If you've had wooden furniture in your living space for a while, chances are that you've accumulated at least a couple of nicks and scratches on the surface. Before you spend money on a professional wood refinisher to restore the surface, try out some of the DIY techniques below using common household items to minimize the visibility of the scratch.
Restoring wood furniture takes time and patience, but the results of your labor can be enjoyed for years, even generations. The restoration process usually involves stripping off old finishes, bleaching, staining and then varnishing. Two-Part Hydrogen Peroxide is a strong bleach that will lighten wood and remove previously applied finish stain, providing you with a fresh new surface to refinish.
Professional finisher Peter Gedrys details how to mix clear furniture wax with dry pigments and artist's oil colors to create decorative finishes, man-made patinas, and color-matched protective finishes for furniture. Gedrys provides three recipes for making colored wax and shows off various mixing techniques. Mix and apply wax when finishing furniture.
When that dusty old dresser you have starts looking more fit for Grandma than your sleek 21st century home, it may be time to refinish.
This video shows how to produce the mortise and tenon joinery unique to rustic furniture made from found branches and sticks. There are a number of obstacles to overcome, including aligning parts and ensuring square and level construction. Build joinery for rustic furniture.
Conceptual furniture project by designer Kai Linke proposes the idea of growing furniture from plant roots.
When restoring older wood furniture you will probably encounter dark rings and black spots, which are caused by water stains. Oxalic acid is a moderate bleach that will remove these stains even if they have penetrated the wood surface. Oxalic acid will also remove finish stain applied previously and lighten the wood for a fresh new look. Restoring wood furniture takes time and patience, but the results of your labor can be enjoyed for years, even generations. The restoration process usually i...
These instructional animated slides teach you how to easily fold a Japanese paper coaster. Learn how to use the Japanese art of origami to make your own paper coasters. Use the start, stop, forward and back buttons to easily follow along. You can also speed up the instructional origami video if it is going too slow. Very cool Japanese origami how-to video! Origami a Japanese paper coaster.
Jeremy Reid has created what quite possibly may be every child, teenager and adult's dream: the backyard roller coaster. This thing sure beats my childhood swing set.
Stripping furniture or woodwork can be like a treasure hunt, revealing a beautiful wood surface beneath old paint and varnish. An old finish can be removed mechanically using a sander, but you run the risk of sanding off fine detail and contours in the woodwork. Chemical stripping enables you to soften the finish and then remove it with a scraper. Chemical stripper will remove most painted, shellacked or varnished finishes. For complete, step-by-step instructions for this DIY project, watch t...
Applying topcoat is the final step in successfully refinishing your furniture piece. Water-Based Polyurethane Topcoats are strong, durable and are favored because they dry crystal clear, allowing the beauty of the wood grain to show.
Tommy surfs the long board in the shop and then tackles the first cuts of the bombe secretary cabinet sides. This is a critical part of the secretary since it determines the real look and feel of the piece of furniture.
When John Ivers grew tired of the long lines at amusement parks, he decided to build his very own roller coaster - in his backyard. Called the Blue Flash, the roller coaster is said to have the same safety standards as official park coasters, and even has a 360 degree loop.
Lots of people attempt coasters in this way. But this is the first one I have ever found that seems to really work and is truly COASTER LIKE.
The Redneck Roller Coaster is the invention of Dave Rock, a Canadian garbage picker and nudist. He has also fathered many children, two of whom he 'made for lezbians'.
Outdoor furniture is made of a lot of different things: Wood, iron, aluminum, even plastic. Dust, dirt, mold, mildew and moss on your outdoor furniture can be cleaned off almost immediately with a pressure washer. Watch this how-to video and learn to use a pressure washer to clean your outdoor garden furniture. Use a pressure washer to clean outdoor furniture.
MIT students get to have all the fun... Mike Nawrot and Romain Teil constructed their fully-functional, homemade wooden roller coaster in just two weeks, aptly named the Reverse Cowgirl. We've seen lots of thrill-seeking backyard contraptions, but this one imprisons the rider in a freaky vertical position:
If you're not into making your own Scrabble coasters out of Scrabble tiles, these are the next best thing (though a little more complicated). And better than having tons of tiles on the same coaster is just being one tile itself, so you can make words out of the coasters! Though these are undeniably cool, Pete Prodoehl of RasterWeb!, the mastermind behind these coasters, is calling this his beta versions. Why? Some minor problems with sanding, cork, and staining. I still think they look prett...
What you can do to your stairs, windows, and furniture to protect your child from falls. Never leave baby on furniture, make windows childproof, install gates by staircases, remove cushions and sharp edge furniture, secure heavy furniture and install reverse motion sensors on electric garage doors. Prevent your child from falling.
Prefer a clear, hand-rubbed, "antique" finish to the shiny or satin sheen of varnishes? Then you will want to use a tung oil-based topcoat applied over an oil-based stain when you are staining or refinishing your special piece of furniture.
Roller Coast ThrillI Have an great idea.....I Think You Should Stick Your Body on the outside front of an roller coaster.
Sanding sealers, also called first-coat sealers by some manufacturers, are recommended when refinishing furniture. Although using a sanding sealer is a good step to take regardless of the type of stain you are using, it is especially necessary when using water-based stains. Apply the sanding sealer after you have bleached your furniture, but before you have applied the stain. Sanding sealers provide an important barrier to keep the wood pitch and stain from bleeding into the water-based topco...
Tommy has finished the box frame with front work and blocking attached. Now it's time to make the astragal for the pediment. An astragal can be an architectural element used at the top or base of a column, and it is also used as a framing device on furniture. He drank extra coffee so his hands are nice and steady for the astragal work.
Whether you're a coffee fiend or beer enthusiast, having good coasters is necessary to prevent watermarks from forming on your tables. But instead of going out and buying a set, consider making some custom ones yourself that match you and your home's personality.
There are tons of materials you can use to make your own coasters, from wine corks to old magazines, but something as basic as concrete can look surprisingly sleek. These DIY concrete coasters by Blair over on Man Made DIY look great and are super cheap and easy to make. All you need is a box of quick set concrete, some plastic cups, sandpaper, and felt if you want to line the bottoms. The process is simple—just mix up the concrete in the cups, let it set, remove it, and sand down any rough e...
Tommy and Al dedicate this podcast to answering the question of the week: What is the best way to attach legs to a column? With explicit instructions, they demonstrate how to use dovetails to get the legs and columns to fit together “nice and tight.”
Tommy and Al dive into discussing bellflowers with special guests Eli and Brian. Tommy, woodworking master, demonstrates how he made the lines on the table leg. He then reviews how to make the bellflowers and Eli cuts them. Afterwards, Tommy and Brian discuss their furniture work so far.
Bored of your living room furniture? As a weekend DIY project, one easy way to give new life to old wooden furniture is to add a new coat of paint. All you need are a drop cloth to cover the floor, sandpaper and sanding sponges, primer, latex paint, a foam roller, synthetic bristle brushes, and a well-ventilated room to paint the furniture in.
Tommy works on the interior of the hidden box. He’s added document drawers and a false back. He says, “It’s a pretty cool little thing, and I’m having fun making it.”
Before Tommy can get started cutting and shaping the pigeonhole assembly, he needs to select the style and get a 1:1 scale plan together. Tommy walks us through his thought process on selecting the style and how he prepares to cut.
Watch Al, Bobby, and Tommy discuss (with big words) some table saw safety tips and demo the Saw Stop table saw. Tommy breaks down the process of setting the saw up, engaging the safety systems, firing the blade break and resetting the saw.
Tommy (with Al asking the tough questions) walks you through the process of making simple dovetails and some classic "George Washington wooden teeth".
Everybody loves a good fair ground ride and so why not give them something to panic about more than a few bloody pranks?
Tiny Furniture directed by, written and starring Lena Durham. Film shot on 7D wins SxSW juried “best film” prize
According to Google's (albeit rough) translation from French to English: "A big wheel in India that does not work with an engine but using human power. Men throw themselves in front of the wheel to rotate due to their weight."
Dirk Auer has set a new world record…for insanity. This past July, the adrenaline junkie raced down the rickety, wooden Mammoth roller coaster at 56mph, in his specially made inline skates. Auer made it through the entire length of the roller coaster (2820 feet) in just over a minute.
Genius or retard? Such an impossibly fine, fine line. Imagine if MacGyver got hit by a hillbilly stupid stick. Extremely amusing. And yes, washing machine parts are integral to this design!$%^&.
Looking for some new furniture? Don't know what to do with that small corner in the living room? Do you need more room for storing and organizing, but that tiny gap of space gives you no real freedom of choice?
If you only see one power tool-related YouTube clip this year, make it WoodWorkingInAction's "Bandsaw Magic." We give this one two totally-not-severed thumbs way up! Want to improve your own woodworking chops? Poke around WonderHowTo's ever-expanding collection of furniture and woodworking video tutorials.
