Woodworking

I'm thinking about getting the wife a corner cabinet for Christmas this year and then, like a lot of us here that have to do things themselves, thought "hey maybe I can just make her one"...

Any good places for help in such a project web-wise? It's been a few years since I've done much woodworking (long before the internet).

Thanks.

Have you ever watched Nahm's show?

what kinda cabinet do you want to build?

A semi-retired guy I know dabbles in making furniture. He's gotten pretty good at it. I had him make me a TV stand for the bedroom. It came out pretty good. One thing's for sure, it's sturdy enough. I think the thing would hold in excess of 1000 lbs.

If you've got the basic tools (table saw, lathe, router, sander) and some spare time, go for it. I would want to build a piece or two before I made a corner cabinet for SWMBO, just to be sure that I could turn out a product that looked (almost) as good as a store-bought piece.

Norm has got the ultimate shop. I think I envy him for his oscillating spindle sander.

ditchdigger wrote: Have you ever watched Nahm's show?

I have. That guy's amazing..

I'm looking to make something with wooden doors on the bottom and glass doors on the top. Sort of a hutch type thing.

I might try to make something simple like a TV stand first as doing a can-I-even-do-this project sounds like a good idea.

I've never heard of "sander-envy" before...

stan wrote: I've never heard of "sander-envy" before...

If you're gonna put it that way...

Woodworking is like any other skill. Start small and work your way up to more advanced projects. A simple TV stand would probably be a good start.

One thing I've learned being an p/t woodworker, is that unlike automotive - where the quality of tools has less to do with the quality of work and more to do with speed - the quality of wood-working tools - and how well they are set up - can have a direct affect on the quality of the finished project. Years ago, I bought a mid-grade Craftsman table saw. Out of the box, I was disappointed with it. Later, I learned that "out of the box" any saw is barely useable. You have to tweak it and make sure everything is aligned and square. I also made some modifications to the base in an attempt to reduce vibrations. Now it works reasonably well, although probably not as well as some of the top-line portable units sold today.

I subscribe to two woodworking magazines. "Wood" and "Fine Woodworking". The former is sort of like the "Norm" of woodworking magazines. You'll read that and feel like you could do the projects inside. Fine Woodworking is more like David Marks (hosts Woodworks on DIY Network). Much more advanced. Wood is nice because usually in each issue they do a project with a minimum of power tools and ones the average reader is most likely to own.

A spindle sander would be nice, but for building a corner cabinet, a drum sander would be even better.

Never got the hang of wood.

It catches fire if you try to weld it.

Shawn

Cool.

Another couple of magazines for me to look into...

I love to do woodworking. I took a junior college class on fine woodworking that helped me get started and they had all the tools you needed. Of course, you had to wait for some tool to finish up first. I saw a guy burn black smoke routing some board and he filled the classrooom. That stuff cracks me up. Classic.

"Three times I cut it, and still its too short."

I hate that you can't make wood longer. (easily)

Trans_Maro wrote: Never got the hang of wood. It catches fire if you try to weld it. Shawn

hahahahahaha

i am a finish carpenter and do custom cabinets and have built plenty of furniture so if you need to bounce any ideas around i'm available

patgizz wrote: i am a finish carpenter and do custom cabinets and have built plenty of furniture so if you need to bounce any ideas around i'm available

Thank you, sir. I appreciate it!

I am also a finish carpenter with a lot of cabinet and furniture experience.

Also inspect premium woodworking projects.

Happy to help as needed.

I do have a question, however. Are you experienced with woodworking? Do you have the tools?

I admire a desire to do it yourself, but my woodworking shop is well equipped and I've got a heck of a lot of money and years tied up in it. If you don't own the tools, do you have access to them?

No offense, but at some point it could be worth buying something, or paying someone to build it that would let you work alongside them.

There is very little that Norm Abrams makes or can be found on the pages of Fine Woodworking these days that is geared toward a beginning woodworker.

Just a thought. Very much in favor of doing it yourself if your goal is to do it yourself.

SVreX wrote: but my woodworking shop is well equipped and I've got a heck of a lot of money and years tied up in it.

you aren't kidding there. thousands in blades and cutting heads does not begin to describe the money tied up into my woodworking tools. on top of the normal shop i have a smaller scale rolling shop that goes to jobs with me. when i had to add up the tools for insurance reasons it was a bit sickening, however having to have an 100k rider on the policy to cover tools makes you feel manly in an "i've got more tools than you" kind of way.

It's sad, too. Having a well equipped shop and a big insurance policy doesn't give satisfaction.

It only leaves one unimpressed with things as trite as the aforementioned spindle shaper- machine lust now kicks in on things like 5 axis moulders and CNC routers worth $250K. A spindle shaper is nothing more than an entry drug.

I thought this thread was going to be about English dashboards.