Hot Furniture & Woodworking How-Tos
How To: Repaint a piece of furniture
Whether you're resurrecting an old, beat-up wooden table or giving that avocado-colored nightstand a new lease on life, a quick coat of paint can update even the most hopeless furniture.
How To: Make stilts
Here is a short video showing you how to make stilts. These are perfect for both adults and children to enjoy, so hurry up and make your stilts today. Make stilts.
How To: Cover plywood edges
Watch this video to learn a few of the many ways you can cover the exposed edges of plywood. The Wood Whisperer demonstrates how to iron on veneer, thin solid wood, and thick solid wood.
How To: Put a finish on wood to pop the grain
Learn about different finishes. In this video, the Wood Whisperer puts the finish on a pencil holder. It's not just any finish. Since we are working with a beautiful curly maple, the finish deserves a little extra special attention. Learn how to pop the grain.
How To: Make a wooden pencil holder
This video covers the construction and assembly of a decorative pencil holder. These make great gifts and are excellent for utilizing scrap. This video is for the more experienced woodworker, knowledge of tools is required. To apply a beautiful finish on the pencil holder, see the Wood Whisperer's finishing video on popping the grain.
How To: Create a raised panel door
Watch this video to learn the basics of creating a raised panel door.
How To: Clean and maintain your woodshop
How do you spend your time between projects? It can be a great time to tune up equipment, wax the cast iron tables, touch up the chisels, and do some general cleanup. Learn the best methods to clean and maintain all your tools and machinery. Nothing is more inspiring than a nice clean workshop!
How To: Make a mortise and tenon joint
In this video, the Wood Whisperer demonstrates a fundamental woodworking joint, the mortise and tenon.
How To: Cut your own veneer
Learn how to saw your veneer at home, rather than using store bought commercial veneer.
How To: Make an end-grain kitchen cutting board
Make your own butcher block end-grain cutting board with this two part video series. Enjoy the "back to basics" simplicity of this useful project. A custom cutting board makes a great gift and many woodworkers make them in batches every holiday season. And if you are relatively new to woodworking, this is a great project to hone your milling, glue-up and tablesaw skills.
How To: Mill lumber, joint edges, and flatten faces
This video explains one of the most critical and fundamental aspects of woodworking: milling lumber. The Wood Whisperer reviews his 4-step milling process, which requires some big tools. Since many folks don't have a fully outfitted shop, he also presents numerous alternative methods for jointing edges and flattening faces. The jointer's jumpin'!!!
How To: Identify and purchase wood at the lumber yard
Learn some terminology and topics that will help you be better prepared for your next trip to the lumber yard. Just a few of the topics covered include identifying different types of cuts, estimating board feet, and finding a good hardwood supplier.
How To: Refinish an antique wooden table
The Wood Whisperer takes you through the appropriate steps to evaluate an antique wooden table and refinish it properly.
How To: Make a chess board
Master craftsman George Berry, "The Woodguy" shows how to quickly and easily make a chess board. This video will provide you with the expertise to build a chess board, so all you have to worry about it playing!! Make a chess board.
How To: Make a box seat
Downing drinks while perched on the bed, the floor, and the arms of the couch is totally awesome!!! (If you're a college freshman.) Otherwise it sucks. Don't get us wrong; living small doesn't mean you can't party like a rock star, it just requires a little creativity. This project offers dual functionality: wall art on quiet evenings, and extra seating and side tables on nights when friends roll in to bring down the house.
How To: Use a scroll saw
Here's a great introduction to the scroll saw. If you're a craft woodworker, you probably already know what a useful tool it is. It's the best saw for making precision cuts in wood, plastic, and metal.
How To: Make a car couch
Why sit on a regular old couch when you can get in the fast lane? Guru Brian shows how he made the hotrod-inspired furniture featured in Episode 5 of My Home 2.0.
How To: Build and walk on stilts
In this video series, watch as professional circus performer Paul Anderson teaches how to build and walk on stilts. Learn how to saw wood for stilts, how to make tin can stilts, how to build hand held stilts, how to jump on power skip stilts, how to do tricks on stilts, how to saw wood for stilts, how to stand up on circus stilts, safety tips for stilts, and how to market yourself as a stilt walker.
How To: Build a personalized picture frame
Why not add excitement to your picture or photo by building your own custom frame. Our expert framer, Debbie Reeves, will show you how to spice up your walls with with the charming frames in this free craft series.
How To: Build joinery for rustic furniture
This video shows how to produce the mortise and tenon joinery unique to rustic furniture made from found branches and sticks. There are a number of obstacles to overcome, including aligning parts and ensuring square and level construction. Build joinery for rustic furniture.
How To: Make a decorative butcher block
This clip walks through the process of making an end grain cutting board (or butcher block) from maple and purple heart. This basic project is suitable for most skill levels and the techniques described in this video can be applied to any end grain assembly, whether it's a cutting board of a different design or another butcher block project. Make a decorative butcher block.
How To: Carve letters
McDermott demonstrates how to carve the letter 'R." This complex letter covers almost all of the techniques required to carve any other letter in the alphabet. Carve letters.
How To: Create cock beading
Cock beading can add depth to a drawer face and help conceal the gap between the drawer and the drawer box. Steve Latta demonstrates two methods for creating cock beading. One technique uses traditional hand tools, and the other uses a router. Create cock beading.
How To: Build a stow-and-go router table
This video will show you how to build a full-featured router table that is portable, lightweight and easy to store. All it takes to put a compact, versatile router table in your shop is a half sheet of plywood, a small supply of solid-wood lumber, a handful of hardware, a router mounting plate, and one of the newly designed routers. Build a stow-and-go router table.
How To: Make an easy dovetail layout
The best way to lay out hand-cut dovetails is with a ruler and simple math. This approach works for any dovetail layout, no matter the width of the board or the number of pins and tails. Also, learn how Rogowski quickly sets the dovetail angle with a simple reference guide drawn on the back of his workbench bench hook. Make an easy dovetail layout.
How To: Cut plywood without a table saw
Cutting plywood on the table saw can be difficult because you have to move the unwieldy 4x8 sheet across the blade. A better solution is to move a circular saw over the sheet. For rips, the saw table rides next to a guide strip and for cross cuts, a fence squares the jig to the work. Watch and learn these alternatives to cutting plywood on a table saw. Cut plywood without a table saw.
How To: Mix and apply wax when finishing furniture
Professional finisher Peter Gedrys details how to mix clear furniture wax with dry pigments and artist's oil colors to create decorative finishes, man-made patinas, and color-matched protective finishes for furniture. Gedrys provides three recipes for making colored wax and shows off various mixing techniques. Mix and apply wax when finishing furniture.
How To: Build a birdhouse
In this how to video series, learn how to make birdhouses from birdhouse construction expert Bob Olsen. Bob will demonstrate important tips for making birdhouses including how to cut wood to make a birdhouse, how to cut walls for a birdhouse, how to attach the walls and roof of a birdhouse, how to make and attach a chimney to a birdhouse, how to drill a door for a birdhouse, and finally how to decorate a birdhouse.
How To: Do pyrography
In this expert video series, you’ll learn more about the history and general practice of wood burning. Get expert tips on wood burning pens and other equipment needed to practice the art of pyrography.
How To: Make a featherboard
Al Navas walks you through the making of a great wood featherboard.
How To: Build a table with removable legs
So whether you’re a beginning builder with a little know-how, or you happen to be an experienced craftsman itching to do another project, watch these basic carpentry videos and learn how to build table from scratch. Learn what tools and materials you need, how to take measurements properly, how to use shop tools to cut the wood, how to attach an apron to the table top, how to create leg braces, how to put it all together, and finally, how to sand the table.
How To: Refinish wood furniture
In this do it yourself video guide to refinishing and restoring wood furniture, learn tips and techniques for how to refinish your old, well-loved wood furniture, including everything from wood stain removal to applying a fresh, new furniture stain. Our expert, Jennifer Ware, will walk you through a refinishing project step by step, with safety tips before you begin, what types of sanders you’ll want to use, and how to choose and apply the right stain for your piece of wood furniture.
How To: Repair a wooden chair
In this video series, learn how to fix a broken piece of furniture you may have kept for years. Our expert will guide you step-by-step through a wood chair repair. Learn how to remove broken spindles and replace them with wooden dowels. Tips include using an epoxy glue, drilling the holes out, positioning the clamps, and more.
How To: Build a dog house
Ace Hardware guides you through the building of a dog house. Learn how to measure and cut wood to build a dog house. You may want to adjust the measurements if your dog is bigger or smaller than average. Build a dog house.
How To: Build a picnic table
Ace Hardware shows you how to build a picnic table using simple tools and lumber. Build a picnic table.
How To: Woodturn
Be inspired to introduce a new dimension to your woodturning by watching nine internationally renown woodturners working creatively with Arbortech tools. Be stimulated and inspired to think outside the circle and learn some great techniques for woodturning. Woodturn.
How To: Make a floating bookshelf
This is a trick that is fashionable and interesting! Your wall will look like the books are just floating. Find out how to make a magic floating bookshelf. Make a floating bookshelf.
How To: Carve and paint a miniature basswood hotdog
In this video, Bod Seguin demonstrates how to carve and paint a mini hotdog out of basswood. The video walks your through preparing the piece of basswood, carving it out, and painting the hotdog.
How To: Carve a miniature navy colt revolver
Bob Seguin demonstrates how to carve a mini navy colt revolver out of basswood. The video walks you through preparing the wood, carving the pieces, painting, and putting the pieces together.
How To: Carve a miniature antique Singer sewing machine
Bob Seguin demonstrates how to carve and assemble a mini sewing machine out of basswood. The video walks your through preparing the wood, carving it, painting, and putting the pieces together.