r/woodworking

A replica of a Savonarola style X chair, recreated about as faithfully as possible from some photos without access to blueprints. Added a bit of my own flair.

The chair is made from a jet black species of ebony, crocodile tail skin and brass decorative nails and tacks.

Since this ebony is incredibly dense at 1300kg/m3, the chair also turns out to be very heavy, requiring 2 to move effectively.

Is it comfortable? I mean, it's at least more comfortable than the Iron Throne...? Does it make whoever sit on it look badass? Uh, maybe?

I haven’t used it in a long time. Based on Facebook marketplace no one really wants one. Maybe donate to Habitat Restore. Or is there some hidden use I’m missing?

I made a rocking horse from plans purchased on the internet. Maple/cherry/walnut.

In general super fun project. Was one of the more complex things I have attempted.

I will say that in two cases the cut list in the plans didn’t match the actual dimensions in the plans. And, I had to redesign one step. Otherwise it exceeded my expectations.

First box I’ve ever made and apparently I’ve messed up the alignment. Thought I had everything planned out but It’s 0.05 inches askew, or rotated too much clockwise, when closed so the lid doesn’t sit aligned with the base. Little out of my league here with realignment/adjusting since the hinge holes are already drilled. Would really love some help or advice. The hinges suck anyway (Amazon, lesson learned) and don’t allow it to sit flush but I have no idea where I’d be able to find hinges with these exact dimensions that also sit flush. So I guess the gap stays. maybe add a maple strip in the gap all the way around? Any and all advice or help is appreciated. Supposed to be an anniversary gift for the missus so would really like to salvage it. Thanks!

The best part was another person ripped the bag to shoplift some other item in this bag, but left the paste wax. Was about half full.

Still got to polish and sharpen the blade but the handles made out of Padauk, curly maple and lilac. The plugs are made out of purple heart, lilac wood, and cocobolo.

This is a replica of a 1930 BSA Sloper S30-13 motorcycle. The principal woods are cherry and maple with accents of ebony, osage, and walnut. It’s entirely wood except the plastic headlamp “glass,” some bamboo toothpicks, and two BSA decals. The “wires” are toothpicks bent with pliers, and the frame dowels were bent after boiling.

The wheels rotate, the fork turns, and the kickstand lowers. No CNC or plans. I copied the design from online photos like these. Most of the visible engine components are pretty faithfully reproduced.

Finished with tung oil. It measures about 10” x 4.5” and took roughly 80 hours to complete over a 5-week period.

I’ve posted some of my other model vehicles here, here, here, here, and here. I’m always happy to swap woodworking advice, ideas, and criticism with anyone.

Hello everyone, I'm seeking advice and I'd be very grateful if I can find someone with solid knowledge.

Over the last months I stored my wooden bowls in my attic to wait for this season's autumn and Christmas markets. I now transferred them from the cardboard boxes I had them into plastic containers. Doing so I noticed those critters. Larvae(dead and dry) for scale a pin in picture 2. Around were those black eggs/droppings? Rice for scale picture 3.

Running around was also a Silberfisch (not familiar with the english name). Could it be just the eggs/droppings of those eating the cardboard? Last picture showing some dust close to boreholes. I am aware that that looks very much like regular bugholes, but that blank had been lying dry for years, the holes are not new and I revealed them while turning and closed them with ca-glue. Living in northern Germany. I took them down into the apartment mid-july as we were hitting 40°C outside, I measured 47 in the attic and didn't want the wood to warp/split too much. So it is all quite dry and has been exposed to high temperatures.

A grandmother reached out to me because she wanted a special table for her little grandson. He loves cats and also enjoys riding his bicycle, and she wanted me to include his name in the tabletop as well.
And that’s how this unique marquetry table came to life.
I really enjoyed creating it. It truly is a very special gift.

This was a pair of suspended wooden ceiling structures we built for a restaurant, along with a matching host stand.

I designed the overall geometry in Rhino. I started by creating a shape that flowed over the dining area and zigzagged through the columns without necessarily following the tables or architecture perfectly. Once I was happy with the overall form, I drew the locations of the individual ribs and used those lines to divide the shape into the individual profiles.

The spacing and angles between the ribs aren't consistent. They change as they follow the geometry, which is what gives the finished ceiling its flowing shape.

For the suspended structures I chose 3/4" Paulownia because it's extremely lightweight. With this much wood hanging overhead, reducing the overall weight was an important consideration from the beginning.

The ribs attach to 1" plywood backing panels painted red. Each rib has CNC-cut tenons that fit into corresponding mortises cut into the plywood. Both the ribs and backing panels were cut directly on the CNC, including all of the joinery.

For the finish, the Paulownia ribs received several coats of water-based polyurethane. The plywood backing panels were first sealed with an epoxy-based primer to protect them from any potential condensation from the AC system above. Probably overkill, but with the panels suspended overhead I preferred to play it safe. They were then painted cherry red and finished with a final clear coat.

There are actually two separate ceiling structures. The larger one over the dining area has 119 individually shaped ribs across 21 backing panels, while the smaller one over the bar has another 85 ribs across 7 panels. So between the two ceilings there are 204 Paulownia ribs and 28 backing panels.

The panels are suspended using a series of steel cables.

Lighting was also integrated into the design. LED strips were installed along selected ribs in a deliberately irregular pattern, giving the ceiling a sort of barcode lighting effect. The hanging lights over the tables and bar are also suspended from the plywood structure.

We also built the host stand using the same geometry and ribbed design, but for that I switched from Paulownia to maple. Paulownia was ideal overhead because of its low weight, but it's relatively soft. Since the host stand would be touched and bumped constantly, maple made more sense for durability. The host stand added another 20 individually shaped ribs to the project.

It was a fun one to figure out. Going from one flowing shape in Rhino to hundreds of individual wooden parts that all had to come back together on site was probably my favorite part of the project.

Anyone know how they did this? Was it multiple thin sheets that were then laminated to begin or was it a single thick piece of plywood? Multiple bending jigs? Steam?

After doing quite a bit of research and having a very limited budget but wanting to keep my lungs & shop a little less dusty, I bought the Bauer canister dust collector with the two micron filter. All the reviews I read about it were really good and the YouTube videos I watched recommended it as great for a budget option. I got it all put together and read the instruction manual which recommended gauges for extension cords etc. I plugged it in to one of my heavy duty shop power strips that's fed by a 14 gauge feed and it blew its internal fuse. I then plugged it directly into a 14 gauge overhead reel that I have and it blew it's fuse. So then I decided to just plug it straight into the socket and see what happened and it worked fine. (20 amp circuit) I'm going to try a 12 gauge extension cord tonight. But they are super expensive . I have a 12 gauge extension cord that my portable HVAC for the shop is running on because I needed power from inside the house to be able to run it at the same time as shop tools. So I'm going to try it on that before I go buy a new one. I was just frustrated and worn out last night and didn't want fish it out from behind everything. My question is , is this normal? I know it draws a lot of amps but 14 gauge is pretty stout. The run was less than 20 ft, it shouldn't have been that bad. And it's blowing the fuse instantly on start-up.

Built from old-growth pine salvaged from our 1960s garage roof, so it comes with a smell of old oil, too!

A few final bits include:
Smoothing bolt ends.
Making a leather seat.
Giving a name.
Painting a logo.

The process began with me designing everything with CAD, before printing the pieces to scale and pasting to wood to act as templates.

After gluing the cut pieces together, I sanded them all to shape with the help of my new disc sander (yes, including the tank!).

I've finished it with your standard polyurethane, painted with coach enamel paint.

My tools were: Disc sander, belt sander, pillar drill, small bandsaw, chop saw, chisels, glue!

No one in my life seems to be impressed or care so I figured I’d show some progress on here.

I have a question about the ability of pocket hole screws to withstand the force of picking this table up. There are 8 pocket hole screws that are holding the top to the bottom. I have tried to illustrate where that break is. And then you can see in the other 2 pics where those pocket hole screws are. I know it would probably be best to throw some screws from the bottom through the corner oak pieces. I’m just nervous of splitting it or having a screw break off (has already happened when trying to affix my oak rails suspended in the cabinet). Wondering if I can get away with just not using the screws from the bottom. Won’t be moving it much and when we do I could remind people to carry it from the bottom? Too risky?

Never even used a hand plane before, but I'm a woodcarver and have been wanting to try out some light relief carving recently, so decided to have a go at restoring an old one.

Watched a ton of Rex Krueger videos last night and just decided to have a go today. It's not perfect but god it felt good getting that first perfect ribbon!

I want to sand and stain the wood on my door, windows and garage i also want to seal it. How could i go about this? What is the realistic cost and how long should i expect it to take?

I got some new treadles for my loom and it turns out the holes on them are at different spacing compared to the old treadles. If I want to use the old and new treadles together I will need to fill most of the holes on the old treadles (I prefer the hole spacing on the new ones) and drill new holes that overlap the old holes by varying amounts.

The question is: how do I fill the holes in a way that is as structurally sound as possible and doesn't cause issues when drilling the new holes?

Looking nice would be a bonus, but not the first priority here.

The treadles are made of (Finnish) birch, probably Betula pendula, less likely Betula pubescens.

The second picture shows the forces acting on the treadle: at the end on the left is where my foot pushes down on the treadle, the tie up cords attach to the holes in the middle pulling up on the treadle, and at the end on the right is where the treadle attaches to the loom frame. The forces are about 10 kg for the ends (22 lbs) and twice that much for the holes in the middle (combined, so something like 1 to 2.5 kg (2.2 to 5.5 lbs) per hole, depending on number of shafts in use).

Would simply using wood filler work? I'm a little concerned about getting the filler into the hole wihout leaving any voids.

Or should I go with a dowel or a (long) plug? For a plug I would need to drill the old holes bigger first. I'm worried that would weaken the treadles too much.

A combination of filler and dowel/plug?