Woodworking

A Simple Step-by-Step Guide for Beginners to Making Fun and Creative Projects at Home

Table of Contents

Introduction

Chapter One: What are the Woodworking Tools We Will Need

Chapter Two: A Basic Worktable or Bench

Chapter Three: For the Birds

Birdhouse

Birdfeeder

Garden Planter

Chapter Four: Some Customized Racks and Holders

Chapter Four: Some Customized Racks and Holders

Customize

Stackable Shelves

Magazine Holders

Chapter Five: Projects for the Kitchen

Message Center

Inlaid Serving Tray

Chopping Block

Electronic Equipment Stand

Chapter Six: Garden Projects and Some Fun and Games

Cart

Foosball

Hockey

Chapter Seven: Do’s and Don’ts

Do’s

Don’ts

Conclusion

Introduction

Ever wondered how the eight year old kid next door has his backyard full of bird houses and feeders, his bedroom full of customized tables, desks, and containers and you are lucky if you do not trip over the power cord when going into the bedroom?  Well the answer is that the kid has learned how to make things out of wood and you haven’t.  So to at least catch up to him if not at least pass him up, you need to learn how to work with wood or in other words, be a woodworker. 

Working with wood does not require thousands of dollars and a building the size of a house and air filtration systems, but it does take some simple items.  This would include a good set of chisels, a hammer, a set of screwdrivers, a drill, a jigsaw, a hand saw, a hand plane, a power sander, and a miter box and all of these can be obtained at your local hardware superstore for under 300 dollars.  You will also need sandpaper of different grades, hair and foam brushes, water and oil based paints and stains and sealers, gloves and safety goggles or glasses, a set of rulers, vises, and paper air filters.  Finally you will need some wood, but this will vary depending on the project to be built.

For a word of caution, operation of any tool from the most simple hand powered tools can be dangerous if used improperly.  So you need to always wear goggles when working to protect your eyes.  In addition any use of any paint or sealer requires good ventilation and an air mask should always be worn.  Finally if you are not sure how to do something ask someone at your local hardware center or research it on the internet before doing it and you are responsible for your own actions as this book is only a guide and not the ultimate resource on how to do things. 

Copyright 2015 by Calvin Hale - All rights reserved.

This document is geared towards providing exact and reliable information in regards to the topic and issue covered. The publication is sold with the idea that the publisher is not required to render accounting, officially permitted, or otherwise, qualified services. If advice is necessary, legal or professional, a practiced individual in the profession should be ordered.

From a Declaration of Principles which was accepted and approved equally by a Committee of the American Bar Association and a Committee of Publishers and Associations.

In no way is it legal to reproduce, duplicate, or transmit any part of this document in either electronic means or in printed format. Recording of this publication is strictly prohibited and any storage of this document is not allowed unless with written permission from the publisher. All rights reserved.

The information provided herein is stated to be truthful and consistent, in that any liability, in terms of inattention or otherwise, by any usage or abuse of any policies, processes, or directions contained within is the solitary and utter responsibility of the recipient reader. Under no circumstances will any legal responsibility or blame be held against the publisher for any reparation, damages, or monetary loss due to the information herein, either directly or indirectly.

Respective authors own all copyrights not held by the publisher.

The information herein is offered for informational purposes solely, and is universal as so. The presentation of the information is without contract or any type of guarantee assurance.

The trademarks that are used are without any consent, and the publication of the trademark is without permission or backing by the trademark owner. All trademarks and brands within this book are for clarifying purposes only and are the owned by the owners themselves, not affiliated with this document.

Chapter One: What are the Woodworking Tools We Will Need

In this chapter we will learn about:

Simple hand tools and their purpose

Drills and Sanders

Routers

Jigsaws

Paint, stains, and finishes

Before we go and build yourself an inlaid engraved with lots of scroll work cedar chest, you need to know what tools you will need and how to use them.  So before you can run, you need to learn how to walk and these are simple hand tools.  The easiest of these to understand are screwdrivers.  Screwdrivers are used to either insert or remove screws which are objects made of metal for connecting and supporting two or more pieces of something.  The next on the hard to understand are vises and clamps.  They are used to hold something into position so that you can do some sort of work on them. 

Chisels are used to carve some area of wood out of a piece of wood.  They are very sharp, (And need to stay sharp), and you need a hammer or mallet to use them.  Related to this is a hand plane which is used to smooth and shape wood by the use of sharp blade similar to the edge of a chisel. Finally we have sanding blocks and files which are used to smooth out and object with the file first and then lower grit count to higher grit count sandpaper to finish out a project.  Finally in the hand tool section we need rulers and T-Squares so that we can law out straight clean cuts.

We had discussed the basic hand tools, we need to move on to power tools.  The most common of these are the portable hand drill.  A drill is a great multipurpose tool as it can drill holes into something, but with the proper attachment work as a power sander and with a grind wheel, keep your chisels sharp and cut off and protruding objects or make simple cuts.  A good portable battery powered model will run about 50 dollars and the attachments are usually under 15 dollars apiece.  In addition you will probably want spare batteries and a charger to keep them going. 

Similar to this is a portable sander which is a tool which is dedicated to smoothing out something.  Sanders come in two basic types orbital and rotating and some models actually do both.  Like the drill, you can get one that is battery powered and it can use the same battery pack.

Jigsaws are devices used to cut things.  They use different size and types of blades to make different types of cuts and depending on the model can even cut at an angle which can act like a Miter.  Like the other power tools this can be battery powered and use the same battery as above.

The final power tool is also a multi-purpose device, and that is a router/miter.  A router is used to make a constant shape based on a bit to a piece of wood.  A good example of a router in action is the molding around your windows, doors, and floor.  A Miter is a device to make cuts on an angle or make a molding without using wood that is squared.  All of these again can be found as battery powered and again using the same common battery.

A miter box uses a handsaw to make the same kind of cuts that a power miter can.  Most miter boxes have rulers to measure and angle gauges. Finally most have clamps to hold the wood down.

The basic cost for a simple woodworking kit is under $500, and this is the step you need to take before spending thousands of dollars on ventilation and air filtration systems, rip saws, band saws, table routers, paint booths, adjustable work tables, (Your first project is making your own work table), and the like, to see if this is something for you.  Spending $10,000 and up only to find that you never will use, is a huge waste of money, (Unless you are going to give them to the snotty eight year old next door so he can build even better birdhouses and feeders).

Finally in this chapter we need to talk about paints, stains and finishes.  Most of these are water based which means no volatile organic chemicals which are harmful to nature and humans.  Finishes and stains are done in two steps, first a base layer to bring out and rough spots you left from the sanding, and after a re-sanding, a final finish, or stain is applied. Paint is a combination of a stain and a finish.  Some common paint finishes include flat, enamel, or high gloss.  Enamel finishes and paints are super hard to mark, dent and chip, but usually are oil based which takes a longer time to dry.  Oil based products will need to be thinned with some sort of mineral spirits which is a refined form of kerosene.  In either case never use these products without proper ventilation, preferably outdoors or in an open air structure like a garage.  All paints and finishes and mineral spirits are very combustible, so never store them near an open flame. 

Chapter Two: A Basic Worktable or Bench

In this chapter we will learn:

A basic worktable or bench

A tool carryall that doubles as a step

How to make Miter cuts and using a cross brace

How to countersink screws

Our first project is super simple but will help you in the future with other projects and that is a worktable.  For this we are going to need the following pieces of Oak, 5 2x4x96 inch studs, two inch wood screws,  oak wood plugs or oak wood putty, wood glue, and either an enamel paint or heavy duty polyurethane finish, sand paper, a chamfer router bit, sandpaper, wood glue, 2 pipe clamps, and a workshop bench vise.

This seems on the surface to be a lot of stuff, but in reality it is not as most of this you are going to use this over and over again in the future.  Okay on to the easy stuff first, cut two of your oak pieces in half, and using the pipe clamps glue them together so now you have a wood area of 16 inches by 48 inches.  Let this stay in the clamps for 48 hours for the glue to set up and then release them from the clamps, and sand until smooth including all the sides and top.  Using the router and the chamfer bit, put this wood piece in a vise and put a bevel around the top edged of this piece.  Next take another one of the studs and cut eight pieces 12 inches in length, and put a 45 degree angle or miter cut ½ inch in length at the ends of these pieces, and sand until smooth.  Next you take two more studs and saw them in half and sand until smooth. 

Get a 1/8 inch drill bit with a counter sink attachment and set the counter sink to one half inch.  Flip your table over and on the bottom lay out two of your mitered pieces and place them two inches from the short side and one foot from the long side.  Now take your drill bit and place two holes one foot in from the side and drill a pilot hole all the way through the and into the bottom of the table top.  Using the wood screws and a screw driver bit, secure this attachment to the bottom of the table.  Now take two of the un-mitered boards and attach them to this piece through holes driven into the side  locating each of the soon to be table legs 18 inches from the short side and secure them with screws.  Now on the other side of these legs attach another mitered piece to boot the leg and the bottom of the table.  Finally attach the last two mitered pieces to the bottom of the table legs the same way you attached the legs to the upper pieces.  At the end you should have an upside-down table.

Now get some oak wood putty and patch up the countersunk holes, (Not required but it will give you experience with this later), and sand until smooth, starting with 20 grit sandpaper and work up to 200 grit and use a cheese cloth to remove the dust between sanding.  One more sanding with 200 grit sandpaper followed by a wipe down with a cheese cloth and you are ready to apply a finish, stain or coat of paint.  After applying the first coat, once again treat all areas with 200 grit sandpaper and wipe again with a cheese cloth and you are ready for the final coat on the bottom.  Now flip it over and once again sand with 200 grit paper, wipe with a cheese cloth, first coat of stain, paint or varnish, followed by another sanding and cheesecloth and then the final coat.

The final step is to attach the vise to one corner of the table upside down so the edge of the vise is flush with the table.  You can also attach a power strip for your tools on the one side and by using a hole saw bit punch holes in the side of table for folding your hand tools like chisels and screwdrivers and in the end you are going to have a table that is flat heavy enough to take any load, and will last forever.  Now you are probably asking if this is a worktable why all the detailed sanding and finishing since more than likely it is going to gouged and marred from use.  The idea is to practice your sanding and finishing on something that is not going to be seen by the public. 

From this point forward, we should note, that you will be given instructions to simple projects that if finished per instructions are nice but dull.  You will feel a need to make it something special with your own taste, or you will come up with your own ideas of things to make and the easiest way to do this is by prototyping your idea first with some construction paper, followed by a cardboard one, (Use tape to attach pieces in the planning step).  Once you got it to your vision of what it should be, take the paper or cardboard pieces and use them to trace the pattern onto the wood, and then and only then go cutting.  Prototypes are easy to revise, cost nothing to make, and the worst feeling you can have is using super high grade beyond pricey wood only to find that the cuts you just made, just turned that lumber into fireplace fuel.  This make take some time, but in the end it is worth it and as you are planning, you can mark on the paper instructions such as router bits, drill holes, paint or stain ideas, and even a checklist of things to be done.

If you look at our worktable above, you can see how a prototype would work for you, from drilling holes with a hole saw bit to place hand tools on to modifying the bottom so that the table can go up and down or to modify the top of the legs using a screw jack, (Available everywhere) so that the back of table can rise up turning it into a form of a drafting table.

The next project is a simple painter’s step/bench you can use to reach high places, as well as have a comfortable bench to sit on for lunch.  In the bottom, there is a place for brushes, small cans of paint, lunch, to whatever.  For this buy a 23/32 inch 4 foot by 8 foot sheet of plywood, (This is the most common size of plywood, but your local store might have a smaller 4 feet by 4 feet one, and the larger size will make two of these benches, (One for a friend or the snotty 8 year old next door).  Now before you start get some construction paper and cut out the following pieces, a 2 foot by 1 foot section, 2 three feet by 8 inch pieces, and 2 18 inch by one foot sections.  Transfer the pieces to the plywood sheet and using the least amount of space, (Wood is not cheap and you can keep the remaining pieces for other projects).  Cut out the pieces and on the 2 foot by one foot piece, draw a hole, (Square or oval) in the middle.  Starting with a drill bit to make the first hole in this cutout and then using the jigsaw in a vise cut out the whole.  Sand everything down in particular any burrs where you made the cuts.  Now for the assembly, 6 inches from the edge and 3 inches from the sides drill tow 3/8 inch holes using a counter sink bit set to one quarter of an inch and after putting one of the three foot by 8 inch pieces underneath two small pilot holes for the screws. 

Using the drill and some small wood screws screw the two pieces together, followed by the other side and use some wood putty plug up these holes and sand till smooth.  Not take one of the 18 inch by one foot pieces and locate  them on the legs about six inches up from the bottom.  Drill pilot holes with a counter sink again set to one quarter inch and screw these pieces together.  Finally and you need to wait until you get these pieces together, measure out the size of the floor you need for storage, draw onto construction paper and cut and sand this piece out.  You want to do one of two things with this piece and that is flush with the sides of the bench, of by cutting out a notch for the legs locate it below the sides of the bench, (See why prototyping is so important, as this size may vary by actual hole and needs.  And again either pilot and countersink holes in the side pieces for a flush mount of through this bottom to the sides and well as through the legs to support this bench. 

You also can customize this by cutting out additional pieces of plywood to make compartments in this storage area, but that again is planned in the prototyping stage.  Make sure all areas are smooth, then either finish with a clear or stained polyurethane finish or some sort of paint.  You can also use the same plans to make a foot rest with storage for magazines or TV remotes and again how you customize this basic project, is up to you, but prototype it first.  Again a painter’s bench does not need the wood putty or sanding or painting, but it is practice for further projects. 

Chapter Three: For the Birds

In this chapter you will learn how to build:

A Birdhouse

A Bird Feeder

A Garden Planter fit for an apartment patio

Now it is time to go kick that next door little brat’s butt and his birdhouses and feeders.  So in this chapter we are going to build some base or generic birdhouse, feeder and garden planter all of which need your customization.  Again prototype and modify before you cut and make it yours.  One other concern is that these are outdoor items and for the birdhouse and feeder, paint can be toxic to the birds or the color might frighten them away, so a polyurethane finish is recommended, and for the planter you want weather treated Southern Pine or redwood.

Birdhouse

For the birdhouse, we need to look at a different type of wood and that is OSB or Oriented Strand Board.  This is made from wood chips and flakes pressed together with an adhesive sealer to form a light in weight, but very strong product.  OSB Will need some sort of finish in outdoor applications as the sun and elements make the sealer deteriorate and then major rot. 

We need to cut the following from half inch by 4 feet by 8 feet OSB and again cut it out on construction paper then from these pieces cut it on the wood as close as possible to save wood, (To make a paddle to be used on the 8 year old next door if nothing else), two one foot high by 6 inch wide pieces with the top four inches cut at a forty five degree angle on both sides to make a V at the top and square on the bottom and in the middle of one of these pieces use a two inch hole saw to make a hole and a half inch below this hole a three eights drill hole. Two six inch by 8 inch rectangles also need to be cut. Two eight inch by eight inch square pieces, and four one half inch by 6 inch pieces and two one inch by 6 inch pieces. A five and quarter inch by 7 inch rectangle.   A two inch piece of three eights inch dowel is also needed as well as finished nails or braids and remember to sand your pieces after being cut. 

To assemble this, take one of the pieces with the V at the top and nail in the two six inch by 8 inches pieces to it followed the other V piece.  After this this make the roof with the one foot by 6 inch pieces to make the roof making sure the overhang is even.  Take two of the one inch by 6 inch pieces and using wood glue and glue mount them flush to the sides and let dry, (You will probably need to clamp or vise this).  Next glue two of the one half inch by 6 inch pieces to where this last piece met the sidewall.  Glue and braid this in place and let dry.  Next the remaining one half inch by six inch pieces are mounted flush to the boot of these side walls so that you have a slot and this can be glued or nailed in.  Finally fit the 5 and quarter inch by 7 inch piece into the slot so the excess is on the front side.  This makes your cleanout when the birds leave very easy as all you have to do is slide this out and dump the bird mess on your compost pile.  Finally glue the dowel piece into the lower round hole, and then apply some sort of finish. 

As you can see this birdhouse is just begging for some customization like making shingles out of scrap wood for the roof, and on the cleanout tray how about a front porch?  Using an eye screw and galvanized wire, hang it from a tree and enjoy the songs the birds will sing.

Birdfeeder

The next project is a bird feeder that is super easy to do and looks good and allows you to use a router and wood putty.  You will need two 2 by four feet Plexiglas sheets, three foot by one foot OSB with the top six inches cut into a forty five degree V.  Two four feet 4 inch by three inch rectangles.  A four feet by six inch rectangle, and 2 four feet by a half inch rectangle.  Finally a one inch by four feet pieces with a 45 degree miter cut so that it can be mounted on an angle and two hinges.

You need to make a router cut inch from the sides stopping two inches before the end of the piece, IF you go through the end wood putty can plug up.  Nail and glue the four feet and six inch rectangle to the end of these two pieces to the non-router end and let dry.  Glue the mitered pieces in the middle of this floor so that they form a pyramid and let dry.  Insert the Plexiglas into the slots, and nail and glue one of four feet by six inch piece to form half of the roof and screw in the hinges so that the other piece of roof can be lifted up to resupply the feeder.  Finally take the half inch pieces to form a railing.  Insert two eye screws into the roof and use wire to hang this off a tree and be ready for that eight year old to go crying to his mother that you got more and better birds.    

Garden Planter

Finally in this chapter is a garden planter and redwood would be the preferred wood, though southern pine or even OSB can be used.  Cut two 2 feet by eight inch pieces, followed by a 9 inch by 6 inch rectangles and finally a 2 feet by 6 inch rectangle. 

Using pilot holes screw the floor to the 9 inch by 6 inch rectangles.  Finally one inch off the floor screw in the two side pieces in.  Do not use pressure treated wood or any type of finish if this planter is used for vegetables as chemicals from these will leach into the soil.  Put three inches of crushed rock at the bottom followed by potting soil and your plants or seeds.

Chapter Four: Some Customized Racks and Holders

In this chapter you will learn:

How to make a rack for your kid’s things

How to make Stackable shelving

How to make Customized tables using almost no material or cost

How to make a Magazine holder

Now that we got the birds all taken care of outside, let’s turn our attention to the room we spend most of our time in at home, the living room.  So in this chapter we are going to look at some simple projects that will make it look brighter or at least remove clutter.  All of these projects are actually very easy to make and a great way to involve the kids and have them show off to their friends their woodworking skills.

If you remember the birdhouse project, you heard about dowels which are circular pieces of wood shaped into a rod.  Now dowels come in different shapes from round to oval to square to rectangles.  And now we are going to use these different shapes and some high grade wood, (Like the redwood from the previous chapter), to make tables with your own style.  While the one I am going describe is circular in nature, your imagination is your only limitation provided you use enough dowels to support the table.  Simply cut two pieces of wood in the same shape, (Or even different ones), and then drill holes to put the dowel in with a small amount on the bottom of the lowest level to use as legs.  Glue the dowels in place, let dry and then sand and finish, and then when your friends ask about it, you can always claim that some snooty designer made it for you.  If you want to use more than one level, go for it and I have seen one such table with a hole in the center for a gooseneck lamp that allows the person to easy change the focus of the light.

A similar project involves taking scrap pieces of two by fours and making a crate table by using pieces at a 45 degree angle as legs and crosspieces to brace the bottom.  If you remember the work table project use saw we used a screw block to allow a leg meet the table and we will do the same in screwing the legs into a table block made of scraps like our worktable project.  Sand and stain or paint and you got a great looking table for almost nothing, and by prototyping, you could add a bottom shelf for storage. 

Now while either of these two projects allow you to customize your project, one other way to do this is by inlaying a pattern into the wood.   Let’s say you would like to put T and M letters into your tabletop, (Because after all you are Tony Montana and you want to intrude everyone to this little friend).  If you remember the information of prototyping you would set up a piece of construction paper the size of your tabletop and you will mark on it the pattern you complexity), cut out the wood to be removed. Keep your chisels sharp by using a grinding wheel, and if you feel expert you can use your drill with a flex bit and a cutting wheel of a Dremel cutting tool.  After you have made the cut and are happy with it you then take the cut out and make if from wood, metal of foam rubber and a cloth top, (Like an inlaid bench top of drink area).  Now you are going to have to massage the inlay and the cut to make sure it is a tight fit and use a rubber mallet to check the fit and only when you are happy, do you glue it in.  A simple way instead of one piece of inlay, try putting it in smaller pieces and install them piece by piece and use good sanding and maybe some stain to hide the fact it is made of smaller pieces, (Like making a paddle board with the snotty nosed 8 year old next door neighbor’ initials on it).

Customize

We have made simple but elegant tables, let’s tackle a custom shelving for placing things around your house.  Again prototyping is the key as well as what you need on the way of storage.  One again lay out your plans, and you might want to look at cherry or oak as the wood and to make it connect together you have two options.  The first is the screw block we have done many times before or we can do an interlock by chiseling a notch on both pieces halfway in so the two pieces became one when inserted into each other.  To do this use your jigsaw, chisel or router to make the cuts and when assembling prepare for lots of dry fitting before gluing them into place.  By using cherry or oak wood for a professional finish and remember to use a cheesecloth to remove the debris from the sanding and after first sanding finish, use 200 grit sandpaper to smooth out anything uneven surfaces.  You will also want to use a rounding bit on the router to smooth and lessen the edges of your work. 

Stackable Shelves

So let’s think about some stackable removable shelves.  For this we are going to make boxes about one foot square and this will need some sort of back piece for each cube.  You should use either oak, cherry or pine or even a composite like the OSB we used in the garden projects.  Once you have built enough IDENTICAL boxes, (This is important as they need to be interchangeable), you will also need to build some end and top pieces to the same exact specifications but they are a single sheet instead of a box.  Now here is the trick to make it interchangeable, and that is by using tongue and groove flooring.  You will want two tracks on every side of the square and they are identical in location so that the tongue and groove all align together.  The end caps will also have either a tongue or a groove and after you have changed the location or number of cubes or whatever you simple slide the end caps over the cubes and you have now a piece of art unique to yourself.  The tricks to remember is all the cubes are exactly the same with the same locations, and either tongue or groove on that side including the bottom and the end caps are set up like the cubes and these do not to be exact squares regarding depth or even square as long as all pieces are exactly the same and any other and this makes a great project for kids to store homework and then pull out when needed and returned when finished.

Magazine Holders

A final project in this chapter is to make magazine holders.  Since most magazines are 8.5 inches by 11 inches, we need to make holders of the same size.  So we are going to cut two pieces of wood 9 inches by 11 inches with a cut starting halfway up the 11 inch side to have a 45 degree cut to the top.  The back piece is 11 inches by 2 inches and the front is 5.5 inches by two inches.  You can make this from anything from plywood to OSB to oak, cherry, pecan, walnut or redwood.  Cut this pieces out and then using penny nails or braids assemble the pieces and remember to round off with a router the edges, and sand to smooth, and a project like this would just love a clear finish to show off the wood.  You will also will need to cut a hole in the back piece for a handhold.  If you want to make this piece interchangeable, you could use the same tongue and groove idea from the last one or make an inlay with the magazine name or letter on it.  The dimensions are for a single copy of a magazine per box, so if you want to store many at the same time, enlarge the size from two inches to whatever you need.

Chapter Five: Projects for the Kitchen

In this chapter you will see projects for:

A Kitchen message center

A Inlaid serving tray

A Chopping block

Electronic equipment stands

Masking a project

We have done projects for the backyard, work areas, living room and now it is time to work on some easy kitchen projects.  In this chapter we need to remember that if it will touch anything that we can eat, we need to take precautions to make sure to use a food safe finish and the best one for this is some form of penetrating oil that is allowed to fully dry between several coats.  Also use only Oak, Pecan, and Cherry wood and never use pressure treated, redwood or cedar as these contain substances that will make you sick.  If you have any questions your local home improvement superstore will have people there who can help you select the right product. 

Message Center

The first project is a message center that could be hung or attached to a wall or through the use of magnetics, attached to the fridge door or a wall.  One of the things to remember here is to use painter’s tape to separate the two paint types, (Magnetic and Chalkboard), from the Cork pin up area.  Decide how big of a board you want to make and how much will be a chalkboard, how much magnetic and how much cork.  Cut out that size of board and some simple wood strips to make the border, (Or buy some moldings or use your router and make your own).  One he have decided what area gets what we take painters tape, (As it leaves no mark), and block off the chalkboard area.  Using chalkboard paint, (Available everywhere), paint one to two coats on this area letting it dry between coats.  Take off the painter’s tape and now mask off the area for the magnetic paint and apply it per instructions and let dry.  Lift off the tape, and install the border or molding with the detailed side to the inside.  Finally cut to size your cork and install. Put small magnets on the metal part to hold things up, push pins for the cork and chalk and an eraser.  To hold these items make a tray from scraps to form a storage slot, (And make sure on the chalkboard to draw a picture of that snotty kid with an anvil to be dropped on his head).

Inlaid Serving Tray

Up next is an inlaid serving tray.  Lay out a prototype of what you would like to do, and remember most trays are 14 inch by 8 inches in size.  You might want to think about alternating types of wood, and assemble that similar to our first project the worktable.  Like our inlaid tables, plan and then cut out the space for the inlay and then make it and again be prepared if you are using anything else than foam rubber, padding, or felt with a cloth top to make minute corrections and to keep the inlay cut square and keep your chisels sharp.  Now like our work table you will need some sort of backing to keep the table together and you could use a one inch piece of wood rounded to do this, or think about maybe making some folding legs by screwing the tops of the legs into the screw block with a swivel spacer to allow the legs to drop and piece on a latch to be a crosspiece on the legs.  Needless to say prototyping this with some scrap wood is needed for this to work.

Chopping Block

Wood chopping blocks look hard, but are actually easy to make.  Use 2 inch by 4 inch wood to make several rows of wood and again a screw block and glue to make it solid.  Again be very careful of the type of wood used and you would probably like to use oak or cherry for this, and make sure your finish is food safe.

Electronic Equipment Stand

A final project is to make a holder for your phone, stereo, or other electronics.  For this measure the size of your device and then cut a piece of wood to the same length and just a half of inch higher.  Cut a second piece of wood half the height with the same width.  If you remember our discussion of an interlocking support, you need to cut notches for each but since it is on an angle, (33 degrees), the pieces of wood need to be positioned that way in a vise or clamps to make the proper interlocking cut.  You also can use a screw board and cut the one piece into two pieces a front and a back and the back piece needs to meet the surface on the same level as the big piece, and it will need a miter cut of 33 degrees at the end, and the front piece a reverse miter.  This is a great project to make a cardboard prototype to work out the angles and cuts to be used.  

Chapter Six: Garden Projects and Some Fun and Games

In this chapter you will learn instruction to make:

A Cart for your Garden

A Hockey Game

A Foosball Game

For this last chapter of easy woodworking projects, we are going to look at projects that not only involve woodworking skills, but installing other elements such as tires, axles, and rods.  In addition, I am including some games that while they take some time to build are actually pretty simple to make. 

Cart

Building a cart while looking difficult is very easy.  First go to your local hardware or tool superstore and buy wheels already attached to a solid axle.  You also need to buy two hasps of pieces of metal to secure the axle.  Once you get your wheels measure them from inside tire to inside tire.  Deduct one inch from either side and you have your width dimension.  Usual length dimension is one and a half times the width.  Cut yourself pressure treated wood 2 by 4’s to make this bottom and glue and secure with a screw board.  Next you need to make the front and to sides and this is based on your bottom dimension and secure them using screws to the bottom piece.  Using the metal bands secure the axle to the bottom making sure you have equal clearance for the tires. 

The back piece however is special as you are going to locate this a inch from the end and you will secure this with pins made from dowels that fit into holes in the sides and you will want at least a top and bottom hole for each side.  This will allow you to remove the pins and the back piece and either dump or load material into the bed easily.

You will need to cut down a 2 by 4 to a one by four to a length 75 percent of the bed length, (This is to make moving and tipping go easy).  At the end about half an inch from the end, drill a hole and insert and glue a dowel to use as a handle.  This will need several coats of paint or finish as you want to prevent rot.  An option is to make a handle by using square scraps and rounding them with a router, or using a dowel the width of the bed and secured to it by hasps or metal bands and attach some construction mesh to the dowel with the used of braids or staples and a handle on the end of the mesh and now you have a flexible cover for your load.

Foosball

Foosball is a fun game to play and even more fun to make.  You will want a base piece of 4 by 6 foot plywood sanded smooth, and using 1 inch by 4 inch studs or play wood make the walls or sides and back.  On the end pieces cut a square hole in the middle to allow a ping pong ball to pass through and secure some construction mesh using staples to retain the ball after a goal is scored.  On the sides you want to drill a hole places to put dowels through as the handles.  There needs to be at least six of these and they need to be in the same places on both sides.  You can get at any hardware or bike store handle grips you glue to the end of the dowels.  Attached to the dowels by braids will be our “Players” made of pieces of scrap wood and depending on what you decide square or rectangular and the end should be above the bottom piece.  Before assembly, the bottom after being sanded smooth gets at least 3 coats of a high glass enamel paint to make a super slick and smooth surface and if you want to paint in a pattern of lines or circles or arcs on it use painter’s tape to mask off the sections and polyurethane or enamel paint for the sides . 

Hockey

Finally there is a “Hockey” game that is similar in construction except the sides are not so high and you do not need to have holes for dowels.  You might want for this a bottom coat of enamel using masking to paint in a Hockey diagram with the center line, red lines, and a box in front of the goal.  After this dries, use two coats of satin finish polyurethane to make the surface as smooth as ice.  Paint the inside of the sides white and continue the line motif up the sides.  The hockey pucks are dowel pieces half in inch in length, painted in black enamel and two coats of polyurethane to make it super slick also and make at least ten of these as they do get lost or shattered.  The sticks are L shaped pieces of plywood with the blade 4 inches in length and the handle 9 inches in length and coated in polyurethane with liquid rubber ends for safe gripping.  Again make plenty of sticks as they can and will break and do not be afraid to show off your slap shot to that snotty neighbor. 

Chapter Seven: Do’s and Don’ts

Do’s

Read all instruction manuals for your tools, and paints and finishes you plan on using and if you have questions call the customer service number or do further research before proceeding.

Use paper and cardboard to make a prototype before cutting your first piece of wood.  Nothing is worse than getting near the end of a project and find out that it does not fit or you need to get additional materials.

Measure many times before cutting.  Once you make a cut, you cannot take it back, so take your time and make sure it is right before cutting it.

Always use proper ventilation before applying any finish, stain or paint, and always wear a mask.  Nothing is worse than explaining to the ER department how you passed out and planted your face in a can of fire engine red enamel paint that will take weeks to come off your face.

Always use goggles when operating any tool that can cut or remove wood.  This would include any power tool, or chisel.  Explaining to your co-workers how you got the eye patch, could be embarrassing and permeant eye loss means that you get to ride shotgun and never drive. 

If you are going to customize an already existing plan, plan and that is again the paper and cardboard prototypes, before you measure or cut anything.

Remember to sand starting with the lower grit paper and go to the higher grit for the finishing and use a cheesecloth to remove the sawdust and grit.

If it looks too difficult, it is, and do something easier and later when you skill set is better, tackle it then.

Finally, take pride in what you do.  Nobody is perfect, and as you get better, you will get better, but for now take pride in what you have done, and nobody is ever totally happy with anything they have done.

Take your time, Rome was not built in a day, now will a project that takes 2 weekends, so enjoy the ride and not hurry to the end.

Don’ts

Blindly go into a project without first reading all the instructions and planning on how you will do something.

Operate tools without reading the manuals that they come with.  Going to an ER to reattach fingers that you sliced off is not fun, very painful and will affect your life in a negative way.

Use any paint, stain or finish without proper ventilation.  It can kill you and no project is worth your life.

Operate tools without goggles.  Yes you may look like a jerk, but you are jerk with your eyesight intact.

Rush through things, you cannot recut a piece, and wood is not cheap.

Decide you can make modifications on the fly without planning.  Nothing is worse that have an inlay that is one inch higher that the side. 

Obsess over the imperfections no matter how slight in a project.  Da Vinci never made anything perfectly and he was Da Vinci.  Just learn for the next time.

Fail to ask questions at your local home improvement superstore.  Nothing is worse than to make a cutting board and stain it with a substance that makes it unsafe to use.

Look to see if you are capable of the project.  While you made a great garden planter last weekend, this is probably not the weekend to make an inlaid checkerboard with lots of scroll work.

Conclusion

This is a how to primer and it is not meant to be the do all or end all of woodworking projects.  You need to do research and do projects within your comfort zone.  Also if you are unsure of how a product or tool is to be used, find out how before you start.  Finally if you want to customize something, go for it, but remember to use paper and cardboard templates to make sure it would work.