I am interested in building my own furniture. How do I get started? [more inside]
posted on Apr 9, 2007 - 14 answers

The side rails on our wooden bed frame attach by hooking into a metal plate screwed into a recess in the headboard. We didn't assemble things snugly enough when we first put the bed together and as a result one of the screws on the metal plate eventually levered out of the wood. How do we repair this? [more inside]
posted on Feb 19, 2006 - 9 answers

Need furniture (wood) restoration tips I just made an unbelievable find in the trash on a sidewalk in manhattan (you wouldnt believe the things people throw out here). Its a solid wood restaurant butcher block table whch measures 24" X 24" X 10" thick! It weighs 85kilos / 190lbs !! I am really excited about restoring it. I have done some furniture restoration in the past but it always involved sanding the shit out of something until its bare again and refinishing it with a polyurethane or a stain of whatever flavor. In this case I think the butcher block has a lot of character (such as knife marks, dents and has also gotten a nice color from all the grease and oils it came into contact with) and I want to preserve that somehow. Its really dirty and kind of nasty at the moment. Can someone offer some suggestions about which solvents i can use to clean it thogroughly? I'm thinking denatured alcohol / mineral spirits but will that be tough enough to clean it?
posted on Dec 28, 2005 - 11 answers

I have a (relatively light) four-legged desk that's about four inches too short for my chair. I'd like to raise the desk, but I'd like to avoid using something as crude as cinderblocks or lumber. Are there any simple and elegant methods, products, or materials that I might employ?
Shortening the chair is not an option.
posted on Sep 16, 2004 - 24 answers