Pocket-hole joinery is perfect for this outdoor table project.
2×4 magic. Made from common materials, this little table is surprisingly pretty and practically weatherproof. The cedar will weather to a silvery color, blending nicely with the concrete.
Here’s another popular project from Fix This Build That (fixthisbuildthat.com), courtesy of Brad Rodriguez. It’s a weather-resistant mashup of cedar and concrete, perfect for outdoor use but nice indoors too, where the waterproof top is perfect for plants.
I built this table in my garage in Portland, Ore., but I had Brad’s excellent online instructions and video to guide me throughout. It was my first time casting concrete for furniture (as opposed to a rough concrete step or fence-post footing), so I read his advice carefully and picked up a few pointers elsewhere, too. Like Brad, I built a pair of these pieces, since two matching side tables look better than one.
Make a Curvy Cutting Board
With some basic tools you can make a cutting board that stands out in the kitchen. Feb 26, 2021
A cutting board is a great project at any stage of your woodworking journey. You can make them as simple or as fancy as you want, in all sorts of shapes for different tasks. And they are small enough to make in batches as gifts.
Most cutting board designs combine strips of different woods into a sort of crazy quilt. But you’ll need a tablesaw to create those strips. We are going to go the elegantly simple route taking a naturally beautiful piece of wood and bringing out its best. We’ll do that with gleaming curves and a real wood finish: a wipe-on oil that lets viewers see deep into the shimmering wood grain.
Make an Asian-Inspired Outdoor Bench
Built from standard 2x lumber, this cedar bench is elegantly simple.
I first saw an outdoor bench like this one a long time ago, at the shop of a pro woodworker in Idaho, Mark Edmundson, who was selling them because they were so quick to make yet so pretty. Ten years later, when I set out to design a little bench, made from standard deck boards and a box of screws, I didn’t intend to copy Mark’s design. But when I finished sketching and prototyping and refining, I realized I had come up with something similar, with the pieces of 2x2s and 2x4s in the uprights combining in a similar way to create the square hole for a long 2×4 beam to pass through. There just aren’t that many ways to skin this cat, and Mark’s method rules, apparently.
Adirondack Table
The Adirondack chair is probably one of the most popular pieces of outdoor furniture, but the Adirondack table also deserves a mention–and is a good project for those starting out at woodworking.
Furniture made for outdoor use can be a bit more rugged than indoor furniture, which means that standard carpentry tools even a circular saw, and certainly a low-priced tablesaw, for instance can meet the challenge.
Simple joinery can be just as attractive and strong as joints made with professional-level tools and skills. If you already have the tools and know-how to make a mortise-and-tenon or blind dowel joint, then go ahead. But attaching with screws and plugs is just as effective and feels right at home in the great outdoors.
Where to Build
Woodworking all starts with setting up shop, which is nothing more than creating some space and storage (and buying a few key tools).
Brighten your corner. You can build projects in an 8-ft. by 10-ft. space or less. White walls and a window will brighten up the place. Add some shelving and a couple of worktables and you’re ready to roll. In the next chapter, we’ll use a surplus kitchen cabinet to build the rolling workstation you see below the window.
You can build all of the projects in this guide in a very small area. You’ll need at least one sturdy table or workbench, but two will be better. One of your main tools will be a miter saw, which is a benchtop power tool, and it’s nice to be able to keep it on a table ready to go.