Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with woodwork

Help me plan to build a boat

Fiasco da Gama — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 00:29:40 -0800

Help me think about and plan boat building. For many years I've been troubled by the odd and inexplicable ambition to build, launch, and sail my own wooden trailable yacht. A smallish one, one that could be lifted out of the water by a few people and stored in a backyard, yet big enough to carry one or two people and dinner and sleeping bags.

I'd like to do it for the satisfaction of building almost as much as for the concrete object.

I have joined a Club on Sydney Harbour a bus ride away from where I live and I am taking beginner's sailing classes. They're excellent, and I think I'm learning—but I'm almost entirely ignorant about how one would go about budgeting for, planning out, buying materials for, constructing, testing and sailing one's own boat.

My wood- and metalworking experience is that of faffing about with my high school's clapped out drills in year 9 of high school (although I did get high marks in it). I am a 29 year old white-collar university-educated bureaucrat, though for various reasons my job security is at best marginal. I live in a rented two bedroom flat without even a verandah let alone a garage or shed for constructing things. I have in the past taken on very long-term projects and completed them, but they've been mainly intellectual not concrete in nature, and I'm stumped as to where even to start. I'm happy to read lots of books. I just don't know what they are.

I'm in no hurry, and the timeframe I have in mind is "before I die". Help this cut-price Noah: what would be the first step towards boatbuilding?

How to get a wooden salad bowl made

vogel — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 02:24:02 -0800

Which woods are good for making a salad bowl, and what preparation would the newly-made bowl need before being used? We need a new salad bowl and a friend is learning wood-turning. I am tempted to try to commission him to make us one, but I don't know what sort of wood to start with and how to treat it once the bowl is made. Maybe his wood-turning teacher would help with all this anyway, but I'd like to be better informed myself.

I suppose an alternative answer might be that it is too ambitious and I should just go and buy one! What do you think? Thanks!

Medieval wood carving online

Chrischris — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 09:45:32 -0800

Where are there picture galleries of medieval wood carving (both in situ eg: misericords, pew ends, ecclesiastical accessories like baptism fonts, etc. and free standing figural carving like those of Tilman Riemenschneider, for example) online? I've tried numerous Google searches and looked over some cathedral websites, only to come up empty. Any suggestions for more comprehensive resources would be appreciated...

WhiteBoardFilter: Help me construct a standing whiteboard that's BETTER than the one on House.

BearPaws — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 15:15:55 -0800

What is the best way to design and construct a standing whiteboard? I'm interested in constructing a whiteboard for my academics and have the following preferences:

- Moderate cost of construction
- White tileboard for the board itself (although I am flexible and can consider galvanized metal or glass)
- Some type of wood for the frame or anything that can be cut at a Home Depot
- minimal ghosting after erasing

Now to the questions:

Do you have any suggestions for -
1. What materials to use?
2. A plan of action/easy layout to follow?
3. Keeping costs low?

Thanks in advance!

Woodworking for beginners

Mave_80 — Mon, 25 May 2009 23:28:08 -0800

Looking for resources on carpentry. Online resources preferable but books OK. I'm looking for references on carpentry. I have some experience with woodworking projects - but pretty limited. Ideally the reference would start with the basics of woodworking and go up to advanced technicques and be useful as a reference guide. My interest would primarily be in furniture, cabinetry etc as well as DIY projects around the house.

I've seen this on Amazon and thought it looked a good fit - does anyone have any other suggestions? Something online would be even better.

I realise that doing a class would be best, but I'm actually based in the Netherlands at the moment, so finding an English class could be tough - although I know some are taught here. I'll try and look into this further.

Also if anyone really wants to chip in - advice on how to cut out a "U Shape" from inside a piece of wood? This would hopefully preserve both the cut out piece and the u shape itself.

Appreciate all your help in advance!

What can I make from wood to sell online?

jcwilliams — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 15:03:25 -0800

What can I make from wood to sell online? I like to make things out of wood and want to make more things, but I don't have the space to keep anything I make. So I thought I might try to make things to sell online. Maybe through ebay. What sort of wooden things do you think are in demand that are not too big to go in the post?

My skills are fair but my tools are at present, limited to hand tools.

this shouldn't take long

apostrophe — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 13:30:56 -0800

Got any advice for removing a gazillion layers of (probably lead) paint from a hundred-year-old banister, complete with an abundance of balusters? Oh, and a pocket door. So I own this house that was built in 1910. The previous owners have pretty much torn out most all of the original architectural details--no built-ins, no original moldings, etc. The two things they left intact are the banister and a pocket door. The paint is dirty and cracked and globbed on, and visibly coming off on a few areas. I have a cat and am thinking about kids in the next few years, so I know the lead paint issue needs to be addressed. I really want to strip all the paint off and have a nice dark stain. I've read all the questions I can find on here regarding different chemical strippers and heat gun options. The consensus seems to be that it's a hellish job, especially considering the ornate woodwork on the (20!) balusters. Plus I am messy and don't have much confidence in my ability to safely contain the lead--it's pretty intimidating.

I'd really like to hire this out to a pro, but the first estimate is about $5,000 to do it onsite, both the banister and pocket door. It would be much cheaper to take the items out and have them dipped and stripped elsewhere, which is easy with the pocket door (I was quoted $450 for the door if I take it to the dipping guy). But...the banister. How would I even take it apart? Would I need to literally have it in pieces? Balusters, hand rail, etc? Or can I keep it intact but just detach it from the staircase? From googling around I see that sending out architectural elements like this to have them cold- or hot-tank dipped is definitely something people do, I just can't figure out how to take this thing off without damaging it.. or without guaranteeing I'll never be able to put it back right.

Any ideas? Pictures are here. I'm in the SF Bay Area if you've got any specific recommendations for someone I can hire it out to.

Will this even work?

boosh — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 13:18:06 -0800

DIY Woodworking - The step for my kitchen door was totally rotted through, so I chiselled out all the bad wood. Now what? The entire step had rotted, so it had to come out. Now I need to work out how to replace it without removing the surrounding brickwork. The main problems are:

- It's an old Victorian house, and there's not a straight line in the entire place.
- The step needs to join in to the existing woodwork (the rest of the wooden frame is sound).

These pics illustrate the current situation:

Overhead view | Straight on | Left side | Right side

Here's my rough plan:

- Use filler to get a reasonably flat finish on the concrete lintel.
- Paint well with bitumen paint to act as a damp proof course.
- Cut one piece of timber into three: two with projections that will slot into the brickwork on the left and right sides, and one rectangular piece to sit snugly in the middle.
- Treat all the wood, caulk the gaps between the pieces, sand down, paint.

The main thing I'm stuck on is how to securely attach the new wooden step to the concrete lintel. Long screws, or set pins into the lintel that slot into holes in the wood, or some kind of fancy glue? Or maybe the whole thing is a poor idea: I'd welcome any suggestions on the best way to proceed! It doesn't have to look flawless by any means, and I really don't want to start knocking bricks out.

Other info: south-east UK so no temperature extremes to worry about. Zero flood risk but it does have to withstand regular heavy rain.

Help me build a gaming table

chndrcks — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 14:03:20 -0800

Help me build a great gaming table. I'm a beginner woodworker (I've made a workbench so far), and I've been thinking about new projects. I've been thinking about making a table for the weekly DnD sessions I host. This is a bit of a multiple part question as I'm looking for ways to improve it, and also some help on the actual construction.

Here's what I've got so far for things I'd like to include:

I'd like a grid built onto the table, probably with something over it so we can draw on the grid and erase.

I'd like trays for each person with room for a character sheet and slots for dice or pencils(I'm thinking a tray along the bottom and maybe along one side - nothing too deep though), but this might conflict with the next thing I'd like:

If possible, I'd like it to be stored easily. We play once a week, and I don't have enough room to just leave the table out. Ideally I'd like to fold the legs up and put it in the garage.

Here's what I was thinking for the construction:

The workbench I made has a plywood top with a hardboard on top. I was thinking something similar for the table. Would 3/4" plywood with white hardboard on top be good for the kind of table I have in mind? Is B/C plywood ok? That seems to be about all Lowes/Home Depot carry. What could I put over the hardwood that would let us draw and erase? I'd rather not do glass.

For the legs I was thinking 4x4s on hinges, assuming I could find some hinges that locked at 90degrees. Is there any way I can make this work with the pull out trays? I'm willing to do something different on the legs to make it easily storable and keep the trays.

Any easy way to make the dice/pencil troughs without a router? I'm thinking probably not, but I'm not sure I can justify buying one right now.

Thanks in advance; askme's always been good to me.

building a loft bed

entropone — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 13:25:11 -0800

I'm finally doing something to make my bedroom liveable (and, hopefully, bring some sanity to my scattered life!): lofting my bed! Keeping guitars and bikes underneath! Cheap, affordable, and I can build it myself! One problem: I've got no carpentry experience... That right, I'm building a loft frame for my bed. I plan to modify the design here - extending the vertical pieces on what will be the non-wall side, and adding a railing (cause I don't want to fall off!), as well as adding additional horizontal pieces to support my bed, removing the supports for the bottom bed (I've got no use for a bottom bed), and building shelves (or maybe just pegs...) for some clothes on one side. I'll also add some L-brackets, assuming they'll add some strength to some of those right angles (particularly on the vertical pieces)

The only problem is, I have no carpentry experience. I can find a lumber yard or a Home Depot without a problem, but I don't know what kind of wood to buy or how much I can expect to spend.

I'm also hoping that it won't be too difficult to make this stable.

So: any basic pointers for a novice carpenter? Any suggestions for affordable but pleasant wood? Any rough estimates on how much money I can expect to spend? Any enthusiastic encouragement? Thanks!

How to simply refinish an old piano

primer_dimer — Mon, 11 Jun 2007 02:30:49 -0800

Is it possible for me to refinish my cheap piano (pics inside) I have an upright piano of unknown provenance that has had a hard life. I bought it from a school a couple of years ago, and the finish is extremely battered - lots of dings and scratches - but I like the sound. In a couple of weeks I'll be moving it to a new house, which is going to be empty for a few more weeks until I move in. Hence, I've got the idea of doing a simple refinishing job while there's no-one in the new house to be annoyed by dust, varnish fumes etc.

Now, on to the beast itself. The construction is very simple; as far as I can tell there are no fancy veneers or scrollwork or anything like that. Here are some photos (one,two, three ). I've found some online articles about piano refinishing but they all seem to be dealing with veneer finishes and are consequently more complicated than I think I need. As far I can tell, my piano is just stained pine/maple/something. So, my proposed scheme would be:

1. Take off the bits that will come off easily and do them separately
2. mask of the non-wood bits (i.e. the keys) to stop them getting dusty
3. Sand down to bare wood.
4. Stain/varnish

Does this sound like a do-able plan, given a couple of weeks of evenings to work in? For bonus points, can anyone ID the wood, in case it makes a difference?

Stinky Nuts

dsword — Sun, 09 Jul 2006 10:57:24 -0800

How to treat a coconut cup? I'm trying to make a coconut cup for a friend. So far, I've discovered that this process works well:

1) Saw off the end that was hanging from the tree.
2) Boil the rest for around 30 minutes and the meat comes off easily with a thin layer of wood (much easier than scraping).

Now I'm left with a coconut cup that holds water, but smells horrible and needs to be treated. What would be the best way to do this?

I've found salad bowl finishing products on the web, as well as people who recommend just treating with olive or mineral oil. However, these are all for salad bowls made from non stinky woods and intended to mainly just hold solids. Which of these methods would be the best? Which (if any) will get rid of this awful smell? Any other suggestions?

What durable yet flexible material should I be using for my longboard?

cheerleaders_to_your_funeral — Sat, 17 Jun 2006 09:14:16 -0800

I'm going to make the deck on my next longboard my self. What durable yet flexible material should I be using? The distance between the wheels of this board will be about 90cm (~35 inches), and the deck must be able to carry me on top of it, standing between the wheels, without it breaking. This is essential, I'll be riding fast on asphalt, so if it suddenly breaks in two I'll be in trouble.

Flex is also key. Feeling the board bend slightly as you ride through a turn is part of what makes longboarding great. Achieving this without compromising durabilty is the hard part.

The last time I did this I used 10 mm (~3/8 inch) of birch plywood. That deck had a shorter distance between the wheels and lasted for 2 and half season. It was good, but not perfect in terms of durability.

It seems reinforcing the wood with fiberglass would be a good idea, like having two 4 mm birch plates with fiberglass in between. But first of, I wouldn't know how to make them stick together, and second, I don't know what tools I'd need to cut it into shape.

How would you do it?

What is a good sealant for very porous wood?

lag — Sat, 15 Jan 2005 18:33:15 -0800

I am in search of a good sealer for a wood carving that was done with very porous wood. Before it is waxed I want to seal it. It is hard to find a good site for wood sculptor's

Refinishing Furniture

MonkeyToes — Sun, 21 Nov 2004 18:27:16 -0800

RefinishingFilter: I am refinishing a vintage maple piece by hand, and am considering using gel stain. Has anyone here tried this combination of wood and finish? What did you use as a sealant? (I've never refinished maple, nor do I have experience with gel stain.) Success stories, product recommendations and do's/don'ts are welcome.