What are your thoughts?

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I'm not an expert at all but I think you're right. The balusters at the box store aren't sturdy looking enough to look "right" for what you're talking about...

The picture looks like it may be a 1"x4" as the top rail with a small 1"x1" filler strip right at the top of the balusters giving it a little bit more definition on both sides of the balusters. The balusters look to be 2"x2".

Whatever wood you decide to use, it may be hard to come by... lumber is in short supply from what I'm gathering. Some lumber mills have shut down due to Covid and aren't accepting any logs to process... so there's a supply issue and prices are going up.

I'd do just one panel as a prototype out of pine and see how it comes out before dropping money on redwood or fir or anything else. And I think a stain would go better than paint but that's just me.

Just my suggestion and I'm not really qualified to even comment in this thread. I can turn big pieces of wood into little pieces of wood and that's about it.:ROFLMAO:
 
Scorpion12 said:
I'm not an expert at all but I think you're right. The balusters at the box store aren't sturdy looking enough to look "right" for what you're talking about...

The picture looks like it may be a 1"x4" as the top rail with a small 1"x1" filler strip right at the top of the balusters giving it a little bit more definition on both sides of the balusters. The balusters look to be 2"x2".

Whatever wood you decide to use, it may be hard to come by... lumber is in short supply from what I'm gathering. Some lumber mills have shut down due to Covid and aren't accepting any logs to process... so there's a supply issue and prices are going up.

I'd do just one panel as a prototype out of pine and see how it comes out before dropping money on redwood or fir or anything else. And I think a stain would go better than paint but that's just me.

Just my suggestion and I'm not really qualified to even comment in this thread. I can turn big pieces of wood into little pieces of wood and that's about it.:ROFLMAO:
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Hey, I probably don't have any business working on this but I'm giving it a shot!
 
Well, that's why I say do one panel as a prototype in cheap-ish (even though pine lumber isn't cheap any more due to Covid supply running low) before you go for hardwood.

the good thing is you can do the balusters in one of 2 ways that I can think of...

1. Mortise the end of the baluster into the newell post at he proper angle you're wanting. And maybe consider doing a through tenon on the top rail... that would look kind of "craftsy". Not the word I'm looking for but close to it... the word where it's a style of furniture architecture, admired because of its style. Mission style! Kind of. Sort of.

2. Miter the ends of the balusters to the angle you're wanting and maybe dowel the end of the baluster and dowel the newel l post and top and bottom rails... or maybe use blind tenons. Or just glue and toe nail them into place.

It's a nice style of baluster and newell post... there should be plans online somewhere that may help. Unless you're good enough to eyeball it and go from there. If that's the case, I think that's awesome!
 
Haha. Pine being cheap. Nothing is cheap right now. I’m just glad I have an awesome urban sawmill by me that processes nothing but local urban trees and sells it to fellow woodworkers cheap.
 
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