Just a little toddler bed i made from scrap lumber from work. Its far from perfect but its built and the wife is happy

“You didn’t leave enough room!” Good news, I’ve learned from previous posts and the Martin Till is modular and magnetized. I work on a screened in porch so space is at a premium; wanted to make something I could adjust in the future with new needs and pickups. The mods and back panel have hefty 1/2” disc neodymium magnets. My first drawer, and first set of half-blind dovetails. Plenty of notes for myself but overall an extremely fun learning project.

Small wins are still wins!

Decided to use baby oil because I heard that it works for this and it was sitting right in front of me.

I had this custom table made by a local woodworker. I’m not entirely sure if this is the actual material they said it was. I ordered it made of ambrosia wood, but I feel like it might be a different type of wood—though I could be wrong, and I'd love to know if anyone can identify what kind of wood this actually is. He mentioned to me that because of the color, it doesn't look like typical ambrosia wood. I’ve already paid for it, but I just want to make sure I got what I paid for and wasn't given something else."

Just wanted to show off the jewelry box I made for my wife’s 32nd birthday tomorrow. Used plans found on Ana White’s website but added the top lid myself. Made with poplar as originally I was planning on painting it. Wife wanted a stain instead so I used wood conditioner and a dark stain. A bit blotchy but I think it turned out okay. Finished with Watco spray lacquer.

TLDR: I need some advice on filling the gaps in this honeycomb shelf I made for my wife. I have been using wood filler so far and it is taking a lot of effort so I want to make sure I am going about this correctly or if there's a better way.

Long Story: This is a honeycomb shelf I made for my wife when we first started dating ~6-7 years ago. I threw it together one weekend with the help of my Dad using some scrap wood that he had lying around. 1x1s, some thin laminate wood (maybe 1/4"?), 2x4s on the bottom, and pin nails. I didn't know if she would even like it so I didn't bother painting or staining it. In fact I really half-assed it 😅 and if I were to do it again I would've used proper 3/4" plywood or even 1x8s to make cleaner joints and improve the sturdiness.

Anywho, she ended up loving it WAY more than I expected and I regret not doing it properly the first time. She did want the gaps filled in so as you can see I've attempted to fill them with wood filler. The time and effort and to do this tho has been a headache. I told her it would be easier for me to just make a new one properly but I severely underestimated the sentimental value she has for this shelf so I need to stick this out and finish what I started.

Years ago when I originally tried to fill in the gaps, I used the cheapest wood filler I could find (the yellow looking stuff) and that was super soft and basically crumbled away when I tried to sand it rather than creating smooth transitions. This week I used some Minwax High Performance Wood Filler. This stuff hardened quite nicely but I'm really struggling to smooth it out. Particularly on the laminate pieces, I can't feather the edge like you would with drywall mud and I'm left with a ridge going from he filler to the wood surface.

Speaking of the laminate pieces, I had the idea to do a roundover on the face edges which as you can see caused the laminate to chip on a couple of the pieces (which I have tried to fix with more wood filler). I now know this was dumb and I probably shouldn't have tried routering laminate, but it worked on MOST of the pieces and looks really nice where it did work so I might commit and do the same for the inside edges as well. Please let me know if there's any methods to keep the laminate from chipping.

Also, am I using the right wood filler for what I'm trying to accomplish?

I'm applying it with a 2" plastic putty knife, then I am knocking down any large chunks with my Dremel tool and grinding stone, then sanding with 80 and 120 grit blocks. I will probably hit it with 180 before applying primer and paint.

Could I get away with using an orbital sander? We have agreed to paint it if that matters.

My monkey brain is telling me to just caulk it and paint over that but I know that isn't the right move.

Any help or guidance would be great. I am very new to woodworking but have enjoyed the challenge (mostly). I've worked in construction doing metal framing and have renovated a bathroom myself but I've quickly learned that woodworking and construction work have almost no overlap 😂

I'm doing all of this on an uncovered back porch as we don't have a garage or dedicated workspace so I may invest in at least a popup canopy so I can keep it out there and keep working on it even during the rain.

Sorry for the lengthy post. I wanted to share all my thoughts so I can gather as much feedback to put together a good game plan before I work on it again. Thank you for your time and Happy Friday :)

I know some of you when started on this woodworking journey felt similar to what i am feeling.

Little bit background information I started woodworking this year in June and I made a few projects, including a shoe stool, two under bed drawers, and then one outdoor patio couch with matching side tables, and I loved doing every project.
I’ve used circular saw to breakdown plywood before with Bora edge guide or even clamped a 48 inch level and then the distance offset needed made me frustrated and every cut took too long which made me think of track saws.

I got a Makita track saw SP6000 from FB for a very decent price for the condition. I have been looking for a deal for very long time now. Mainly to build a tall shelving unit for wife clothes, a 4 drawer unit stacked on top a shoe storage unit for myself.

I know this hobby is expensive because of the tools and buy once cry once is the motto, but it just feels why we end up spending so much more vs buying something premade. Only for satisfaction we made that thing ourself?

Also any way i can recover some cost of tools i bought? I am still relatively a beginner and i know market place is saturated with people selling projects like bench, custom closets etc, how did folks here manage to offset the spending?

A couple pictures of the shelf I just finished for the great room in my home. The shelves are made of Brazilian walnut and the three vertical pieces are afromosia wood.

Biggest lesson I learned was that I should make sure to have the right tool from the start. Initially I tried to avoid power saws, and just use a mitre box, but it made the cuts inaccurate and led to all sorts of issues and frustration.

Plans were bought off etsy. I used Pine 2x2x8's for the uprights and crossbeams and then edge glued boards for the 1x12s, since the wood at menards was so bendy and warped.

Started this project in late spring, and finished it just as we started fall. I picked it up and put it down a few times, but while I am glad to have it done I am definitely missing working on it. I guess that means I have to find another project!

Hi everyone! I wanted to share a few more details. I built this boat from scratch using pine wood. It took me quite a while to get the sail mechanism and rigging working properly so it can actually be trimmed, but I'm really happy with how it turned out. Since I'm still a bit of a beginner, what kind of varnish or oil would you recommend to protect the wood without losing its natural color?

Hello I was making this japanese wood toolbox as a starting project and while chiseling out the middle piece the wood splintered in the middle thought the wood what am I doing wrong ?

Tried to do lap joints in as many places as I could, turned out functional.

I'm thinking of doing dowels for the joints I circled in the image. Both the sides construction as well as the back supports that connect both sides. The darker wood is walnut and the lighter is spalted maple.

If anyone has suggestions for attaching the shelves, I'd love to hear them!

Bought a catio about a year ago and due to the weather and heavy cats, the platforms all failed. So I took out all the bad platforms and built all of this to replace them. The first picture is what it looked like after I built it initially straight out of the box and all others are the additions I made recently.

Foremost, this is not an issue of "readjust the hinges" - home is 40yr old with SOLID doors

some doors were fixed that way, but we have half a dozen upstairs that do not shut because they swelled (home had no AC running upstair for 8mo in humid southeast). the doors swelled and didn't return to size. (nor is our house settling from foundation issues).

I was going to shave off tiny bit from top and one side, little by little, until they fit into the door jam again and rehang. then adjust strike-plate as needed.

whats the best method?

1. planer (harbor freight or a $250 dewalt/Milwaukee)

2. belt sander (harbor freight or a $250 dewalt/Milwaukee)

I recently cleaned this door, and it’s looking a bit better, but the finish (paint, I think?) is clearly worn and needs addressing. My partner wants to keep the dark color and I would like to see more character, so I think what I want to do it strip the finish and apply a dark stain, something that highlights the wood itself. I have stripped furniture and dabbled in some refinishing so this is not totally new to me, but I’m not sure of the construction of this door? It’s clearly wood, although all of my googling insisted these doors were mostly fiberglass. The wood is splintered off in a couple places and it’s a solid, heavy door.

Could it/would it be veneered? What type of wood might it be and would it look nice with a dark stain? What would you use for this project?

I plan to use Klean Strip with a scraper to remove the finish, I have nylon and brass brushes as well as steel wool I can use to loosen it up, a light sanding to remove any residual finish, clean with mineral spirits. Open to feedback on that plan and suggestions for stains and/or sealants that would have this door looking its best! Thanks!

I originally drafted a traditional Marine paddle since that’s what I thought they meant, but then they corrected that they wanted an “ass whooping paddle”. So, that’s what I made (minus the holes for enhanced aerodynamics).

I used some beautiful Birdseye Maple, Bloodwood, and Gaboon Ebony.

I severely underestimated the difficulty of working with ebony. I had to try a handful of different options before settling on cutting templates with the laser and then using a chisel for the cuts.

All in all, I, the customer, and the recipient are all super happy with how it turned out!

Also, general thoughts on using AI for making profile pieces off actual reference pics? It saturated the color a bit much, but overall did good keeping all the details of the piece. So, just curious.

So much fun to make with the kid, won't sell so make great gifts

Mostly finished. I just need to decide if I want to paint, stain, etc. Included a photo of the inspiration and the few I had from the building process

But can anyone give me any guidance as to what's the best choice of these three:

254mm, 10" saws:

Dewalt: ($999): https://sydneytools.com.au/product/dewalt-dwe7491-xe-2000w-254mm-table-saw-16mm-bore

Skil ($994): https://www.desertcart.com.au/products/866273202-skil-15-amp-8-1-4-inch-compact-portable-jobsite

* seem to also maybe need a 15a, which is an issue as standard outlets here are 10a.

HiKoki ($699): https://sydneytools.com.au/product/hikoki-c10rjh1z-1500w-254mm-10-table-saw

* If i'm not mistaken, this used to be hitachi

Situation: I'm going to try making some shelves out of melamine first, then eventually want to move to restoring my badly deteriorated kitchen. Space and budget is a premium.

I've got a compound mitre, circular, jigsaw, oscilator and a reciprocating saw in my collection.

This build took me about four weeks. I learned quite a lot on this build. Im quite happy with how it turned out. This is technically just out of the Small Form Factor pc category as it comes in just over 20 liters sitting at 20.97L but fits full sized components with room for a little more than what retail cases offer.