Learn
Woodworking for Beginners: Short Lessons
Short lessons on the basics every woodworker uses, in the order most people need them: reading a tape measure and shop fractions, reading grain direction, milling rough lumber flat and square, designing for wood movement, choosing a finish, and the first joints to learn. Each takes five to seven minutes and ends with a short quiz.
Every lesson teaches with the site’s own calculators and charts, and holds to the same rule as the rest of the site: each statement is arithmetic or names the sources behind it, and a rule of thumb is labelled as tradition. The quiz answers are checked against the calculators, so a lesson can’t teach what a calculator disagrees with. Your best quiz scores are kept in this browser only.
Lessons
- Reading a tape measure and shop fractionsRead the marks between the inches, add and reduce fractions, and turn fractions into decimals and mm. A short beginner lesson with a quiz.
- Reading grain directionTell flatsawn from quartersawn, feed boards with the grain so the cutter doesn’t tear them, and see why the two move differently. With a quiz.
- Milling rough lumber four-squareFace, face, edge, edge, ends: the order that makes rough lumber flat, straight and square on a jointer, planer and table saw. With a quiz.
- Wood movement in designWhy wood swells and shrinks across the grain, how much (worked for red oak), and how tables are built so they don’t crack. With a quiz.
- Choosing a finishDry, recoat and cure times, indoor or outdoor, and food contact, read from each maker’s own data sheet. A short lesson with a quiz.
- First jointsWhy a glued butt joint fails, and the easy joints that fix it: pocket screws, dowels, rabbets and dadoes, with their sizes. With a quiz.
Other sections
- WoodSpecies and wood types: hardness, weight, movement, color and what each is good for.
- FinishingFinishes, glues and fillers: dry and cure times, which to use, and how they compare.
- JoineryJoints and how to size them: dovetails, mortise and tenon, rabbets, dadoes and more.
- Lumber & plywoodBoard feet, actual and nominal sizes, hardwood quarters, plywood sizes and grades.
- Tools & machinesSetup and choice for the table saw, miter saw, router, planer, jointer, lathe and CNC.
- Fasteners & drillingScrew sizes, pilot and clearance holes, countersinks and drill bit sizes.
- CarpentryStairs and fences: risers, treads and stringers; posts, pickets, rails and concrete.