DIY Projects

DIY Bike & Scooter Rack: A Great First Step in Garage Organization

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Your garage does a great job of keeping your car in its own parking spot. But what about the other “vehicles” in your family? If you have any number of children, you’ve realized that they can accumulate quite a few bikes and scooter, and unfortunately, they don’t always have clear parking spots. At my house, bikes and scooters are often dumped parked in a corner as shown in the video above. In an effort, to take back precious garage floor space and help my kids be a little more tidy, I set out to design and build the ideal bike and scooter rack.

Watch the video above to see how you can build your own, and if you’re ready to jump into it, follow the step-by-step instructions below.

Continue reading ➞ DIY Bike & Scooter Rack: A Great First Step in Garage Organization

Build Closet Barn Doors Using Cheap Lumber and Hardware from Amazon

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Sliding barn doors add great character to any room, and when you have the space, they do wonders to accentuate a bedroom closet. I recently replaced the closet doors in my daughter’s bedroom with these closet barn doors made from cheap pine lumber, plywood and hardware purchased on Amazon. If you’d like to add a dramatic look to a room with a rather simple woodworking project, take a look at the build video below:

For step-by-step instructions, detailed photos of the finished project and a list of what you’ll need to buy for this project, read on…

Continue reading ➞ Build Closet Barn Doors Using Cheap Lumber and Hardware from Amazon

How To Oxidize (And Age) Wood In Minutes

Categories DIY Projects19 Comments on How To Oxidize (And Age) Wood In Minutes
Watch this in-depth video on how to create your own oxidation solution to age wood, and see how this method works on different wood types and how it compares to buying off-the-shelf stains

It is so satisfying to take an idea, a pile of lumber and turn it into a one-of-a-kind creation like a dining table, entertainment console or workbench. But most of the time, you’ll want to add some character to your project – perhaps make it look like it has more miles on it than it really does – and one easy way to do that is to stain it with a homemade oxidation solution made of steel wool and vinegar.

This is a really popular method of aging wood in a matter of minutes, and I made a video about it back in 2016. Since then, I received hundreds of questions about the recipe, spanning from queries about results using different wood species to troubleshooting shades that turned out different than what I showed in my video. Rather than continuing to reply to many questions with an “I don’t know”, I decided to give this video another attempt. Sit back as we dive headlong into “The Great Wood Oxidation Experiment”.

Keep scrolling to see the recipe for this oxidation solution, but if you want to get a bit of background, let’s start with asking the question…

Continue reading ➞ How To Oxidize (And Age) Wood In Minutes

Round & Rustic: The DIY Dining Table To Step-up Your Woodworking Skills

Categories DIY Projects7 Comments on Round & Rustic: The DIY Dining Table To Step-up Your Woodworking Skills

With this being the third table I have built, I wanted to do something special to challenge my skills while producing a fixture in my home that my family could enjoy for years to come. Over the course of nearly three months, squeezing in time on weekends and evenings, I build this 68-inch round dining table. With enough room to seat eight adults, it’s complete with mortise and through tenon joinery in the base and seamless joint in the perfectly round table top. To top it off, the stain is comprised of two different colors to make the plain white pine of this table sing.

Continue reading ➞ Round & Rustic: The DIY Dining Table To Step-up Your Woodworking Skills

DIY Mobile & Modular Workbench To Bring Your Shop to the Next Level

Categories DIY Projects161 Comments on DIY Mobile & Modular Workbench To Bring Your Shop to the Next Level

Updated 11/28/18 – After receiving some great feedback in the comments section, I have added detailed plans and a cut list for all the boards used in the basic workbench. Let me know if you need anything else.

I tirelessly searched YouTube and Pinterest for workbench designs, and after taking into account the tools I have and the types of project I work on, there were essentially three main features I needed:

  1. Mobility – Hauling tools in and out of a garage is tiring and it eats up time during a build. Plus, if you’re like me, your garage is not quite a full-time woodshop, so being able to store a workbench to the side is a must.
  2. Size – I needed a workbench that could accommodate the largest material I might find myself working with: a 4’x8′ sheet of plywood. It takes a large workbench to act as a decent out-feed table for a table saw or to provide an adequate work area when assembling larger projects.
  3. Modular – A good workbench should be able to change with your needs, so I designed this workbench to either be two smaller halves or one big work area. I also built-in a slot to accommodate a variety of fixed tools such as a miter saw, pocket hole jig, router table, etc.

Continue reading ➞ DIY Mobile & Modular Workbench To Bring Your Shop to the Next Level

Innovative DIY Wall-mount Lumber Rack For Boards and Sheet Goods

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My workshop will always need to be a garage first and woodworking shop second. To help with my lumber storage, I decided to build my own lumber rack. I searched Pinterest for ideas, but I couldn’t quite find a design that mounted to a wall while still being able to storage large sheets of plywood and long boards simultaneously.

I decided to make my own design where sheets of plywood would be stored in a large framed shelf, while sporting the traditional arm shelves for storing long boards. I also added some small cubbies for storing small cut-offs and specialty pieces of lumber. In a phrase, this lumber rack is all about boards in the front and big sheet goods in the back – head the name “Mullet-style” lumber rack.

Continue reading ➞ Innovative DIY Wall-mount Lumber Rack For Boards and Sheet Goods

How to Build a Racetrack Farmhouse Dining Table

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After building a banquette in my kitchen’s nook, I needed to a table to go with it. Because of the angular shape of the banquette, I needed a table that would allow people to easily scoot around it, and that’s where the racetrack shape works perfectly. The tricky part of building a racetrack table is making large circular cuts. For woodworking novices like myself, this might seem daunting, but with a circular saw and a simple jig made of plywood, it can be done. Here’s how…

Continue reading ➞ How to Build a Racetrack Farmhouse Dining Table

Cheers! Create Your Personal Wall-Mount Bottle Opener

Categories DIY Projects18 Comments on Cheers! Create Your Personal Wall-Mount Bottle Opener

Workshops have their essentials: work bench, table saw, power drill, but there’s one tool I’ve been wanting to add for some time: a wall-mounted bottle opener. Sure, I could just use the opener in the kitchen drawer, but there’s just something satisfying about cracking open a cold one with one hand. With a little work, hardware off of Amazon, and some tricks I’ve learned along the way, here’s how you can make your own wall-mount bottle opener.

Continue reading ➞ Cheers! Create Your Personal Wall-Mount Bottle Opener

How to Print on Wood (Sort of)

Categories DIY Projects41 Comments on How to Print on Wood (Sort of)

You might not know this, but the inkjet printer sitting around your house still has a few tricks up its paper tray. It can print on wood – well, sort of.

In planning for my daughter’s first birthday party, I attempted to track down a vintage sign related doughnuts (it was a doughnut-themed party). Rather than spend a bunch of money on Etsy, I thought, “Why not just make this sign myself?” The only problem was that trying to paint anything by hand would look not so great, so I took to Google to find a way to transfer a digital design from my computer to a piece of wood. It turns out that trusty wax paper sitting in your kitchen drawer makes this all possible. Let’s get to it.

Continue reading ➞ How to Print on Wood (Sort of)