Dean Kaufman Building your own furniture is a lot like growing sawhorses, simple bookcases and shelves, that sort of thing. But there’s your own vegetables or working on your car. On the one hand, you might ask yourself, why bother? On the other, you might ask, Why not? On any given day, depending on how much time you have to spare, it’s hard to say which answer will have the upper hand. Join Pop Mech Pro and get a new project every week that'll test your building skills. But there’s nothing like building something and putting it to workin your life and in the lives of people around you. I’ve built very little that qualifies as fine furniture. Most of what I’ve built is utilitarian— a mahogany blanket chest from years ago, with dovetailed corners and a finish of countless layers of tung oil. I built it with hand tools and intended it to be a good fake of an antique. Guests at our home some-times say, “Oh, what a lovely old chest.” I get a kick out of that.