My woodworking process

It takes me a long time to make a new piece of furniture. Most of it is probably because I know how expensive it will be and how long it will take, putting me on something like -£70 an hour.

Once I’ve decided to do it, though, the design process begins, and it’s something I either quite enjoy or simply can’t bear to get wrong, so I do it well.

The first step is to figure out, as precisely as possible, what the piece is for.

I like to keep things in bags – I think they’re a strangely underrated storage system, being cheap, strong, flexible, and easy to identify and move around – so the bottom shelf of my office shelves is designed to fit the three Aldi bags I’ve been keeping various computer parts and odds and ends in for years.

Then, there’s a kind of optimisation problem to solve: you don’t know exactly what you’ll need to put on the rest of the shelves, so you have to choose spacings that are both visually pleasing and functionally versatile.

These usually go hand in hand, so if in doubt, follow your visual sense.

A good general rule seems to be to space shelves more tightly the further up you go, but not to have too many different spacings: probably a maximum of three.

For dimensioning the posts and battens, again you can use feel. I find that choosing aesthetically pleasing dimensions usually results in something way more robust than would be used in an equivalent commercial piece, probably because of the cost of materials. For one-offs and high-end stuff, obviously just choose whatever looks best and will be strong enough.

Laying out the side parts for a set of shelves

Once I’m actually laying out the wood and clamping things together, I usually change my mind a few times about the proportions and even the basic construction method for the piece. Things often don’t work like you thought they would. This process can be frustrating, but always results in a better finished piece.

Before that, I will have usually spent some time rounding the corners of the wood and giving it a light sand. I go by feel here, and mainly do it at this stage to make the building process more enjoyable, as rounded edges are much nicer to handle.

One of the main design choices on a set of shelves or similar box-shaped piece is where to place the posts. I don’t usually inset them as I find this to be one of those ideas that runs up against the natural imperfections in the wood and causes ugly gaps, much like trying to do 45 degree angles. Much better to work with the wood. For most shelves, placing the posts out to the side is the way to go as this presents a nice even plane facing the room.

Squareness

Getting things square is one of the trickier challenges of the build, and usually results in a couple of refittings. It’s tempting to assume, for example, that the cross section of the store-bought timber will be square, and that this squareness can be used to create reliable 90 degree angles or straight lines over larger distances, but neither of these is true. The process is more about improvisation and judgement and the end result will ideally be a compromise between ideal geometry and the reality of the wood that allows it to settle nicely into a sound and “pretty much square” configuration.

Cross-Bracing

I don’t like adding diagonal bracing to my pieces, even though it’s the easiest way to get rigidity. Wood requires either extra space or precise non-90 degree rebates, and metal ruins the aesthetic. Instead, I use small angle brackets like these (affiliate link). They are surprisingly effective at adding strength—8 of them make it possible to move a large set of shelves under load without much shearing—and I like how they look.

Finishing

To finish, I check for any sharp edges and sand or plane them off. Then I wipe the whole piece down with a damp cloth to get rid of the dust, let it air dry, and then add a single coat of Osmo wax oil or varnish – usually something clear or just a light stain, leaving the grain visible.