Beginner Woodworker Tools

Today I want to talk about some of the basic tools of woodworking, some of these tools you will have some you will want and some are necessary for successful projects. 

 

Lets focus on small and medium sized projects:

If you are working on smaller projects you may not need a table saw or other “advanced” tools to complete the project.  Take for example the Coffee Table featured here:
I completed this table using only a Compound Miter Saw, a biscuit jointer, a Kreg Pocket Hole Jig, Clamps and a Random Orbital Sander sometimes referred to as a ROS.  In this scenario the the biscuit jointer is not necessary however it does make life a lot easier.  The one thing to note on this table is you want to get very straight boards.  If you get boards that are bowed or cupped meaning that there is a bend in the board and it looks like it arcs or has the beginnings of a U shape you will not get a clean joints.  There are ways to fix those issues in the wood but those required additional skills and tools which I will not get into at this time.  To build this table with the tools mentioned earlier you would use the Miter saw to cut your 2x4’s to length.  The biscuit jointer will allow you easily join the boards together, the pocket hole jig will allow you to attach the top to the base with ease and the sander is there, well to sand and prepare the wood for the stain or paint that you will be using. 

Chair Design Part 2

I spent some time yesterday trying to come up with several different blends of the chairs. I think I like the last set the best and will probably be what we go with.

Chair Set #2

I didn’t like the way the base turned out on this set of chairs.  It looks like it might be slightly unstable.

Chair Set #3

This set of chairs is my current favorite, I like the overall design I need to fix structure underneath for support but I think these will be viable solutions.

Let me know what you think about the 3 different sets.

Technorati Tags: Chairs,Chair,Design,2x4 Furniture,2x4,Furniture,Farmhouse,Farm

Chair Design

I have started working on potential chair designs for a new Dinning Table Set that I am going to be building in the near future.  My plane is to build the majority for the framing structure from 2x4’s.  The picture below is a rough sketch of what I am thinking about.  The sketch is not to scale or size currently.  I will post those once I get that taken care of and I also have a third design I am going to work up.  It will be the same principal however I will change the skirting just a little bit.  Here are the first two designs.  One thing to note is that the backs will be curved and slanted, I have not figured out how to do that yet in SketchUp.

Holy Readers Batman

Thank to all the fans of Knock Of Wood who swung by.  I am very delighted to have you here.  If you don’t mind leave me a message and tell me what you would like to see on the blog.  If you want custom designed pieces that you can build I can get into that or if you want to just continue to see the stuff I am doing in the shop that’s great as well.  I am looking for ideas to make this a fun and informative blog for the new woodworker, aspiring woodworker, and even you old pros. 

I am a fairly new woodworker.  I have always wanted to have my own shop.  I really enjoy the process of taking raw lumber and molding it into a piece of art or a functional piece of furniture.  My secret desire well okay maybe not so secret is to start building guitars.  I am a guitar player but I think I am more of a woodworker and that leads me down the road of wanting to build the instrument that I enjoy playing. 

I am hoping to start a couple new projects in the coming weeks so stay tuned.  I am going to start working on a couple of plans for some chairs and a Farm Table.  It will be something similar to what you can see at Knock Of Wood but my goal is to make it expandable for the holidays when the family comes in.

Feel free to comment or shoot me an email.

A Pen for my Father-In-Law

My father is a captain with a major US airline.  I had made him a pen a year or so ago and he wanted another one.  I let him hunt through my stash of blanks and he found one that looked like it could be clouds.  The more I turned it the better it got and finally came out with this.

A Pen for the Wife

I purchased a couple of Lime Green blanks for my wife and I from exotic blanks and I created this for her today.  I hope she likes it.