I have so many free woodworking plans on the site, that it is so hard for a beginner to choose something both simple to build and fulfilling. That is why, I decided to make a short list with my top 20 favorite projects that can be built by any person with basic woodworking skills and limited tools. Even if it might look intimidating at first, my detailed plans and step by step instructions make it really easy for anyone to get the job done.
As far as I’m concerned, you can never have too many project plans to choose from. For example, I may like a Craftsman-style table, but you may think that the style is too clunky looking and prefer the elegant lines of a Shaker design. With this in mind, I provide three chapters of project plans, each with several variations on basic projects that not only give you some great furniture but also help you progressively build your woodworking skills.
Cut off a 21-in.-long board for the shelves, rip it in the middle to make two shelves, and cut 45-degree bevels on the two long front edges with a router or table saw. Bevel the ends of the other board, cut dadoes, which are grooves cut into the wood with a router or a table saw with a dado blade, cross- wise (cut a dado on scrap and test-fit the shelves first!) and cut it into four narrower boards, two at 1-3/8 in. wide and two at 4 in.
A staple of every For Dummies book, Part IV presents the Part of Tens. Chapter 19 includes ten good habits to get into to make your woodworking experience safer. Chapter 20 offers ten woodworking pitfalls that almost everyone encounters at one time or another. (Oh, and ways to avoid or fix them, too.) Chapter 21 gives you some woodworking resources so that you can keep expanding your woodworking knowledge.
As Chief Creative Officer and Founding Partner at Brit + Co, Anjelika Temple brings her voracious consumption of all things creative and colorful to DIY projects, geeky gadgetry finds and more. When she's not DIY-ing her heart out, you'll find her throwing dinner parties with friends or adventuring with her husband David, their daughter Anokhi, and their silly dog Turkey.
In this guest perspective from Bill Rainford, traditional joiner, we learn a powerful method for analyzing today’s tool prices and thinking about which tools you really need in your shop. This article is about woodworking hand tools, but as someone who has visited Bill’s shop, I can tell you that he is no hand-tool purist. You’d love some of the machinery, new and old, he has acquired and cared for over the years.
You’ve seen a few shows on TV and working with wood looks pretty fun. After all, you get to use your hands and create something that you can proudly display to your friends and family. But where do you begin to learn to do woodworking? This part provides you with the basic vocabulary from which to build your woodworking skills. Chapter 1 shows you all the steps involved with making a woodworking project, Chapter 2 introduces you to the various qualities of wood, and Chapter 3 helps you get up to speed with your woodworking space and workshop safety.
The plan tutorial includes images, diagrams, step-by-step instructions, and even a video to help you along the way. You can also go with some more bookcase design ideas. Browse the internet for more and we are also proving a link below to some more ideas to this plan. Select and build one of these free bookcase DIYs and you will have everything available easily that you need to get started creating a bookshelf for any room in your house.
Chapter 13 details making bookcases — the basic part of a carcass. Chapter 14 digs into tables where you get a chance to practice your edge-to-edge joints for building tabletops and use the most common and durable joint that exists — the mortise and tenon. Chapter 15 goes a little farther by providing plans to make a dresser and an armoire. By the time you finish with these chapters, you’ll be well on your way to feeling comfortable making furniture and will be ready to tackle more ambitious projects.
As someone who finds hand planing a challenge the minimalist approach seems like the best way to truly learn a tools quirks and develop the skill required. So the Veritas BU planes are going along with the Tormek required to sharpen those gargantuan irons and a diamond plate and oil stone are on the way to get my old Stanley no 5 humming. I never found a sharpening routine that didn’t look a ball ache to keep the BU planes working well and being a stick thin wimp the weight of the buggers for anything more than controlled smoothing shavings knackered me out.
Dan, I’m worried about you. The stress must be getting to you. Somehow you’ve lost your ability to count. By my estimation, your list has at least 29 items, some of which are actually “sets” of items, like chisels or crayons, which I only counted as one item. Perhaps you need a break from all that blogging, and time to get back to basics, like counting. I can help. Come over to my shop and we can count things like parts, items on the honey-do list, and for extra credit, screw holes. Don’t worry about making mistakes, I’ll guide you through it, and we can round up if necessary. Ha!
Looking for a great gift for a friend or family member or maybe a Christmas gift? Recommended woodwork projects include a turned wood box with a lid or how to make a jewlery box. New to woodworking? Great! Check out these simple beginner’s woodworking projects. No matter the DIY woodworking project you can find your next gift idea in the wood craft videos listed below.
Speaking of rugged simplicity and hand tools kit – I’m very surprised to not see an axe in it! I still remember how I was amazed to see a board being split by an axe in the spoon rack premium video. Do you plan to make a blog post on this sort of topic (also because not everyone has access to premium videos)? Would be interesting to see what other coarse tools you use and when and why, and your thoughts around them. After all, the longer we stay at coarse stage the less time it will take to make something and the more efficient we are.
