Woodworking Articles

Cheat Sheet / Updated 02-14-2023

Woodworking brings together nature, humans, and technology to produce long-lasting pieces of functional art. A great woodworking project begins with knowing how to choose the right type and piece of wood. Then, following a step-by-step process helps you craft a successful piece every time.

Article / Updated 06-18-2019

You'd be hard-pressed to find a woodworker who hasn't had some unexpected thing ruin his project (or at least something that forced him to do a ton of work to fix it). Below are some of the most common pitfalls in woodworking, and ways to either fix them or avoid them in the first place. Many mistakes can be avoided altogether if you slow down. Going too fast is the most common pitfall that woodworkers fall into. You get in a hurry and get excited to finish a project. Don't do it. Not only will you be much more likely to mess up your project, but you could end up damaging something even more important — yourself. Hurrying is the number one cause of workshop injuries. If you find yourself eager to hurry things along, take a break and remind yourself that hurrying could end up costing you more time in the long run if you have to fix a mistake — or take a trip to the emergency room. Uneven or blotchy finish Sometimes you get blotchy finishes from using an oil finish, such as Danish oil, or a stain. The finish turns out blotchy because the pores in some woods, such as cherry, take in differing amounts of the oil and have an uneven appearance. You can't correct this after the damage has been done, so you need to make sure that you plan for it before you start finishing. You can avoid this problem two ways: Use a sanding sealer or other pore-filling product to fill the pores of the wood before you apply the final finish. Use a finish that sits on top of the wood rather than absorbing into it. Varnish and shellac are two examples. Drawers or doors that don't fit Nothing is more heart-breaking than finishing your work on a cabinet and then trying to slide the drawer in, only to find out that the drawer is too big to fit the opening. Don't get stuck standing there baffled as to why this happened. After all, you followed the plans, right? The problem is that you followed the plans. Here's the situation: When you build the carcass of a cabinet, your measurements may be off by 1/32 inch here and there, for example. When you try to put the carcass together, very small discrepancies can add up to enough of a difference in overall size to make your drawer not fit right. The solution is simple: Wait to make the drawers or doors until after your carcass in completely done. Then disregard the dimensions on the plan and work from the carcass itself. This ensures that your drawer or door dimensions match those of the carcass. A table that rocks More often than not, when you're done making a table, you'll find that it wobbles. (Thought they may not admit it, most woodworkers have had the same experience.) To avoid this problem, make sure that you cut all the legs to the exact same length. Put them on a panel-cutting jig and run them all through the table saw at the same time. You also need to make sure that you get the table perfectly square when you glue it up. Assemble the table leg/rail system in two stages: First, glue the short rails to the legs and then, after they've had a chance to dry completely, glue these two assemblies to the long rails. Check for square in both directions — across the top of the assembly and from leg bottom to opposite leg top. Try as you might to get everything perfectly square from the start, some problems may occur. To fix a wobbly table after glue-up, adjust the length of the legs until you get them even. To do this, put the table on a flat bench and rock it to see which leg is the longest. Next, move the table until this long leg is off the bench. Push the leg tight against the edge of the bench and level the table. If this is the long leg, it will extend slightly down from the tabletop. Using a utility knife, score the point where the top of the bench crosses the table leg. Use a sander or plane to shorten the leg to this mark. Stain that doesn't take The most common reasons that a stain doesn't take are that you used a non-staining wood filler or you have some glue that you didn't completely wipe off after assembling the piece. Both problems are easy to prevent but not as easy to correct. So make sure you use a wood filler that can take stain, and be sure to wipe off all the glue that oozes out of a joint when you assemble it. If you do end up with an unstained spot on your project, apply some colored glaze (semi-transparent solution similar to thinned-out paints or stains) to the unstained area, adjusting the color and coverage until you get a match to the stained wood. Let it dry and then topcoat it. Sanding that makes the wood fuzzy Some woods, such as birch, get fuzzy when you sand them too much. The fibers of the wood tear and create hairlike fuzz on the surface of the wood. You don't want to stain or topcoat wood in that condition. If your wood does get fuzzy, go down a grit or two with the sandpaper (120-grit is a good place to start) and sand out the little furs. The way to avoid fuzzy wood is to make sure you don't sand with a paper finer than 150 grit. And don't use a scraper either. Joints that don't fit together You've taken great care to get joints that are tight, but when you put the glue on and try to pull the joint together, it doesn't go. Either you have joints that are too tight, or you pulled the joint together only partway and are experiencing "lock-up." To avoid overly tight joints, always dry fit first. If you have to, pound (or even moderately tap) the joint together with a mallet, you need to loosen the joint before you add glue to it. If your joint is a mortise-and-tenon, shave down the tenon slightly until you're able to pull the joint together by hand or with minimal tapping. If the joint locks up on you when you're assembling it, you need to do some serious mallet tapping and clamping to get it to move again. Depending on how long the joint's been locked, you may not be able to get it to budge. Just avoid a locked joint in the first place, which is as simple as pulling the joint fully together when you first try to assemble it. Resist the temptation to partially attach the joint. Always attach a joint completely before moving to another one. Tabletops that aren't flat After all your effort in choosing, milling, and assembling board for a tabletop, you remove the clamps — only to find out that the tabletop isn't flat. Assuming your wood wasn't warped, cupped, or twisted, you have two possible reasons for your problem. Either the edges of the board weren't perfectly straight and square, or you applied too much clamp pressure when gluing the boards together. To avoid these problems, make sure that you use a jointer that is adjusted properly to make perfectly square edges on a board. Don't apply so much pressure to the clamps that the board starts to deflect up from the clamps. A clamp or two positioned on top of the boards can help this too. To flatten an uneven tabletop, you need to plane and sand it flat. You will lose thickness in the board, so you may not want to go this route. Your best option is to cut the top apart at the joints and start over again. Take a deep breath — it's not as bad as it sounds, and it is far easier than trying to flatten with a plane and sander. After the boards are separated again, joint them until they have square edges, dry clamp the edge joints and check for flat, then re-glue them using just enough pressure to bring the boards together. Wood that splits when being cut Running a piece of wood through a saw sometimes causes tear-out, which is the result of the spinning blade grabbing the unsupported edge of the wood as the board leaves the saw. Tear-out occurs on the back edge of boards when you cut across the grain. The way to avoid tear-out is to put a backing board against the back edge of the wood when you cut. The backing board acts as a sacrificial board for tear-out. Also, if you have a board that needs both rip cuts and crosscuts, do the crosscuts first and the rip cut second. Because the blade is unlikely to cause tear-out on a rip cut, you don't have to worry about using a backing board. Joints that are too loose Sometimes a joint fits too loosely. If you're working with mortise-and-tenon joints, loose fit is a particular problem, because their strength depends on a tight fit between mortise and tenon. So what do you do if the tenon is too loose in the mortise? Well, aside from cutting a new tenon, using a glue that fills gaps works a lot of the time. Regular carpenter's wood glue won't work. You need an epoxy resin glue — a two-part glue that often expands as it cures to fill gaps in the wood. Your other option is to glue a thin piece of wood to the tenon to make it bigger and then trim the newly sized tenon to fit the mortise.

Article / Updated 03-13-2018

Solid wood — that is, wood cut into boards from the trunk of the tree — makes up most of the wood in a piece of furniture. The type of wood you choose determines the beauty and strength of the finished piece. Many varieties of wood are available, and each has its own properties. The following sections introduce you to the most common types of soft- and hardwoods. Sampling some softwoods Softwoods aren't weaker than hardwoods. Softwoods come from coniferous trees such as cedar, fir, and pine and tend to be somewhat yellow or reddish. Because most coniferous trees grow fast and straight, softwoods are generally less expensive than hardwoods. It's also relatively easy to find sustainably grown softwoods (woods grown on tree farms to ensure an endless supply of wood); this means you're not contributing to the deforestation of the world and will always have a supply of wood for your projects. Following is a list of common softwood varieties and their characteristics. Cedar The most common type of cedar is the western red variety. Western red cedar, as its name implies, has a reddish color to it. This type of wood is relatively soft (1 on a scale of 1 to 4), has a straight grain, and has a slightly aromatic smell. Western Red cedar is mostly used for outdoor projects such as furniture, decks, and building exteriors because it can handle moist environments without rotting. Western red cedar is moderately priced and can be found at most home centers. Cedar is one of the most aromatic woods (hence, the cedar chest) and is strong enough to endure the elements, so it's great for decks and patio furniture. Fir Often referred to as Douglas Fir, this wood has a straight, pronounced grain, and has a reddish brown tint to it. Fir is most often used for building; however, it's inexpensive and can be used for some furniture-making as well. It doesn't have the most interesting grain pattern and doesn't take stain very well, so it's best to use it only when you intend to paint the finished product. Douglas fir is moderately strong and hard for a softwood, rating 4 on a scale of 1 to 4. This wood is worth mentioning because it is very common at your local home center and it's so inexpensive you'll probably be tempted to make something with it. Pine Pine comes in several varieties, including Ponderosa, Sugar, White, and Yellow, and all of them make great furniture. In some areas of the country (especially southwest United States), pine is the wood to use. Pine is very easy to work with and, because most varieties are relatively soft, it lends itself to carving. Pine is commonly used in furniture because it's easy to shape and stain. Pine generally takes stain very well (as long as you seal the wood first), although Ponderosa pine tends to ooze sap, so be careful when using this stuff. Pine is available from most home centers, but it's often of a lesser grade than what you can find at a decent lumberyard. Redwood Like cedar, redwood is used mostly for outdoor projects because of its resistance to moisture. Redwood (California redwood) is fairly soft and has a straight grain. As its name suggests, it has a reddish tint to it. Redwood is easy to work with, is relatively soft (2 on a scale of 1 to 4), and is moderately priced. You can find redwood at your local home center. Homing in on hardwoods Most woodworkers love to work with hardwoods. The variety of colors, textures, and grain patterns makes for some beautiful and interesting-looking furniture. The downside to hardwoods is their price. Some of the more exotic species can be too expensive to use for anything more than an accent. Some hardwoods are becoming very hard to find and are being harvested without concern to their eventual extinction (Brazilian rosewood comes to mind). Not only is this hard on the environment, it drives the price of the wood so high that making furniture out of it is out of the question for most woodworkers. If you can, try to buy wood from a sustainable forest (commercial tree farms that ensure the supply of the wood). Check out the National Hardwood Lumber Association for ways to support sustainable forestry. Following is a list of common hardwoods and their characteristics. Ash Ash is a white to pale brown wood with a straight grain. It's pretty easy to work with (hardness of 4 on a scale of 1 to 5) and takes stain quite nicely, but ash is getting harder and harder to find. You won't find ash at your local home center — it's only available from larger lumberyards. Ash is a good substitute for white oak. Birch Birch comes in two varieties: yellow and white. Yellow birch is a pale yellow-to-white wood with reddish-brown heartwood, whereas white birch has a whiter color that resembles maple. Both types of birch have a hardness of 4 on a scale of 1 to 5. Birch is readily available and less expensive than many other hardwoods. You can find birch at many home centers, although the selection is better at a lumberyard. Birch is inexpensive, but it's so lovely that it's often used for making fine furniture. Birch is stable and easy to work with. However, it's hard to stain because it can get blotchy, so you might prefer to paint anything that you make with birch. Cherry Cherry is a very popular and all-around great wood; easy to work with, stains and finishes well with just oil, and ages beautifully. Cherry's heartwood has a reddish-brown color to it and the sapwood is almost white. Cherry has a hardness of 2 on a scale of 1 to 5. This is a very common wood for furniture-making and is available from sustainably grown forests. You won't find cherry at your local home center, so a trip to the lumberyard is necessary if you want to use it. Because it's in demand, cherry is getting somewhat expensive compared to other domestic hardwoods, such as oak and maple. Mahogany One of the great furniture woods, mahogany (also called Honduran mahogany) has a reddish-brown to deep-red tint, a straight grain, medium texture, and a hardness of around 2 on a scale of 1 to 5. It takes stain very well and looks great with just a coat (or 10) of oil. The only drawback is that mahogany isn't being grown in sustainable forests. Forget going to your home center to get some — the only place to find mahogany is a decent lumberyard (and it'll cost you). Maple Maple comes in two varieties: hard and soft. Both varieties are harder than many other woods; hard maple is so hard (a 5 on a scale of 1 to 5) that it's difficult to work with. Soft maple, on the other hand, is relatively easy to work with. Because of their fine, straight grain, both varieties are more stable than many other woods. They also tend to be less expensive than other hardwoods. You won't find maple at your local home center, but most lumberyards have a good selection of it. Oak Oak is one of the most used woods for furniture. Available in two varieties — red and white — oak is strong (hardness of about 4 on a scale of 1 to 5) and easy to work with. White oak is preferred for furniture-making because it has a more attractive figure than red oak. White oak is also resistant to moisture and can be used on outdoor furniture. Oak is commonly used for flooring and furniture because many people love its grain. This is one wood that can be found quarter-sawn (the most stable cutting option available). In fact, quarter-sawn white oak is less expensive than some other hardwoods, like cherry. The grain has a beautiful "ray flake" pattern to it. Red oak can be found at most home centers, but if you want white oak, make a trip to the lumberyard. Poplar Poplar is one of the less expensive hardwoods. It's also fairly soft (1 in hardness on a scale of 1 to 5), which makes it easy to work with. Poplar is white with some green or brown streaks in the heartwood. Because poplar is not the most beautiful wood, it's rarely used in fine furniture, and if it is, it's almost always painted. Poplar can be a good choice for drawers (where it won't be seen) because it is stable and inexpensive. You can find poplar at larger home centers, but a lumberyard will have a better selection. Poplar is good for making toys, bowls, and small woodworking crafts. It takes paint better than stain. Teak Teak is becoming rarer as the days go on, but it is the staple for fine outdoor furniture. Teak is highly weather-resistant and beautiful (not to mention expensive — can you believe almost $24 a board foot?). Teak has an oily feel and a golden-brown color. It rates a 3 on a scale of 1 to 5 for hardness and is only available from larger lumberyards and specialty suppliers. Walnut With a hardness of about 4 on a 1 to 5 scale, walnut is a rich brown wood that's easy to work with. Unfortunately, walnut is somewhat expensive (usually around $8 a board foot), and finding large boards for big projects is getting difficult. In spite of this, walnut is still a great wood to work with and lends itself nicely for use as accents and inlays to dress up a project. You won't find walnut at your local home center; you may need to special order it from a lumberyard if you want a large quantity.

Article / Updated 01-24-2017

Mortise-and-tenon joints are among the strongest joints in woodworking, and are used for projects that have frame construction and need to be strong. Chairs and tables use them as does most Arts and Crafts and Mission style furniture. Mortise-and-tenon joints come in several types — stopped/blind, through, angled, wedged, and many more — but they all consist of the same basic parts: a mortise (a recess cut into a piece of wood that accepts a tenon) and a tenon (a tongue at the end of a board that fits into a mortise). Here's an introduction on how to make three of the most common mortise-and-tenon joints — stopped, through, and angled. You can make any of these joints with one or a combination of techniques. If you end up doing much woodworking at all, you'll quickly become an expert at making these joints regardless of how you do it. Tenons can be made with or without shoulders (a squared off notch on a tenon; see Figure 1). Which way you choose to do them depends on the design of the piece and your skill at making the joints. Hint: A shouldered tenon can hide less than perfect joinery. Figure 1: A tenon can be made with (left) or without (right) shoulders. Stopped/Blind A stopped (blind) mortise-and-tenon joint is one in which the tenon is hidden fully in the mortise (see Figure 2). This type of tenon is often used on table and chair legs or anywhere else that you don't want to see the joint. Figure 2: A stopped mortise-and-tenon joint is commonly used for chair and table legs. To cut the mortise with a benchtop mortiser: 1. Mark the mortise on your board. 2. Choose a mortising bit that matches the width of your mortise as closely as possible (without going over). 3. Set the fence so that your workpiece is positioned correctly under the bit. 4. Set the depth of cut on the tool. 5. Drilling slowly, make your first hole at one end of the mortise. 6. Make the next pass at the other end of the mortise. 7. Overlapping by half the width of the bit, drill/chisel out the rest of the mortise. 8. Clean the hole up with a chisel if necessary. This will depend on your bit and the model of tool you have. Some cut cleaner than others. For mortises that are wider than your bit, you need to repeat this procedure after adjusting the fence to clean out the rest of the joint. To cut the tenon on a table saw: 1. Mark the cut on both sides of the board to be tenoned. 2. Set the depth of cut to the thickness that you want the tenon in the center of the board. 3. Using your miter gauge, line up the cut and feed the wood through the saw. If your tenon is longer than your dado blade is wide, you'll need to make more than one pass. 4. Turn the board over and do the other side. 5. Clean up the tenon with a sharp chisel. If you want to include a shoulder on the tenon, repeat this procedure only put the board on its edge instead of its face. Be sure to reset the depth of cut for the shoulders. Through A through mortise-and-tenon joint is essentially the same as the stopped mortise and tenon except that the tenon goes entirely through the mortised board to be revealed on the other side (see Figure 3). The through mortise and tenon is a staple of Arts and Crafts furniture from the early 1900s. Figure 3: A through mortise-and-tenon joint is one of the most beautiful joints that you can make. The following steps show you how to make this joint with a drill press and chisel and a table saw using a tenoning jig. To cut the mortise with a drill press and chisel: 1. Mark the mortise on your board. 2. Choose a drill bit that matches the width of your mortise as closely as possible (without going over). 3. Set the fence so that your workpiece is positioned correctly under the bit. 4. Set the depth of cut on the tool. 5. Drilling slowly, make your first hole at one end of the mortise. 6. Make the next pass at the other end of the mortise. 7. Drill out the rest of the mortise by setting your bit next to the previous hole and progressively moving toward the first hole you drilled. Don't overlap the holes because this puts stress on the bit and creates uneven holes. 8. Clear out the rest of the wood in the mortise with your chisel. To make the tenon on a table saw with a tenoning jig (a tenoning jig helps you hold the board vertically; check out Figure 4): If you don't have a tenoning jig, follow the steps for the stopped/blind tenon to cut a through tenon on a table saw. Figure 4: A tenoning jig makes cutting tenons really easy. 1. Mark your board for the cuts. 2. Set the depth of cut for the tenon. This is generally 1/3 of the thickness of the board. 3. Using the miter gauge in the left-hand slot, run the board through the saw to cut a single-saw-blade-wide cut at the mark. 4. Turn the board over and cut the other side. 5. Take your miter gauge out of the miter slot and replace it with the tenoning jig. 6. Clamp the board vertically in the jig. 7. Raise the blade to the height of the tenon. 8. Run the board through the saw (refer to Figure 4). 9. Turn the board around and repeat the process. Angled An angled mortise and tenon is commonly used for chairs because the rail comes out of the leg at an angle (see Figure 5). However, this angle makes the joint tricky. You can create an angled mortise and tenon in two different ways: by angling the tenon or by angling the mortise. Which one you choose will depend on your style and the project you're working on. This section explains both of the options. Figure 5: An angled mortise-and-tenon joint is often used for chairs. With an angled tenon (left), with an angled mortise (right). You don't need to angle both the mortise and tenon, just one or the other. For many folks, the easiest and most accurate way to make an angled tenon is by hand. Here are the steps to follow: 1. Mark your tenon as shown in Figure 6. Figure 6: To make an angled tenon, cut the shoulders first and the cheeks next. 2. Cut the shoulder cuts first using a handsaw. 3. Cut the cheek cuts (the wide sides of the tenon). To make an angled mortise: 1. Place the piece to be mortised on an angled piece of wood and clamp it to the bench. 2. Cut the mortise as you would cut a regular mortise, with your chisel, drill press, or benchtop mortiser perpendicular to the table (see Figure 7). Figure 7: To make an angled mortise, support your workpiece at an angle and cut as usual.

Step by Step / Updated 03-27-2016

Repairing instead of discarding is one of the primary tenets of living a green lifestyle. Wobbly legs are common on older wooden chairs, but that doesn’t mean the chair has to sit in a landfill. You can fix a slight wobble on a not-too-valuable chair with metal shims or glue from the hardware store, but to do the job completely, follow these steps:

Article / Updated 03-26-2016

Of all the modern tools in a wood shop, the table saw is the most used. Countless table saw designs are available, from a basic tabletop version to a contractor's version to a full-blown cabinet saw. As a beginning woodworker, start out with a contractor saw. Contractor saws have a large cutting capacity (like the larger cabinet saw), but they have an open base so they're lighter and cost less than an enclosed base cabinet saw. Contractor saws run between $500 and $1000, depending on their features (Figure 1 shows a contractor saw). Figure 1: A table saw is a woodworking essential. A table saw is an essential tool that can be used for an almost unlimited number of woodworking tasks. Because this is such a versatile and common tool, you have tons of options when buying a saw. This section helps you figure out what features are most important to you. Fence (rip fence): The fence (the part that you slide the wood against when you feed it onto the saw) ranks up with the tabletop for its importance in achieving good, accurate cuts. The quality of the fence dictates the price of the saw, so your budget dictates how good your fence is. The main thing to look for in a fence is one parallel with the blade that adjusts smoothly and accurately. Most saws in the contractor category have decent (but not perfect) fences. Starting out with a less-than-perfect fence is okay because you can always add a better fence to your saw later on. Left-tilt or right-tilt: On a table saw, you can adjust the tilt of the blade in order to cut angles. In the past, the vast majority of saws (all except some of the most expensive ones) had blades that tilted to the right. Now you can get saws that tilt either right or left (but not both). The side of the tilt is a very personal thing. Some people prefer being able to measure the long side of an angled cut and want a right-tilt saw, although other people prefer the way a left-tilt saw tilts away from the fence so cutting narrow angled pieces is less dangerous. Only you can choose which is best for you. Generally, unless you intend to do a ton of work that requires mitered cuts, you'll probably want a right-tilt saw because you'll have more options when buying one (right-tilt saws are still more common). Miter gauge: Table saws come with a small t-shaped tool called a miter gauge. The miter gauge fits into one of the two slots (called miter slots) machined into the tabletop and it guides wood that you feed through the saw. Most contractor saws come with a decent miter gauge (although not great — again, you need to buy a separate one if you want great). When deciding on a saw, put the miter gauge into the miter slot and try to wiggle it sideways. It should fit snuggly. If it wiggles much, move on to another saw. Motor size: Most contractor table saws have either a 1 1/2 or 2 horsepower motor. Cabinet saws, on the other hand, generally have between 3 and 5 horsepower motors in them. For most applications, the 1 1/2 or 2 horsepower motor on the contractor saw is powerful enough. The trick to getting the most out of the power you have is to feed the wood slowly and use a very sharp carbide-tipped blade. Saw blade: Most table saws have a 10-inch blade, but some of the most expensive cabinet saws have a 12-inch blade. Either works just fine on most tasks. More important than the blade size is the quality and finish of the blade itself. Just like with handsaws, numerous blade designs exist to ensure the best cut possible. You can get blades designed for ripping, crosscutting, both ripping and crosscutting (called a combination blade), cutting dados, and blades specifically made for plywood, plastic laminates, and other man-made materials. A safe bet is to start with a good combination blade and a stack dado blade (you'll need to buy the blades separately from the saw). You can add others as you get to know your needs. Regardless of the blade you get, make sure yours is sharp and clean of pitch when you use it. Tabletop: The tabletop is the most important part of the table saw and needs to be absolutely flat in order to provide the most accurate cut. Most saws have a cast-iron table that has been milled to within 1/1000th of an inch for flatness. Be aware that this figure can be deceiving and that you need to check the saw for flatness before you decide to keep it. Some tables are so far from flat that a decent cut is impossible to make. Choosing a saw from a major manufacturer reduces your chances of getting one that doesn't have a flat table (though it doesn't eliminate them). Even though the tabletop is cast iron on most models, this section covers only about 24 inches of the entire table surface area. The rest of the table consists of wings that can be made of cast iron, molded steel, wood core plastic laminate, or other materials. The size and quality of these table wings (called extensions) dictate the overall price of the machine. Start with a fairly basic one, because you can always add table extensions later on.

Article / Updated 03-26-2016

Whether you see woodworking as an art or a craft, your finished piece begins with a great piece of wood. As a woodworker, buying wood can be a challenging experience. You have to think about a lot of details such as the grade and cut of the wood and the way it's sized. The following sections help you make sense of these details. Take a pencil, measuring tape, scrap paper, small block plane (to check out the color and grain) and a calculator to the lumberyard and write down all the dimensions and total board feet for each board. This way you can double-check the salesperson's calculations and make sure you aren't overcharged. Wood grades Wood grades refer to the number and severity of the defects in a board. The following list explains the different wood grades, according to the National Hardwood Lumber Association (or NHLA for short). Firsts: Very few, if any, noticeable defects. Seconds: The occasional knot or other surface defect. Firsts and seconds are often grouped together and referred to as FAS (firsts and seconds). These are the grades you want for furniture building. Selects: A few more defects, but nothing so big or frequent that it can't be cut out. Avoid this grade for fine furniture, though, because it adds more work to the process. Four grades of Common (#1, #2, #3a, #3b): Too many defects to use for furniture. Types of wood cuts How wood is cut affects its quality. The following list explains the types of cuts: Plain-sawn: The most common boards at your lumberyard. They have growth rings that run less than 30 degrees against the face of the board. The face grain looks somewhat circular and wavy. Rift-sawn: These boards have growths rings that meet the face between 30 and 60 degrees. Rift-sawn boards have a straight grain pattern as opposed to the circular pattern of the plain-sawn boards. They're also more stable and more expensive than plain-sawn wood. Quarter-sawn: These boards have growth rings not less than 60 degrees from their face and a straight grain pattern with a flake or ribbon-like figure in the wood. Quarter-sawn boards are more stable and expensive than the other types of boards and you can only find them in a few species of wood, such as white oak. Wood defects It's okay to buy wood with knots, splits, cracks, and checks. These defects affect only a small area of the board (if they exist over the majority of the board, don't buy it), so you can plan your cuts around them. Avoid boards with warps, twists, or bows. It takes a lot of time to flatten a board that has one of these defects. To test for these defects, place one end of the board on the floor and hold the other end to your eye. The board should be straight and true. If not, leave it there. Sizing up the wood Wood is sold two ways: dimensional and by the board foot: Dimensional wood is smooth on all four sides, cut to precise widths and thicknesses, and is sold by the linear foot or the board. Wood sold by the board foot may or may not be smooth on all sides and only one edge may be square. A board foot is a board that is 1 inch thick (called 4/4) by 12 inches wide by 1 foot long. To figure out how many board feet are in a piece of wood, multiply its length (measured in feet), width, and thickness (measured in inches) and divide this number by 12.

Article / Updated 03-26-2016

Woodworking is painstaking and rewarding work. Following a plan helps ensure that your woodworking project comes out the way you envisioned. The following list sets out the steps to follow to build a piece of furniture (or any project for that matter): Read the plans. Familiarize yourself with the plans and procedures before you buy or cut any wood. Make sure the project is something you can handle. Check and double-check the materials list. Organize the list so that you can efficiently get the supplies you need before you cut a board. Plan your cut list. Go through all your wood and lay out where each cut is going to go. Choose the most appropriate part of the board for each part of the project. For instance, choose matching tabletop pieces for grain patterns and color consistency. Also, plan your cuts so that you do the minimum of saw adjustments (do all the crosscuts first and then all the rip cuts, for example). Pre-mill all the boards to get straight and flat pieces. This goes hand in hand with the cut list planning procedure in Step 3. Mill the boards to their final dimensions. This involves planing and jointing the boards. Cut the joints. Dry fit the assemblies to make sure everything fits properly. Make sure that your assemblies and subassemblies fit together properly before you add any glue. You also want to use this step to practice the assembly procedure. Repeat the procedure until you can do it smoothly and efficiently. Glue the assembly and clamp it. Work quickly and pull each joint fully together before moving on. This minimizes the possibility of joint freeze-up. When clamping, be careful not to use too much pressure. Use just enough force to pull the joints together. You don’t want to squeeze all the glue out. Square the parts. Tabletops should be perfectly flat and other assemblies should be perfectly square. Use a straightedge to check for flatness and a tape measure (measuring diagonally across the assembly) to check for square. Clean up. Put the assembly aside where it won’t get bumped and clean up all the glue seepage before it dries. Take a break. You’ve earned it.

Article / Updated 03-26-2016

You don't need to be a handyman to build a simple wall shelf. Building a shelf to add form and function to a room is a novice do-it-your-selfer's dream project. You can use your shelf to display a treasured collection or to store cookbooks in the kitchen. A single small wall shelf consists of the shelf itself and brackets that are fastened to the wall. The shelf is either secured to the brackets or just rests on top of them. A wide shelf typically has at least two brackets fastened to the wall studs; more brackets are needed for longer shelves. Simple brackets are available at hardware stores or home centers, and a wide variety of decorative brackets are sold in all kinds of stores, catalogs, and just about anywhere household furnishings are available. Here's what's involved in installing an out-of-the-box decorative wall shelf with two brackets and one shelf: Locate a wall stud and mark the location for the first shelf bracket on the wall. Then hold a shelf support bracket over the stud and use it as a template to mark the location of the mounting screws on the wall. For a low-tech approach to finding your stud, check at wall receptacles, removing the cover plate if necessary. There's always a stud on one side or the other. Or remove the shade from a lamp and set the lamp with bare bulb about a foot away from the wall to highlight fastener locations. Or get down on your hands and knees and look at where the baseboard molding has nailheads showing. Wherever you see a nailhead, especially if they appear to be 16 inches apart, it's likely that there is a stud behind it. Install the bracket with screws that are long enough to penetrate the wall stud by at least an inch or so. Mark the location of the second stud. Wall studs are usually placed 16 inches apart, so measure 16 inches from the bracket you just installed. Place a carpenter's level on the first bracket to extend a level line to the second stud and then hold the second bracket in position. Mark the location for the second set of mounting screws on the wall. Install the second bracket with screws that are long enough to penetrate the wall stud by at least an inch or so. Install the shelf on the support brackets. Use short screws to secure the shelf to the brackets.

Article / Updated 03-26-2016

When you get to the lumberyard (or when you order wood over the phone), you have three choices of board cuts: plain-sawn, rift-sawn, and quarter-sawn. The difference between each type of wood cut is in how the tree's growth rings relate to the face (the wide side) of the board. The relationship between the growth rings and the face of the board determines its overall stability (the amount of movement that occurs with changes in humidity). For example, plain-sawn boards have growth rings at a low angle to their faces so these boards will have as much as 1/4-inch movement across a 12-inch-wide board as the climate gets drier or wetter. Rift-sawn boards, because the growth rings are at a steeper angle to the face, move less (maybe as much as 1/8-inch for a 12-inch board). Quarter-sawn boards have the least amount of movement with changes in humidity because the growth rings are at an almost 90 degree angle (almost no discernible change in width with changes in humidity). This makes the quarter-sawn board the most stable type of cut available. Regardless of the cut type, the length and thickness of the board changes very little as the humidity changes. Plain-sawn boards Plain-sawn boards are the most common boards at your lumberyard (check out the following figure for a look at a plain-sawn board). When you choose or order wood without designating the type of cut, you get plain-sawn boards. Plain-sawn boards have growth rings that run less than 30 degrees against the face of the board. A plain-sawn board has a circular grain pattern and growth rings less than 30 degrees from the face. Plain-sawn boards are the most economical of the solid wood boards, but because the grain runs at an angle close to the face of the board, they tend to cup or warp more easily so they’re less stable than rift-sawn or quarter-sawn boards. When using plain-sawn board, carefully consider the way the grain runs in relation to the face of the board and plan your projects accordingly. You may have to cut out sections in order to get the most stable end product. Rift-sawn boards Rift-sawn refers to boards where the growth rings meet the face between 30 and 60 degrees (see the following figure). Rift-sawn boards have a straight grain pattern as opposed to the circular pattern of the plain-sawn boards. They are also more stable and more expensive than plain-sawn wood (costing as much as 50 percent more). Rift-sawn boards have a straight grain and growth rings between 30 and 60 degrees of the face. Quarter-sawn boards Quarter-sawn boards are the most stable and most expensive of the three options. Quarter-sawn boards have growth rings not less than 60 degrees from the face (see the following figure). Quarter-sawn boards have a straight grain pattern with a “flake” or “ribbon-like” figure in the wood. This is beautiful wood, but you pay for it — often costing almost twice as much as the same species of plain-sawn board. Quarter-sawn oak is a popular wood to use with Arts and Crafts and Mission-style furniture. Quarter-sawn boards have growth rings at greater than 60 degrees from the face and straight grain with a “flake” pattern. Which cut you choose depends on your budget, the availability of the species you want, and your design aesthetic. Each of these three choices can produce some great woodworking projects as long as you plan ahead when you cut.