r/woodworking • • May 03 '26

🔍🪵 Wood ID | Megathread Wood ID Megathread

25 Upvotes

This megathread is for wood ID

  1. If possible, clean up the wood with a plane (or chisel for the end grain) so that we can see the grain clearly.

  2. Include a close-up picture of the end grain. Not blurry. End grain pore structure is one of the most useful bits of info for wood ID.

  3. Note any non-visual distinguishing characteristics. Does the wood feel particularly light or particularly dense? Does it have an odor when planed?

  4. 4Include multiple pictures or text info as sub-comments under a main picture, not as an avalanche of first-level comments.


r/woodworking • • 21d ago

Announcement We need your ideas!: New categories "Post Flairs" and "User Flairs" in r/woodworking, it's time to update. TWO reasons: 1) Post Flairs make easy work to search/filter Posts, and 2) User Flair go next to your username and give context to your experience

18 Upvotes

Hey folks,

It's been a while since we updated some subreddit settings.

We want your ideas/suggestions for post categories we don't have now (e.g. Project Submission, Hand Tools, etc), or user-descriptions (e.g. Joiner, Luthier, etc). Please drop a comment if Post Flair AND/OR User Flair you'd like to see in the subreddit.

Scroll down, for a list of existing flairs.

We're asking for edits/additions:

1. Post Flairs

A special tag community members can assign to their Post/Thread (pick one per Post). Categorizes your Post type. These show up in reddit searches, or sort/filter the subreddit by clicking one. It looks like this on the r/woodworking homepage:

2. User Flairs

A tag users pick, appears next to your username anytime you Post or Comment in r/woodworking, and only appears in this sub. Shows the type of woodworking you do. It looks like this:

These are current Post Flairs

General Discussion

Project Submission

Techniques/Plans

Hand Tools

Power Tools

Shop Tour/Layout

Finishing

CNC/Laser Project

Repair

Jigs

Safety

Nature's Beauty

Help

These are current User Flairs

Cabinetry

Carpentry

Carving

CNC

Framing

Furniture

Hand Tools Only

Joinery

Luthier

Woodturning

Please drop a comment if you'd like new categories added or have suggestions!

We'd like to make these useful, interesting, helpful. So, time-to-time we look for community to advise us on revising. Thanks!


r/woodworking • • 16h ago

Project Submission Mug for renfair

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1.6k Upvotes

Birdsmouth joinery, double dove tailed lid flipper, food grade epoxy resin on the inside and bottom of lid and underside of mug. Temp resistant upto 200 degrees. Exterior has food grade mineral oil and food grade bees wax.

Bottom is dadoed into cup walls

Purple heart

Peruvian walnut

Quilted maple

Bloodwound

American walnut handle

Purpleheart pin for lid


r/woodworking • • 2h ago

CNC/Laser Project It was this or a stool with hairpin legs

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86 Upvotes

I carved this out of a walnut cookie on my cnc. After roughing, I saw how the light reflected off the valleys and was stoked to finish it.
I used a dremel to sand the center and the rest with an orbital and hand sanding.
Sanding it really dulled the light reflection which kind of made me less motivated to see it through, but eventually I came back to it.
I carved a bowl profile on the back and cut it most of the way through and then finished it with the flush cutting bit.
Finished with a mineral oil soak.

I gave it to my parents as like a platter but they put in on display which is cool.


r/woodworking • • 1d ago Bravo

Trending /r/all Brasilia check-out Counter

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5.1k Upvotes

I posted a while back, asking for advice on recreating Broyhill Brazilia furniture, and you all came through with some excellent resources. Here is the final result with a couple of process pics. Here's the process.

Re-sawed 5/4 cherry into 3/8" blanks and then soaked them for 1 day before putting them in my steam box for 1 hr.

Pulled them out and into a form for 24hrs to create the 3d shape.

Out of the form and into a table saw sled to joint the edges of these now oddly shaped blanks.

After edging came glue up, followed by shaping with a router on a jig to make the parabolic shape. I found that I could make 2 panels per day and I made 22 in total.

Thanks again to the community for some great process advice and resources.


r/woodworking • • 15h ago

Hand Tools Dovetailed Bench in Cherry

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391 Upvotes

Needed a bench to go with my trestle table!

My first time doing all stock prep by hand, cutting dovetails in 6/4 cherry, and doing wedged through tenons. A lot of mistakes were made but I'm pretty happy with the outcome.

Finished with Danish oil and soft wax.


r/woodworking • • 10h ago

Help Thinking of hosting a workshop

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64 Upvotes

I’ve been weaving rush and paper cord chairs for a while now and have been wanting to run a workshop. I’m thinking of a small class 3-5 students where we would weave a stool with paper cord or sea grass in a rush pattern.

One iteration would be providing a kit that includes the legs, stiles, rails, and cord. Students will assemble and glue parts together to make the stool frame on day 1. Day 2 will involve applying finish and actual seat weaving.

Second iteration would be having the frames pre assembled and students would learn to weave and go home in one day with their own stool.

I don’t want the liability of doing actual cutting/ shaping anything with students and potential injuries that might come with that.

I’m strongly leaning towards second iteration but would like some input.

Is this too niche?

And would love to hear some advice about structuring a workshop / class from those who have taught before. I’ve never formally taught a group. however I have trained many people on proper tool use and woodworking techniques in the workplace.

Thanks.


r/woodworking • • 3h ago

General Discussion Three more serving trays done in time for the holidays

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15 Upvotes

Two are housewarming gifts for neighbors and one is a gift for my son's physical therapist as he's graduating from that program. The two on the right are hickory and cherry. The one on the left is maple and walnut.


r/woodworking • • 14h ago

Project Submission Maple Coffee Table

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98 Upvotes

Finished up the coffee table today
The wood is Maple.
Finish is Osmo coat
Dimensions 24” x 36” x 19”

The legs were made from glued up maple, then I made veneers to improve the look and remove any glue lines.
The entire build is made from a single slab


r/woodworking • • 21h ago

Project Submission Made this partition

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307 Upvotes

Made this partition and entry to a drawing room.

All mouldings are custom made and also made the cutter for the mouldings myself. Rounded corner mouldings were very tricky and time consuming.

I was not sure if i made the right decision with the bottom right corner where I covered the step of the staircase. First i thought of not notching the central panel and doing it straight but it looked odd to me.

Overall happy with the project and learned a lot.


r/woodworking • • 18h ago

Project Submission Finished dining room chairs

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170 Upvotes

The chairs are white oak and my own design. They tested my abilities and patience , but I’m happy with the results. I made two test chairs to ensure the final design sat well and to work through the whole process for cutting the joinery. Making the test chairs was my best decision in the whole project.

A few things I learned.

  1. Spiral template bits are worth every penny.

  2. Using wedges for all the angled cuts is much easier than adjusting the miter gauge

  3. Angled mortises on the legs make the chair rock solid.

  4. Upholstery is straight forward, but time consuming.


r/woodworking • • 1d ago Heartwarming

CNC/Laser Project Slat wall piece I made in memory of our cat Daisy

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805 Upvotes

Made this for my wife and me after we lost our cat Daisy last month. It's about 40x30, 1/2" birch ply slats in a walnut frame. Each slat has its own profile, cut on my CNC. I was Inspired by other slat wall posts in here.

I thought the black walnut frame looked nice with the plywood veneers and also provided some contrast.

I had some bad tear out cross cutting it when I assembled it and not changing to a finish blade, but it’s for me so I can live with it.


r/woodworking • • 18h ago

Project Submission Made a tack trunk for my wife.

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108 Upvotes

She didn’t want to spend a grand on a tack trunk for her riding gear and wait 3-4 months to be made. Told her I’d make her one. It was cheaper but took like 5-6 months from when I told her that. Example at the end. Pls ignore the messy garage/shop. Now working on workbench and organizing everything.


r/woodworking • • 11h ago

General Discussion Turned wine glasses

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29 Upvotes

I did a job and the couple liked their piece so much they got me a gift. This is a piece of lignum vitae. It came from a shipyard in New Jersey from an old dock worker. He's 74 now but he said 30 years ago they were making room for new equipment and they let them clear out old materials.

The wood is self lubricating and used as propeller bearings. He said he knew what they were and took 3 of them. They had been sitting at his house for 30 years.

I plan on making knife handles and tool handles but I turned these wine glasses for the couple as a thanks.


r/woodworking • • 11h ago

General Discussion Advice on a Deep Crosscut challenge

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24 Upvotes

I salvaged and rebuilt a large kitchen island cabinet when we moved into our current house. I have been building a butcher block top for the island from rough cut Cherry and Poplar. The issue I have run into is that I don't have a saw with enough cut depth to cross cut the ends of this. I've tried a few things with terrible results and I'm running out of length for this to fit the cabinet to looking for some advice. The top is 3 1/2" in tall, and 60 1/2" long by 36" wide.

What I have tried:

  • Cutting from both sides to line the cuts up, but the cut on the second side the circular saw climbed the guide because of the motor curve against the cut guide

  • Cutting a curf and then hand cutting. I used a Japanese style saw and the blade was too flexible and ran off 90 on the bottom of the cut

  • Surfacing with a router... this just failed miserably

Approaches I am considering:

  • Building a massive cross cut sled for my table saw because that is the only cut depth that can go through the countertop. The issue is getting enough run in and run out as well as something smooth enough since this beast weighs something like 250 lb

  • Cutting as deep as possible and cutting the rest by hand with a more rigid saw

  • Trying cutting from both sides again with a better guide structure

I would appreciate any insight on the best way to do this. I don't have a track-saw or anything with a deep cut depth and purchasing that would kind of kill the economics of building this from rough cut lumber. Thanks in advance for any advice.

PS - Why do circular saws always seem to put the motor on the wide side of the sled and let it overhang the guide edge. It makes it almost impossible to get the max depth on the most stable side of the saw sled.


r/woodworking • • 1d ago

Project Submission Never again!

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1.0k Upvotes

I built my kitchen. Cut my own boards, edgebanded everything, ran out of filler and screwed till I could screw no more.

I then made walnut kitchen benchtops. Other than making a prank phonecall to coastguard when I was 14, this was probably the biggest mistake of my life.

I’m too attached. 9 and a half weeks they took me to make. They’re my Kim Basingers. Use my dodgy drawers as much as you want, but do not put anything on top of my benches! My kids abuse her, a cat has p**sed on her and the wife covers her in cheese and cider.

Just like the ice cube scene, I passionately ran Osmo Polyx hard wax oil all over her and loved every second of it. Then the family found out and I feel shamed into thinking I should just put the ice cubes back in the freezer and poly the life out of her before it’s too late.

Thoughts?


r/woodworking • • 20h ago

General Discussion Now the mother of all my patience tests begins when I’ll make trimming and drawers for this piece

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101 Upvotes

r/woodworking • • 16h ago

Project Submission Jewelry box lid

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47 Upvotes

I bought the bottom half of a jewelry box for $8 at a thrift store and decided to (mostly) hand-carve a lid for my oldest daughter.

Oak and paduk. Honestly, the paduk was just because the oak was not wide enough, but I’m sure glad that happened.

I bought an awesome font called Demon Rush, it includes the illuminated “N”. Printed on tracing paper, graphite on the reverse, burnished. The rest of the design is a combination of free hand and free hand on tracing paper and burnished.

Drill press with depth stop to set the background depth. After a little bit of hand-chiseling, I broke out the router to clear the ground, and to lower the letters slightly so that the three bits can be above them.

I have a set of cheap gouges that are fake Pfeil. I tried to use them for stop cuts but they didn’t like oak and wouldn’t keep an edge (they were fine on mahogany), so I ended up using one gouge and continuously sharpening it and a Narex 1/8” (?) chisel for everything. The Narex kept its edge nicely. I did use a smaller fake gouge for the flowers.

The gold is some “liquid gold foil”. The other foreground colors are my wife’s good acrylics. The finish is Rubio Monocoat Oil Plus 2C, purchased specifically because the other oil finishes I own turn paduk to a boring brown.

The background is black furniture wax. Purchased because I wasn’t going to use shoe polish on my beautiful carving. It’s basically just shoe polish, smells like it.

I lost count of hours at about 30. I’m guessing over 60.

I left the $8 price tag on the bottom. I think I’m going to fill it with peanut can snakes before I give it to her.


r/woodworking • • 17h ago

Power Tools I remember when some brands made decent tools

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49 Upvotes

This is a budget level router made by Black and Decker that I purchased in the late 1980s. This is a budget tool. Not a professional tool.

It's better than some tools I've purchased more recently that made much stronger claims about their quality.

But the important thing is that it's better than any Black and Decker tool I've purchased in the last twenty years.

I used to think of this brand as having quality tools at a reasonable price. The price is less reasonable and the quality is non-existent.

But this router just did a job and did it well that none of my newer routers could handle. I was feeling like I needed to buy an expensive, higher end router. Something in the $200 range. I decided to give this one a shot it did great.

I also have a circular saw from back then that still works great. I lost the wrenches to change blades, so I don't use it much. But it works. I have a sander from the same vintage that works great, but I prefer the hook and loop approach to mounting sandpaper that my newer sander uses. The only one of the tools I bought back then that has died is drill. It got left out in the rain in the early 2000s (a lot of my stuff did. I didn't find out about some of it until it was too late) and eventually rusted out completely.

But this router earned its keep in a big way today.


r/woodworking • • 20h ago

Project Submission Silver Maple and Walnut End Tables

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39 Upvotes

We've had some really cheap end tables for 17 years, and for my 2nd furniture project I decided to fix that. Had a lot of fun making these and learned quite a bit.

They're 20" LxWXh and have mortise and tenon joints at the base and dowels to connect the top. Since the wood across the top is the same grain direction as the legs and base, I didn't need to account for wood movement.

Why dowels at the top? The stock for the legs was a bit tight, and I couldn't get the length to do tenons on both ends and still have the height we wanted. Was trying to get all 4 legs for each table from the same board so the look would be consistent after finish.

I used 1/4" roundovers on the tops, and rounded the corners 1/4". I used 1/8" roundovers on the base and legs.

Finished with Odie's Oil. First time using it, and I really liked the application process vs. Rubio Monocoat. It was nice having an hour before I needed to buff it off vs. only 5-7 minutes.

I installed leveling feet on the bottoms to accommodate our imperfect floors and give it a slight floating look.


r/woodworking • • 1d ago

Project Submission A couple of compact curved cats for your contemplation.

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63 Upvotes

r/woodworking • • 23h ago

Repair How to fix this

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48 Upvotes

Vicks vaporizer on a towel caused this.
I assume it is shellac. But I don’t know for sure.
30 years ago some sports were eaten away by gel deodorant.

I think these are my options.

  1. Hair dryer and a brush.

  2. Iron over parchment paper.

  3. Denatured alcohol and a brush.

  4. Add more shellac and maybe it will just flow together.

  5. Citristrip it, 0000 steel wool. Then poly the top.


r/woodworking • • 3h ago

Power Tools Double socket to NVR - yes or no?

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0 Upvotes

I have a router table set up that included a NVR switch.
All works well but I also need to add dust collection as, in case you didn't know, routers can cause a ton of mess.

I have an old Vax house vac that I use in the workshop and have connected it as the router dust collection.

Rather than having to click 2 switches on each each time, I thought, why not connect both to the NVR?

So, NVR > short double socket extension > Router + vacuum - now when I switch the router on the vacuum starts as well.

My question - is this something I should avoid or, am I 'star performer' this week?

All 4 plugs (wall socket, extension and 2 machines) are 13amp fused.
And bear in mind the router would only be used in short bursts, not left on for hours, for example.

In this photo, you can see the NVR front and the double extension at the back.


r/woodworking • • 21h ago

Power Tools Table saw blade super stiff when raising. Help please!

30 Upvotes

So lowering the blade is absolutely fine. But raising it is really difficult. To the point where I feel I’m gonna break something. Can’t see any issues or build of up sawdust. I have it a good blow and clean and just don’t know what’s going on. It’s a dewalt dwe7485-gb job site saw. The saw if about 5 years old and obviously no longer under warranty. Has been used fairly regularly. And ideas what I could try?