DIY Woodwork

DIY Woodwork - anyone can do it!

Yes, anyone can make things out of wood - you do not need to be a professional carpenter. Having said that, I wish I had done woodwork at school with the boys rather than housecraft because I would know a lot more than I do. If only they'd not all stared at me - the only girl in the class - I would have stuck it out for longer than one lesson!

Despite never having been taught woodwork, I somehow manage to get by and have made and renovated many things. In the video above, you can see the alcove shelves I made recently. They're not finished yet as they need to be trimmed at the front. I'm going to do the same on the lefthand side of the chimney breast.

DIY Woodwork 

I decided to create a stud wall on the left rather than have tapered off shelving. All you have to do to make a stud wall is assemble a rectangle out of wooden batons and cover it with board. This stud wall will support the shelves as well as the worktop. I'll add horizontal batons to the wall when I'm making the shelves. I screwed this framework to the wooden beam on the ceiling and to the wall, checking where the cables are first. I've blown myself up once - never again!

DIY Woodwork 

I don't have a workbench other than this table and I don't have anything to help me cut things straight or align things at right angles. I just use my eye. One thing I couldn't do without though is a spirit level because your eye needs a bit of back-up with bigger things. Of course, it does help to have a little dog supervise your work.

After hand-sawing the baton to the correct sizes, I drilled pilot holes and glued and screwed at all together.

DIY Woodwork 

Two clamps fixed to the baton and table are indispensable for this job.

DIY Woodwork 

One tip when fixing baton to a wall for shelving is to first drill pilot holes into the wood with a thin wood bit. Align to your straight line, which you create with a spirit level, and drill through one hole (the right in this instance) to make a mark on the wall. Change drill bits to a thicker masonry bit, drill your first hole, plug and secure the baton to the wall. Then get the baton perfectly level using your spirit level and drill through the other holes using a thin bit to make a small mark on the wall. Change to the bigger masonry bit again and drill the other holes, plug and fix to the wall. It's more work this way but it ensures a perfectly level baton and also eliminates the risk of misaligned holes.

More DIY woodwork to come.....