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No Software - Just Use a Pencil

Building a wood project usually starts with finding a plan. And that’s easy to do. A quick search online will give you thousands of woodworking plans to choose from. But what if you have a project idea of your own? What if you want to build something that has a unique size or shape…or something that needs to fit in a particular space? All the plans in the world won’t help you now, because it’s nearly impossible to alter the design of an existing plan. That’s why I created the the EZ Wood Project Designer. It’s the perfect tool for helping both beginners and experienced woodworkers bring project ideas to life. But don’t let the name fool you. This is not a software program. The EZ Wood Project Designer is a unique set of templates, diagrams, and guidebooks that require nothing more than a simple pencil and a passion for building. If you can imagine it, you can build it..

Includes All the Missing Pieces that Woodworking Plans Leave Out!

The EZ Wood Project Designer makes no assumptions about your woodworking skills. With clear, concise language (no woodworking jargon allowed!) the step-by-step instructions take you through the entire building process—from buying your first set of power tools to brushing on the final coat of finish. Even if you've never owned a power tool, EZ Wood Project Designer can give you the skills and confidence to build literally hundreds of simple projects for around the home.

How to Build Anything: 3 Tools, 3 Boards, 3 Steps

Furniture styles might change from one generation to the next, but the basics of wood construction stay the same—measuring, cutting boards to size, and pulling everything together with glue and fasteners. The good news is that anyone with a few reasonably-priced power tools and some inexpensive materials from your local DIY home center can learn these steps. The EZ Wood Project Designer gives you an inside look at the tools, materials, and boards you'll need to design and build your own projects.

Simple Enough for a Sixth-Grader

I know it's easy to get overwhelmed when learning something new. Woodworking can be especially confusing. It's an age-old craft that's dominated by experienced builders—people who almost know the subject too well to be good teachers. As a result, woodworking books are often dense, complicated, and somewhat long-winded to be of any use to people who just want to learn the basics. EZ Wood Project Designer solves the problem with small, bite-sized packets of information that cover the essentials of project construction—in clear, non-nonsense language that even a sixth grader can understand.

How to Build a Box, Carcass, Frame

Take a look at the wood furniture around you—the bookcase in your office, the table in your kitchen, the desk you're sitting at right now. On the surface, the furniture might seem fairly complex in its design and structure. But take a closer look inside and you'll find a surprisingly simple framework holding everything together. The inner framework of most furniture is made from one of three very simple (but important) structures: (1) box—(2) carcass—(3) frame—or in some instances, a combination of the three. In the EZ Wood Project Designer, I'll take you step-by-step through each of these important components of a wood project, with plenty of tips & tricks I've learned along the way to make project building smooth and trouble free.

If You Can Imagine it....You Can Build it!

The good news is that anyone with a few simple wood tools can learn the basics of furniture construction—and then go on to build any number of wood projects for around the home. Once you know the basics for building a box, a carcass, and a frame, what you do from here is limited only by your imagination. You'll have no need for someone else's woodworking plans, diagrams, or blueprints. If you can imagine it, you can build it!

Down to the Basics: Building Projects with Pine

All projects and techniques featured in the EZ Wood Project Designer make use of pine. That includes dimensional lumber (like 2x4s and 1x12s) and inexpensive plywood panels. I chose these materials because they're inexpensive, easy to find, and perfectly suited for simple wood projects you might want to build for around the home. Please note that the EZ Wood Project Designer is not a guide for building fine furniture made of hardwoods like oak, cherry, or maple. These kinds of projects require more sophisticated woodworking tools (table saw, router), more complicated joinery ( rabbets & dados ) and bigger budget ( some fine furniture projects can cost thousands of dollars in materials alone).

Three Must-Have Tools for Any Shop

Of course I'd like to have a complete shop of expensive woodworking tools, but the fact that I don't has never stopped me from building wood projects for around the house. In fact, I've found that most types of wood construction can be tackled with only a few inexpensive tools—the kind of tools you might find at places like Home Depot or Lowes. In this section from EZ Wood Project Designer, I'll take an in-depth look at three of my favorite power tools for building wood projects: the circular saw, the cordless drill, and the jigsaw. Along the way I'll explain the more confusing features of these tools —like the adjustable torque control on a cordless drill and the blade height setting on a circular saw.

How to Buy Lumber

I've always found shopping for lumber to be intimidating. I suppose that’s because home centers cater more to the professional contractor, not a project builder like me. That doesn't stop me from building wood projects, though. It just takes a little more diligence to find what I need. In this section from my How to Build Anything ebook, I’ll uncover which boards are best suited for building small wood projects, how to sort the good from the bad, and the best way to get boards off the shelf, up to the checkout aisle, and home safely. I've also included a set of handy Pilot Hole Guide templates, for quickly marking nail or screw locations along the edge of a board (this avoids having to eyeball where to drive a fastener).

How to Measure, Clamp & Cut

The most confusing part about learning to build wood projects is figuring out how to get the steps of construction done in the right order. In this section from my How to Build Anything ebook, I’ve narrowed down the process into three, bite-sized chunks: measure & mark, clamp & cut, and assemble. I'll take you through each step of the process, with helpful tips and techniques—along with my special recommendations for tools that make the work quick and easy. I've also included an overview of my favorite joinery techniques—with some of the easiest (and strongest) joints I know of for building simple wood projects. Once you know how joinery works, you can build anything!

How to Build a Box

Underneath all the fancy trim and decoration of most furniture is a surprisingly simple structure—a box. Although a box might vary in shape and form depending on the piece (solid wood box vs carcass & frame), building the inner structure of a project is an easy process to learn. In this section from my How to Build Anything series, I'll show you step by step how to build the most common inner structures used in woodworking: solid wood box, carcass, frame & panels. With these techniques you can easily mix & match or combine the methods to create just about any wood project you can imagine! I've also included step-by-step instructions for building a basic cabinet with hinged doors (using carcass and frame construction).

Stop Fighting Woodscrews!

One of the most frustrating obstacles you can run into while building a wood project is a stubborn woodscrew that won't go where you want it to go. Even if you can manage to muscle the fastener in, chances are this will ruin the head of the screw, or worse, ruin the board you're working on. In this section from my How to Build Anything series, I'll explore the most common problems you'll run into when driving nails, screws, or other fasteners—along with my favorite solutions for avoiding these problems entirely. I've also included several shop charts that help you choose the right size fastener and drill bit —to match a particular size board. This alone eliminates most fastener problems.

How to Finish Pine

Pine can be one of the most stubborn types of wood to finish. The soft, porous grain soaks up finish fast and erratic, and can leave blotches and streaks across the surface. For some people, this is enough reason to avoid using pine all together. In this section from my How to Build Anything series, I think I can convince you that pine is a surprisingly easy wood to finish—If you follow a few simple steps in preparing the wood before the finish goes on. More on that later. The best part is that I've taken the dizzying selection of products out there and narrowed them down to just three choices that work best on pine, along with the more "green" alternatives to high-VOC finishes, stains, and paints.

Design Your Own Wood Project Plans

I used to work out my project ideas on post-it notes and napkins. It was an awkward system, prone to mistakes and forgotten ideas that sometimes never made it down on paper to begin with. Then one day I decided to come up with a more organized method. In this section from my How to Build Anything series, I'm including my original EZ Project Planner—a set of printable templates and graph paper that streamlines the process of sketching project ideas and estimating lumber and materials. The planner also includes a handy shopping checklist for itemizing all the materials you need for a particular project (this prevents needless trips back to the store for items you forgot).

Build Your Own Plywood Cutting Guide

Most builders agree that the best way to cut plywood is with a circular saw. That's because plywood panels are difficult to move around on stationery tools (like a table saw), and are just simply easier to cut with a portable tool (like a circular saw). In this section of my How to Build Anything series, I'll show you step-by-step how to make your own plywood cutting guide—an essential accessory for getting clean, square cuts on plywood. The good news is that a shop-made version costs only a fraction of what you would pay for a commercial aluminum cutting guide. I've also included plenty of tips and techniques for using your cutting guide on your next wood project.