The objective of my Introduction To Woodshop class is to build two things: a mallet, with which I will use to build all my future furniture, and a simple end table.
The mallet was a lot of fun to make. Making this mallet, I learned all about the power tools and hand tools around the woodshop. It is three pieces of wood: the two halves of the head and the handle. The halves of the head are grooved (with a table saw no less!) to fit the handle. The whole lot is glued together and a sliver of wood is pounded into the top for further tightness.
Here is my mallet, just glued together, waiting to dry. You can see the sliver of wood in the center. I will then spend some time going over it heavily with sandpaper.
The table we are building is two pieces: the table top and the leg structure. The table top is four pieces of wood glued side by side. The leg structure is four 24″ legs glued together into a base on which the table top will rest. Simple. And I learned pretty quickly that this was going to be a flimsy table. As you’ll see in a later post, I joined the legs together with an under-structure (there’s probably a word for that) to make it sturdier.
We doweled the joints to make them stronger. You drill a hole through the two pieces of wood you are joining, pour some glue into the hole and pound a dowel in. Here is a dowel just hammered into place with my mallet. I will then saw off the dowel and sand it down so it’s nice and smooth.
Joinery is the next thing I want to learn. Knowing my joints aren’t weak will make me feel more confident making furniture.
I have not had any significant problems with the construction of either (I am pleased to say) though there are some things I need to improve on.
In particular, I am an impatient sander. I need to slow down and do several more rounds with the power sander. That’s something I will have to work on because I won’t be much of a furniture maker with hasty sanding jobs. But that’s what I hoped to gain from this class: lessons in patience.
