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Last week Thursday I passed my driving test.On Monday, I found myself behind the wheel of a rental van. No gentle easing into it. No quiet Sunday drives to build confidence. Just straight into the deep end: a big, boxy delivery van with zero rear visibility and mirrors that suddenly felt like my only connection…
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Building my own workbench took me about four times longer than expected.And to be honest, even that feels like a conservative estimate. It all started with a trip to Hornbach, where I picked up some solid Douglas wood. At that point, I was feeling confident. In my head, this was going to be a straightforward…
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There is something satisfying about making a small object that requires precision at every step. During my machine woodworking course, we were tasked with building a wine box designed to hold two bottles. The main goal was not just the box itself, but to practice several different joinery techniques in one project. Each joint we…
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Lately, I’ve been working on a small dovetail box, made entirely by hand. No shortcuts, no machines—just wood, tools, and time. I wanted to fully understand the process from the inside out: not just how dovetails look when they’re finished, but how they feel while you’re making them. What struck me most is how intricate…
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In today’s course after making a mortise and tenon joint, the assignment was to make a dovetail joint. I’ve made dovetails before, and while they’re always good practice, I felt the urge to push myself a little further. Lately, I’ve been researching different approaches to building my own workbench. During that process, I came across…
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Right now, I’m juggling three woodworking courses at the same time:a beginner course, a course focused on making a closed box with dovetail joints, and a machine woodworking course. It’s intense, but exactly what I hoped for, full immersion. Along the way, I’ve already learned some lessons the hard way. One of the first involved…
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My first real woodworking project was a garden bench. I found a design online, adjusted it slightly to fit my needs, and then headed to a lumber mill near Wageningen to acquire 6 meter long “2 by 4” planks. With little more than a handsaw, I cut the planks down to size and slowly turned…