This mirror frame was inspired by an archway in Rings of Power. I’ve always loved the Elven art and design in LOTR. I made a stencil with my scroll saw out of hardboard. But I have the wrong scroll saw blades and I’m impatient so it came out a bit rough and uneven with my hand- drawn design. I had some old oak and some new stock that I glued up together and the difference shows. I glued the stencil to the oak but as I began to router it out, the glue gave out and my router slipped, tearing into the piece. I also routered too deeply I think. Then I broke a piece off. Just one mistake after another really.

But that’s how it goes sometimes. So I’m starting over completely and this time I can learn from each mistake I made. The only thing I’m stuck on is that the hardboard (“chalkboard”) didn’t stick well enough with wood glue or CA glue… so idk what to try next. Maybe 1/4” plywood with carpet tape?

This may not be the right community to post this in; it's at least obliquely involved with woodworking.

I intend to hang a shingle as a furniture maker. Yes I know I know "Beware turning a hobby into a job because it'll suck the joy out" before the pandemic I was working in a custom build shop, about the only thing I didn't build for customers was furniture, and I kinda miss the pipeline.

In fact, I'd kind of like to find several other craftsmen of various flavors and open an "artisan shop", where, say, a table I built is used to display vases the potter made, and so on like that.

I got, or rather built, that custom building job at a makerspace in the city, and I could get this venture off the ground with a quick message to the General Slack channel. Not only was the place full of craftsmen and artisans but it was plugged into the entrepreneurial world, people would pour out of the woodwork to either join up or point me to resources. Where I'm at now there's just none of that.

I think I'm at the point where I just have to build something and put it up for sale. Just...before we bother with business plans and branding and logos and social media and all that crap, I need to open a personal Etsy account or walk into a local consignment shop and sell a thing I made out of wood just to prove I can actually do it.

This may wait until spring at this point; between a family member in hospice and the winter...

Can it be someone else's turn to talk now?

thoughts? where's my norm homies at?

The table was made during a hobby woodworking course. The chair was made for it later

Hi,

Weekend before last (ie Sunday 24th) I applied tung oil to plywood (simply described as "12mm hardwood plywood" by the DIY shop). One week and a bit later, it looks dry to the eye, there is no shiny spot, the wood has a warmer colour, but if I run my fingers on the surface I get a tiny amount of oil.

I applied the oil by pouring a small amount on the surface of the wood then rubbing with an old rag, leaving no pool of oil.

Sunday (the day before yesterday ) I used kitchen towels to try to dry it off. The towels picked up a tiny bit of oil, but evidently not everything.

Is tung oil that slow to dry? Should I wait another week? Can I do something to help the process along? (Sanding or steel wool? Too aggressive for the thin veneer of plywood? Rub with a small amount of white spirit? )

I'm making a crate for Puppy who has outgrown two crates already, I picked the oil that was advertised as food & toy safe without realising how difficult it'd be to apply. In fact that's my most ambitious project to date, I'm really a beginner.

Puppy tax:

Coming soon to my workbench is a small cabinet for my cousin. What's everyone building this holiday season?

I've been doing basic woodworking for a while, and I want to start moving into furniture (mostly for my own enjoyment). I strongly prefer the aesthetics of craftsman/mission/prairie style (Gustav Stickley, et al.) I'm trying to make a list of the basic power tools that would be necessary/useful for that style of furniture, along with hand tools, and I'd appreciate feedback from people with more experience than I.

I already have a very basic work bench; I think that I probably need to make a work bench that I can use bench dogs on; a roubo workbench be ideal. I also definitely need to make an infeed and outfeed table for my table saw so I can work with plywood sheet more easily.

(I have a number of these, but not everything.)

Table saw (ideally a cabinet saw)

-miter gauge

-dado blade

-tenoning jig

Miter saw

Band saw (ideally 2; one that could do re-saw work, and a smaller one for cutting curves)

Jointer (ideally long bed)

Planer

Router

-tongue and groove set

Drill press (?)

Mortising machine

Random orbit sander

Finish sander

Dust collection

Dovetail jig set (for drawers)

Doweling jig (?)

Hand planes (kind of a long list here...)

Chisels

-mortising chisels

-paring chisels

-flushing chisels

Card scraper

Marking tools

-Scribe

-marking knife

Combination square

Tape measure

Calipers w/ depth gauge

Clamps

-Parallel clamps

-pipe clamps, etc.

Is there anything that I'm missing that I should be thinking about? (Quick edit - I don't have a lathe on here because I have zero interest in turning anything. I don't think that things like a belt or spindle sander, or a shaper, would really do much of anything for the style I prefer. A router table might be useful though.)

Found it on the curb, and I liked the design. Looks like solid wood, but the joints are all coming apart and look tricky to reinforce. Would you bother?

Lil fella surprised me!

Do you have a favorite workbench? What kind of features does it have?

Just looking for some inspiration.

Walnut and maple., it's an inch and a quarter thick, 12 1/2 inches wide and about 17 inches long. While it is an end grain cutting board I actually built it with kneading dough in mind, I don't intend to cut on this one, not for awhile anyway. Built it this weekend and baked some bread with it today. Which is why my mixer is covered in flour. I'm really happy with this one.

Walnut and maple., it's an inch and a quarter thick, 12 1/2 inches wide and about 17 inches long. While it is an end grain cutting board I actually built it with kneading dough in mind, I don't intend to cut on this one, not for awhile anyway. Built it this weekend and baked some bread with it today. Which is why my mixer is covered in flour. I'm really happy with this one.

Do you include things like particle board, MDF, plywood etc? Is there a line? And if so, what is it for you?

Hey, I am asking here because I found no better community.

I am using Epoxy Resin quite a lot simply for glueing stuff together, not the other type for like transparent furniture and all.

I glued something but added too much resin and too little of the "Härter" compound.

So it stays sticky.

I read heat could help but doubt it. Do I need to remove it and apply again?

It took lots of repetition honing, stropping, going through setup, realizing the chip breaker was right on the edge of the blade, repeat, new error. The first picture is progress: small and crunchy, long and crinkley, long and papery.

Sharpening using Atoma 400/600/1200 diamond plates + a strop I had around. I found Wood By Wright's setup video helpful and have been enjoying Rex Kreuger's videos on sharpening and other things.

I worked so hard for these shavings, surely there's something fun to do with them.

I've designed a 3D printable sharpening angle jig for your chisel and planer knife. Works with those cheap triangle shaped blade holders you can find almost anywhere for cheap. Check it out if you're got a 3D printer.

I made a box joint jig following [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EyJof__nTR4](Woodfather's video). It's a nice simple/flexible design for those of us without a dado stack.

First try was very sloppy, but once I adjusted the key width and got my clamps set up better the fit is great. The scraps I had around were bed slats off the curb, which were very cupped. But they actually turned out pretty nicely (after plenty of cleanup).

Boiled linseed oil finish.

I have a 1920's roll-top desk that is in okay condition but needs restoration.

I got it off the side of a driveway thinking I would restore it but I just have too many projects.

At this point I would like to give it to anyone who would want it. Anyone have any ideas? I don't really want to do craigslist or anything like that because I don't want a bunch of random folks coming to my house.

There is a lot more checking than I realized, and I'm afraid filling these gaps by just pouring in epoxy will be difficult. I want to keep the live edge and avoid making a complete deep pour epoxy mold. Some of these gaps go all the way through The 2-in slab. Any tips for me?