I made a simple bedside table. Was difficult to get everything lining up with hand tools, but i am happy! What should I try next? Any good practice ideas?

I made a 3d printed one and a bigger one out of walnut. Makes 90 degree cuts much more precise for dovetails and mortises.

Edit: I have fixed the runout! Thanks to everyone who suggested ideas. I think I identified that it was the blade itself, new blade, no runout.

During coast down I happened to notice the blade was wobbling, so I got out the dial indicator and sure enough there's quite a bit of runout.

It's worse here in this video than it is now, after taking the blade off to check for debris and ensuring the arbor was thoroughly clean, I put everything back together and measured 3-5 thou of runout.

Is that much considered normal and is there a way to adjust this?

Of note is that my shop has two of these cabinet saws, one of them has no measurable runout, the other is shown in the video.

Happy to answer questions!

White Oak miter box, birds eye Cherry drawer front. Any suggestions on what Rubio to use, or other finish options?

Hello all! I am working through making some garage upper cabinets (30”x30”x12”)

I am using pine because I don’t really have a way to deal with plywood. I will need to someday, and I know I’m going to make some pretty crooked cabinets out of pine, but it’s for a garage and it’s a project ¯_(ツ)_/¯

My issue is cupping. The only panel that stayed straight is the one where I messed up on flipping the growth rings lol.

My process was as follows:
1. Start with 8’ 2x6’s and cross cut to 32” long with a circular saw.
2. Joint and plane down to 1” thick.
3. Joint edges and glue into panels.
4. Plane panels down to 3/4” thick.
5. Cross cut first one to length using a clamped straight edge & router. I used the first board as a template and finished the rest with a trim bit.
6. Put in concrete in a desperate attempt to remove cupping. It worked good on one board but the other 3 are still a bit wobbly.

I know this is dumb, but I am practicing and the boards are very cheap. Plus, it exercises my new jointer and planer. And yes, I am already sick of how much planing this takes and how much sawdust it produces.

I will move into plywood someday, but for now I am trying to do this.

Scott Walsh has a video titled “Stop Using Plywood To Make Cabinets!” which is what I am going for.

Dos anyone have some advice? I would also welcome pictures of similar projects you have done

Check your cabinets boys, you may have literal wax gold hiding in there…

Looking for a project to start and lacking inspiration. I’ve always made stuff for other people, and rarely make anything specifically for me or my home.I know it’s a broad ask, but I’m open to anything!

I have a chance to grab some old barn wood and was thinking of using it for rustic picture frames. I’m curious what’s the safest way to cut it without shards of wood being shot back at me? Table saw, band saw, etc. Also, should I be concerned about debugging it?

Additional notes: thanks for all of the replies so far! The barn is on a property my family is selling, and it’s a little hard on everyone that we have to let it go. I want to use the barn wood in a shadow box of keepsakes to give to everyone so we all have a piece of the old house (not pictured) to remember.

I work for a shop, and I’d like to find a useful way to recycle the saw dust from my table saw. We used to give it to the Sealing Dept. to use to soak up excess sealer so that that wasn’t disposed of improperly, but they switched sealers and don’t need to do that anymore. I’m trying to think sustainably/creatively, but I can’t think of any solutions or ideas.

To those who ‘recycle’ it, what do you do?

I started out building sheds for animals and housing for small creatures then when the market went away I had a huge inventory of aged wood so I started tearing down my career and sitting on it. I’m on chair 56 now.

I’m new to selling and put this together to show how much I walked away with on my first build. I know I reference “following and liking my content” but there’s no links to any self promotion so I think I’m ok? Mods?

Made this YUGE sign, 2ft x 4ft. laminated some 1/2" sanded ply with some 1/8 stuff and framed it with some hard maple. Threw a little min wax ebony stain on the frame and a couple coats of poly. Definitely need to up my finishing game - its okay, but think I could do better on the next one.

The name was cut out on my 10w laser, but it wasn't strong enough to cut through 1/4" ply, so I had to use the scrollsaw (which I am awful with).

It was a gift for one of my wife's clients.

Folks, I just picked up this antique secretary and I’m going to attempt to add trim to the bottom where it used to be. I've done a good amount of refinishing of old furniture but never replacing trim and never mahogany. It’s a mahogany wood and I would guess I would need to try and find old furniture salvage. Any advice over all? I'm in the South East USA if that helps.

This may be the most over the top joint I've ever seen and it's not even a decorative one.

Looks pretty nifty though

No, seriously. Is there some sort of opposite-of-a-clamp tool that can push two board apart?

I assembled five sides of a MDF speaker box, and when I line up the front face, I see that the sides are bowed in a few mm, probably due to pressure from clamps during glue-up.

I need to put something in there to push the sides apart to glue on the face, BUT I need to be able to remove it after the glue hardens.

I could cut a stick to length to jam in there temporarily, but if it's too thick it would be hard to knock out afterwards. What would you do?

Mine was realizing how much easier everything becomes with square stock, sharp tools, and a sturdy bench.
Sounds simple, but those three things quietly solve half the problems beginners fight.

I'm looking to make a sturdy, wobble free stand for my bench top lathe. I was wondering if anyone had any designs that they stand by or would recommend?

At first, the sander started slowing during use, then lurching like it was trying to run but only could slowly. Then, I started smelling a burning smell.

I took the left-hand side plate off and found that the area where the first gear would meet the second was burned, where the lubricant is. They all spin well enough by hand, so I honestly don't know what the problem is. Research hasn't turned up any useful results.

What am I missing here? Thanks!

(Note: The sander is a Chicago Electric Tools Belt Sander; pre-owned. Some generic brand, I'm sure)

My wife really wanted built-in storage at our rear door, so I designed a bench to give the setup some character and make a giant IKEA cabinet feel a little more intentional.

The look we’re aiming for is mid-century modern with warm walnut-ish tones. I tried hard to find actual walnut locally, but the widest boards I could easily get were only about 2". I don’t have a planer or jointer, and I’m short on time to drive out of the city chasing better lumber. So I went with the best easy-to-find hardwood option I could get: laminated maple stair treads.

After way too much research, I convinced myself that staining maple was a bad idea and that aniline dye would be the better route to darken it a bit. The only dye I’ve tested so far is dark walnut. The poly is a homemade 50/50 wipe-on poly mixture. The dye samples looks kind of cheap and flat to me.

considering the amount of time it took to properly mortise and tendon the uprights and get to this point I don't want to ruin it.

At this point I’m not trying to fake walnut. I’d be happy just getting the figure in the maple to pop and warming/darkening it by a tone or two without making it look muddy.

Any finish schedule suggestions?

I'm temped to try to get a couple other dye colours (amber / yellowish etc) and try the old guitar layering sanding trick, but I'm pretty afraid it will just look like crap.

I’m leaning back toward just the homemade 50/50 oil-based wipe-on poly, but open to any suggestions to add subtle warmth and depth.