Medium density fiber board or MDF as it is commonly known is an engineered material that consists of wood fibers and glue. It has been available since the 1980’s.

It is one of those products where lumber companies had a waste product (wood fibers, saw dust and wood chips) and wanted to make something out of it that they could sell.

Like the old saying goes waste not, want not. …continue reading What is Medium density fiberboard (MDF)?

Actually, the term “man-made” is a misnomer because in reality, they are still wood products and by-products just re-manufactured in a less costly and more efficient method. The furniture and home building industry is constantly pushing for more cost efficient building materials. Lumber companies are on the look out for ways to turn scrape and waste into new products.

The majority of the mass produced furniture today are made of man made wood or what they call sheet materials. These types of materials are made from real wood although they aren’t as solid as the original wood from which it was made. …continue reading What are man-made woods?

Even for the hobbyist woodworker it is good to have a basic understanding of the common types of wood that are available. For years, I build my projects out of red oak, birch and white pine. Over time I expanded into soft maple, mahogany and poplar.

There are two main categories for lumber hard wood and soft wood.

1. Hardwoods

Hardwood lumber comes from deciduous trees, which have characteristics like broad sets of leaves, capability to bear fruits or nuts, and dormancy during winter. These trees can be seen growing in regions with a temperate climate. …continue reading Get To Know Your Woods

I enjoy working with wood. It is always a good day when I get to make a pile of saw dust constructing a piece of furniture that will get years of use out it. Take a look around you, today if it is mass manufactured it is usually made out of plastic and metal. Mass wood manufactured furniture can be found, but the quality… is not the greatest.

You see, what I like about woodworking is that I can custom create something that fits my needs exactly. For example, I am in the process of building my daughter’s dresser bed. My wife & I looked at several offerings of storage beds at local furniture stores. We saw the same designs with ever so slight differences. However, there were two things that we really did not like about the designs …continue reading Top 3 Benefits of Working with Wood as a Hobby

While designing the platform bed with the storage drawers, I wanted full extension drawer guides. The three quarter drawer guides are ok, but not for this project. The drawers are to be used as a dresser. It frustrates me when I have to try to get to the last garment at the back of the drawer that is still inside of the bed frame.

I settled on a pair of 100 pound full extension drawer guides are more than strong enough to hold the weight of the cloths and just about anything else a person would put into the drawer.

Now, if one of my kids decides to store their life’s collection of rocks in the drawer… well that is going to be a problem. I will cross that bridge when I get to it, hopefully never. …continue reading Beds with Storage: Drawer Guides

Over the past year and half I have been working on building a set of beds with storage underneath for my children. So far I have completed the first one for my eldest daughter, who enjoys her ‘tall’ bed. I have completed construction of the second bed for my middle daughter. The bed is now ready for stain and varnish.

The goal is to get it finished and moved into her room by early October. I like to give the varnish about three to four weeks to cure and harden before putting the furniture to use.

Design / Style of the bed

The platform bed is designed so that a standard sized twin mattress will fit comfortable on top of it. I designed a 1 1/2 inch deep recess for the mattress to sit in. This prevents the mattress from being able to slide off of the platform. That would make for a bad night’s rest. …continue reading Beds with Storage: My Journey in Building a Set of Platform Beds for My Children

I came across a really cool article about Sergeant Geoffrey Allison a medic in the Army. He is currently assigned to a one year tour of duty in Iraq. During his off time he works on building violins.

From scrap wood he built a small work bench that is wedged between his bunk and the wall. Before he was stationed in Iraq he bough enough wood to make two violins. In the three months that he has been stationed in Iraq he has completed both violins. …continue reading Army Medic Making Violins While On Tour in Iraq

This post is part two of the distressed wood finishing technique. Learn an easy to follow six step process to make newly created furniture look like it has been around for decades.

Step 3: Sealing the door

Apply a sanding sealer to the door. A vinyl or latex sealer can be used. Following the manufacture’s directions and allow ample drying time.

Step 4: Sanding

Sand the door smooth with 320 grit sand paper. Be careful not to sand through the sealer and sand off the stain. …continue reading Distressed wood finishing: How to make new look old (part 2)

When done right distressed wood finishing will result in a finished piece that people will think is decades old, when in fact it is a newly finished piece. At first it may seem like distressed finishing is too complicated or takes too long. Nothing could be further from the truth. The process is broken down into six straight forward steps.

This technique works well with solid wood furniture. However, I don’t recommend attempting to apply this technique to pieces made from plywood or any type of laminate pieces. The veneer is too thin and will most likely break off and really look bad. …continue reading Distressed wood finishing: How to make new look old (part 1)

Welcome back as we continue discussing the anatomy of a blandsaw blade. With a better understanding you will be able to select the right bandsaw blade for the job at hand.

Hook angle

Is the angle between a line drawn parallel to the front edge of the tooth and a line drawn perpendicular to the back of the bandsaw blade. The larger the hook angle the more the blade attempts to pull the material into the blade. In effect the tooth acts like a chisel by trying to split out the wood fibers.

With smaller hook angles or even a negative hook angles the tooth acts more like a plow or scraper. When cutting dense hardwoods or very knotty wood these saw blades are ideally suited for the job. …continue reading Which bandsaw blade is the best one to use when cutting hard wood? (Part 2)

Bandsaw blades come in a plethora of styles, number of teeth per inch, alloys and tooth shape. For the home woodworker which of the many different types of bandsaw blades is the best one to use when cutting hard wood lumber?

Anatomy of a bandsaw blade

Let’s first start out discussing the anatomy of a bandsaw blade. Unlike a circular saw blade, a bandsaw blade must be able to with stand being flexed repeatedly while being used. Bandsaw blades are made from spring steel. Steel that has the ability to flex a certain amount and then bounce back to its original shape. Stretch the blade beyond the certain amount will cause the tooth to fail (rip off the blade) or the blade to break. Both are bad for the operator of the bandsaw. …continue reading Which bandsaw blade is the best one to use when cutting hard wood?

Continuing on from the part one of this article this article will review the cabinet and hybrid table saws. Why are cabinet table saws so heavily used in commercial wood working shops? What is a hybrid table saw and would it better suit my table saw needs in the wood shop? …continue reading What is the Best Table Saw for My Wood Shop (cabinet and hybrid saws)?

There are many tools that are useful, but not essential to wood working, depending on what you are building. A dedicated mortising machine makes quick work of cutting mortises, but if you don’t build a lot of furniture that employs the mortis and tenon joinery do you really need it? However, there are some tools that are must haves if you want to build any significant projects.

A table saw is one of these tools. Try ripping a four by eight sheet of plywood down and get a nice straight line using a hand held circular saw. Not that easy. Table saws are great at cutting straight lines in to things. …continue reading What is the Best Table Saw for My Wood Shop?

Hand tools are not art they are tools designed for a specific function to meet a required need. A 20 ounce framing hammer is designed to drive 16d nails into big 2 x stock. A spring clamp is designed to apply clamping pressure to hold pieces of wood in a certain way so that you can permanently fasten them. Tools aren’t art. Are they? …continue reading Hand Tools As Art?

There are several different types of chemical strippers available on the market that will remove paint, varnish, shellac, tongue oil and other finishes from wood.  The problem is determining which product is the right one for your task.  …continue reading What chemical strippers can I use to remove paint and varnish?

There are several different types of hearing protection available.  Each has its strengths and weaknesses. Read through this guide to determine which hearing protection best suites your needs. …continue reading Selecting the right hearing protection

Most people do not carry around with them a dBA monitor to sample the ambient noise. So how, can you tell if noise is damaging to your hearing? What is considered to be a safe decibel level of noise? Is there graphical way to view noise? …continue reading Hearing Loss: How do I know if am exposed to dangerous noise levels?

Hearing loss as with any loss is difficult to understand or relate to until you experience it first hand.  Unfortunately most all hearing loss is permanent.  Most people especially teenagers don’t have a clue how they are damaging their hearing.  For that fact, many weekend woodworkers don’t realize how their hobby is destroying their hearing over time. …continue reading Hearing loss: How power tools can damage your hearing

Newer power tools in the owner’s manual manufactures are starting to include decibel or db ratings for the tool running with no load and under load.  Ok. That is nice information, but what is a decibel and how does that relate to the amount of noise in the wood shop?

…continue reading What is decibel (dBA) and how does it relate to woodworking tools?

Woodworking power tools are loud, ask anyone not involved in the hobby. The problem is we love our power tools. They help us quickly and more easily create the wood working projects that we have been thinking about. …continue reading Is woodworking causing you to loss your hearing?

Butt joints, box joints and 45 degree miter joints are all very common joints when building cabinets, book cases, and shelving systems. The challenge is to assemble the panels in exact 90 degree angle. Even when all of the panels are cut at the right angle there is still a good chance that when assembled they will be out of square slightly. …continue reading Box Clamp: Get a perfect square joint every time

Your in your woodshop and have completed cutting out the pieces for the cabinet your building. All of the panels have been sanded down and you are ready to assemble them. You have dry fitted the pieces together and now have glued and clamped them with bar and pipe clamps. After fastening them together you realize that the cabinet is out of square. A clamping square can help prevent this problem from happening. …continue reading Clamping Squares: How will they help me assemble a perfect 90 joint?

You need to clamp diagonally across a case. The problem is the clamp has a flat face and needs to be steady on the point of the corner and not damage the corner when clamping pressure is applied. …continue reading How to keep the clamp on the corner without damaging the corner?

After having cut all of the pieces of a cabinet it is time to dry fit them together and check how well everything fits together.  Now it is time to determine if the cabinet is square.

Note: This technique applies to any box you are building from a cabinet to bed frame. …continue reading How to square up a cabinet before gluing or nailing it together?

When gluing up a large panel, will alternating the ring pattern prevent the panel from warping in the future?

Maybe, while it does not hurt the panel but it does not prevent the panel from warping. …continue reading How do I prevent warped panels?

Now that we have determined several reasons why chip prints occur during planning, how do I stop the problem? …continue reading How to avoid chip prints when planning wood.

You are planning up some rough lumber for your next fine furniture project.  After the first few passes the roughness is mostly gone and the rich grain pattern is becoming visible.  But then after a pass through the bench top planner you notice that the surface of the planned wood is pitted with what looks like pot marks or dents.  What is going on to cause this? …continue reading Why is my bench top planner denting the planned wood?

Now you are ready to cut out the steps. Remember to cut on the waste side of the line. The waste side is the triangle that you are cutting out. When you get to the corner of the step the circular saw blade will leave a bit of material. Use your hand saw to trim of the material and cut out the step triangle. …continue reading Cutting out the stair case: How do I build a set of stairs?

In this article we will discuss and determine how to calculate the rise and run for each step in your stair case. The ideal rise is seven inches and the ideal run is ten inches. …continue reading Designing stairs: How do I build a set of stairs?

Grab your framing square it is time to layout the stringers. You never knew that a framing square could be used to layout steps of a stair case? Follow along and find out how. …continue reading Building the stair case: How do I build a set of stairs?

In building a set of wooden stairs it is important to understand the terminology of stair case building. Here is a quick over view of the common terms used in stair case building and plans. …continue reading Stair building terminology: How do I build a set of stairs?