Craft, Home Interior, Art and Design

Have you finally graduated from building birdhouses and decided you want to learn how to make furniture? “What should I build” and “Where do I start” are usually two of the first questions that come to mind. DIY (Do it yourself) furniture can be about as simple or complex a woodworking job as you want it to be, so here are a few planning suggestions to point you in the right direction.

Decide what you want to build first.

If you’re just beginning to learn how to make furniture, you should choose a project that is easy and practical. Building a picnic bench is a great first project as most people can use one, they get you accustomed to working with larger pieces, and are much more forgiving if you should make a mistake or three.

Bunk Beds are another excellent first project. So are platform beds.

Take time to choose your plans wisely.

Make sure the plans you choose offer enough detail to get you through the project. There is enough to deal with when learning how to make furniture than to suffer through trying to use inadequate plans. Take a look at another article of mine, Great Woodworking Projects Require Great Plans, to see what you should look for in a set of woodworking plans. If you want to get a LOT of plans at once, there are some good all-in-one packages of woodworking plans on the market that will surely provide as many plans as you can use in many years.

Make sure you have, or can borrow, the tools you need.

This goes hand in hand with choosing your woodworking plans. Many plans will give you an idea of the tools you need. Don’t bother trying to build a table if it requires twenty-four bar clamps for glue up and you don’t have access to them. Using the right tools for the job is how to make furniture the right way.

Make sure your tools are properly adjusted and blades are sharp.

If your table saw blade is out of adjustment by a degree or two, you’ll learn how to make furniture the hard way! Bad adjustments will mean pieces don’t line up. Dull blades will make rough cuts, cause splinters and increase blade tear out.

Measure carefully, cut even more carefully.

Assuming you have a good set of plans and the right tools, the rest falls under your individual skill level. Follow your plans step by step. Measure twice and cut once as the saying goes. Hey, I often measure three times, good wood isn’t cheap!

Cutting carefully should go without saying. The results of carelessness can range from misfit pieces to missing fingers. Neither is good!

When in doubt, ask.

If you aren’t a member of a woodworking forum or two, sign up now. Start reading, ask questions. If you get stuck in the middle of a project, get online and ask around. There are a ton of friendly people in the woodworking community that are eager to help and share their knowledge.

If you still feel hesitant to learn how to make furniture, just remember, everyone was a beginning woodworker at some point. Practice makes perfect and building simple furniture to start with, such as picnic tables or bunk beds, is a great way to get your feet wet and have a lot of fun doing it.

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Here are 7 tips you have to take into consideration when thinking about creating great wooden toys for your kinds.

1. Choose All Natural Materials

So many of the toys manufactured today are made from cheap plastic and even recycled garbage. There really is no need to make even more. What makes handmade toys so wonderful is that they are constructed using on natural materials such as: wooden, fabric, stone, clay, silk, cotton, etc.

Toys that are made using these natural materials always look and even feel better and they are relatively easy and simple to make. It is great to work with wood or natural fabric and it is a safer option for people of all ages.

2. Opt for Designs that are Original Toy Designs

Before you begin the project always choose the design carefully. By doing so you will find that it will provide you with some inspiration. Making a toy like this is really impressive and you do not have to stick to the design completely; use it to give yourself ideas. The Internet is a great place to find some really great toys and to help you choose the toy that you want to make.

3. Don’t Bite off More than You can Chew

Do not choose a toy that is particularly complicated but rather go with something a little simpler. While there is nothing wrong with choosing a more complex toy it will naturally require more skill and precision on your part. Simple toys do not require as much skill and therefore can be made by almost anyone who has some patience and is willing to practice. If you are a beginner rather choose a simple design. Toys that are made from fabric or plush material are also great for the beginner.

4. Use Paper First

Before you invest in what might turn out to be pricey materials try making a model of the toy using regular paper. Naturally there are some toys that make this impossible, such as plush or wooden carved toys. You might be surprised to know that those with different parts or which use some mechanics are usually the ones that you will be able to model using paper. This is sort of rehearsal before beginning and it will give you a general idea of what the finished product will look like.

Bear in mind that making the toy well out of paper does not necessarily mean that you will do so when you are busy with the real thing.

5. Painting the Finished Toy

Sometimes it is preferable to leave the toy in the original color of the material that you used. If you’ve made an old-fashioned type of wooden toy this is especially so. However the majority of toys look best when painted. If the design doesn’t suggest certain colors then use your own imagination. You will be able to get a lot of ideas when you view the designs and toys available online.

6. Cams and Cranks

If you really want to impress consider making something that uses mechanical parts with gears. Toys that make do with cams and cranks can really impress the kids and are more enjoyable than toys without these features. It is not that difficult either. Take a look at some great cam toys that you can make.

Invariably wood is the material used for making handmade cam and crank toys but sometimes there are metal components. It is important that you do not feel intimidated when it comes to trying out different materials and you might even use some parts of old, broken toys, such as plastic wheels which can save you money when renewed for a new toy.

7. Safety is Key

Of course it is necessary to consider a few safety tips. Obviously you need to exercise some degree of care but you might not know exactly how. Some toys contain fake blood in them and these can be really great fun provided that the blood is not real!

Always err on the side of caution when you work with woodworking tools and other sharp objects like needles if you are working with fabric. Most importantly of all, the toy you make should also be safe for the child who will play with it.

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Small garden sheds are an excellent way of giving yourself more storage space without much costs. Small storage sheds can mean anything from a shed just big enough to store a few gardening tools, or big enough to store tools and a bike or two.

The beauty of sheds is that you can easily fit one into any sized garden and they can provide you with an excellent storage facility. A good shed shouldn’t be underestimated as a storage solution, you can build your own shed or buy a ready made one suitable for your own needs.

Building a garden shed is not a difficult task and is well within the skill levels of most people. As long as you can follow a good plan you shouldn’t have too much trouble building one. You can buy a simple one for a reasonable price and add on to it.

For example you could buy a basic design and strengthen it in certain places to build hangings for bikes. By getting bikes off the floor you leave yourself more room for storage.

This is one way to go, the disadvantage of this method is the initial cost of buying it.. They can be pretty expensive for a bit of flimsy wood which is what most small sheds are constructed from. Sheds are an overlooked method of storage. For some reason most people don’t consider them when they are thinking of solutions to their storage problems. This is a shame.

I’ve seen some fantastic small storage sheds that people have made and which have provided them with a super little storage system. You’d be surprised what you can get into a well-constructed and designed shed. If you make it yourself you can design it to hold a lot of items like bikes for example.

By placing shelves and wall hangings you can really utilize a small shed into a major storage area. The old shed my granddad used to have, which I remember being crammed with tools and the smell of paint from old paint tins scattered about are a thing of the past.

A modern garden shed, utilizing the latest storage devices, which you can easily build into your shed can provide an amazing amount of storage. If you’ve never considered small sheds as a source of storage think again. You could be missing out on a great solution to your storage problems.

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While a lot of the direction in woodturning tends to be in the way of larger and larger pieces, there are advantages to turning small items. Here are three ways to develop satisfaction in the art and craft of woodturning by going small.

One of the questions that haunts a woodturner throughout their career is how to get the ultimate curve and proportion for each piece turned. While this is one of those elusive, artistic questions without an answer there are times when a piece is very definitively on or off. For a large turning this may require a lot of wood and time to answer the question and if the result is poor the time and wood may be considered wasted.

While it may be easily argued that this is a learning experience and that no education is without worth, there is an easier way to acquire an answer before committing to the large block of wood and time, turning small. A small piece of wood may be mounted on the lathe and a scaled down version of the planned piece may be turned. If desired, in the case of hollow pieces such as bowls and vases, the small piece may even be left solid if the only reason for the turning is to be the check on proportions and lines. However, a well designed piece is a well designed piece and the smaller one would be a good turning in its own right. For this reason it is a good idea to turn the small, practice piece from a good wood with a nice grain.

Second, there are many directions to take in woodturning. Some turners focus on faceplate work and others on spindles. It is very easy to find woodturners who focus intensely even within those categories such as on bowls, candlesticks or boxes. Turning small pieces allows one to experiment in different directions without a great outlay in tools or wood.

Third the direction of experimenting may also go in the direction of different woods. The variety of wood types, colors and grains in the world is staggering and many of them are readily available from wood suppliers in most cities. Unfortunately, there are significant costs associated with them and most are only available in board form. This makes them prohibitive in cost and appropriateness for many turners and especially faceplate turners such as bowl makers.

Enter the small woodturning experience. All of a sudden a two by six is a good choice for a small bowl and the world of exotic woods open up immediately. The cost for a small piece is much less than the cost for a large one and boards are easily cut to turning squares for small items.

Fourth is the simple reasoning that small pieces are faster to turn than are large ones. For many woodturners who only get a couple of hours at a time in the workshop, this makes the difference between getting a project finished and risking it splitting on the lathe until more time is found.

Fifth of course is simply that small woodturning is fun. It is challenging in its own right to get a curve, bead or cove right in very tight circumstances. Plus there are many things that simply lend themselves to small turning practices such as jewellery or Christmas tree ornaments not to mention the pens that have become a woodturning favorite.

There are likely many reasons to turn small but these five may make someone consider the world of small turnings. It will open a new phase of enjoyment for many a woodturner.

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Woodworking can be a profession or a great hobby. If you are talented and can produce quality pieces, you can make a good living or just pick up some extra income. To be able to sell your woodworking products, in addition to high quality, they should appeal to many people including useful items such as chairs, tables, beds and other household furniture. It commonly takes considerable time to become really skilled in woodworking, but everyone has to start somewhere in order to become successful. You’re never too old to start learning woodworking projects. It’s a fun hobby to practice that can be done any time of year, so there’s no reason to put off that new project.

Begin by researching information about woodworking – there are thousands of sources on the internet, in books and on videos. You can easily access information about woodworking plans, projects, and tools. The internet is increasingly becoming the main choice for information because of easy access. The next step is to acquire some of the basic tools and begin putting into practice what you are learning. Start with an easy project and a good set of plans. The best set of plans I’ve found are available for immediate download on the internet. This site has over 16,000 woodworking plans, tips and guides for any imaginable project. As you work on increasingly more difficult projects you will find that you will need some additional tools, but I suggest you add to your tool box only as you need the specific tools for a project as some tools may be relatively expensive.

If you run into a snag while working on a project, don’t give up. There are a number of forums on the net where you can get answers to almost any question at almost any time. Once you get your question answered, don’t delay getting back to finishing your project. You know the old saying, “any job worth doing is worth finishing”.

The woodworking craft is a hobby that can be very satisfying. It feels great to know that you’ve built some of the nice things that you have in your home and your family will be proud of it as well. This is a great hobby to have and it can become your profession one day if you spend enough time on it and hone your craft.

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