How do I make things from wood?

Looking for tips on how to go about learning to make things from wood.

I’ve always liked the idea of making things from wood, but haven’t had a catalyst.

Now I have a very large amount of hardwood, plenty of storage, and a requirement for several pieces of furniture. A bed, outdoor furniture, island bench come to mind.

These logs are between 500mm and 800mm diameter.

There a guy on here that carves using a chainsaw isn’t there?

Or am I imagining that?😐

Chainsaw carving is cool… not sure it would work for a bed though at 900kg/sqm 🤣

Well, you need someone with a correct bandsaw to cut your logs. Someone who would come down with a truck and do it for you.
Then air dry them give or take for a year or two
Once they are air dried you’d want to store them in your workshop for some time to reach equilibrium in regards to the moisture content.

Then you can start dimensioning individual boards and working on actual projects.
That’s a very short version of said process.

For the outdoor stuff you can do things with green timber, but I know nothing about working with this type of woods.

Altho, having those logs, you’d make a decent money if you air dried them and sold whatever you don’t make into your bed or kitchen island. Depending on the quality of the logs, species and if they are rotten/disease free.

Otherwise, a lot quicker could be trying to find a buyer who’d come down, cut those logs take it away and so on, and you’d get on to buy the boards needed from people who do it for a living.

Not in any rush as the house needs rebuilding and lead times are painful.
We’ll probably use some of it for replacing the smashed deck.
I have a guy lined up with a Lucas Mill. One of the Tallowwood trees was felled two years ago so on its way. The rest is a mix of fresh Tallow, Blackbutt, and I think Turpentine.

I was thinking more about advice for learning the skills to do it justice. The Blackbutt destroyed our current bed so especially want to use that.

Nice! You need to find a sawmill to process the wood and then dry it and finish it. Folk do do DIY chainsaw milling but have a look for yourself see if you think it looks like something you want to try. You’d still need a means of moving the logs.

I’ve been getting a bit into making simple furniture over the last year or so. Bed, benches, cabinets and the like. It’s a fun learning process and after a dozen or so projects I’m probably just at the at the stage where I can make something really decent using simple joints. Definitely just get started and see where it takes you.

What I’ve learned is a lot of the effort is in the planning stage – being able to draw or CAD your project accurately and translate that into the materials and cut list is so important. It reduces wasted materials but also means you can concentrate on cutting things accurately following a clear list. For furniture to look decent you need to aim for less than a mm out which is hard if you’re doing sums in your head and thinking about what goes where. Working “free hand” is OK to a point but when you consider how many bits are in a bench or bed it’s very hard.

I’ve also found making big things is harder than small things. The tolerance you need is the same but the cuts are longer and materials harder to handle. Definitely worth trying something like a box or small cabinet to get your hand in. Garden furniture also if you can accept a bit more of a rustic finish.

Where to go to learn depends on your starting point.

I started at zero and used a lot of YouTube which is useful for general advice as long as you can tolerate Americans and realised that you don’t need 15 specialist tools to do each job – although there is nothing wrong with having lots of tools of course.

You appear to have two stages of fun ahead. The first is to turn tree trunks into useable timber and the second is to turn useable timber into useable furniture. I can’t help with the first beyond saying that unless you are going to be doing it a lot, get someone else to do it or at least just hire the tools.

Turning timber into useful stuff is fun but a lot of the time is planning what you want to build and how you are going to do it. You do not want to get 3/4 way through and discover that you need to screw the next piece of wood but the screw has to come from the inside a closed box you have spent a week completing.

I did the cabin design and build of this having never previously build anything more substantial than a shelf. I was careful to make the dimensions fit standard wood lengths to minimise the amount of cutting and risk of errors but here is it in the free drawing/planning tool I use, Sketchup. I bought a 2nd hand table saw for cutting long stuff and a cheap(ish) chop saw for quick and accurate cross cuts – I could have got away with a hand saw but wanted easy life and tools. The surprise to me was the router which I thought was a luxury by I used it for all the window beads, the trim pieces and to generally make the job looked finished – it paid for itself on day one by turning rough cut timber into the quartic window bead to hold the glass in, quartic beads for 6 of the 8 windows was the cost of the router.

Here is it part built with the two sliding doors leaning agains that garage wall

And here it is complete. About 8 weeks to build witht he help of MrsWCA and still standing just fine many years later

So, go on YouTube do lots of R&D*. Buy a chop saw or a table saw to speed the cutting and a router to add fancy edges so it looks nicer and you don’t have to buy fancy trims and then build stuff.

*Rip off and duplicate

Lucas Mill is decent mobile mill but won’t necessarily give a furniture level of finish depending on sharpness and species, but definitely good enough for decking and outdoor stuff.
Cut boards big, don’t limit yourself to off the shelf sizes. I milled boards at 13″x1″ for a shed and it certainly speeds up the cladding 😄

Consider or find somewhere with a big bandsaw for resaw or thicknesser planer to re profile and finish once dried. Will give better faces to work with and finish.

Mitre saw covers a lot basic cutting and jointing. My carpentry is mostly agricultural, but improves with practice.

Edit: which coast? I know a lad that set up some milling co-op type stuff north of Perth somewhere.

Thanks for the tips.
I’m in Queensland, but the guy with the mill makes some top notch stuff. I’ve got a dodgy cheap mitre saw too. It’s the next steps I’m clueless on.

Design is what you need, hand tools or power/machine, Understand how stuff fits together, mechanical strength of joints, what adehsives, special things like dominoes.

Start with a chopping board and you will learn how to make something flat, constant thicknes, and square on all edges.

I prefer hand tools because its quieter, it generally doesn’t need a mask and create lots of dust… its more satisfying and relaxing. you can still probably chop a finger off but you have to trie a lot harder. Its also not really much slower and its a hell alot cheaper if you don’t subscribe to the “handtools should cost teh same as industrial machinery” approach.

It also teaches you what should be your first powertool…. probably a saw…

Youtube really is a good resource, but as with everythign in woodwork online the comments will be 50% “you should only use handtools/you should only use powertools” and 25% “that is not the technique described in Wilkinson or Rubou and therefore its not correct, irrespective of the outcome its all wrong” but the other 25% can be useful.

I personally think PAul sellers, Richard MAcguire and peter millard were the most useful.Peter and Richard are handtools, they both have an acquired taste especially PAul but the two of them definitely encourage the “just get on with it” approach and produce fine things. Peter Millard is more MDF and Festool but still interesting if you want to go down the more modern cabinet route.

As for the rest of the internet, Derek Cohen is in Oz and probably quite useful for advice on the wood types you have because they’re obscure to the rest of the world!

It’s something I’d like to do but I’m more interested in zen/slow-work/hand-tools than noisy workshops etc

As suggested, start easy ie making cutting boards then move on to simple boxes etc

Agree that Paul Sellers is a great YouTube place to start.  A good sliding mitre saw also makes life a lot easier as you can use it for a while range of jobs.  You can get by with a cheaper one if course but it’s great being able to trust it for things like 45deg angles

“I was thinking more about advice for learning the skills to do it justice. The Blackbutt destroyed our current bed so especially want to use that.“

It’s a little bit hard to advice without knowing more. Just to say, once the bandsaw mill cuts those boards to size, they will change the dimensions in those 1-2 years air drying and will cup, twist and do all sorts of things.
So after that you will need couple of things to make them usable for the furniture like surface planer and thicknesser as a minimum. If you know all of this, I need to apologise for an unsolicited advice, don’t enjoy when people do that to me.

Now on to your point, do you want to do hand tools? Hybrid approach involving both or do you already have a fully equipped wood shop?
This would just help to understand what place you are at. You go to extreme ends on both and have minimum hand/power tools involved, it’s a matter of what on you are happy to part with your money and how much time you want to spend on a single project.

I’d just like to add, as someone working with timber for a living, Paul Sellers is great, but so is Rob Cosman and quite few other people on YouTube. Thing about Paul Sellers is that the skill that that man has with hand has tools does not come from nowhere and takes a long time of practice to develop.

So yeah, would be nice to hear what are your thought on the approach, then take it from there.

If you are happy with hand tools then get some half decent stuff you can rely on. Doesn’t have to cost loads. If you have the power tool itch then take a look at track saws. Pretty much everything else can be done with a little practice by hand. A track saw will save lots of time and give long straight line accuracy that is hard to achieve by hand.
I have a good circular saw that I inherited but wished it was rubbish so I could justify getting a track saw.

Oh and a Japanese pull saw. Only recently got one and it’s a great compliment to the western push saws.

First, 3d print your shape. Then get some of that magic sand from a toy shop, and push your 3d print into it, and then carefully remove. Then, take your molten wood and pour it in. Allow a little bit extra as it’ll contract as it cools.

Just a very pleasing thing to watch really – but if you want to visualise all the steps from ‘tree’ to ‘something you can then make something with’ Frank Howarth’s ‘Tree plays piano’ goes through all of them in a very pleasing fashion – even if its only for the purpose of a joke.

Theres a CNC machine in the mix which isn’t a necessary step but otherwise its all there – as you’ll see having some tree is several steps away from having material thats ready  to start making something with. All steps beyond where he pins a board down to the CNC machine are the things you could do with hand tools or handheld powertools – the point from tree up to that point – not so much

Lap joints and mortise & tenon cover the majority of our barn and countryside furniture construction.

Quite often peg the joints. Drill a hole in a bit of angle iron that you can clamp in a vice. Then just hammer through whittled down offcuts.

And 6″ nails.

Looking for tips on how to go about learning to make things from wood.

Google. Tube. A local mentor. Hell, even books.

Background question, have you made any things from other stuff in the past?

If you’ve got someone to cut the logs into boards that probably better than going to the expense of doing it yourself. But best to weigh up the costs. Big chainsaw(How experienced are you with one) and possibly go down the Alaskan sawmill route. Which is good as you’ll always have it to hand should you want to mill logs in the future, and it certainly doesn’t look like you’re going to run out of those any time soon.

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Plank the boards in a mixture of thicknesses, but take note that for example for 1″ stock, it needs to come off the saw at over 1″, or dressed down size might be too thin. So for 1″, cut to 30mm, for 2″-60mm and so on.

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When you’ve planked your logs, stack them in a pile with evenly thickness of sticks in between to facilitate drying, and maybe construct a little shelter over the top to keep the sun/rain off, while allowing the air to dry them naturally.

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The approximation is 1″ thickness to 1 year drying time. Depending on climate and where you are its likely to be sooner.

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Air dried is best for external joinery, but anything you want to use for the indoors, bring the timber in to acclimatize it to the conditions in the home here its going to spend its time. This will go a long way to prevent warping and splitting

Paint the ends as soon as you can, pretty much with anything to hand. Paint, wax etc, as you might not get around to converting them any time soon, and it will go a long way to preventing the timber from drying end in, which is bad, causing splitting internally(Called ‘shakes’)

Built this ages ago but going to clear some space and build a workbench in my garage to do more intricate stuff.

@Surfer.

That’s lovely. I like the folding double doors. Makes for a good open yet enclosed and covered space for outdoor/indoor bbq parties.

The doors were free. A friend got 3 sets from a company that tests their security and provides kite marks so they were expensive new but had lots of damage that had to be repaired. I just built the rest around them.

Thanks for the YT suggestions, i’ll spend a bit more time looking through.
Hand tools appeal, though i’m not the most patient, so i think it will be hybrid.
I used a mitre saw to build the kids hardwood treehouse, including a 4x4m deck. No complicated joints involved or design really involved there though.
I have a crosscut saw… but that’s maybe not too practical.

I have a good area for storage and drying. Access to a fair amount of tools. My father in law just built a house and is happy for me to use his.
For furniture purposes I suspect i’ll need to kiln-dry. Will probably use some of this stash for cladding on our rebuild too as it meets bushfire safety standards. We still haven’t had a structural assessment to determine how much of the place needs rebuilding…

See if you can find re-runs of The New Yankee Workshop with Norm Abrahams on TV somewhere (maybe even youtube). He used a wide variety of techniques to construct all sorts of things and shows how stuff can be put together.

It’s a bit dated now, but the information is still good.

I imageine a solar kiln might work well for you?

I actually find thatbeing impatient hand tools are better. You make a cut across the grain with a saw and then knock the lump out with chisel, it might over all take longer but there is less faff with machine set ups and if you do make a mistakeyou hopefully realise before you get to far where as with power tools you can be half way through before you bring everything to a stop safely. And its way more fun.

thats my personal experience, nthign worng with power tools but there is more patience required of the “adjust adjust adjust, no to far, adjust back, tighten everything down” kind.

You should have a go with that saw though, a quick tickle with a file and she’ll rip through wood when you get the hang of it.

Have made a certain amount of progress… not looking like i’ll be doing much making yet though.

Have a local guy that’s about to relocate his mill to closer to us, and build a kiln. He made beautiful furniture for my in-laws 10 years back and rather than bring his Lucas mill in* is going to get the timber to his big mill and cut it up.

We’ll get some bridge deck parts, a couple of 6.5+ beams to sell, might just slab and store most of it while we decide what to do with the rest of it.
He’ll make a bed out of the trunk of the tree that took out our bedroom (and bed), a replacement outdoor table, etc.

This bastard:

Turns out we have a mix of Tallowwood, Bloodwood, Gympie Messmate, Blackbutt and Yellow Stringybark.

*Apparently Lucas mills were invented by DH racer Dean Lucas’s dad!

Please keep updating, Reeksy. Fascinating stuff.

Will do @BillMC

Might be a few weeks until we get the wood shifted, but a few things have to happen to make that happen!

Progress is as slow as expected…

This is the base of the tree that went through the house, looking from the other end. It’s about 6m long. That’s going to be chopped in half and will become a new bed and integrated bedside tables.

Unfortunately, to get it out from the back of the house i’ve had to remove another tree. It would have to go to make way for an extension (if we ever get to the point of rebuilding the house!)

Before:

After:

The housesitters seem to be doing a good job for us at least:

Yellow Stringybark

Home to the Long Mover, The Russian Carpet Guy, and the Brown Little Hand Foot Guy.

You mean Hairy Russian Carpet guy surely?

You should at least get a portable saw mill in to plank the logs into boards, probably 2,3 and 4″. Given theres so many trees in your area there’s going to be someone local who will drive on site with the mill and do the work for you.

Or opt for an Alaskan sawmill and do it yourself.

@dyna-ti – have a local guy that will get them back to his place where he can work on it more easily. Says it will be cheaper than bringing his Lucas Mill to site.
There’s a decent 6.9m log in there that we can get some beams out of too.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52342167724_e830211dd4_z.jpg

😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱

The woodpile grows…
Shifted the last of the house smasher on Saturday. Next job will be transporting to the mill.

Quite a decent pile that! Looking forward to seeing the resulting boards!

Some of it appears to be rotten in the center, so maybe wide boards wont be available.

Still going to end up with a usable pile of timber though.

And I’d be for cutting down a good number more surrounding the house, so this kind of this doesn’t happen again.

That photo only shows about half. The heartwood damage not necessarily rot, but termites I think.
Most of our place is under conservation management so only dead trees get felled. Highly unlikely that a tree would fall like that, basically freak cyclonic wind, and the other big trees nearby are all pointing in the right direction fortunately.

A big weekend at the treehouse started with a seven hour session shifting logs to the mill.

Our bridge didn’t flinch.

Have a decent list of things required from this now for building, but the miller is also an ace furniture maker so will be making a new bed etc.