re: Getting Started Building Furniture

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I’m starting from basically scratch skill wise. Could build a decent deer stand or duck blind. That’s about is. Have a general interest in learning wood working as a hobby. Need to replace some furniture and always wanted to learn to do it, so here I am.

Do you have any tips, websites, YouTube channels, books, or other getting started resources to recommend?

First few things on the to do list:

-coffee table

-chair for bedroom

-bench for porch

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Do not use lumber from big box stores UNLESS you acclimate it for a couple of months at least before tooling it in any way. Do not plan on using any sheet goods from a big box store for anything...it is all crap and will be a disaster. The lone exception would be MDF...its all about the same.

Lumber, no matter where you get it, is neither straight or true and is not going to stay that way even when you tool it straight and true. This can be mitigated with joinery but its going to move. All of it. Its not as big as problem as most people make it out to be but it is an issue. It certainly is not straight and true from any supplier for any length of time. Straight and true is your friend. Not "close enough for government work" but straight and true to near perfection. It is not going to stay that way long no matter what you do but it is nearly impossible to work with when it is straight and true. The more furniture and wood working you do the more your realize you shoulda spent more time truing up your material...even after 40 years I still almost always wish I had spent more time truing it up.

Plan on painting most projects. A beautiful wood finish is a work of art but most materials will not take a finish unless the finisher knows a LOT about finishing. Finishing is what makes a piece...joinery is for wood workers, finishing is for the rest of the world. Nothing prettier than a perfect dovetail. Most people would never notice it. Painting, especially in the beginning, can hide a lot of mistakes. The difference between staining and painting usually doubles the labor required for pros...most hobbyists never get it right...its like a golf swing, the devoted work at but never perfect it. Its also REALLY hard to repair damages to stained pieces or match a stained piece.

Chairs are TOUGH. The simplest dining room chair is often times the epitome of skilled craftsmanship. It is often the holy grail of woodworking. They are very difficult to build and not look like there were hobbled together. I've never built any I was satisfied with.

It is an extremely expensive and time consuming hobby. There is never enough room for tools and no end to the number of tools one needs. Anything you build will cost way more than a similar item you could buy but the quality, even in the beginning, will be better.

Start off building some boxes. Seriously. Most wood workers spend an inordinate amount of time trying to perfect a simple box. It requires ALL of the skills necessary to build anything. If you have never done it is shocking how out of square a box will become even when you are dead certain your measurements were right. Most furniture consists of a box of some sort...and if it has drawers boxes are what it is, everything else is just window dressing. Seriously...build some boxes. Build them square and true. It will reveal exactly how hard measuring and cutting a piece of wood actually is.

Keep projects simple. If you stick with it you can get fancy but starting off be satisfied with rustic or country chic. Building fine furniture worthy of a juried show is outside the ability of all but the best woodworkers. Norm Abrams was as good a wood worker as anyone could hope to be. He could not build fine furniture worthy of a juried contest.

There are thoousands of good woodworking channels on YouTube. One of the better ones for new woodworkers is Wood Working For Mere Mortals. LOADS of good, simple and practical information. Most of them are kind of too much...but many have good tidbits of information.


Anna White has a good website full of ideas and forums and plans. That is the kind of stuff a beginner should aspire to. After they have built some boxes that are actually close to square and true. Seriously, square and true is not easy to do.

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SawMillCreek.org.

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Excellent advice for beginners and pros...something for everyone.

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You don't need big fancy tools.

Jobsite table saw
Track saw (Milwaukee makes a decent "affordable" one)
Impact, drill, good square.

Don't get lost in the guys on YouTube milling their own hardwoods. Plan on your first couple pieces being painted poplar. Get a feel for what you are doing then expand.

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It is a good idea to start building some boxes with a circular saw and hand tools. Cutting a true line and squaring up a joint is the basis of ALL wood working...and is damned difficult despite its seeming ease. It takes a LOT of work to cut a piece of wood square, even with tools that are properly dialed in. It is the essence of all woodworking and far too many people cut up a sheet of Home Depot "furniture grade" plywood (it is not near furniture grade but it is priced like furniture grade) and find their project is not right somehow...because it is out of square at each joing by just a miniscule amount. When you can build a 4 sided box that is within a 128th of an inch over a foot you are close.

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One tip, if you are buying typical construction grade wood from a big box store, spend a little time sifting through too find the best pieces. Let the wood dry in your shop for about a month or so before you start to build with it.

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AMEN. It is also not going to be square. Sheetgoods are not square either, no matter how much they cost.

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Before going all YouTube find out how much help you can find locally. Beginning woodworking classes are pretty common, and you might find a club that has a shared workshop. Here in Baton Rouge beginner classes are offered by the West Baton Rouge Museum.

Be wary of classes offered by woodworking suppliers. They can be very good, but selling equipment is their top priority.

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Good advice. Wood workers tend to be very detail oriented and are usually older men who may seem like assholes. Most like nothing better than talking about wood working with someone who knows what they are doing OR with someone who is seriously interested in what they have to say. Find some in your area...most areas have some form of woodworking guild. They will share advice and swap tool time. They will seem like jerks most likely but trying to perfect a crooked arse piece of a tree into a straight line will make most people a jerk...

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I chuckle when people say " cabinets are just boxes, how hard can it be". I've built many cabinet boxes over the years. I can guarantee that not one of them is 100% square.

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I have built a bunch and nary a one was perfectly square. It is, in my experience, possible to make wood square. It is possible to get close. The closer you can get the better your project will turn out and the easier it will be. What is tough is trying to join the imperfection out of a piece. Takes a minute to realize it is easier to get close before joining than it is to make adjustments in the next steps...