A Simple Woodworking Project In Five Steps For Beginners

Have you ever wanted to find a simple piece of furniture to fit neatly into a particular empty space, but couldn't find a suitable item? The pieces in stores were either too wide, too narrow, too tall or just not the right thing. The solution might be to simply make the item yourself, even if you have little woodworking experience. These five steps can serve as a guide.

For a simple woodworking project, I'll use as an example, building an ordinary book shelve unit. It doesn't take a lot of skill, but the more effort you put into it the better the project will turn out and therefore the greater the satisfaction. Other items could be built using similar effort and steps. You want to save money by doing the job yourself with quality materials but with as few tools as possible. Besides, this particular job could be built in your room with little mess or dust.

Step 1; Make a rough drawing or sketch.

The first step should be to make a rough sketch of the wood project followed by a number of more detailed drawings showing actual dimensions and several views using a scale of, for instance, one inch equals one foot. You have probably seen a number of these shelve units in stores and therefore have a pretty good idea what the project should look like. Keep modifying or adding to your plans as you get new ideas.

Step 2; Search the net for ideas, information and plans.

The next step could be to search the net for woodworking plans. Today's net is loaded with all kinds of wood projects along with detailed plans and information on how to build them. You may not find a plan that has the exact measurements you want, but close to it, and be carefull because some plans may not be very accurate or even misleading and hard to follow. There are however some excellent woodworking project packages available on the net that could be of help in the planning stage. The more time you spend searching and reading, the more you will learn and the more confidence you develop to get on with the job.

Step 3; Get more details by browsing through building supply stores.

A third step would be to browse around in large building supply stores such as Home Depot, Lowes or similar ones to see what materials are available. Make sure you have a tape measure with you to check the length or width of some of the finished shelves that could be used. They usually have a good variety in stock. If none of them are really suitable, then look at the assortment of four by eight sheets. They usually come in several kinds wood such as plywood or pressed wood with a variety of wood grain finishes or colors and in a variety of thicknesses. These could be cut up to make the shelves and side pieces. A thinner sheet of the same pattern could be cut up to fit as a back piece.

Step 4; Iron out all the problems.

Now you can see a problem. You don't want to purchase a table saw to cut up the sheets at this point in time and besides, you might be scared to use one. Most of the large stores do custom cutting or sawing for a small charge.

Now its time to go back to your drawings. Take a sheet of paper and make a scale drawing of a 4x8 sheet and mark in the lines of the exact measurements of the shelves to be cut. Remember, the width of the saw blade is about one eighth of an inch and should be considered when cuts are made. Mark the cutting lines so there will be the least waste of material. This project may require more than one sheet and if only a little more is required, they do stock some smaller sizes of the same material such as 4x4 and 4x2. If you are using a woodgrain pattern, make sure that the grain goes lengthwise on the pieces to be cut.

Another problem will be how to finish the rough edges of the shelves and sides that will show at the front of the project. The stores usually have a large variety of all kinds of matching strips that can be glued on and the store personnel would be happy to help you select them and show you how to apply them.

Step 5; Purchase materials only after all details are in place.

Don't hesitate to make several trips to the store and don't purchase any materials, special tools or begin the project until you have every last detail of the plans figured out. This would include locating the wood for the shelves and sides, the fasteners or screws to put it together and the paint or stains to cover the wood.

By following these steps, a beginner should be able to do this woodworking project with only a few tools, with little mess or dust and with a good degree of confidence. After doing a good job with a simple project, you should handle much more advanced ones. There can be great satisfaction and enjoyment in a job well done.