Tabla de contenidos para Woodsmith Shop TV 2025 en Woodsmith

Furniture has a fascinating way of shaping the space around it. In large rooms, the furniture divides and defines. In smaller rooms, that same furniture seems to expand the area and give it life. The sideboard you see here was inspired by a selection of pieces manufactured in the Hokkaido region of Japan. Interestingly, these designs were based on Dutch furniture, with the intent of recreating the aesthetic of grand European and American homes with a smaller footprint to accommodate typical Japanese housing. Here you’ll find a lifted case and top that provide an airy sense of minimalism. Four sturdy drawers and two compartments with shelves provide plenty of storage despite the small footprint. Additionally, the back panels (shown below) allow this sideboard to function well as either a centerpiece…

When a woodworker hears the word hand plane, the first image that most of us visualize is that of a bench plane. And, I think that’s fair. Most of us were (or will be) introduced to either a bench or block plane as the first real “hand tool” in our shop. However, as a woodworker that tries to blend equal amounts of hand tools and power tools, I think there’s another class of hand planes that most people are aware of, but may not know exactly where they would be used in the shop. I refer to these as joinery planes. When I use the term joinery plane, you would expect that these are planes that cut joinery. And yes, that’s certainly true, but more often than not, I’m actually…

I have too much space — said no one ever. Each tool, storage cabinet, workbench, and machine has to earn its place. One common expectation is that important machines require a permanent position. The second tier of tools can be smaller, benchtop varieties. I fell into the permanent tool trap. A router table serves as a joinery station and shaping tool that I use in nearly every project. The catch: a standalone router table just doesn’t fit in the space I have. I’ve tried several different options. Enter this candidate. Chris Fitch’s design works by keeping the top generously sized. Below the surface, the support and clamping system makes setup speedy. A side benefit: Your router table isn’t tied to a fixed location — or even to your workshop. You…

Book boxes evoke mystery. The same kind of mystery that lurks in those special bookcases — the ones where you tilt out a certain book and part of the bookcase opens to a hidden passage. As you see in the photos above and at left, the two books bear all the anatomy of a standard book, but they’re structurally different. The front and back boards, combined with the leaves of the pages, make up the case. The drawer consists of the spine, which is the drawer front, attached to the drawer box that slides into the case. We’ll get to the drawers later. Here we’ll build the identical cases. The horizontal case top and bottom are made of cherry and the vertical case is made of walnut. PAGES FIRST. Cut…

Tool storage takes a myriad of forms, but there’s an excellent case for keeping some tools front and center where they’re needed the most: right over your workbench. This handy tool rack is big enough to hold your go-to necessities, and is a blank canvas you can modify for your tools and specific needs. A lot of landscape in these pages has been dedicated to large tool chests and cabinets, and with good reason. But smaller solutions like this around your shop absolutely deserve the same level of attention and customization that these larger storage options get. We’re not going to go into too much detail on the tool holders you see at the bottom of the rack in these photos. They’re meant to inspire you to make your own…

As libation-oriented basement furniture from the 1950s goes, the homage you see to the right has a lot going for it. First, by comparison to the bars of the past that were built into the room with dimensional lumber and dressed with grass mats, it’s light and unattached to the room it resides in. Mobility is a good thing. Second — no grass mats. That’s not to say there isn’t a place for the Tiki genre of party rooms, just not here. That’s enough from the history side of things — let’s take a closer look at this bar. GOOD WOOD. Starting at the top, we’ve got nicely contrasting thick African mahogany that’s the gentle yet firm focal point of the bar. The case parts are plywood, veneered with African…

Choosing the right tool storage for your workshop can be a daunting task. There’s no shortage of cabinets, chests, and shelving options that can be built or bought, but your most-used tools just tend to disappear into them. So if you’re looking for the perfect solution for your everyday tool set, a handy tool tote like this one is the way to go. The goal was to design a tool tote that was large enough to carry the essentials, light enough to move around, and laid out so everything you could need would be visible at a glance. A magnetically locking drawer was added to store smaller items that tend to disappear at the bottom of the deeper trays. The thoughtfulness continues to the construction techniques and materials as well.…

Nothing brings people together quite like a good game. It’s a wonderful way to spend an afternoon — and an evening too, depending on the game in question. However, where to host the game is always an issue. Should we clear off the dining table, or all crowd around the coffee table in the living room? A felt-top, break-down poker table is always an option, but often an unsatisfying one, with its wobbly legs and layers of dust after being hauled out of a closet or garage. And what if the game isn’t finished by the end of the night? Should we leave the game sitting out, or begrudgingly declare a draw? As an avid game player, whether of the card, board, or dice variety, I was naturally intrigued by…

Making boxes is a double delight. As a woodworker, I find the process a fun time in the shop. For the recipient of the box, there’s a joy in taking in the craftsmanship — then figuring out what to put inside. That task is a bit easier with this project. It’s ideal for the letter writer, journaler, or artist in your circle of friends and family. The box finds inspiration from a vintage pencil case Dillon Baker came across. A sliding lid acts as a lock and conceals a small ruler. Two layers of compartments hold the writing instruments of choice. A pocket on the end lets you keep a small sharpener within easy reach. On a project like this, I’ve found that if you’re gonna make one, might as…

Considering how quick picture frames are to build, they sure are rewarding. With the simple ideas and instructions provided here, your finished frames will look every bit as nice as ones that you’d find in a frame shop. And since you can build them out of scraps, the cost will be next to nothing. Each of the moldings on the next few pages can be made with just a few common router bits. (You’ll need a router table and a table saw to rip the stock to width.) MITERING. Making a frame is essentially a two-step process. First, you have to make the frame molding. There's plenty of options here, and you'll find some of our favorites in these next few pages. The second step is to miter the molding.…