Looking for holiday gift ideas for woodworkers that they’ll actually use? In this video, I’m sharing 10 awesome gifts every woodworker will love — from practical tools to budget-friendly stocking stuffers. Whether you’re shopping for a DIYer, a beginner woodworker, or someone who already has a full shop, this guide will help you find something they’ll get excited about using in 2025.

A couple of weeks ago my Dad asked me to help him make a glider bench to add to his fire pit area. Thankfully we found some plans online to make this build go much quicker. A big thanks to April Wilkerson for selling plans and templates for this glider bench. If you want to tackle building one yourself then I've linked her build plans below. I was impressed with how quickly these gliders went together. We got them finished just in time to start putting them to use enjoying the warm spring/summer days!

In this video, I tackle helping my brother-in-law add to his existing builder-grade deck. His home is a DR Horton built home and it came with a very basic 10ft. x 10ft deck with no stair access off of the deck which made accessing the backyard a major pain. So he decided that he wanted to double the size of his deck by basically building another 10ft x 10ft deck attached to his existing deck. This seemed like a relatively simple deck build for a couple of DIYers to tackle on their own. Now I must claim, that we are NOT professionals so everything you see us doing might not be 100% the proper way to do things but we did try to educate ourselves on building codes, etc. before tackling this project so we had the best chance of doing everything correctly. There were a few small mishaps along the way that we made work but overall I think this deck turned out really nice! Having a deck that is now double in size is going to make a big difference for my brother-in-law and his family. Not to mention the stair access that we added! I hope you guys enjoy the video! If so make sure to like, comment and subscribe! :)

In this video I'll show you how you can use a plunge router and a circle cutting jig to create PERFECT circles every time!

The circle guide cutting kit that I'm using in this video is from Milescraft. The kit comes with everything that you will need to get started (besides the router). The setup takes a little bit of time but once that is tackled, then the actually cutting part takes hardly any time at all.

I hope you find this video informative and it helps you achieve those perfect wooden circles!

In this video my husband, Phil and I unbox our recently purchased pallet of Amazon Returns. We won this pallet in a local online auction and thought it might be fun to give it a try. Our main goal was not really to make a huge profit here. It was more or less just something that seemed kind of fun to do and we figured purchasing one of these at a lower cost would give us the opportunity to check it out with lower risk.

We definitely had a lot of laughs unboxing this pallet! We might not have hit the motherlode of valuable goods but it was a fun experience. Who knows...maybe we will tackle another one of these return pallets again in the future.

In this video I’m going to be sharing 5 tools that I’ve purchased for my workshop that I kind of regret buying now. I want to preface this by saying that not all of these tools are bad tools, although some of them are (I’m looking at you Harbor Freight clamps). Some of these tools are just things that I find myself not really using very much over the years so I probably could have saved the money that I spent on them or used it to buy a different tool for the workshop. I realize though that everyone is different in their preferences when it comes to tools so some of these tools that I might regret buying could work perfectly fine for someone else. Budget is also a big factor for a lot of people when it comes to their tools. As a beginner, I was extremely budget conscious because I didn’t want to invest too much money into this hobby until I knew whether it was something I would stick with. And let’s be real…woodworking is NOT a cheap hobby! A lot of the tools that go along with it can be expensive so I totally understand why beginners buy some of the cheaper tools. I’ve been there myself. Now that I’ve been building pretty consistently for the last several years I feel like it’s a good time to stop and evaluate which tools I would not buy again as well as some of the ones I would recommend. I wanted to share some of these opinions with you guys. I hope you find them helpful!

In this video I condense my last four videos regarding the Epoxy River TV Stand build into one shorter video for those interested in a little less detail. Enjoy!

This is the final video in a series of videos I have been doing in regards to building an Epoxy River TV Stand. In this video I make some glass cabinet doors for the tv stand and I work on getting the top attached to the base of the tv stand and installed in it's new home.

In this video I tackle building an epoxy river tv stand. This build is going to be over a series of videos and this particular video covers flattening and finishing the epoxy river top for the tv stand. To get this top cleaned up I made a router sled that I use with a flattening bit to remove the excess epoxy and get the river portion of the river table even. This was quite the process! Make sure to subscribe to my channel for future videos in this build series!

In this video I tackle building an epoxy river tv stand. This build is going to be over a series of videos and this particular video covers pouring the epoxy river top for the tv stand. This was the first time I have ever tried tackling a big epoxy pour like this and I think it turned out pretty well. There was definitely a lot of prep work that went into preparing for this pour! Make sure to subscribe to my channel for future videos in this build series!

In this video I tackle building an epoxy river tv stand. This build is going to be over a series of videos and this first video covers building the tv stand cabinet base that the epoxy river tabletop will sit on. Make sure to subscribe to my channel for future videos in this build series!

In this video I do something that I really haven't done much of in the past...that's restoring an old piece of furniture. I use the term "restoring" loosely here because I didn't exactly restore this Lane Cedar Chest to it's former look. I completely changed the look of this cedar chest! I think it has a more midcentury modern inspired look now but I really like how it turned out. It's something totally unique now. I had a lot of fun working with this Lane Cedar Chest as well as learning more about the history of The Lane Furniture Company. Their marketing campaign was pretty impressive for it to have lasted for as long as it did. This was the first time I've worked with one of these Lane Cedar Chests but I know they are pretty popular amongst people. I'll have to start keeping my eye out for another one that I can flip. I hope you guys enjoy the video!

So I've sort of been in a workshop upgrade type of mood so far in 2024. I just finished building a set of cabinets on one side of my workshop that has 14 drawers. Boy is it a lot of work building 14 drawer boxes and getting those installed! They look great though and have added a lot more storage space for my ever-growing amount of tools.

With that wrapped up I decided to go ahead and tackle a new stand for my drill press. Before, I just had it sitting on a makeshift sort of stand with absolutely ZERO storage for any sort of accessories. So I decided to change that!

In this video you'll see me tackle building a very basic cabinet box with 4 drawers. I've already filled up two of those drawers for accessories and I plan to fill the other two up soon. Not only do this new stand look better but it's mobile too so I can move it around the shop as I need to. This new mobile drill press stand is going to function so much better for me and I'm glad I took the time to do it. I still want to add a custom drill press table at some point but that's a project for another day! Hope you guys enjoy the video!

Each year for the past couple of years I've been asked to make something to donate to my local Woman's Club Silent Auction fundraiser and I always like to take this opportunity to make something unique with some of my leftover scrap wood from the previous year's builds. This year I decided that I would tackle creating some router trays using some Walnut & Cherry lumber.

For my particular build, I created a template simply using some printed out images but there are lots of other creators who do a good job at designing templates, some of which you can even purchase to make your own router trays. I've seen lots of cool templates from Designs by Donnie as well as DIY Montreal, just to name a few. I just cut my template out using my scroll saw but you could definitely tackle this step with a jigsaw or bandsaw.

The options are endless in terms of what you can store in these trays. I thought they might make a good serving tray for cookies or candies during the holiday but you can also simply use them as decorative pieces for storing keys, wallet, etc.

I hope you guys enjoyed watching me tackle building some of these router trays for the first time. I definitely learned a couple lessons for the next time I attempt some of these trays.

In this video I tackle my biggest build to date! When a friend of mine asked me to help them design and build a bar to store a big whiskey/bourbon collection I knew that I had to step up to the challenge. We tried our best to take inspiration from the overall design of whiskey barrels as a general theme for this bar. That meant using lots of white oak as well as trying to tie in some metal elements on the bar as well. Overall...this bar has become a focal point in the room as well as added so much more optimized storage. I think he's going to get a lot of enjoyment out of this bar!

In this video I tackle converting a used 7.0 cubic chest freezer into a "Keezer" also known as a kegerator for the purposes of serving beer on tap at home. We bought the kegerator conversion kit from a website called KegCo.com. This included many of the parts as well as some instructions to help guide the conversion process.

In this video I tackle building a storage rack to house some weight plates for a home gym. This weight rack helps keep the weights off the floor and adds a bit of organization to our home gym. This was a pretty cheap & easy build. Very beginner friendly!

In this video I show you all the steps to build a bathroom vanity from start to finish. The particular bathroom vanity that I built was going into a half bathroom and it consisted of 6 drawers and 2 cabinet doors. For the top I glued up some oak boards and installed a vessel style sink on top. Check out my previous video to see how much of a total transformation this bathroom undertook!

In this video I attempted to make some end-grain cutting boards from Southern Yellow Pine. This is the first time that I have tried to make a cutting board out of this type of wood. I know pine is generally not the first choice for cutting boards but I like the unique pattern variations you can get from the end grain.

Unfortunately, these boards didn't turn out exactly like I had planned. There was too much blue stain color in the wood which I wasn't a big fan of. Plus I'm not educated enough about what the blue stain color is from to feel confident using it as cutting boards. It might not be an issue at all but to play it safe I won't be using these as cutting boards.

I try to be 100% authentic with you guys in my videos and sometimes that means that things I build don't always turn out like I had hoped. I think of them as learning lessons though and I will definitely try to make this again and avoid using pieces that have that blue stain.

In this video I recreate the classic game of Battleship but with a TWIST that will make your tailgate parties a hit this football season. For this party game, the ships house small cups that are used for "sipping" some beverages when you get hit. It's a game that we have played for years at football tailgates and it's always a lot of fun. I decided to update a previous version of this game and take some of the things that I learned from version 1.0 and improve upon them.

In this video I make an Adirondack Chair out of some offcut Trex Transcend decking boards that were donated to me. Using these offcuts was a bit of a challenge at times but it's also a great way to be able to save a little money when it comes to building one of these Adirondack chairs. Plus the Trex material should hold up to the weather for years to come.

In this video I tackle building a rack to store some free weights on using only materials I had on hand at the time. This was a quick and easy build, especially for a beginner.

The materials I used for this project were:

2 - 2x4x8

1 - 16” wide x 6ft long board that I purchased from Home Depot

1” wide x 6ft board I ripped from some scrap material

2 1/2” pocket hole screws

1 1/4” screws

Wood Glue

The side pieces for my frame were cut at a 25 degree angle on one end and cut to about 39” long. The pieces for my base that the side pieces sit were cut to 20” long. The total width for this weight rack is 26 1/4” and the total height is just above 3ft.

In this video I tackle building a walnut sofa arm table to give a place for drinks and snacks when there is not enough room for an end table. This was a fairly simple build that comes in clutch for those who are limited on space in their house.

In this video I go through my process for making Shaker Style Cabinet doors using some Rail and Stile router bits on my router table. I've made quite a few shaker style doors using these rail and stile router bits now so I thought I would share the entire process from figuring out exactly which bits to use when to know exactly what size to cut all your pieces to. I try to cover everything that I can think of that's involved with making these style cabinet doors using these router bits. Hope it helps!

In this video I make some DIY nightstands from a few simple materials.

In this video I tackle building a farmhouse trestle style dining room table for the first time! This was a mammoth of a project to undertake from the beginning but I learned so much along the way that I'm so glad I decided to take it on. I constructed the base of the table mostly from pine boards purchased from Lowes and the top was built from 2" thick oak boards. I also assembled a small bench to go along with the table.

Have you ever heard of a Tailor's Clapper before? This tailor's tool is an extremely useful asset for anyone who sews. In this video I construct a tailor's clapper out of a simple 2" thick piece of oak.

In this video I build a console table for our entry hallway to add some much needed storage to this area.

In this video I make a 3D end grain cutting board out of some walnut, cherry and sycamore boards.

In this video I help my parents tackle transforming their 90's era dining room into something cleaner and more aligned with today's trends. This meant removing the 40+ year old carpet, sanding down the hardwood floors and refinishing them. We removed wallpaper and gave the walls some fresh color as well as adding a wainscoting feature to the walls for a more formal look. We completely transformed the look of this room!

In this video I renovate my parent's 1960's kitchen. This space was in desperate need of a refresh. Nothing had really been changed since the house was built in the 1960s. Even the Kelvinator oven was still functioning somehow, which is kind of impressive to be honest. All of the lower cabinets were completely encased in full size bricks, which made demo a real chore. Since the upper cabinets were in decent shape, I simply sanded them down and painted them and built new shaker-style doors for them. All of the lower cabinets were custom built according to their design preferences. New floor, appliances, countertop, sink, lighting, backsplash...all things that helped breathe new life into this space. My Mom has dreamt about updating her kitchen for a long time. I'm just glad I could help here make that dream a reality. For me...a project just doesn't get any more fulfilling than that.

In this video I tackle refinishing my parent's staircase and upstairs hallway. This meant removing the old, extremely dirty carpet and sanding down the oak hardwood floors underneath. After sanding, I simply applied 3 coats of polyurethane to the wood and let it cure. I also painted the stair risers and the walls. This staircase is one of the first things you see when entering the home and it is giving off a much better impression now!

Not long ago my Mom asked me if I could help her bring the 1960’s era half bathroom in her home to something a little more aligned with present day styles. Since I’m always up for a good challenge, I eagerly agreed to the task at hand.

After a couple of weeks of hard work we were able to completely transform this space into something she can be proud of. Now when we look at the bathroom we can hardly believe where we started!

In this video I tackle installing a carpet stair runner on a set of stairs that I had previously renovated. This was a fairly simple install that only took me about 2 hours from start to finish. This project is definitely beginner friendly and only required minimal tools. It's a great way to sort of change up the look of an older stairway as well as making it a little bit safer for getting up and down those stairs.

In this video I install a handrail for a set of stairs. This was a pretty quick installation requiring minimal tools.

In this video I tackle pouring a small concrete slab that will be a landing spot for some stairs coming off of the deck. This is a good beginner's guide to pouring concrete, since I was doing this for the first time you will get an idea of what it's like tackling this project as a beginner. There is something about concrete that just seems super intimidating. Maybe it's how time sensitive it can be or one of many other factors. However...after pouring a small concrete slab for a landing spot for some stairs off of the deck, I feel like I can now say that working with concrete is nowhere near as intimidating as I previously thought.

In this video I tackle building a new set of stairs off one side of my deck. These steps will give us access to a portion of the yard that we use a lot. Stairs can seem really intimidating to the beginner level DIYer but with a little research beforehand and some patience, I think most people could tackle a project like this.

In this video I replace an old sliding glass patio door from the 1960s with a newer model equipped with built-in blinds. The install itself went relatively smooth although their were a few modifications that had to be made in order to get this newer door to fit into their existing opening without having to remove any of the brick siding. Luckily, I was able to get the old door removed and the new door installed and sealed off in one day and then I came back another day to finish trimming everything out. As mentioned before, this install wasn't super difficult but I would definitely recommend not trying to tackle it alone.

In this video you'll see me tackle building a very basic cabinet box with 4 drawers. I've already filled up two of those drawers for accessories and I plan to fill the other two up soon. Not only do this new stand look better but it's mobile too so I can move it around the shop as I need to. This new mobile drill press stand is going to function so much better for me and I'm glad I took the time to do it. I still want to add a custom drill press table at some point but that's a project for another day! Hope you guys enjoy the video!

In this video I upgrade my mobile workbench by adding some more drawers and organization as well as adding a new formica laminate top over my existing tabletop.

In this video I tackle updating my workshop by installing a french cleat wall system as well as adding some fun decorative wallpaper. I had a wall in my shop that really wasn't be utilized for anything important. When you are working out of a garage workshop then it becomes really important to make good use of every square foot of space that you have. So I decided what was going to work best for me was using this blank wall to install a french cleat system that I could use for storing some items that I use on a pretty consistent basis. Not only did this add a lot more organized storage for me but it also looks really cool in my opinion! I feel like I'm slowly turning this space into a place that I really enjoy spending time in.

In this video I throw together a quick and simple tapering jig using some leftover scrap wood so that I could cut some tapers on some legs for a project that I've been working on (stay tuned for that video). In the video I show you how you can set up this jig for repeatable cuts at the table saw.

For these legs, I was only tapering them on two sides so this jig works really well for that. However, if you were planning to taper on all four sides then you might have to make some adjustments on the jig after you taper the first two sides. There are definitely more customizable types of tapering jigs that you can make but for those you have to invest a little more time into constructing them. For someone who doesn't do tapers a ton (me) this was a good solution because it required minimal time and materials and it got me back to working on my project.

I hope you guys find this video helpful. If so...let me know! :)

In this video I reveal what I believe to be 5 of the most important tips that I learned from my first time using epoxy to fill some cracks and knots in wood. These tips were a result of lots of research and experimentation prior to filling in some voids on a dining room table. Hope some of you are able to find these tips helpful for your next time working with epoxy!

In this video I make some DIY nightstands from a few simple materials.

In this video I show you all the steps to build a bathroom vanity from start to finish. The particular bathroom vanity that I built was going into a half bathroom and it consisted of 6 drawers and 2 cabinet doors. For the top I glued up some oak boards and installed a vessel style sink on top. Check out my previous video to see how much of a total transformation this bathroom undertook!

In this video I tackle installing a carpet stair runner on a set of stairs that I had previously renovated. This was a fairly simple install that only took me about 2 hours from start to finish. This project is definitely beginner friendly and only required minimal tools. It's a great way to sort of change up the look of an older stairway as well as making it a little bit safer for getting up and down those stairs.

In this video I install a handrail for a set of stairs. This was a pretty quick installation requiring minimal tools.

Welcome to my ultimate beginner’s guide on table top epoxy, where I reveal everything you need to know for achieving stunning results! Whether you're an experienced DIY enthusiast or just beginning your journey with epoxy, this video is an absolute must-watch. In this comprehensive tutorial, we'll dive deep into the world of table top epoxy. From understanding how much to mix up for each epoxy coating to mastering the application process.

Epoxy can seem confusing at first right? I mean there are so many different types and it can seem complicated initially to know exactly what you are looking for in an epoxy. I’ve worked with epoxy several times before but this was actually my first time using table top epoxy. I will say it was very easy in terms of mixing since the ratio was simply 1:1. It did take a little extra time to get that super glass-like appearance though so I hope this video is able to help guide you to figuring out how to work with this type of epoxy so that you can achieve the same results that I did. If done right, I do think this table top epoxy can look really cool and really accentuate the natural beauty of the wood top (or whatever you’ve chosen to apply epoxy to).

In this video I'll show you how I installed some Formica laminate to a really worn down table top. This old dining room table has been beaten up over the last few years because I've been using it in the shop as a work surface. So I decided to add some laminate to the top for a cleaner look and as an added bonus, things like wood glue will not stick to it! I can clean up any of those wood glue drips with a chisel and a good wipe down.

In this video I'll show you how you can use a simple doweling jig to create a super sturdy joint for joining two pieces of wood together using some dowels. The doweling jig that I'm using in this video is from Powertec and it is meant to drill out holes for 3/8" dowel pins. These dowel pins in combination with a little glue can create a really strong wood joint. It can also be another solution for joining pieces together if you're hoping to avoid using some sort of pocket hole screws that can be seen.

There are lots of different types of doweling jigs on the market to choose from. This is an affordable, beginner friendly one that can get the job done.