I’m new into this woodworking hobby so forgive me for what’s probably a dumb question. When buying lumber for a project for say like furniture (cabinet, vanity, table, etc.), something you are wanting to look nice, what are you buying? Are you buying hardwood that is already perfectly in the store or are you buying more construction grade lumber and then using a jointer/planer to get everything square and all that?

My brother has recently gotten into woodworking and am looking to get him a gift. What are some basic tools might he want? I know he's done crown molding in his apartment but that's about it. He doesn't have studio/much working space. Looking to spend ~$100. Thanks!

Just bout a Bosch 10” table saw. One of the reasons is the old Craftsman was starting to go and the mitre slots, can’t find anything to run through them, and any accessories, including the safety features are long gone (was my friend’s father’s who had two). Back to the mitre slots, now I can build a crosscut sled. Do I really need one?

My son completed his first breaking seminar in martial arts and busted this piece of pine. He got to keep it and I am turning into a display for his belts. I’d like to finish it with a clear coat, but I’m not sure that I’m sold on the polycrylic route. Looking for advice/ideas. Thanks!

I love sanding! Maybe it's because I work on smaller projects. Maybe it's because I sand by hand, preferring to feel the wood instead of the vibrations of an ROS. Or maybe it's because I've only been woodworking for a few short months. Whatever the reason, there's nothing like the final stages of seeing my idea come to life.

It's bizarre to me that so many YouTubers talk about sanding as the necessary evil. I look forward to it! Any others like me out there?

My varnish always drips off the thing I’m varnishing.

Does this mean I’m putting too much on with each application? Should I wipe the brush off better after I dip it in the varnish?

Or does it always drips off a bit?

How do I clean this up? Asked the husband for odorless mineral spirits. He came back with a mineral spirits substitute and I had a big Oopsie. There’s a couple splashes on myclothes. Can I put them in my washing machine after it dries? Do I need to do anything specific like determine how to get rid of this wood or just let it dry before getting rid of it? This is my first time working with these slippery slippery spirits.

Having a heck of a time sanding out burn marks on my first router tray. Was my mistake using cherry since it burns easily? Any tips on sanding these out?

Thanks

Could be both for asking or gifting, just things everyone could use. Sub $50

Hi, hopefully this is the right place to ask, I’ve always wanted to get into wood working and just got a dremel 4300 that I intend to use mainly for carving. Does anyone have any specific PPE they recommend? It seems like a respirator and eye wear are a must and noise protection is recommended. Was wondering if anyone had any specific products that they found to work really well? In addition, I was reading some tools have a vacuum attachment that connects directly to the tool, does anyone have any recommendations for this as well? Sorry if these are stupid questions, just completely new to this and don’t want to end up with lung problems.

I have bought kiln dried boards from a local hardwood dealer and they have cracked in my garage after only a day or 2. This has happened a couple different times, with different wood species so I assume it's something I'm doing wrong. I store the wood standing up on end, leaning against the wall. I have read that being in direct contact with the concrete floor can cause problems because concrete holds moisture, so I put a piece of 1/4 inch plywood down first, which the ends of the boards rest on. Nevertheless, I am still seeing some boards crack.

How do people recommend preventing this? Do I need to store the boards horizontally instead? Store them not close to the ground? Let them acclimate in the house first so it's not as drastic a temperature change?I live in socal so it's not freezing in the garage, but it can get cooler than in the house, especially at night. Thanks!

I know everyone is probably really fed up of cutting boards and questions but I am new to it and needed to ask a few.

1. Is mineral oil and paraffin oil the same? I'm planning on mixing paraffin oil and beeswax to make board paste. I ask because I know paraffin oil is somewhat of a laxative so I don't wanna end up with that issue.

2. When making face grain boards (the really simple ones) I saw some videos where they used like a 8" wide piece of mahogany and a few smaller strips of others. However, in another video the guy said don't use a wide board, cut it up and join it back to alternate the grain to reduce warping, is this needed for face grain cutting boards? I plan on doing 4" mahogany, 4" apamat...don't know the real name and some 3" purple heart. Should I strip them and glue back or just alternate the grain in those pieces as is?

Thanks to everyone or anyone who answers. I appreciate it. If not, well, I get it too, thanks anyways.

I am repairing an old sewing machine table and retrofitting it to fit a new a machine. I have little to no experience with this sort of thing, and I’m having some trouble removing the current lift mechanism from the table without ruining the wood around it. The last part of the disassembly that I need is part of a fold-out… leaf? I guess you could call it. In order to remove the leaf from the rest of the table, there is a metal arm that connects to the rest of the table and sort of balances it while it’s folded out. I can’t figure out how to remove this small metal arm, but I need to remove the leaf in order to properly strip and paint the table

Hi all,

I’d like to build a small stand for a center channel speaker to sit inside my current tv console (glass shelf would be removed, it can’t hold the weight of the center by a few pounds). I was thinking of making it like a “monitor stand” type shelf that would sit over the AVR with some clearance and then have the center on top of it.

The console itself is particle board/MDF type stuff, but I was wondering what others would use to build something like this so I can stain or otherwise color it to get close in color match to the current console. Picture attached and I’d love any feedback or any other ideas on this small project.

Thanks!

This was something I told myself earlier to get away from the computer and simply start somewhere with my dining table build in my garage.

I've been wanting to build a dining table for a couple years and finally mustered up the courage to head to the lumber yard and spend a considerable amount on some nice white oak last week.

But since buying the wood, I started to doubt my plans... I started to rewatch YouTube videos and do "research" elsewhere on the internet to make sure I wasn't going to make any mistakes in my build. "Is there a better way to do this?" "Do I need to buy this tool?" etc.

While I do think that can be helpful sometimes, it certainly isn't getting me any closer to finishing my project.

So, whoever else needs to hear this—your project will not build itself!

I spent the past few hours milling the wood for the table legs. Just took a break for lunch here and will get back to more work on my table base this afternoon.

I got the idea in my head that I was going to make both kids art easels for Christmas when one asked for one from Santa. I’m using https://www.ana-white.com/woodworking-projects/diy-art-easel-kids as the outline but trying to spice it up a bit with real joints and better wood. This is my first REAL woodworking project - for the most part I’m just doing stuff around my house - poplar shelves and what not. I’m nervous to waste this nice wood and more nervous I’m going to get everything looking good and then it falls apart due to wood movement.

So I got some nice kiln dried white oak and attempted to mill it down from a slab. For the most part it went ok - face jointing is harder than I thought. Seems like more of an art than a science.

Im working on building the trays. For this I’ve glued up two 1x3s to make 6 inches. But what’s the best way to join the 1x6 to the upwards 1x3s.

So what kind of joinery would you all recommend for this part?

Thanks in advance!

I have a Rikon 10-324 (14", 1 1/2 hp) that comes standard with a 5/8"x111" 4 TPI blade.

I'd mostly be looking at resawing softer woods for the time being (eastern white pine or similar). This is mainly for surfboard fins that are hand foiled, so precision isn't that important. I normally cut templates from 8"x24" boards that are already at a 1/4" thickness. I'm not looking to resaw 10' of board at a time, probably just 2' or so. I'd like to be able to get (2) - 3/8" boards out of a 5/4 board to then plane down to 1/4" final thickness. I can use whatever is left over for scroll saw projects so I'm not too worried about the extra waste.

I'd like to keep a standard blade on it if possible for other projects. Appreciate any advice y'all have!

Hey folks, I just purchased my first band saw, and I was wondering about the best way to keep rust away from it.

I've watched a few videos on YouTube, and some people recommend WD40, Camellia Oil, and Wax.

Care to share some tips and products (that are available in Europe)?

Thanks

Hi! I made a cutting board and I didn’t know you’re supposed to use Tightbond 3 bc it’s waterproof.

I just used the Lepage Pro carpenters glue. Is it still ok to use this cutting board?

Thanks.

Has anyone ever seen Kreg benches local in the US? I emailed them but haven’t heard back. I’d love to pick up rather than spend the money on shipping and risk damage but so far I can’t find any, including big box stores.

Hello all. I recently decided to try to get into woodworking as it’s something I’ve been interested in for a while. I am deciding to start with a circular saw and need advice on choosing one. Looking on Reddit everyone recommends a word drive circular saw as the workhorse but wondering if that’s more for carpentry than woodworking. Is a traditional sidewinder more than enough to fit my potential woodworking needs?

Any recommendations and advice on models to get would be appreciated.