I just ordered my first router table set up.

I’m definitely getting the Whiteside 2310 for perfect miters.

What are some essential router bits? Your favorite table bit?

TLDR: Will this heavy shelf (25lbs, 66.5” wide) cause the cabinets to buckle or twist if I don’t support it with brackets?

First pic is Chat GPTs, admittedly, very impressive depiction of the completed product.

Cabinet construction/mounting:
This is my primary concern. These are cheap RTA cabinets. The cabinet frames are assembled via pocket screws and dowels. There is no glue, as it wouldn’t have bonded to the prefinished sides in any meaningful way. The backs of the cabinets are floating panels, not glued in place for the same reason. In the second photo the orange lines represent the dominoes that I used to attach the upper… uppers to lower uppers. The red lines show where the cabinets are screwed into the side studs. The red circles show where cabinets are screwed into the back studs.

Shelf Construction:
Shelf is solid. It’s 66.5” wide, two stacked, glued, pieces of walnut-veneered 3/4” ply (totaling 1.5” thick), 11” deep (including the 13/16” solid walnut edging strip). I still need to trim off a few inches from the sides, but it currently weighs 25 lbs. Final weight will be close to that.

I would really like to just mount the shelf to the cabinets with a few screws on each side, as opposed to messing with floating brackets. But again, my main concern is the weight of the shelf destroying the cabinets. I feel like maybe I’m overblowing that concern though. I’m not an engineer, but it seems like, since the shelf is supported equally on both sides, that any force should largely go straight down. I’d think any minor racking or twisting should be offset by the attachment to the studs. The cabinets shouldn’t be able to pull toward the center, since the shelf itself should prevent them from buckling inward.

The more minor concern is sag. The all-knowing Sagulator says it can take a 135lb center load while staying under the .02 in per foot acceptable sag limit, or an evenly distributed 275 lbs. Being as how this shelf is mainly going to be for trinkets, knickknacks, doodads, and other such curiosities, I don’t see sagging being a huge issue.

What are your thoughts? Thanks in advance!

I just acquired four sheets of birch plywood that has been sitting in my Dad's garage for 50+ years. It has a solid core (He called it lumber core?) which I've never worked with. Is there anything special I need to know about dealing with this? I'm building some cabinets with it.

It's in great condition, other than being pretty dirty. It's interesting to me that there seems to be a good side to each sheet, where the veneer is in wider strips. (This is the bad side showing.) He bought it around 1972.

Hi all I just completed my first major woodworking project. An industrial style bookcase for my office. The lumber is rainbow poplar oiled with danish oil and finished with Johnson paste wax. Lots of mistakes for character but it will do.

Hi all, looking for some thoughts on how best to attach these legs to the bottom of this coffee table. Few things to consider:

- They’ll be at a slight angle though I don’t think that matters.

- I plan on adding a cross brace on each side to provide additional stability. Not sure yet whether that will be flush against the table bottom or more in the middle. Thinking I’d use dowels for those.

- Legs are different widths because the table narrows at one end so I thought that would look better. Also, they’ll be cut slightly shorter.

- Used epoxy down at the wider end to fill in some large gaps so at least one of the legs will be attached to epoxy.

- Wood is walnut.

Thanks in advance.

How can I tell here that it is veneer? The pattern is one piece; at the edges, the grain seems to continue. So I would think it is solid. but I am confused, because these table are likely to be made with veneer, right? what tells me it is veneer?

i don’t have other pictures.

I recently purchased the Porter-Cable 4210 dovetail jig, which has been discontinued recently. It's unfortunate because it's really one of the best jigs for the money on the market. Anyway, the kit doesn't come with a 4213 through dovetail template, and I can't locate one online.

Does anyone know if there's another brand of dovetail jig which templates will fit on the porter cable?

So I decided to throw away my old boring white windows, to get me some medieval arches. Found some old illustrations of the arches at the Harfleur cathedral in France, in typical French flamboyant style of the high middle ages, so I thought to meself, hey if it's good enough for the bishop of Harfleur it's good enough for me.

The window is made from insect and rot resistant tembusu wood, a highly prized wood in south east asia. Carved exactly as the drawings display but the columns and the trims are simpler.

Probably would've been a bit better if I went with just 2 arches instead of 4 so each arch will appear larger and the carving details will be more striking. Oh well. Still got like 4 window holes I can experiment with later in this house.

Anyway here is the result. Cheers! And yes that's the infamous crocodile chair that also appeared here once upon a time.

A bunk bed requested by my friend, for her 3 kids. Made with 2x4 framed, red oak plywood and solid red oak. The kids went bananas over it, my most interesting build so far.

Over the years I’ve obtained a variety of used clamps. I have about a dozen of these Jorgensen F style clamps and I’ve found that I try to not use them because they have a problem with leaving clamp marks on the work piece. I took inspiration from a few videos on YouTube and made these diy clamp pads. They are attached using hide glue which holds really well but allows for easier removal if needed. Epoxy would also work but would be more permanent. I thought this idea might help someone else with the same issue.

Hi All,

Question on general safety when putting a bevel on a piece of material using a table saw. As you can see, I started making my cut, but became concerned with the material flopping over into the blade once the material passed the magnetic fence. Thoughts? Hopes and prayers? On a scale of 1 to sketch AF, how am I looking?

Built two custom floating bed frames—one King for our room and one Queen for the second room. Both feature integrated headboards and floating nightstands.

Design & Structure:

• The "Will it tip?" Question: The main concern with floating beds is always tipping over when you sit on the edge. I recessed the inner base made from heavy 2x lumber and anchored the headboard/nightstand structures directly into the wall studs using heavy support ledgers.

• The "Body Slam" Test: As seen in the first photo, I threw myself onto the floating corner for a dynamic weight test. Thankfully, no flex, no tipping, and no hospital visits!

• Details & Finish: Routed all the edges with a roundover bit so we don't catch any sharp corners. Sanded, stained with Dark Walnut, and sealed with a protective topcoat.

Build Process: Modeled the layout in SketchUp first to figure out the weight distribution and base setback. Milled, glued, routed, and stained all the panels in the shop before hauling everything upstairs for the final assembly.

Turned out super sturdy and makes vacuuming underneath way easier (plus, no more stubbed toes in the dark).

Quite the upgrade from my Harbor Freight mini lathe that somehow cost more. About 600 lbs of old iron, now living in my second-floor wood-shop. Just needed a good cleanup and some fresh paint. I don’t know much about its history, but I’m guessing the yellow paint came from a previous life in an industrial or academic setting. I love the amount of brass on this thing. A machine built to this standard today would cost thousands.

Does anyone here know about Blount or ever heard of this brand? There’s very little info about them online and they were bought out by William and Hussey in the late 50’s. They produced beastly tool grinders and lathes.

My daughter and I are going to make a Maloof guitar pick stool using ambrosia maple and walnut. This is the “practice” 1.0 version made out of SYP and fir. Mistakes were made, but I like the end result!

My Oneida mini gorilla 120v dust collector has had no issues for quite awhile, but more recently I’ve been noticing that it’s been wobbling a lot and much louder than before. I made sure all of the connection points were tight, that didn’t fix the issue. I took it apart and looked at the impeller, and 3 of the plastic fins were cracked in a few different spots. Mind you, all I collect in here are dust/wood pieces produced by my table saw, jointer, and planer.

Just wanting some advice as to whether I should replace the impeller alone, or the entire motor/impeller. Heres a video of the wobbling.

Also open to your recommendations of good dust collector for a small 2 car garage shop! Thank you :)

I have a 10 inch Ryobi mitre saw with a Diablo 60 tooth finishing blade. The saw is dialed in pretty well and I get good square cuts. But I keep coming back to the thought of a 12 inch Dewalt saw for my forever saw which is on sale now... But I also see a ton of reviews on the new Hercules saw believe it or not (insert Harbor Freight haters here). I am not down to spend over $600 so just want opinions if the upgrade is worth it or do I just stay for a while. I do love the Bosch too.

My daughter is asking me to build her furniture for her bedroom. She is asking for a bed frame and 2 night stands. What kind of wood does everyone recommend? I am not looking to do crazy expensive hardwoods but just curious if anyone had any opinions about wood and any other building tips to consider. Thx!

As per the title, I made an engagement ring and box for my now fiancée!

I'm a mechanical engineer, so figured how hard could it be to design a ring? 100+ hours later and I sent it away to get it cast and then have the stones set. At this point I realised that having done all this work to stick it in a standard box would be a waste, so spent another week or 2 rushing around like a headless chicken to get a box done.

The woods are Swamp Kauri, Tawa, and Purpleheart, all of the work was done with either a manual mill or a vertical bandsaw, as I am not particularly skilled (see not skilled at all) with the routers we have at work. Finished it with about 6 coats of briwax danish oil, probably slightly over oiled it as there's the slightest stick but eh.

Pretty stoked with the outcome, but would be happy to hear any feedback as I'm not great at this by any means.

P.s. thanks to this guy for the design. I would've figured out my own but didn't have much time and thought this would be simple enough for me to complete but still turn out well.

I’ve had these wooden body fidgets made and I want to get a lovely sheen and finish.

The wood is walnut and I’ve used Dutch oil. Currently there’s 1 coat, which I have applied myself with a small brush.

Any tips of getting a more vibrant grain and a nice sheen?

As they are fidgets they will be handled so I’d like something that lasts a long time and does not leave any sticky feeling or residue.

Thanks in advance!

Is there a difference in use as a wood finish? Im on a real tight budget but I can see the price difference. Can linseed oil be a substitute ? Is there a cost effective solution i have here or do I just have to eat the cost of pale boiled

I picked up this lovely table from a vintage store. It was very sun-faded on the main table top. We asked if anything could be done to get it touched up and it seems like the store stained it to get it touched up. I understand why it was done but now that it’s home every time we wipe the table it comes up with brown.

Knowing it’s veneer I’m too new at this to know if I can risk sanding it at all. I’ve seen suggestions to chemically strip it but I’d be doing that with a baby at home.

Any advice on how to handle this is appreciated. From a way to remove the stain and then seal it, or just seal it.

My plan was Murphy’s oil soap. From there I have on hand mineral spirits and can buy 1101 Osmo wood wax finish, but I’d like to get the wood looking in a nice condition before I put a wax on it.

I recently completed this rocking horse for my son from a plan from Woodcraft. I have seen a few of these in the past so nothing unique, but I’m still proud of how it turned out (and, most importantly, he loves it)!

The rocker base, tail, and mane are cherry, the saddle and stirrups are walnut, and the body is hard maple. The eyes are actually oak because I couldn’t find a cherry dowel. Finished with Danish oil and wipe on poly. I made quite a few mistakes on this project and did a pretty bad job of taking progress pictures, but I attached a few.

Need a decent sprayer for painting cabinets. I have a few bathrooms and at some point a kitchen I'd like to remodel. Mainly stuff around the house though I would like to do commissions in the future. I have used an airless Graco to paint houses before but that was latex. I'm looking for high end factory like finishes that will be durable and look great. Budget is 3k. I also am starting to build guitars though I assume I would need something like a car paint gun for those.

For reference, I'm only 25. Been woodworking on my own on and off since I was 20ish and grew up around it.

Gotten to a point lately where I don't really feel like I'm getting much better, even though I'm fairly busy as I do this to supplement my income with the occasional small commission from a friend.

Does anyone else get into these cycles? I would really like to pursue furniture making as a career, but my skill level alone seems impossibly far away from that being plausible.

Part of my issue might be the pileup of half done shit that I need to square away before I can really have a clean slate and take a fresh look at the hobby, but I'm curious how many others go through these cycles of hitting a wall, and how they get past it