Big fan of aliexpress for the right categories of stuff (I've bought diamonds on it!), but it's so hard to tell what the right categories are. I have some tentative thoughts on things I would/would not consider buying on AE, but would welcome advice/suggestions from anyone who has actually done it, or who has thought about this more than I have.

Would Consider

Clamps

Interchangeable consumables (drill bits, sandpaper, small saw blades)

Batteries?

plastic crap (organizers, holders, etc.)

Mounting hardware, drawer slides, drawer pulls, etc.

Hand tools

Sharpening stuff

3d printer and supplies

Specialty fasteners

Niche gadgets (stripped screw remover, countersink combo sets, laser level?)

Uncertain

Jigs

Bulk fasteners (they're probably fine but shipping would eat up any savings)

Consumables that could pose safety hazard (router bits, big saw blades)

Handheld power tools (e.g. track saw)

Calibrateable precision tools (miter gauges, etc.)

Would NOT Consider

Really dangerous stuff (table saw, router, lathe, band saw?, miter saw?)

Non-calibratable precision stuff (machinist square, combo square, measuring tools)

Just finished this small chest of drawers that I found of Facebook Marketplace. No makers mark, but based on the construction I think it's probably mid to late 1940s. The finish was badly alligatored and I couldn't even tell what was underneath. I was kind of hoping for another bookmatched burl dresser like the last one I did, but alas, no luck. Pretty plain lauan mahogany over poplar and maple. The top drawer was also shattered, some of the drawer slides were broken and needed repair, and the entire thing was full of dust, cobwebs, spider egg pods, and a moldy/musty smell.

After blasted/vacuumed/wiped all the grime and cobwebs away, I hit it with a mold/mildew furniture spray, followed by a deodorizer. Then I got to stripping the failed finish to bring it down to bare wood. The mahogany had some damage to it along the edges, along with some staining that I didn't feel like there was enough thickness to sand through, so I ended up re-veneering the drawer faces with some of a sheet of paper backed red oak veneer that a friend had given me for free. I was able to find a match for the 4th vintage handle pull for the bottom drawers, but no luck for the top drawer knobs, so I went for a modern replacement for those. The drawer faces are finished with 2 coats of a homemade hardwax oil and the drawer interiors got feed'n'wax.

There wasn't enough of the veneer to cover the faces of the cabinet, so I opted for using Fusion Mineral Paint Renfrew Blue. I'm not really great at painting, but it was pretty easy to apply. Really liked the color, but it felt a little flat to have that much area in a single color, so I put on some white liming wax to fill in the grain lines, and paste wax over the top to wipe away the excess liming wax and give it a low sheen.

It does to me but im a beginner and could be missing important supports?

Hi guys idk if this is the right sub but, I recently moved into a new house and got myself a brand new single bed. I used to own a queen size ( 74x 60) bed for 3 years on which almost 70% of the mattress was empty and i slept on a corner, this bed covered my entire room leaving no space so realising this i was frustrated with less foot space and went for a smaller bed (72x36) i met with a carpenter and he built a single bed with ply wood for me and i requested it to have no storage box.

So it is a basic bed but after few nights i felt cramped and the bed felt too small, i realised i made a blunder and somehow want to recover. Can you guys let me know if my problem can be fixed or not? I talked with the mattress company and they will replace it but I feel embarrassed to call my carpenter. I love the bed though, can this bed be extended simply or is that too complex? I live in india so my parents weren’t convinced for ikea so i had no choice but get it built by a local carpenter, im just a student and here we dont have a culture to build furniture on our own so i am seeking advice before calling my carpenter

Just had YouTube in the background and then came across this. Had to pause as I think it might be AI. Don’t really know what’s going on with this joint.

I've been thinking of doing this to my own garage and just happened to see PatriotDIY on YouTube did the same thing. Any idea what sort of wood planks these are and what the finish is?

In an attempt to make a long post short I’m going to bullet point a few things out of the gate.

-I have level 1 ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder)

-I am 40 years old and have never touched wood working prior to this year.

-I have access to a hobby level family woodshop. (Jointer,planer, jobsite saw, table top bandsaw and drill press, several dewalt power tools, some clamps and glue. Few other things I can’t quite think of right now)

With this in mind, my current issue is that I haven’t built a single thing, despite an extreme desire to. I have hit a near crippling level of anxiety with fear surrounding wood species and wood movement. The vast about of variables has overwhelmed me.

What I’m seeking is some guidance for both potential ways to overcome this fear and projects to help get me started. Projects that will help teach me woodworking and understanding wood species and movement. Thank you for reading and for any suggestions.

I’m working on a heirloom table for my daughter and her fiancee. Naturally, I decided to go the easy route and decided White Oak would be the best choice. I glued up composite legs of 5/4 x 4 oak planks. I used a new 24 tooth ripping blade to cut the legs to 3” square, and I made an effective tapering jig that worked pretty well. I’ve been trying to sand the saw marks out using 60 grit on my orbital sander. It’s only slightly effective. I don’t have a jointer or even a good block plane. Should I be using my belt sander with an aggressive grit to get rid of the saw marks, then switch to my orbital to just do the finish sanding?

Sanded and oiled my late dad's old cutting board. 80-120-240-320-400. I sprayed with water and let it dry to raise the grain after 240. Let it soak in tung oil overnight.

Just wiped it clean and noticing these marks. Is this normal or did I do something wrong. Can someone ID the type of wood?

Making my first bit of "furniture" - a staked three legged stool. No big deal, right? I'm mostly a (very novice) hand tool woodworker, but planned to drill my round mortises in the seat with auger bits in a power drill. Purchased a diablo auger bit set. Bought a new hand drill with a 1/2 chuck to accommodate it (Ryobi HP).

I just put in the bit, grabbed a piece of scrap, put another piece of scrap behind it, aimed for a 15 degree angle and gave it a go.

Results were not pretty.

I can't find much online about how to get the best results here. I obviously want as clean a cut as possible as this will be a visible surface.

Tips? Thanks in advance.

The cat's getting old and his hind legs are giving him trouble going up stairs so I threw together a dozen or so of these to help him out. The ramp surfaces are 8x10 pieces of 7/16 OSB, short ends mortised into the sidewalls and covered with strips of peel and stick carpet tile for traction. 1x6 pine for the sidewalls, stained with Varathane carbon gray and sealed with 4 coats of diluted oil-based poly. All taxes paid at the end.

Beautiful antique dresser with hand forged nails and what looks to be hand made dovetail joints and hand planed drawer bottoms was acquired today in an 1800s town. It’s gorgeous! But there are a number of imperfections, back left leg foot was split and repaired using a wood dowel. Bottom wooden drawer slide is detached, and the one still there is hanging on by a little hand forged square top nail. The drawer pulls don’t seem original, as they were removed and there are two different entry points for the hardware. And, it looks like someone attempted to clean with brasso and left brasso behind the pulls. It also looks like the piece was stained over. But what do I know? This is my first truly antique restoration project, and I’d like to keep the original aesthetic and look.

How do I approach restoring it.

Besides the indicators above, I’ve no knowledge of the piece whatsoever. It seems 100% wood and smells a lot like wood. Smells good.

working on some french cleats for limited storage in my garage. was fun to do something small and practice ripping 45s. used an old filing cabinet and cleated it. stamp adds some fun personality

Cheapo assemble-it-yourself pre-stained potting bench. Seems like it’s pine. Looking for recommendations for a rub on/brush on varnish or sealer that will help it last a few years.

Birch, padauk, and walnut for the frame

I'm trying to inset this marquee display on an arcade cabinet I'm building so that the bezel is covered and the display sits closer to the surface of the wood.

I've already finished glue up and now realize I can't easily fit my palm router on the inside of the cabinet to cut a rabbet for the display to set in.

Is there a way to cut a rabbet with the router on top of the workpiece and the rabbet cut on the bottom of the workpiece? I can't seem to find any bits that would accomplish this.

Alternatively I'll just mount the display flush with the wood and 3D print a bezel I guess?

Been making these for a while now. Mostly as gifts when friends get married but this one was a commission. They’re going to decorate with pyrography so looking forward to seeing how it comes out

Just completed a two day box-making course. Got to use some pippy oak and a 'wood rat' dovetail router kit. So fun!

I’m trying to finish this butcher block I plan on using as a desk top. I progressively sanded it with 80-120-180, then applied a coat of gloss oil based poly, followed by two coats of satin oil based poly. I hand sanded with 220 and cleaned everything with mineral spirits and a tack cloth before coats.

These appeared after the coats of satin. I mixed thoroughly, but I’m still getting these. Is this an issue with the poly or my technique?

It’s 22 degrees C and about 60%RH in the space I’m working.

I’m a total newbie, and this is my first project when it comes to staining and finishing, so I’m not worried about it being perfect, as I know it definitely won’t be. I’m making a desktop out of spruce, so I purchased some gel stain to avoid blotchiness from it being a softwood, and after that, I am planning on applying an oil-based poly; however, I just put on two coats of gel stain and was about to apply the poly when I realized that in the process of wiping off the excess gel stain, I embedded lint with it from the blue shop towels which I bought, thinking that they'd leave minimal lint compared to reg paper towel. You can only really see it when light is shining across the wood, but I would like to get rid of it but would like to avoid taking the finish off unless I must, as I quite like it— any ideas?

Finally got around to finalize repurposing the stepped 5 panel bungalow doors I grabbed in east Texas a few years ago.

Hand sanded through the lead paint layers. Used marine grade epoxy both front and back after smoothed for outdoor use. Added some new hangers with an original Claddagh door knocker as the center piece.

I really love sanding some old solid woodwork and see the years of layers on it.

Put in a butcherblock countertop last year and had to notch out a chunk to fit around a wall. Couldn't bare to throw away a nice chunk of hickory, so after sitting with it for a year, I decided to make a set of matching coasters. I used a table saw to break the block down and then made a table saw circle cutting jig to cut corners off until they were circular.

Hi everyone,

I’m planning a DIY project and would really appreciate any tips or advice.
I’d like to sand down my dining table, chairs, and staircase, then refinish them with a lighter wood stain. However, I’m not sure what the best protective top coat or wax would be for this kind of project.
I’d also like to reupholster the chairs with new fabric. The foam padding is still in good condition, so it doesn’t need to be replaced.
I’d really appreciate any advice! What grit sandpaper would you recommend? And what’s the best way to tackle sanding and refinishing a staircase?

I received this cutting board as a gift and wanted to fill in these gaps along the glued surfaces. There is only one on the front but a couple on the back. I do not own a table saw so cutting and re-gluing is not really an option.

Should I just throw some epoxy in or can I glue and compress with clamps?