I'm building a treehouse and going for a rustic, simplistic look, almost as if it was built by children. It will have a single vertical ladder made of 2x4s for the siderails and 2x2s for the rungs.

I've seen many treehouse ladders where the rungs fall out for various reasons, so I want to avoid that. Here are the various configurations I've thought of, and why I'm hesitant about each. Generally, I want to avoid something that will fall apart due to rot/use/abuse, and I want to avoid joinery that's too sophisticated. I recognize that these two goals are somewhat in tension! But I'm hoping the hivemind can help me find a simple, yet sturdy way to build a lasting ladder.

1. A screw through the outside of the siderail directly into the rungs. Rungs sandwiched between the siderails. This puts the screw into the endgrain of the rung, leading to splitting. It also means the rungs can spin. Using multiple screws fixes this but further contributes to splitting and the rung eventually tearing out completely.

https://preview.redd.it/xr1wbdswpquc1.png?width=1356&format=png&auto=webp&s=b74188365c23a8d5d93aea63dbcda94169cb1be5

2. The rungs sitting on the face of the siderails, with the 2x4s face on.

This puts the screw through the grain of both rung and siderail, but only allows room for one screw per side (2 per rung). If the wood rots at all, this can cause the rung to pull free. Also, it means that weight of climbers is creating a shear force on the screw which weakens the wood grain with each use.

https://preview.redd.it/q45zhsrfqquc1.png?width=680&format=png&auto=webp&s=5810393bd88fe92dbb0fd01d3edbdde4877973ce

3. Same as above, but with the siderails turned so that you see the long end of the 2x4.

This provides the space to put two screws in each side (4 per rung) but ultimately has the same issues as the above.

https://preview.redd.it/x88s8afqqquc1.png?width=992&format=png&auto=webp&s=af3581c9b8c1c89f3511473c55c0b538d979b728

Cutting slots into the siderail for the rungs, building mortise and tenon joints, or other fancy joinery.
This improves structural issues, but increases the chances that water will get trapped somewhere, and due to the cutting in the pressure treated wood, likely an area that is less protected than the outside edge. This will result in wood rot eventually. It's also more complicated and more work, and goes against the unsophisticated look of the rest of the treehouse.

https://preview.redd.it/1rbpbk51rquc1.png?width=598&format=png&auto=webp&s=12c1f3991f35509fdbbdd0c203ee5670810cfd40

Hello, I have a birch butcher block I was going to sand down before and after I stain and was wondering if anyone had any recommendations at to what grits I should use? I bought a variety pack of sand sheets going from 80-320 and wasn't sure if that would be enough. They didn't really have higher grits at my local Lowe's.

My original plan was to Sand at 180 then do 220, Stain, 2nd coat of stain if needed, then Sand 320 and then do a Polyurethane coat to seal it. Please let me know if any of this sounds wrong or if you'd make any tweaks, the block is going to be a Desk top for my office.

Quartersawn white oak.

so i bought a house built in 1994 and i assume the fence was built the same year and CCA was phased out in 2004 and im curious if this is CCA treated wood or not. im wanting to grow a garden in my yard near the fence and if its CCA ive heard that could be bad. the bigger pieces are set in concrete and the planks go along a concrete wall and dont touch the soil. one of the pictures shows what i think might be sap leeching out, so its probably some type of pine. ive heard that untreated wood is cheaper and the people that built this house seemingly did a cheap sloppy job, so im hoping in this case they did cheap out and chose untreated wood. i dont see any type of markings on the wood other than old staples where i assume a tag once was.

https://preview.redd.it/c076kgjsequc1.jpg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a25509c96ff67efa46ef41078e72d5ac8af439fb

https://preview.redd.it/ttj1djjsequc1.jpg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d143053a8aed7fe8f9f2dd7dde0f335aa3e5a381

https://preview.redd.it/vbcq9ejsequc1.jpg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=35935e82c3d6602aa5bb6733bf15bb6a2ff30726

https://preview.redd.it/9d20iejsequc1.jpg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8da3ddf364af55bc25b7979bb7d8d32272c75d86

https://preview.redd.it/bgllzejsequc1.jpg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f47e979defeadbb4aa925e6a3a256715535d8089

A bad joint after glue up. What is your go to way of dealing with this? Fill before stain, or after? Glue and sawdust?

I am working on a floating shelf. 2" walnut. One end has these cracks, see picture. Should I be worried that the board is going to warp and or crack further? Or can I just fill them in and finish it?

https://preview.redd.it/od673sjb8quc1.jpg?width=1974&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=fd6cc425e4c4e1e0e4c6849990fff120adcec5aa

I downed a black walnut for my dad. Getting paid for dad jobs is hard these days. This is a 16”diameter 16’ like dead straight I measured twice. Online says one thing my dad another. I found someone to pick the tree up and pay $100. I thought I was working for free so the $100 is cool but am I cracking this tree off for lack of better terms lmaoooo

I got it for free from a friend, and I have a few other planes so I'm not too terribly worried if it can't be repaired, but it would be nice to fix up and use! Thank you!

Relative newbie when it comes to woodworking, but I’ve done some minor projects in the past (basic cabinets). I’m hoping to create some open shelving out of live edge slabs. I’ve identified a nice slab on The Lumber Shack, but I’m curious if they have a good reputation. Looks like they have a big Spring sale going on, but I don’t know if that’s just a normal thing for their website.

I’m also wondering about what I should have done to the slab. Planning to have it flattened by them on both sides, but was thinking I wouldn’t bother with having them sand it to prep for finishing. Is it reasonable to expect I can take a flattened slab and use an orbital sander to get to a good surface for finishing when just making a shelf? I won’t be attaching multiple boards together or anything, just mounting to the wall once it’s finished.

Any help or suggestions would be appreciated!

I have a dual sided 1000/6000 whetstone and kinda thought the 6k is overkill

I've recently acquired a fear of routers, thought I've been using them for about 30 years. Last year I met someone who turned their fingers to hamburger and now I'm looking at my old B&D with the wonky switch that can turn on all by it's self if left plugged in (I don't leave it plugged in), and my jankey second hand router table. Then recently I had a piece of walnut explode and damn, the thing gives me the willies.

I don't know if my fear is justified, how do you get over the fear of tools once it works its way into your head?

Hi, all! I'm a very new woodworker trying to start my own small business. Right now all the materials I have is ¾" × 1½" × 8' pine.

For my third project with this stuff, I want to make what basically amounts to a tiny craps table. I'm thinking it should be just a bit smaller than a sheet of US Letter paper.

I want the corners to be round, but I'm having trouble deciding what method I should go with. I could make the corners out of many small trapezoidal pieces, then gluing them together and sand them down smooth; or I could cut many slots/grooves on one long piece, allowing it to be bent round; OR I could go with a living hinge method. I'm going to cover all the wood anyway, so aesthetics aren't that concerning for me.

All I have to work with is a chop saw, jigsaw (which can be mounted upside-down as a sort of scroll saw), a drill, and sandpaper.

Any advice?

edit: The corners of the box should be round, SUBSTANTIALLY ROUND. I'm not having trouble with a little rounding corners job. The radius should be like 1½" or 2". Also I AM RESTRICTED BY MY MATERIALS. I do not have any wood big enough that I can just "cut the wood." READ. MY. DESCRIPTION.

Hi. Need to cut a profile in long planks. The planks are 225mm x 38mm. The cut needs to be half the thickness, 19mm and only 10mm deep. The planks are long but I will have a second pair of hands to run the planks through whatever method we use to cut. These planks are being used to side a largish shed, so they'll stack on each other providing a profile that helps stop ingress of water if that makes sense.

The question is will it be easier to run it through a dado set or use a routing table to create the profile.

Cheers

Plan on making slab tables

Hi all, I bought this lathe for my son for Christmas and we want to get into pen turning. However, I bought a pen making kit and we cannot figure out how to get the mandrel on. It clearly doesn't fit and we don't have the right parts but I have no idea what it needs. Can someone help us figure out what to buy so we can attach the mandrel?

Lathe:

https://www.vevor.com/wood-lathe-c_10119/vevor-wood-lathe-14-x-40-power-wood-turning-lathe-400w-4-speed-benchtop-p_010285909760

Pen kit:

Tondiamo Pen Making Kit Pen... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09NVRTVLW?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

:)

Hi all! I’ve never refinished a dresser before but my dad has this dresser he’s had since he was 10 years old. (He’s late 50’s now) and I don’t even know where to begin on making it look better.

I wanna get new handles and stain it a brownish/black but I’m trying to figure out where to start.

So just wondering if anyone would be kind enough to give me some tips on how to do this!

I assume I would sand it down, my dad builds log homes and has all the tools I would ever need and I want this to be a complete surprise.

Any and all tips are greatly appreciated!!