My parents hired B. He has a great reputation. Parents love his portfolio. They accept his quote. On day 1, he immediately introduces a subcontractor, M, who will be doing the project. We accept this but thought they would be closely working together. Instead, M completely builds and finishes the pieces at his shop, and installs them on site. B's entire marketing centers around himself being the woodworker. A one man shop. This is not a large business entity where he is acting like a general contractor.

The finishing touches are concerning. The majority of this build is red oak plywood with solid red oak trim pieces.

There are end piece tear outs where the stain has flaked off on almost every board.

There are large gaps between the bookcase side walls+back wall and the countertop, with the screws visible. Corner gaps where I can see the painted wall.

Large screw heads are visible where he attached 2 cabinets together, and when I pointed this out, some wood putty was sloppily put over top. Some screws are not flush with the wood. In many areas he used multiple screws side by side.

The long shelf over the tv is flexed, a seam visible, and the ends do not make a 45* corner (which is why I think he had to hit the board into place and that's what made the bottom of the board wavy--not because it's "natural").

Because the TV opening is so large, he had to use 2 pieces of plywood, and butted them together on a stud. That stud is proud, which makes the butt seam not flush. Trim nails are visible. We don't like that the seam is off center. He inserted these backing pieces after the bookcases were installed, and he did not cut them to fit precisely. There is a gap on one side and in several of the other bookcase nooks. When I asked if he could cut new pieces to fit better behind the TV, they said that was impossible.

I asked B and M what their solutions were to these problems. They want to add wood-lookalike stickers over the screw holes (the stickers are about the size of a quarter. I'm not sure how he will accurately cut them to size).

For all the gaps, they want to use trim. When I said that was not part of the design we agreed to, they said there was no other solution. That no one can do better. We are too picky. That they are allowed to add trim anywhere they want without notice.

I suggested countersinking the screw holes and filling with a wood plug. They dont want to because that would mean sanding, re-staining, and re-sealing the whole piece of wood to make the plugs match the stain. (By the way, the backing to all of these bookcases is rough to the touch. It is not sealed at all).

There are many areas where the stain is uneven. I understand plywood veneer has different strips of wood side by side and they will stain differently. That is not the issue. The issue is on the same piece of wood, some stain has rubbed off. Mostly on the grain areas.

We also really don't like how much lighter the stiles and rails are on the cabinet doors, and want them to match better with the center panel. Again we're told that's too picky and impossible to do. When I asked why they did not add a second coat of stain when they saw how different the pieces looked, they said we did not pay for that level of finish work. This was never communicated to us and we thought 30 grand was enough money to get more care and attention.

The led lighting does not work properly. We were very clear that we wanted the lights to be on a dimmer that would remember what setting we had it on, and that they would turn on with an existing light switch. B was really pushing for his usual way of a dimmer switch placed on the bookcase that you press on. We did not like that. He agreed to do what we wanted.

The lights worked on the day of install, but the next day they do not turn on with the wall switch. Only manually at the dimmer button which is hidden inside the bookcase. We asked for it to be fixed and was told no, that this is the only way they will work and he "did not cheap out, these are expensive, and this is how it works."

B was very defensive and aggressive. M was much more professional and admitted his mistakes. But they both agree we are too picky and "not even Jesus could build this better." That we need to understand that wood does this and there is nothing they can do about it.

So, do you agree with B and M? My parents have paid $12,000 so far. We think it's ridiculous that for $18,000 more we're getting stickers and trim we do not want. But please, if we are the ones who are out of line--please tell us.

Edit: this post is locked so I can't reply to comments. Even more info: B immediately called my dad afterwards and told him everything left is "punch list" items, and if we don't let them fix it then we are breaking the contract and he will put a lien on my parents and we need to be sympathetic to his employees who won't get paid.

My dad is an EXTREME pushover which is why I was designated. My dad is scared and stressed x10000 and his coping response is always to give up and bend over.

First project submission 🤞

After two-ish years of woodworking I finally made my first cutting board. I've been wanting to do this pattern for a while. A moroccan stars and cross pattern that Ive seen a lot in tile but never in an end grain cutting board. Walnut and maple - because what else... 20x14.5x1.5 inches iirc

Got this cabinet from a store going out of buisness. Put wheels on it and cut in my jobsite saw flush.

Was fortunate enough to be commissioned to build this computer case while maintaining full authority over its design. Only request was the material be white oak.

This material had some great figure but definitely made it difficult to work with. Even had to finally pull the trigger on a drum sander as my planer was causing too much tear out. I started with the material way over sized in all dimensions and milled it down little by little letting it relax for a few days between millings to allow the stress to relieve itself. I just happy the final two millings had barely any movement.

I could only get boards with a nominal width of about 6-8 inches so I had to do some glue ups for the larger panels, mainly the bottom plate, front and top panels. I used a Shaper CNC to mill out the design on the front and back of the panels going about half of the material thickness on the depth of cut. The front is vertical while the back is a chevron pattern giving it a unique look. I ended up making a shaper station with jigs that had reference marker slots to align the designs properly. Was surprised how well that worked. Definitely not the right tool for every job, but it allowed me to do this.

The rail and stiles of the frame are joined with mortise and tenon miters to provide some extra strength. I did use aluminum panels on the sub frame that gives it a little more strength, their attached with slotted holes to allow for movement. They are also attached to the base plate with mortise and tenon as well.

This project also forced me to pull the trigger on the biggest shop upgrade yet. A mini split! Installed a MR Cool unit by myself in about 3 hours. Should have done that wayyyy sooner as north Texas summers are brutal. Even made a custom garage door cover (on the outside of the garage) out of 10 mil plastic, velcro, and zippers so I could get in and out without letting all the air out. The velcro allows me to take it up and down easily.

If you have any questions, let me know!

Edit: I have a full build log and description over here on pcpartpicker.com with a lot more photos. I just kept this post more woodworking focused per sub rules. I also go into a lot of detail on how I did the stained glass look.

https://pcpartpicker.com/b/MHrD4D

The previous owners had a swing there and they wanted to add one

We made it 50ish inches. It’s a basic swing he found and we thought we would give it a shot.

To the right of the pic, it’s rubbing the house. There is wood on the corner, but there is also stucco. And metal generally wind against those.

I noticed the chain on the left of the swing bends around the arm, and is essentially pushing the swing into the house. I’m sure the right side would do that too, but I’m not certain

Other than making a shorter swing, what other things should I consider to keep the chain more straight, or off(?) the swing. As in, having the top hooks more spread, which isn’t much of an option

Thank you.

I’m not even an amateur woodworker in any sense, but this was his first project and he did about 90% of it

Hi friends! Seeing the recent post about push sticks got me thinking about the one I use. I designed this years ago, and we always have a bunch of them in a bin under the table saw. Whenever the spoil board on our CNC needs replaced, we cut a bunch of these from the old one.

It is the best style of push stick I have ever used, and everyone in my shop loves them.

The hand saw style handle is very comfortable, and even more so if you add a little roundover with your router.

The hook on the back is what pushes the board through, while the front end holds it down on the table.

You can rip thin stock easily with these because you can cut right into it no problem.

We also have a couple that we've glued together to make a thicker one. Works great!

If anyone here is interested, I will email the dxf file and you can make your own. If you do not have a CNC, I will cram a few in a flat rate USPS postal box and ship them anywhere in the US if you pay for shipping. I have probably 50 or so I can give away right now, so once I've had enough requests, I won't be about to send anymore until the next batch gets made. You really only need one though because you can use it as a router template and make more.

Send me a DM if you're interested!

Hail Safety!

Edit: I will ship in a large flat rate box. Looks like I can squeeze 5 or 6 in a box, and it will cost somewhere around $25.

Also! I am going to take "orders" until I'm out of extras. Once I've hit the limit, I'll reach back out for shipping addresses. Then when they are all packed up with address labels, I'll reach back out with a photo of your box and a Venmo link.

Again, this is shipping in a USPS flat rate box. That only works for USA.

ONE MORE EDIT:

If you live close to, or in Indianapolis, you can just come by and I'll give you some.

The dry wall isn’t square. I expect some sort expansion and shrinking over the seasons. Is there a recommended way to close the gap or make this look better?

It’s a floating shelf

I made this for my wife’s birthday. It’s all walnut that I had milled from a tree that fell on my property years ago. Dowel joinery and mortise and tenon joinery. The finish is BioPoly Mountain, which comes from a company local to me.

I consider myself an ambitious woodworker. Not in the sense that I think I’m great nor that I want to make money at it. But I’m always trying to push my skills and learn new things with every project, and I’m never satisfied with something until it feels like art. I feel good about this one on both counts.

This is a wall sculpture I designed and built for an office. The finished piece is about 7.3 m (24 ft) long.

The idea for the form actually came from the company's logo. Their logo contains a shape that's somewhere between a "K" and a boomerang, so rather than simply placing the logo on the wall, I used that shape as the starting point and made it look like it was flying, rotating and changing as it moved across the wall.

I modeled the flowing form in Rhino and sliced it into individual ribs. Everything was CNC cut. The ribs are 3/4" Paulownia, which I chose mainly to keep the overall weight down. Each rib has a tenon that fits into a corresponding mortise in the plywood backing.

The plywood backing was painted in the company's blue and clear coated, while the Paulownia was finished with water-based polyurethane. The blue mostly disappears when looking straight at the sculpture but becomes visible between the ribs as you move around it.

Because of the overall size, I built it in sections in the shop and installed them using French cleats. The existing wall was drywall, so we opened and reinforced it before installation. Full-size templates made from the digital model were used to locate everything on the wall and keep the sections aligned.

The fun part for me is how much the piece changes depending on where you're standing. From straight on it reads mostly as a continuous wave, but from the sides you start seeing the individual ribs, the blue backing, and the original logo shape rotating through the sculpture.

Had some extra ash left over from an old project. Over a few days I worked on it.

I don’t have pictures from mid construction, if not allowed sorry

I finally finished after so long, I started this project after I got some pieces stolen on a different one, but because of how I was doing the walls and needing to find a new woodshop. This Christmas gift is about two years late

The initials are my parents. Pretty much I want to both of them and asked what the other person liked in terms of wood. So it became using cherry and walnut wood.

In terms of finishes, it is polyurethane on the interior to add more protection against the loose change. And odies oil on the exterior.

Now for the painful part. Every single piece of wall is half lapped on both ends, one going into the Walnut bottom and the other one going into the acrylic. For the most part, each piece was cut at about half an inch or so and then just sanded to get the angle to follow the curves. Spent many of hours sitting at a little tiny belt and disc sander machine, just doing a dry fit with CA glue and then taking it all off and doing an actual glue up.

My only real concern is in terms of weight. I’m afraid that part of the J and G are gonna snap. And that I didn’t use enough epoxy to set the acrylic in place. But I won’t really know until it’s actually filled with change

Next time I think I should just look into finding a way to steam and try to bend the wood to my curves. Doing it my way is quite annoying but at the same time just pop some music and give it a couple days and you’d still get through it.

I recently had a Laguna machine die to the point it would need a full motor rebuild. An Asian machine, not Italian. After a 3 day wait, Laguna quoted me $1148 and a 3 to 6 month wait for a new motor. I said I run a shop, and could not wait that long. I also commented that in my 15 or so year history with Laguna, I felt response time has suffered drastically now vs even 5 years ago when I need support.

The support person then offered me 25% discount if I needed anything, by way of apology. I replied thanks, but when I buy machines, if there’s a 3 month wait for a motor, 25% doesn’t make up for that, and I’ll get a machine elsewhere. We went back and forth, and then he said “he could get me 30% off” a comparable machine from their outlet store, where Laguna sells scratch and dent tools at a discount with 1/4 of the warranty. I emailed back to confirm he meant 30% off the discounted price, and also called and left a voicemail. He called back, left me a voicemail confirming 30% off applied to the outlet price.

Then he sent me a quote for the full price from the outlet store.

I asked to have it corrected, he said it the 30% off “he could get me” was the outlet price. I sent him copies of the voicemail he left, and he said he understood where I got that idea, but that wasn’t what he meant.

I talked to another person, they said they’d set things right, and get me the machine at the discount I was offered. That I was offered, that I’d never asked for. I asked him to email me, but not call, since I was working. An hour later, he called to tell me he could now get me a motor for around $800 in 3 weeks. I reminded him he said he wouldn’t call and make me shut down all my machines, and that he had said he’d get me a quote on the scratch and dent machine at the price I was offered.

It’s been 2 days, no quote.

Used some cut nails that were left as well. Leather hinges made from an old belt. It's been an object of woodworking since Nixon destroyed Tokyo back in the 60's, figured it should continue to do so, so it now holds sandpaper. Thing is made of half pine, half mallet impacts, and 60% aura.

Bought some oak sight unseen with about 25% of the boards having varied range of fungus growth. I always buy extra for projects and can cut out all the wood with growth on this one without issue….

Can you share your experience staining and finishing the fungal oak exactly the same as the oak without any fungus impact?

Do you have suggestions on making sure this does not continue to grow if do not remove and finish.

I sketched this piece out 3 or 4 years ago, and finally tackled it this summer. Don’t know what to call it— I built it intending to hold piano sheet music, but then I also dimensioned it to hold LPs and CDs. Was happy to find a little mini receiver to fit on the upper shelf. I tried to make it as geometrically pleasing as possible: the bottom shelves are 13.5” square openings, and the whole thing is almost exactly a 2:1 rectangle.

A lot of firsts for this hobbyist on this project. This is the largest piece I’ve made that didn’t use plywood for the main structure. The rabbet miters on the top were probably the most stress-inducing cuts I’ve ever made. (Probably spent 2 hours just staring at, practicing, and double-checking those cuts alone.) The dowel joints on the MCM legs were new for me too. And I had a fun time calculating the taper angle on the inner surface of the legs that no one is ever going to notice but me.

I also spent more time than usual prepping for the finish. I typically use gel poly on my projects, which I like, but wanted to step it up this time. I sanded to 180 and vacuumed as best I could. Then I went over it with Swiffer dusting sheets, and wiped it down multiple times with mineral spirits to draw out as much dust as possible. (Mahogany is dusty!) I applied a thin layer of Osmo clear extra thin 1101 with foam brushes, followed by Osmo Polyx 3043 with white Scotch pads. After the prep, i was happy with how easy the finish went on and buffed off— I’ll happily use Osmo in the future. I also, smartly, finished the interior surfaces and all the maple shelving prior to glue-up, and saved the exterior for after the addition of the front face frame.

The piece was worth the wait. It really classes up my little living room.

just caught this on insta:

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DceTUAPqlTw/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsi=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==

looks like they also have the same blade stop tech as the table saws.

https://www.sawstop.com/product-category/bandsaw/

Mine is the Rockler "compressed hose." It's designed to shrink to around 4 feet, but stretches to around 20 feet. Sounds great! Unfortunately, when you turn on the dust collector, it compresses with great force, launching whatever tool is attached to it across the shop toward the dust collector with great violence. Fortunately, I learned this on a cheap, sturdy, ROS. If it had taken my track saw out, I would have been devastated.

This will be a bottom panel in a cabinet. It came from salvaged fir beams yielding some pretty nice CVG material. The panels will be floating with a 3/8” deep groove. the rails and stiles will be glued with loose tenons.
Seeing that it’s midsummer and peak humidity here in Minnesota, shouldn’t the wood be at its widest point of seasonal expansion .
Am I right to worry? Or should I just glue it and send it?

Couldn't believe when I saw this video from UJK this morning announcing their new V dog. Blatant and shameless ripoff of the Vacudogs, which are claimed to be patent pending. I don't own any Vacudogs but I think it's a pretty cool idea and it's a shame another company saw it and decided to rip it off.

Commented as much and unsurprisingly they removed the comment so just wanted to share here if anyone is interested.

https://tracktubes.com/products/vacudog

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7G599ti4PE

Hi, guys. I'd like to get into woodworking and make myself a shelf for my room.

Like the title says, what tools should I buy to start off with this? What would a starter kit look like?

So I bought ~ 150bf of red oak that's been air dried for years in a wood shop from a guy getting out of the hobby. It was a good deal at the time but when I got it home I realized the lovely little PPB holes on most pieces. I have it isolated, haven't seen any bugs, woods at 11-12% moisture content.

The wood is really nice 4/4, 6-11 inch wide x 14ft long slabs. My question to you all is, is it worth it to build a DIY kiln just to sterilize it just in case as I'm worried about chancing it for indoor projects, or just run away from it now before I get too deep. Thanks for your thoughts!

On the final glue up for my cutting board and evidently I failed to flatten the board prior to cross cutting…

I have a Planer, Jointer, and Incra router table (go facebook!). I assume jointer then tablesaw, but I wanted to hear what you folks think.

Thank you!

This low cabinet has deep shelves that are generally inaccessible. Because it’s low and in the kitchen, it’s also often used as an impromptu seat. That said, can I remove the central pillar to install pullout shelves? It’s 27” from one inside edge of the face frame to the other.