Woodworking Guide for Beginners: Every home includes furniture; in fact, that is what more or less make your home complete. Every home owner wants to buy the right furniture – both functional and beautiful. What you choose basically sets the tone of the entire house.
Like many other home owners, I too went through the process of choosing and deciding on the right furniture needed for my new house. There were so many decisions to make – should I buy all my furniture ready-made from the store? Or should I hire a skilled carpenter to help me build some. There was also an option of doing it all myself. And take it from a person who has done a little bit of DIY furniture, I can assure you it is not a daunting task at all.
So, if you plan on making it yourself or want to buy your furniture, we have this guide that might help you on various aspects of furniture shopping and other factors related to it.
Popular Woodworking Products for Home
So, to start with, I have listed some of the popular wooden furniture that you can consider for your home:
- Almost everybody opts for a cabinet at least in their homes. They are not only a great functional item that helps with storage but also enhances the look of the room if designed elegantly. A cabinet which is spacious and intricately designed is always a hot seller. Cabinets made of teak wood are durable and hard and very popular among buyers. They are also water resistant. So, if you do happen to see a good teak cabinet that you like, make sure that you grab it. Because not only are they affordable and popular but they also look exquisite in any color.
- Another woodworking product that is popular and essential for your home is a dinning set. A dining set, meaning, a big table and 4 chairs is what you need to enjoy your meals with family and friends. You will find many varieties in designs and shapes available in the store.
- Beautifully made wooden carved swings area a great addition to the house. Choose a swing set made of high quality wood so that it will last you for a longer time. You will find a variety of wooden carved swings of various designs and kinds available in the market.
- A wooden sideboard placed in the corner of a room adds the extra beauty and elegance to a room. You will find many with intricate and beautiful carvings and designs. Choose a good quality wood for durability of the sideboard.
- Wooden Statues with beautiful carvings and designs are a reflection of mastery and creativity in wooden work. You will find statues of various deities which you can paint for an added elegant look.
- Curtain rods are required for every home. There are many available in the market ranging in a variety of designs, shapes and sizes. You can choose according to the shape of your window or door.
- An antique door always adds a touch of elegance and panache to a room. There are doors available with beautiful carvings and designs and these are always popular among domestic as well as international customers. You can up the glam quotient to your home just by buying one of these.
Various Tools Used for Woodworking
If you have decided to do all the furniture work yourself, you will need a good set of tools. Woodworking is a laborious job and the right tools will definitely help you to make this process a bit easier and quicker. Apart from the basic items like hammer, saw, etc, which are manually operated and small in size you will need some other woodworking machines too. Details of the tools are provided below:
Woodworking Tools vs Woodworking Machines
Your projects involve both small as well as laborious jobs. Simple wood working jobs such as cutting, fitting different pieces of wood etc are done with the help of wood working tools. These woodworking tools are simple, small, cheap and portable and can be easily operated by holding them in your hands.
Wood working tools are huge machines used for activities such as processing of wood or creating new wooden artistic objects etc. These machines are also very expensive.
Commonly used woodworking tools
- Saw: A saw is a helpful tool used for cutting wood. There are different types of saws available, such as Japanese saws, dovetail saws, cross cut saws, Tenon saws, bow saws, chain saws, etc.
- You will also need measuring tapes, squares, rules, etc for measuring purposes and marking gauges, knives awls, for marking the wood work before you make the cut. In fact your true skills are usually measured based on the markings you do, hence it is an important step in the process.
- Hammers are required to fix nails and screws. For screws however, you will have to first make a hole in the wood with a drilling machine before you fix them in with a hammer.
- Chisels, scrappers and carving tools are needed for smaller woodworking projects and activities.
- Once your wood work is done, you will have to give it a proper finish to it. You can use wood planes for smoothening and evening the surface, scrappers and polishers as sandpapers, steel wool etc can also be used for smoothening of the surface.
- Use wax or adhesives along with the nails and screws for fixing or attaching things together. To give the wood work a good look, you can use varnishes, colors etc. for which you will also need tools such as brushes or sprayers.
All the above mentioned tools can be commonly found in any hardware and electrical shop. All the tools mentioned above are cheap and therefore can be used by both an expert and an amateur worker.
Woodworking Jigs / Simple Pieces of Wood
One needs to be very careful and precise while woodworking. There are no reworks here and even a small mistake can cause you to redo the whole thing again. There are some tools that help you do the job without mistakes.
Woodworking jigs are tools, which help you accomplish the job without any mistakes.
Wood working jigs are pieces of wood or metal and are very commonly used for small wood works. They are cheap and popular because they do not cause any damage. If you have any leftover wooden waste pieces, you can make jigs out of it instead of just throwing it out. The best part is you get to reuse waste wood and also it costs you next to nothing. There are many different types of jigs used for different tasks, such as:
- The dowel jig is used for cutting dowel holes. These holes are very commonly made in wood works. Besides, if you have to make many dowel holes, it is best to have the dowel jig handy without which it would be a tedious and time consuming job.
- For drawers, you will need to make the dovetail jig. With the dovetail jig, you can give a perfect shape to the different parts of the drawers.
- Router jigs are used when you need some support for the wood when it moves through the saw. This gives it a very smooth and regular cut. You can give the whole wood work an artistic look with the help of router jigs. They are generally used for creating edges of the table tops, drawer faces, etc.
- Just as router jigs support and guide the wood when it moves through a saw, Tenon Jig is used to guide table saws. Angle it in various angles, i.e. 45 to 90 degrees, clamp it on the wood and their grove will guide the saw to provide a smooth and straight cut.
The above mentioned jigs make it easier for anyone to work on wood, saving them time and money. They are cheap and can be used for guiding the cutting tools to give you a perfect and smooth cut on your wood work.
Equipment used in Woodworking/
There are some commonly used woodworking equipment such as biscuit joiner, chainsaw, drill, nail gun and wood router etc.
Here are some of the commonly used hand-held power tools:
- Woodworking machines are primarily used to process wood and are extensively used in woodworking.
- If you want to join two pieces of wood, use a biscuit joiner. It can also be used for cutting a semi-circular shaped hole in wood composite panels with its 100mm diameter circular saw blade.
- A chainsaw is used for logging activities. You can use them for felling trees, bucking and limbing. A chainsaw is portable and motorized more like a mechanical saw. You can use it if you want to cut wood for building structures.
- For drilling holes in wooden and metal pieces, you have a drill. It’s a common tool used in construction sites. There are different types of drills – cordless drills, and rotary hammer drills.
- If you need a tool to cut arbitrary curves, use a Jigsaw. You can also cut stencilled designs with a jigsaw on wood. It is the best tool for fine cutting and a permanent feature in a carpenters tool box.
- Nail guns are the best way to insert nails into wood. Highly flammable gases and compressed air is what helps the nail gun to drive it right into the wood with force. You can also use hammers, but nail guns are more commonly used now a days.
- Wood Router is used to route out or hollow out an portion from a large piece of wood. It is also used to cut grooves or cut joints. Although the wood router is now replaced by modern spindle tool, its function remains the same. The only difference is that it is a electric hand router. It is also used to cut grooves, for edge moulding, to cut some joints and more commonly used to mould timber.
- Thickness Planer (Thicknesser): Used to smoothen wood and bring it to a uniform thickness. However, you cannot use it to make wood piece flat.
- Sander: Sanders are used to give your wood work a smooth finish. Electric motors are generally used to make the sanders work.
- Rotary tool is a multipurpose power tool. It can be used to cut, carve, polish etc.
These are some of the tools used for wood work. With technology and advancements, there is always some new improvements or new gadgets being introduced in the market.
Using Woodworking Patterns
Woodworking patterns are your standard and established plans for making some/certain parts of a wooden furniture. In other words, having a woodworking patterns helps in the beautification of the furniture.
Wood work patterns are easy to make and understand. For reference, you can always look it up online or refer to books for more information on woodworking patterns.
Advantages of using woodworking patterns
- Wood work patterns are designed by professional and skilled people.
- They are artistic and attractive.
- Easy to understand and implement.
- Helps improve your own artistic skills.
- Gives you a chance to indulge your artistic side.
- Saves time
- Don’t need any special or expensive tools for using them.
Using Woodworking Plans
If you have a plan in place before you start any project, you can go about it in a systematic way. Similarly, for woodworking too, having a pre plan is always helpful. Especially if you are a non-skilled worker, having a wood working plan helps to recreate complex pieces of furniture with ease and clarity. Woodworking plans is always helpful for commercial or non-commercial purposes.
You can find ready-made wood work plans in books or online in the form of free samples. In case you need help, you can always engage the services of a professional.
Things to remember before you choose a woodworking plan:
- See that the plan suits your purpose
- Check if you have all the equipment required for execution of the plan
- Check how simple or complex the plan is
- When in doubt, choose a simpler yet artistic woodworking plan that is easy to follow instead of complicated ones.
- Find a plan that gives detailed description and diagrams/ illustrations.
Using Woodworking Projects
A woodworking project is all about pre-deciding the requirements of the product, preparing plans and executing them.
Here are some of the steps involved in a woodworking project:
- Determine the purpose of the product
- Decide on what will be the requirements of the product
- Decide on the time and budget you want to set aside.
- Write down the requirements and the specifications.
- Make a sketch of the whole product including all the parts and the measurements.
- Purchase the materials, and the necessary tools.
- Execute the project/plan
- Give the piece a proper finish.
Online Training on Woodworking
Woodworking is all about making furniture and decorative wooden articles from the scratch. It involves a lot of skill, precision and creative thinking. Advanced level of wood working also involves building a house or bridges etc. So, it is important that a person who is involved in woodworking knows what he is doing and what tools to use etc. It is definitely not an easy job to do and needs practice and learning.
If you are interested in getting trained in woodworking, you can always check for options online. There are many online training courses available that teach you the basics of wood work, tools and machines etc. You can also learn about designs, patterns and more of the creative aspects online.
There are free video tutorials too but the paid ones are usually better versions. Irrespective of commercial or non-commercial wood works, you will find online training for all categories.
Running a Woodworking Business
If you are good at wood working, you can start a business and make some money out of it. You can always start small like a home based set up and slowly but steadily grow your portfolio. You can display your best work in your portfolio and advertise it in papers or even go online.
Furniture is always in demand and if you offer furniture with beautiful carvings or designs, it is sure to catch the attention of potential buyers. Some of the popular furniture pieces are wooden cabinets, chair, furniture, wooden toys, etc. Start making these and selling it, and you can always add more as and when there is demand.
If your business picks up, you can also consider tying-up with local wood suppliers who can supply you with various woods as well as wood handling tools.
KeytarHQ editorial team includes musicians who write and review products for pianists, keyboardists, guitarists & other musicians. KeytarHQ is the best online resource for information on keyboards, pianos, synths, keytars, guitars and music gear for musicians of all abilities, ages and interests.
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