I am brand new to woodworking. In fact, I have never built anything but rudimentary shelving for the pantry. I want to tackle a shelving/cabinet/server for my dining room. This is going to be a behemoth project as the height will be 8 ft and the width 15 ft. It will include doors, a table(server complete with electrical outlet), and different sized shelves. I would love to know if there are plans out there for such a project. I have limited knowledge, but hope to gain a lot through experience and help from others. My family just bought an older house (1967) that just has no storage. So I need to rectify that problem. I will probably start by trying a closet system, but plan to have the built-in done by the end of summer. What do you folks think. What are some tools I will need, etc.
Not to be rude, here, but you should really search this group with your more specific questions. There is more info in the archives than you could shake a stick at. Don't be afraid to search for specific topics, questions or answers either.
Right now you are at "I'm gonna build a large nice car from a pile of raw metal, and I was wondering what tools I should get and where I can get some instruction and maybe some plans. I don't know how to weld, hand grind, shape metal, the proper lubricants for drilling aluminum, steel or iron, and I have never upholstered or fine finished anything. But I intend to learn along the way. Oh yeah, I'm gonna start with a bicycle first, learning as I go and my skills should be in place by the end of the summer."
I know you mean well, but there are too many styles to build in, techniques, tips, tricks, tools, madatory skills you need to learn, (and on and on) to cover with a quick post. And as you will find, everyone has their own take on how to do things, based on their opinion, skill level, and how well certain things work for them.
If I were you I would go to the library and check out as many books on this subject as I could find. Also, the Time Life guys always have tons of books in the 1/2 price or used book stores. Some of them are quite good and have different levels of skill and tools requirements addressed in their project lists.
: I am brand new to woodworking. In fact, I have never built anything but : rudimentary shelving for the pantry. I want to tackle a : shelving/cabinet/server for my dining room. This is going to be a behemoth : project as the height will be 8 ft and the width 15 ft. It will include : doors, a table(server complete with electrical outlet), and different sized : shelves. I would love to know if there are plans out there for such a : project.
Jim Tolpin has a book called Built-In Furniture, from Taunton Press. At Amazon it's
formatting link
've seen it at Border's and Barnes and Noble as well (and possibly Woodcraft). That's the place to start.
I have limited knowledge, but hope to gain a lot through : experience and help from others. My family just bought an older house : (1967) that just has no storage. So I need to rectify that problem. I will : probably start by trying a closet system, but plan to have the built-in done : by the end of summer. What do you folks think. What are some tools I will : need, etc.
Tools?
Tablesaw with a good blade biscuit jointer drill hammer router if you want to cut molding profiles jigsaw
If what you say is true, your ambition far exceeds your skill for such a project.
Doable, but time consuming, and way more expensive unless you already own the tools to do it correctly ... and it's a shame to go through all that and not be totally happy with the results.
If you're really interested in woodworking at that level, put this particular project on the backburner, take some woodworking classes at a local community college and learn the tools, go to the library, and start gaining the knowledge it takes to do built-ins by starting on smaller projects.
While built-ins appear easier than building furniture, they are tricky to do correctly, particularly in an older house ... and what you are proposing to embark upon will effect the value of your home for better or worse.
Take a class,watch the DIY 24 hour woodworking (WW) channel, borrow some WW videos.Take WW magazines and books out of the library.Some areas have co-op shops that you could build pieces in without the investment.Some areas have WW clubs. Dont buy a bunch of equipment without knowing if you like the hobby enough.
I'd like to perform an appendectomy on my wife, but I don't have any medical training or equipment, and my hands are a little shaky. But I figure if I can find a book or two, and get that kitchen knife really sharp, I should be a surgeon by the end of the week...
Hell- what is it about carpentry that makes every fool who found a hammer at the Home Depot think he's got what it takes to tear down half the house as an experiment after he's successfully hung a picture or two?
Greg, go into the backyard and build yourself a shed, then some birdhouses and maybe a little end table or two. Get a book on framing and start small. If that works out for you and you enjoy it, then by all means, move up to the bigger stuff. Don't jump into this one first, it's going to whip you.
You're saying you've got no storage space, and I can sympathize- but to make more storage space, especially at the scale you're describing involves at least 8 or 9 specialized trade skills, and at least a few years of cabinetmaking skills. That's not even looking at the table- there's another ball of wax entirely. If you need some more closet space, make a little closet in the corner and see if you are able to frame it, run the electrical, sheetrock and tape it properly, paint it, trim it and hang the door. That way, if it looks like Charlie Brown made it when you're done, you can take it out fairly easily and you only lost a couple hundred bucks in materials, and you'll have some new tools to play with. You haven't done it, so you don't know if you can or not. Some guys can do amazing things the first time around, most make a huge mess that is actively dangerous- it takes a long time to learn to finish a project properly, and the last thing you want to do is overreach the first time out.
You can do whatever you want, but I'd be looking for a good divorce lawyer if you think you're going to *learn* how to do all of that in the middle of your house. "I plan to have the XXXX done by the end of the summer" are famous last words. I'm not just blowing off steam, it's a genuine warning to you- this happens to a lot of people, and then guys like me will charge you a lot of money to tear it out and redo it the right way.
Swing, My lovely bride made me watch a DIY show last night with Roger Clemons giving a condo to a family stuck by tragedy. (The only good part of the show!) The carpenter, turned furniture maker made me cringe. He made a couch shaped like a baseball glove where the fingers were the back of the couch. Cheap plywood and MDF, screws and no structural support for anything.
I was hoping the carpenter would sit in it, and fall on his back! It was horrible.
Tom Plamann did a pretty good job of documenting what's involved in building a bedroom wall unit. That a look at his web site for an idea of what you're thinking of tackling.
The responses to this post are the reason I regularly check the wreck.
Greg, good luck on your project, however you end up doing it. It's not something I'd tackle, but it's not for me to say what you can and can't do.
At time of my response, there are maybe 15 other posts in this thread, all of them excellent, and all of them different. It gives me an idea where each one of you guys is coming from. Many were encouraging Greg to sit back and think a bit more about the scope and complexity of what this project entailed, and I can't imagine any better advice. What got me is that nothing was mean-spirited.
I too am relatively new to this craft/hobby, and I rely on threads like this. It tells me to slow down, take a bit of time to think things through when no one else will.
First of all, I assume you are only going to be working weekends on this. I don't know how much free time you have, but it seems a huge stretch to have this done by the end of summer, if you've never done anything like this before. To give you some perspective, I am not a masterwoodworker by any means, I guess I am intermediate, and it took me about 2.5 months to do a single 4' wide by 7' high unit. It had a plywood carcass, a pocket screw face frame, and solid wood raised panel doors and drawer fronts.
The guys advice to make a few shop cabinets is a good one. That's what I did, and it helped tremendously. It's also a lot less stressful because it's just for the shop.
I'd recommend making the unit only 7' high. You aren't going to be reaching up in that last foot anyway. I also recommend making a bottom unit (maybe 32" high), then put the top unit on top. Makes it a lot easier to install and carry into the room. You can get some good design ideas out of books. I do mine this way, and IMO it looks better than one monolithic piece. You could even do the project in stages, making the bottom part first, so you could get some storage right away.
Also, I want to repeat that unless you want to make woodworking your life long hobby, you probably won't save any money doing this by yourself. Particularly if you have to spend about $1500 (minimum) on tools. At bare mimimum, you'll need a good contractors saw for cutting the plywood, a router, router table (you can build yourself), router bits for making the doors/edges, a Kreg jig would be nice for the face frames, decent drill, biscuit cutter, also you'll need a good random orbital sander. A compressor and brad nail gun would also be nice (another $200 or so).
HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here.
All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.