Awesome Woodworking

Cory from Fortress Fine Woodworks found inspiration for this table from a classic toy – the Spirograph. After gluing pieces of rustic walnut wood to form a tabletop, he 3D-printed a set of giant gears and used them as a guide for carving a pattern with a router. It took him multiple passes and patches to get clean lines, but the result was worth the effort.

Martina and Hansi from Nerdforge have filled their space with fantastic, custom-made geek art. Since they needed a new coffee table, they couldn’t just run out to IKEA and buy one. Instead, they created this amazing work of art – a wood table with an incredibly detailed scene of a library underneath its glass top and CNC-carved wooden books on its sides.

USSA shows off the complex process of engineering a quick-release vise that uses 3D-printed gears and ball bearings to move smoothly in and out along a pair of long screw threads. It clamps down firmly with a twist of its lever and opens instantly with a tug. STL files are available here, and a production version is in the works and coming to Kickstarter.

Morley Kert wanted to save floorspace in his workshop, so he had the crazy idea to build an office on the ceiling of the 18-foot-tall space. The over-engineered work pod features a geodesic dome shape with plexi panels and is suspended by a weight-bearing loft structure. We want a version that can be raised and lowered from the ceiling with pulleys.

Feeling down because of his less-than-ideal previous projects, Man Made sought to redeem himself with a significant undertaking that would also bring him inner peace. The result is a desk that doubles as a miniature zen garden. Aside from copious amounts of sand, it also has a bonsai tree, rock-like keyboard keys, and a beautiful chunk of obsidian.

Previously a limited offer, tool maker Woodpeckers’ MT Center Gauge is now permanently in stock. This centering and doweling jig makes it easy to find and mark the center of wood boards by using stainless steel marking bars instead of dowels. There are variants that have marking bars with imperial or metric measurements and a deluxe set with all bars included.

Woodworker Neil Paskin recently made a bunch of beautiful patterned wood veneers. After making a small box that incorporated them, he ramped up the challenge by building a tabletop covered with the patterns. Neil estimates that the pattern has 55,000 individual slivers of wood in it. It looks like a laborious process, but the finished table looks fantastic.

Jonny Builds shows off another impressive piece of furniture – a record cabinet with a segmented wood door. He started by assembling grain-matched panels for the top, bottom, and dividers. To make the door, he took an 8-foot-long black walnut slab, cut it into boards, sliced it into 109 strips, glued them to canvas, and CNC milled the awesomely wavy shapes.

Handmade wood bowls are typically created by turning a block of wood on a lathe. But in this video from Taku Woodcraft, he shows how a miter saw can cut a perfectly smooth bowl shape. Working with a loose piece of wood under a power saw is dangerous, but it appears he had a short dowel under the board to keep it centered. Still, don’t try this at home.

We’re absolutely wild about things that keep everything in its right place. Jason from Epic Upcycling shows off an amazing build – a custom rack for all of his woodworking tools. It’s an impressive piece of cabinetry, and he made it entirely from scrap wood he harvested from shelving units he used to have in his workshop.

When you cover things with resin and let them harden, they can be carved on a lathe, just like wood. In this video from Wood Workshop they show how combining blocks of wood with stacks of colored paper can produce an eye-catching work of functional art.

After creating their Woodworking without Tools video, animator Omozoc was approached by Casio to create a similar short film for them. While the clip is ultimately a promo to celebrate 40 years of G-SHOCK watches, it’s also a wonderfully-executed example of stop-motion animation and smart product placement.

Neil Paskin has created all kinds of awesome things on his Pask Makes YouTube channel. Now, he’s designed a marking knife ideal for woodworking projects. The Dart knife features an arrow-like design, a stainless steel blade, and stitched leather handle scales. It’s a unique and useful addition to any toolbox. Pre-launch pricing ends 9.10.2023.

A typical cabinet might be made from 15 or 20 pieces of wood. Blacktail Studio built this incredible-looking cabinet from about 20 times that many pieces. He started with 300 walnut wood blocks, which he stacked, glued, clamped, and shaped into a unique work of functional art. It took a lot of trial and error to figure out the best way to carve and smooth it.

There’s something so satisfying about woodturning and lathe videos, watching artists carve away at a solid block of material to reveal smooth shapes and interesting patterns. Watch as woodworker Olivier Gomis turns sticks of lumber into what he refers to as an “average size” bowl.

IKEA furniture is perfectly functional but basic by design. Dave from Make Something shows us how he took a $150 IKEA KOLBJÖRN metal cabinet and transformed it into a high-end piece of designer furniture by wrapping and embellishing it with wood. He also improved its versatility by adding a top shelf and a removable serving tray.