Woodworking Basics and Safety Tips

Although woodworking may seem daunting, expensive, and potentially dangerous, it needn’t
be any of those. Indeed, one of the central tenets of woodwork is that it is simple, requiring only
a piece of wood, and some means of cutting.

Before you start building that chest of drawers
or another home project, however, you’ll need to familiarize yourself with the basic concepts of woodworking.

Basics

Ultimately, there are two key sets of principles: how to cut wood and how to join wood. From this, all else follows. You should also make an effort to understand how wood works and behaves. Doing so will save you a lot of time and frustration. This is the main area in which woodworking is not intuitive.

Before you drop a penny on equipment, make sure you understand these basic ideas. You can practice all of the below with only minimal equipment, much of which you will already have in your home. Once you’re up to scratch on the basics, you can move onto more advanced concepts.

How wood behaves

When a man learns to shave his face, one of the first lessons he learns – often painfully – is that you need to shave with the grain. Shaving against the grain causes hairs to be ripped out forcefully. Wood behaves in the same manner.

The ‘grain’ of wood is caused by the development of rings as the tree grows. The direction of the rings is known as the grain. Pick up any plank of wood or look closely at wood flooring and you will see a clear set of lines. As with a man’s face – you will need to cut, sand, and plane, in the direction of the grain.

How to maintain tools

There’s a famous saying when it comes to woodwork that a ‘bad workman blames his tools.’ While that is certainly true, it doesn’t mean that a good workman can use bad tools! Tool usage and maintenance is one of the primary hurdles when it comes to woodwork.

Make sure that your tools are kept in a dry area and sharpen them regularly. Not only will it take much of the hard work out of using them, but it will also result in smoother (and therefore more precise) cuts.

How to cut joints

There is an assumption amongst amateurs that woodwork involves holding wood together with nails. However, a real carpenter will always use wood joints to connect two pieces of wood. Not only does it hold better, but it’s much more aesthetically pleasing.

It is, unfortunately, trickier than just hammering in a nail, but that’s part of the fun. Learning which types of joints to use where, and how to make them is all part of the skill of carpentry

Mortise and Tenon Joint

A mortise and tenon joint is the most common type of joint you will find in carpentry. Look at the wooden furniture in your home (particularly chairs and tables) and you’ll find that most are mortise and tenon joints.

Most of the flatpack furniture you buy (or used to buy now that you’ve started woodworking) will contain at least one of these joints. The tenon is a prong on the end of a piece of wood that fits into a corresponding mortise (a hole), which connects pieces of wood that join at right angles.

Dovetail Joints

A dovetail joint is most commonly found in
any wooden box. These are pieces of wood with crenelated edges that connect together at right angles to form a solid ‘wall’ of wood. Working on how to get the ‘tails’ to match up is one of the most frustrating, but also one of the most rewarding aspects of woodwork. Be warned, you will go through multiple iterations of this type of joint before you can effectively master it!

How to finish wood

Depending on what style of finish you’re going for, from a rustic bare finish to a refined varnish or paint, finishing wood will give it the aesthetic and structural final touch. This part of the process is often the most satisfying, because it requires no ‘heavy lifting,’ and instead is a focus on the aesthetic. In other words, it’s time to stand back and admire your work! Again, experiment with lots of different types of finish on a blank piece of wood.

Use things like shellac, varnish, and wood paint (most hardware stores can offer either samples or small tins of each of these) and see which type you prefer. Learn how they all dry (which is often very different from how they look wet) so that you’re not in for a surprise the first time you use it.

Safety Tips

Once you’ve practiced at the basics and are comfortable with all of the core elements of woodworking, you’re ready to move up to working on larger projects. With this step up, however, comes additional risk.

At this stage, you’ll need to start thinking about safety. Any time you’re working with sharp objects – particularly with ones powered by electricity – you’ll need to make sure you have protocols in place to keep you safe.

It will never be possible to be absolutely without risk, but by being prepared, and by taking sensible steps each time you work with tools, you can make sure that any risk is mitigated.

Use safety equipment

The most obvious first step to staying safe is to use the right equipment. There is a slew of safety equipment available, at almost every price point, and designed for almost every individual. The most basic safety equipment should be safety glasses or goggles. Every time you work with wood, you should wear these. Buy multiple pairs so that you can have them throughout your workshop, and you’re never tempted to work without them if you can’t find a pair.

Similarly, a sturdy pair of gloves is also usually a must (although you may need specialist gloves if you’re working with finishes or particular types of saws).

Depending on what other types of woodworking you’re doing, you will require more specialist equipment. As a general rule, follow the manufacturer’s instructions when it comes to safety equipment – if they suggest a piece of equipment, use it!

Clothing is a natural extension of the safety equipment you use. There are two main rules to follow here:

This means that you should wear long fitting shirts and full pants; however, neither top nor bottoms should be so baggy that they can get caught in equipment. You should also remove all dangling jewelry, ties, or bracelets you may be wearing.

It doesn’t matter how dirty your shirt is, or how old your jeans are – this isn’t about fashion; it’s about making sure you have durable, hard-wearing clothing that will keep you comfortable and safe.

Sharp = Safe

One of the most counter-intuitive rules when it comes to woodworking is that sharp tools are safe tools. Sharp tools are more likely to cut exactly where you need to and are less likely to behave unpredictably. Make sure that you regularly maintain any cutting equipment to make sure that it’s all sharp, free from rust, and generally clean and tidy. You should follow a cleaning process every time you finish working with a piece of equipment, including unplugging it from the socket.

Checklist

If necessary, write yourself a checklist to complete at the end of every work session, and pin it on the wall. Following each of these steps will ensure that your work station remains clean and safe and that you keep all your equipment lasting as long as possible.

You can also make a checklist for the start of every work session, including things like inspecting the wood for nails and screws.

If you include some of the safety protocols for the cleanup process (such as making sure all equipment is unplugged) you create redundancy and a routine, which are great things when it comes to safety.