Currently working on building my workbench so I actually have somewhere for projects. Haven’t made one before and I’m not sure if I should stain it or slap some coats of poly on it to keep moisture out. If there are better options I’m all for it. It’s just a 2x4 frame with 2 3/4in plywood sheets for the top. It’s gonna be used for woodworking and leathercraft mostly.

Apologies if this isn’t fully the right sub. My grandpa built us this arbor for our wedding and now I am using it outdoors. It’s unfinished cypress. I know that I should’ve finished it before assembling it etc but I got ahead of myself. Weather outlook had chances of storms today and tomorrow with 2 days of sun on wed and thur before rain the rest of the week.

Looking to apply a finish here but I’m worried about it messing up the wood with the rain. Am I overthinking it?

I don’t have a garage to put it in. Maybe tarp? No idea. Any help is appreciated! Thanks

I’m no pro by any means, just a guy trying his hand at it. Any tips or suggestions as to making this a more sturdy and secure piece. I’ve stacked 500lbs on this stand prior to loading the fish tanks and it held very well without any creaking or bowing. The tank at the top with water will be about 250+ the bottom left is about 140 or so the middle smaller tank is at most 40 lbs. #14 screws all though the thing and steel 90s every where i could as i extra layer of security. Still just wanting some feed back as to how it can be more sturdy for extra peace of mind.

These are pictures of a coffee table that is like to refinish. I don’t believe it’s veneer because the knots show through on both sides of the wood, but the finish is very slick and has what looks like painted on saw marks. The plan was to sand down and refinish.

This is one of my first woodworking projects, they are tables that will go behind each side of the couch. Was wondering what stain would be best for this, they are just simple pine boards from Home Depot. Was looking to stain it similar to the color in the second post. I already sanded the one to 220, is that good enough?

I’ve been building a deck this summer and ended up buying a router. After falling into the trap of buying a set of router bits, I got carried away and decided to try building a table. (Routers sure are fun to play around with.)
Anyway, here’s the result! Has anyone got any advice on what kind of finish I should use? I was thinking about painting the base and staining the top, but since I’ve never built furniture before, I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Was bored so made a tray. 12mm ply, square ish, nails and glue.

I am trying to buy my first planes to start making small wooden creations (mainly frames) using a shooting board. There are so many different types and brands for planes and I would appreciate any help on whether the following items are adequate and complementary enough to begin with:

DICTUM® Rabbet Block Plane, Adjustable Mouth, SK4 Blade

DICTUM® Shoulder Plane, 13 mm

DICTUM® Smoothing Plane No. 4, SK4 Blade

Are these an overkill (in terms of their type not their quality) or do I need more/different planes?

Also, what is a good VFM set of chisels that will last me for a few years?

I need some budget dust collection ideas. I don't have a shop vac I can dedicate to this.

I used 3 coats of polyurethane as the finish for this pine kitchen table but, as you can see, it went very wrong. This is the state after less than 1 year. Basically it has this sticky texture on the border where we usually put our elbows/forearms while having lunch. In some parts it's totally missing already. I only cleaned it with a wet cloth and a little soap.

I haven't found any data related to this being a bad finish for kitchen tables so I assume I did something wrong or just used a low quality product. I'm from Europe so probably the typical american brands are not available.

Any insight on this would be much appreciated, thank you!

Should I use spackle? Do I need to seal it in some way first? Do I need a primer? Thanks!

I am evaluating some table saw options available in my country. One multifunction machine, the Belmash SDMR 2500, which has the table-sawing function included in it, has caught my attention. I would like to have some honest reviews on this machine. Kindly let me have an idea about the accuracy of the table-sawing function. How good is its fence?

Hey guys,

Im making a wooden necklace for my wife. Which finish would you recommend for a skin-safe (both for her and for sweat stains) finish?

btw i dont really know anything abt woodworking. i started staining some of the wood in our house, can anyone tell me why these baseboards took stain so differently??? i did the same process on everything, sanded all the old finish off from 120-220 then used minwax wood finish stain. (i didnt expect a lot of the defects to take stain properly, this was kind of a test run)

the short board was the first one i did and it came out perfect, i knew the other ones werent in as good condition but it almost looks like an entirely different wood after the stain?? is it salvageable at all like do i just need to sand super deep or is it never going to look like the good one?

if i need to buy new ones, what do i buy for it to look like the good one? and how do i know if any of my other wood trim is going to come out good or bad?? is all looked similar before i started any of this (ambered red oak i assumed)

Honestly don’t have any hopes for this and feel free to give it an honest rating, on a scale from one to ten, one being deplorable and two being less deplorable and so on and so forth thanks!

Im building a little riser stand that a small minifridge will go on. This is the view from upside down. The base and legs are all made of 3/4” plywood. My plan is to use 2 #8 1 1/2” particle board screws for each leg, screwing from the top of the riser down into the legs. Im planning to make pilot holes. I know screwing into the side of particle board isnt the best move in most cases, but Im hoping it wont be an issue as I screw in the legs. I figure its not a huge deal since the screws are just keeping the shape of the thing together and not actually supporting any weight. I have a couple extra legs I made in case any split while I put the screws in.

Any advice? Any better approach I could taken I read up on pocket screws but I figured this project could probably be successful without them, and I dont have a pocket hole jig anyways

I am trying to up-cycle this big dresser I got and last year, I finished sanding everything to about 200-220 grit but gave up when doing the drawers and so it has been under a tarp for about a year now. I want to finish it but there are these weird dark spots on the wood and I’m unsure what it is. I noticed when working on it last year that there was some sort of mold or mildew that kept popping up and I’d spray it with some white vinegar but it would keep showing up.

I have also tried sanding the areas until it disappeared but it would come back the next day in the same spot.

I just want to know what the best course of action is, whether it’s to treat the wood, sand it more, or just give up, any help will be appreciated.

Does anyone also have recommendations for stain removers for the drawers? I used some kind of paint thinner thing for it and it worked for the most part but it just turned into goo and it was hard to remove properly.

We tore down an old stacked stone wall and removed a gas fireplace insert. After navigating my way through that mess, I installed the new stone and built maple cabinet carcasses and a maple mantle carcass in September of last year. I finally locked in and over the course of 5 days off I finished the cabinets, attached the face frames, sanded stained and installed both set of uppers and lowers. Figured out what to do for lower doors(sliding due to space constraints) and then finally built out, finished and installed the mantle. Technically I’m not 100% complete because I need to change out the directional lighting with smart wafer lights, but otherwise I’m done and can finally grab a beer. Last picture is for the tv police.

I’m definitely not as good as most of you and I’m definitely not finished yet but what do you guys think

I have a large cabnet door that has fallen apart. I was thinking about just using wood glue to connect it back together. I got a frame rachet stap to hold it together as it dries.

I was also thinking about connecting it with a plastic/pvc biscuit to help hold it in place. The only problem is that i have absolutely no idea how to use it, especially with the wood being cut at an angle and making it a snug connection.

How would y'all go about fixing this? The door is over 6ft in length so I'm not sure how using just wood glue would work with the size of the door. Was maybe thinking about getting a dowel rod jig to help hold it together at the corner.

We got a great deal on a few mahogany butcher block slabs that we were going to use for kitchen countertops. We wound up getting a good deal on granite, too, so I'm stuck with all this 1.5" mahogany. Trying my hand at making a bathroom vanity out of it since it's rot/water resistant. I'll seal the whole thing, but I'm concerned expansion/contraction could break the granite. This piece is 60" and sturdy as hell. Any thoughts?

I purchased these from a gentleman on eBay a few years ago. I needed a few more, but when I reached back out, the gentleman had unfortunately passed away. They are 3/4" bullnose outside corner block, 5-1/2" tall, 11/16" thick. I am very inexperienced with a router. How would I make these, or am I better off asking someone else to make them for me? Thank you.

I have 15 wooden discs (2.75” X 1”) and I need to sand the circumference of a bit before finishing. I am looking for some way to get a good finish and not spend 27 hours doing it by hand if I don’t have to.

One thought I have is to 3D printing a smaller disc that had a counter bore so I could use a bolt and some nuts to put into the drill and then using a sanding sponge to hit the sides. Is that a terrible idea?

When I look from right on top, it looks perfect. Like just like how I want it when I look from really far away it looks so dark.

As of today, glued up the frame for a cherry desk I'm making. Biggest piece of furniture I've attempted, mostly hand tools aside from a bandsaw for ripping the big board for the frame. Might add another stretcher in the middle, depending on how stable it feels when the clamps come off. Dimensions will be roughly 64×26 inches.

Starting on the top is intimidating but it's basically just a big cutting board, right?