Generally, whetstones are sold as rectangular blocks – know as bench stones – for sharpening everyday tools or as small knife edges or teardrop section stones for honing gouges and carving chisels. Blades can also be sharpened on a perfectly flat metal plat that has been dusted with abrasive powder.

Oilstones

The majority of man-made and natural sharpening stones are lubricated with light oil. Novaculite, generally considered to be the finest oilstones available, are only found in Arkansas. This compact silica crystal occurs naturally in various grades. The course, mottled-gray Soft Arkansas stone removes metal quickly and is used for the preliminary shaping of edged tools. The white Hard Arkansas stone puts the honing angle on the cutting edge, which is then refined and polished with the Black Arkansas stone. Even finer is the rare translucent variety.

Synthetic oilstones are made from sintered aluminum oxide or silicon carbide. Categorized as coarse, medium and find, man-made sharpening stones are far cheaper than their natural equivalents.

Waterstones

Because it is relatively soft and friable, a sharpening stone that is lubricated with water cuts faster than an equivalent oilstone. Fresh abrasive particles are exposed and released constantly as a meta blade is rubbed across the surface of the waterstone. However, this soft bond also makes a waterstone vulnerable to accidental damage, especially when honing narrow chisels that could score the surface. Naturally occurring waterstones are so costly that most tool suppliers offer only the synthetic varieties, which are almost as efficient.

Diamond Stones

Extremely durable coarse and fine-grade sharpening ‘stones’ are comprised of a nickel plated steel plate that is embedded with monocrystalline diamond particles and bonded to a rigid polycarbonate base. These fast-cutting sharpening tools, available as bench stones and narrow files, can be used dry or lubricated with water. Diamond stones will sharpen steel and carbide tools.

Metal Lapping Plates

Available as alternatives to conventional sharpening stones, oiled steel or cast-iron plates sprinkled with successively finer particles of silicon carbide produce an absolutely flat polished back to a plane or chisel blade and razor-sharp cutting edges. For the ultimate cutting edge on steel tools, finish with diamond-grit compound spread on a flat steel plate. Diamond abrasives are also used to hone carbide-tipped tools.

Maybe your family has outgrown the kitchen table and you want to replace it with something a bit out of the ordinary. You can design any table you want and customize it to suit your individual needs or tastes. Maybe you’ve had your eye on an Arts and Crafts sideboard at the local furniture gallery, but it’s priced beyond your means.

Building one yourself allows you, rather than the furniture gallery, to control the quality and cost. Possibly you just want to try some new woodworking techniques or tools to expand your skill base. The motivation to build something has any number of sources.

Whatever your motivation may be for taking on a DIY woodworking project, chances are you’ve already thought about it enough to have some initial ideas about a design. The idea-gathering stage is an important one. It’s the time to let your imagination go without committing to any one idea. Feed your ideas with lots of concrete options so you can start to clarify a design.

Furniture stores are great places to examine different examples of various styles and types of furniture designs. Examine the furniture of friends and family, clip out photos from magazines and catalogs and keep them in a folder for ideas of what you would like to build.

Furniture follows some classical style trends and always has. Certainly everything you make doesn’t have to conform to an accepted style, but basic furniture design is the end result of centuries of trial and error. Study proportions of cabinetry, tables, chairs and chests to get a sense for how furniture functions in harmony with the human body.

You’ll know a comfortable chair when you sit in one, even if you can’t pinpoint why it feels so supportive. Seat size, leg height and the tilt of the back rest are all factors that contribute to comfort.

Evaluate your skills, tools and budget – keep your skill level in mind as you study furniture. Furniture with delicate inlays, relief carvings or parts that join at angles or curves will be more difficult to build than pieces with straight lines and minimal ornamentation. If you’re just starting out, consider making projects in the Arts and Crafts, Shaker and country styles. These are good options for building sturdy furniture without needing advanced woodworking skills or a full arsenal of machinery or tools.

Try a new technique here or there within your skill level to keep every project interesting. Your roster of skills will grow bit by bit without jeopardizing the success of a whole project.

Building sensibly means working with some project budget in mind. When you pockets for a project aren’t deep the dollars will go farther by building with 3/4 inch lumber rather than thick slabs of exotic hardwood. It’s almost always true that the larger your project becomes physically, the more it costs. One way to help keep from blowing the budget on big projects is to substitute sheet goods for solid lumber.

Sheet goods are generally less expensive and you can steer clear of the wood movement issues you’ll face when designing panels made of solid wood. Remember to include the cost of special hardware you project will call for, such as slides, hinges, doorknobs and drawer pulls. These items definitely add to the bottom line of what your project costs to build.

Before embarking on a project, have a look around your workshop at the tools you own. Do you have all the equipment you will need for cutting out your project parts, shaping the edges, assembling wood panels or smoothing the part surfaces? If your project parts are small and curved, how will you safely cut the tiny curves?

A scroll saw is the best tool for this task. Will you need one or can you modify the design or accomplish the task another way? Think through the construction phase of the project and how you’ll manage each machining step. Otherwise, you could end up midway through the project and stumped over how to proceed. If you can’t accomplish the project without buying a new tool, will you budget support the expenditure?

First Project

For the first of our simple woodworking projects I would recommend building a letter holder. This practical item can add a nice handmade touch to your home as well as provide a useful function. In addition, they are relatively simple to make and require very few raw materials and tools.

You will need several things to complete this project. First is a 2 foot by 2 foot sheet of plywood or panel board. Next is a 6 foot by three quarter by one and half long board. In addition to the wood, you will need around fifty panel pans, fifteen wood screws, five key hooks and some PVA wood glue.

Lay out the plywood and draw a top decorative section with black marker. This will be the top of the letter holder. A simple way to draw this decoration is to take 3 plates and lay them on top of the board. Take the black marker and follow the outline tracing out the top half. Cut along the top to separate the wood.

Next you will need to cut all the pieces for the mail slots. Once those are cut, mount and attach them to the plywood. Using the leftover wood you cut off of the top, square it off and attach it to the rails you mounted on the plywood. Put in your five key hooks and you are done! The first of many simple woodworking projects is complete.

Second Project

For your next project I recommend looking for plans to build a planter box. Many can be found quickly and easily online. The only thing you really have to consider is the size of the plants you want to put into it and whether the design matches up with the general decor of your yard.

After this project is complete you are ready to start selecting DIY woodworking projects of your own. Chairs, tables, and other furniture can be attempted. Again look for free plans and build with confidence.

Choose an artist’s sketchbook and a soft #2 lead pencil with a pink-tipped eraser. Avoid using anything harder because the lines are difficult to erase from typical sketch paper. Hold the pencil lightly and just move across the page until something comes to you. Allow your arm to move with your hand as you make long lines and turn the sketch pad as you naturally sweep your wrist across the paper when drawing angled lines.

One of the benefits of doing ‘freehand concept sketches’ is that you can easily create a series of ‘what-if’ views. Instead of redrawing the form over and over, simply trace it onto a piece of translucent paper, leaving out the areas that will be changed in the ‘what-if’ views. Or you can photocopy as many basic outlines as you’d like and then flesh them out with your new design idea.

Once you have settled on a concept sketch that comes closest to what your idea is, it’s time to assign some dimensions to the project. By setting out the design to scale in a mechanical drawing, you can see clearly how the size and shape of components relate to one another. Methods and sequences of joinery also become more obvious. These working drawings are a bridge between your freehand concept sketches and a master cut list.

Drafting Basics

These skills are mostly common sense: make sure your board is free of lead and eraser debris before taping paper to it. Align the bottom of the paper to the parallel rule and then secure it to the board with a piece of tape in each corner. Keep a scrap piece of paper between your hand and the drawing to avoid smudging your work. Use a brush to wipe away eraser debris, not your hand. Once you establish a baseline on your drawing, draw any degree angle to it using either angle templates or a protractor and straightedge.

Begin the angled line precisely on a dimension mark by first holding the pencil to the mark and then sliding the template or straightedge to it. If you reverse this process, parallax can play tricks on your eyes, causing you to misjudge the placement of the pencil. Draw out a waver-free line by tilting the pencil slightly into the corner formed between the edge of the template and the paper.

A mechanical drawing is nothing more than a happy meeting of lines that indicate the outline of an object and where measurements are being made. Unless these lines vary in some way, the drawing can be difficult to read.

Hand tools are quiet and help you connect with the wood on a different level than using machines to rip or cut the wood. Here is a list of several hand tools you should have in case you find yourself wanting to become one with the wood.

Chisels – Always purchase a good set of wooden-handled bench chisels (1/4, 3/4, and 1 inch) and a 1/4 inch mortise chisel. Wooden handles are more comfortable and more visually appealing than plastic and if they ever split or get chipped you can replace them with little effort. Western chisels are preferred to the Japanese chisels, which some say requires too much work, especially if you’re just getting started in woodworking. If you can afford it, buy a 2 inch wide bench chisel in addition to the four smaller ones. Its extra-wide blade is ideal for paring tenons.

Sharpening stones – Waterstones are cleaner than oilstones. They come in a variety of grits: 800, 1,200, 4,000 and 6,000 grit stones.

Combination square – This tool usually comes in a 12 inch size and will mark out stock at 90 and 45 degrees. It can double as a ruler and a marking gauge. Buy the best you can afford because you will be using it the most.

Hammer – A good 13 ounce claw hammer is ideal for general cabinet work and is useful for installation work as well. They are inexpensive yet get the job done right the first time.

Caver’s mallet – This is useful for driving joints home and for chopping out mortises. A medium-sized turned lignum vitae mallet is approximately $20 to $25.

Dovetail and tenon saws – An 8 inch dovetail saw with a turned handle and 18 teeth per inch is used for cutting small pieces. A 10 inch brass-backed dovetail saw with 14 teeth per inch will cut dovetails and tenons. Japanese saws will also do a great job; however, they can require delicate handling and replacement blades are often expensive.

Block plane – A block plane can either be low-angle or regular angle. They are solid, compact and well made. A block plane is useful for planing small parts, flushing surfaces and planing end grain.

Smoothing plane #3 – A smoothing plane is used for final planing of surfaces as well as for shooting edges on short pieces and for faring joints. Expect to pay upwards of $100 for a good #3 smoothing plane.

Rabbet plane – This plane is used to trim rabbets, plane into corners and trim joints flush. Some of them have a removable front half to convert it to a chisel plane.

Spokeshaves – This is a type of plane used primarily to round edges, make spindles and fair concave curves. The short sole of a spokeshave is mounted between two handles. The blade is generally held in place with a cap iron. They can be used with either a pulling or a pushing motion.

Cabinet scraper – They are inexpensive, work well and last for what seems like forever. Scrapers are good for smoothing hardwood and veneered surfaces, either before or in lieu of sanding.

Burnishers – These are smooth rods of hard steel used to put an edge on a scraper. They can be round, oval or triangular in section. A highly polished burnisher creates a smooth edge on the scraper, which in turn leaves the scraped wood smoother. The shank of a Phillips-head screwdriver often works well as a burnisher.

Drill bits – The drill bits found in a DIY woodworking shop include twist drills, brad-point bits, Forstner bits and spade bits. Each has distinct advantages and limitations.

Clamps – There are a number of clamps used to squeeze pieces of wood together, particularly during assembly and gluing. Bar clamps consists of two jaws mounted on a length of steel bar, usually I-shaped in section. A pipe clamp is similar except that it substitutes a pipe for the I-bar and is less ridged. Bar and pipe clamps are best suited for assembling wide surfaces such as tabletops and for putting together large carcasses.

Getting Started

You would be amazed at what you can create with the simplest of tools. If you’re serious about your new hobby, educate yourself before you begin. Do some research on various techniques and tools to familiarize yourself with them. It would also be a good idea to research different types of wood and what they are commonly used for. This will get you on your way to completing some simple DIY woodworking projects.

Fortunately, in today’s world there is a wealth of information available to you. Check out some books and magazines for ideas and tips. You could also just go online and find innumerable websites that can help you get started.

Another good way to get a handle on simple woodworking projects is to sign up for some classes. This is a great way to actually see how some of the basic techniques are performed. It will also give you a working knowledge of one of the most important aspects of woodworking – safety.

Never attempt even simple woodworking projects without being educated in woodworking safety. If you don’t, not only could you become injured, you could also become discouraged and abandon your new hobby altogether.

When you’re ready to begin working on something of your own, keep it as simple as possible. Try some simple woodworking projects that require only hand tools. For beginners, there are kits available that require you to only put the pieces together. All of the wood is pre-cut to the appropriate sizes. This will allow you to get comfortable with how various parts go together without having to worry about operating the machinery.

As far as tools and machinery go, start small and work your way up from there. You can begin with a few hand tools and add to them when you feel comfortable and your budget allows. When you do buy tools, though, do not skimp on the quality. It’s not worth the few dollars you will save initially if you’re going to have to replace your tools all the time.

Once you feel comfortable with simple woodworking projects, you can move on to some more advanced jobs. No matter how experienced you become, though, remember to always keep safety in mind first.

There are several different types and sizes of chisels one should carry in their DIY woodworking shop and each is designed for a specific job. You could consider purchasing a 4 piece set which includes 1/4, 1/2, 3/4 and a 1 inch beveled bench chisel with blade lengths from 4 to 6 inches. Plastic handles are best because they can stand up to being hit by a mallet and are comfortable to hold for long periods of time.

If you only have the budget for one, purchase a 3/4 inch chisel and be sure to purchase a reputable brand because quality counts since it will hold up to repeated sharpening longer.

Using Your Chisel

To chisel a shallow mortise or notch at the border of a piece of wood, begin by placing the indentation edge with a blade grove. Then, place the beveled edge in front of the throw away area, position the chisel edge in the subsequent line, holding the chisel perpendicularly, and tap with your mallet, which makes the cuts around the border. Place the bevel downward; make one-sided cuts from the stock facade to the border cuts to make the indentation walls.

Following the angled boundary cuts to the preferred deepness, rotate the chisel bevel side up and cut diagonally against the grain and taking away the majority of the unusable portion. When the indentation has come to its estimated dimension, use tiny cuts to help reach its final size and deepness.

Use a wide bevel chisel, with the bevel up in a semi-circular sweeping motion with the straggling end of the blade doing the slicing if you need engrain paring done.

The easiest and quickest way to slice a cavernous mortis is to first drill a sequence of holes with a drill bit that is to some extent tinier than the depth of the hole. Then use the chisel to shear away the throw away pieces amid the holes.

Concave curves can be trimmed by using a chisel so as to be somewhat wider than the width of the reserve. Press down on the blade while rotating downwards on the handle and pushing straight ahead all while holding the bevel down.

Sharpening

A sharpened edge is necessary for fast and clean cutting, as well as for individual safety. An dull tool make a rough cut – you want everything to be smooth – but the additional strength necessary to drive the tool could cause you to have less control over the situation which could lead to accidents.

By honing a chisel regularly on a water or oil stone, you will keep it sharp and in top shape for cutting and scraping. The cutting edge bevel is typically around 20 to 35 degrees, however you don’t have to hone the complete bevel. In its place, hone a small, minor bevel at the top to a little more of an angle than the most important bevel.

Set the bevel steadfastly on the stone and then rise the chisel about five degrees. Shift the blade back and forth until a wire edge builds on the back of the blade. Flip the blade over and lay it entirely level on the stone, glide it back and forth a few times to eliminate the edge of wire. Pare across an end grain as a check for unevenness.

Wood is a complex mixture of organic chemicals and water. About 95 percent of a board consists of cellulose, hemicelluloses and lignin, which form the structural matrix of wood and give it its rigidity, strength and elasticity. The remaining five percent contained in dry wood is composed of tannins, essential oils, resins, gums, coloring agents and sugars.

This chemical mixture of extractives is responsible for wood’s smell, color and decay resistance. Unfortunately, extractive in some resinous woods, such as teak and rosewood, can interfere with the gluing process.

Once an adhesive is applied to adjacent wood surfaces and the pieces are clamped up, the structural elements of the wood are linked together by the bonding process. First, the liquid adhesive is absorbed into the wood and its polymer molecules intermingle with the wood’s structural fibers. Then, the adhesive’s polymer molecules come together, surround the structural fibers and harden, mechanically interlocking the fibers.

Thermosetting glues such as epoxy, urea formaldehyde and resorcinol cure by a chemical reaction, usually after two components have been mixed, while thermoplastic adhesives, such as yellow and white glues, cure by evaporation. Once either type of glue is dry, the think layer of cured adhesive between the two wood surfaces acts like a bridge holding the boards together.

Polyvinyl Acetates

Yellow and white glues are probably the most popular glues used in woodworking today. Both are polyvinyl acetates (PVA) adhesives that come in three main varieties: yellow aliphatic resin, white or craft glue and cross-linking PVA emulsion. All of these have a balanced set of properties, which make them ideal for gluing wood. They are easy to use, have quick grab, set rapidly, clean up with water, are non-toxic and work in most wood-gluing situations.

Resorcinol and Urea Formaldehydes

Urea formaldehyde and resorcinol formaldehyde adhesives are most frequently used for bonding wood when strong creep- and water-resistant bonds are required. Urea formaldehyde (UF) adhesive, sometimes called plastic resin glue, comes as a one-part powder. The powder is a mixture of dry resins and hardeners that if kept dry will remain storable indefinitely. Water is added to dissolve the chemicals and activate the adhesive. The pot life after mixing is relatively long, but the viscosity of the activated glue slowly increases, until after about an hour, the adhesive is too thick to work with.

Once cured, UF adhesives produce structural bonds and the tan glue line is hardly noticeable even on light-colored woods. Interior load-bearing beams and hardwood plywood panels are often glued with UF adhesives. However it is not 100 percent waterproof.

Resorcinol formaldehyde or RF adhesives have high strength, exceptional solvent resistance and when properly cured, will withstand prolonged immersion in water, making them perfect for marine applications. RF glues come as two-part kits: part one is the resorcinol resin dissolved in ethyl alcohol; the other part contains powdered parafomaldehyde. The pre-measured components are stirred together to activate the adhesive, but careful mixing is necessary to avoid lumps.

Working with RF and UF adhesives can cause health issues, so work in a well ventilated area, wear a mask and take breaks whenever possible. This is because they both give off a formaldehyde gas.

Epoxy

With their high strength, great gap-filling capacity, ability to structurally join difficult-to-bond materials and waterproof nature, epoxies are surely the high-performance adhesives of the woodworking world. Epoxy consists of an epoxy resin and an amine hardener. Typically equal parts of resin and hardener are mixed to activate the adhesive and start the curing process, which works by chemical reaction rather than solvent evaporation.

The exact mixing proportions are fairly critical; too much of either component will adversely affect bonding strength. Because of the lack of solvent, epoxy has an exceptional gap-filling ability.

It’s not all that complicated, really. In order to put together a top rate woodworking saw blade assortment of your own, you need to learn what different blades do and what distinguishes the top-quality from the cheaper ones. Once you figure this out, you’ll be able to choose the blade that is best for the type of woodworking you will be doing and that your budget can afford.

There are DIY woodworking blades that are intended to do a variety of things. Some blades are for crosscutting wood, ripping wood, cutting veneered panels and plywood, cutting melamine, cutting non-ferrous metals and cutting plastics and laminates. Combination blades and general purpose, these blades are for making two or more kinds of cuts. The number of teeth, the gullet, the hook angles (the tooth angle) and the tooth configuration all determine how good the saw blade is.

Number of Teeth

Saw blades with fewer teeth move the wood faster. Furthermore, blades with more teeth offer a smoother cut. For example, a 10 foot blade used for ripping wood usually has fewer than 25 teeth and is intended to move the material quickly through the machine along the extent of the grain. With the least amount of effort and leaving a fresh cut and the least amount of scoring, the higher quality rip blade will outperform a lower quality rip blade which is not designed to make mirror-like smooth cuts (mirror meaning both edges are the same).

Alternatively, a crosscut blade is well thought-out to give you an even cut crossways against the grain of the wood without any tearing or splintering. Between 60 and 80 teeth are found on the crosscut blade. Remember, moving less material, each tooth comes in contact with the wood less and this means a crosscut sharp edge makes numerous additional single and smoother cuts than the ripping blades. A polished finish will appear on the wood if using a good quality crosscut cutting edge.

Gullet

The space missing from the blade plate in front of each tooth, which allows for chip removal, is called the gullet. In the crosscutting blade, the chips are fewer and smaller per tooth so the gullet is much smaller. In the ripping blades the rate is much faster than the crosscutting action and the chips are bigger so therefore the gullet needs to be bigger to accommodate the larger amount of material coming through it.

The Hook Angle

Rather than be perfectly in line with the blade, the teeth are tipped either inward or outward, depending on the configuration of the blade. Hook angle is the slant shape connecting a tooth face and a line drawn down the middle of the blade across the tip of the tooth. A downbeat hook angle signifies the teeth tip away from the path of rotary motion and the reverse is said for the positive hook angle. A zero hook slant demonstrates the teeth are in line with the midpoint of the blade.

A very aggressive hook angle (degrees of 20 or more) will also have a very fast cutting rate. A negative or low hook position will have a slower supply rate and will stop the blade from ‘climbing’ the material as often happens.

Tooth Configurations

The way the blade cuts is often affected by the way the tooth is shaped and the way they are grouped together. The configuration has to do with the way a blade will cut, if it’s a crosscutting, ripper or laminates cutter.

Hand Saws

No one can deny the aggressive speed of a table saw or a sliding chopsaw. However, for joinery, it’s hard to beat the backsaw’s precision for slicing just what you need. Hand saws are much cheaper and easier to control than machine saws. The backsaw can hold the sharpest, thinnest of blades and they can slice wood with minimum waste and maximum control.

Selecting Good Woodworking Supplies

The most difficult and most important item to select among your woodworking supplies is the actual wood. Quality will vary greatly between different pieces of wood, and it is imperative that you find a supplier you can trust.

In addition to wood, other woodworking supplies that you want to get locally will include furniture and cabinet hardware. Quality again varies greatly between different hardware and even hardware from the same manufacturer. It is best to examine it in person to ensure that you are getting a quality product and that the color matches what your plan is for your project as images on the internet may not be a true representation of the actual hardware.

Tools are another item that you will want to get locally to make sure that they feel comfortable and are easy to use. Without examining them yourself, it can be impossible to tell if the tool will work for you. You may or may not be able to find one source for all your woodworking supplies, but do not be afraid to shop around and use multiple shops. It can be easier to get everything in one place but this may not be in your best interest.

Some shops that have outstanding wood may not match it with quality hardware or even carry the tools you are looking for. For the most part, finding several suppliers of high quality woodworking supplies is easy. There is always the Home Depot and Lowes option, although generally speaking smaller shops will provide you with higher quality products at better prices.

If you know for a fact that you want a specific tool and it is carried at one of the larger hardware stores, by all means purchase it there if that is what you want. Again, the important thing when looking for woodworking supplies is to not limit your options.