Matt Hagens 
It’s hard to sneak around when doors squeak when opened or closed. Sure, a little WD-40 can cure that, but parents would prefer that doors squeak so they can keep track of the time when kids get home on date …
When I was young, horseshoes were one of our outdoor activities. I played horseshoes every weekend with the father and brothers of the girl I was dating in high school, and the games were very competitive. Key Points: Later, I …
For those of you who were fans of Seinfeld (I am one), perhaps you remember the episode when the four stars went to the shore, spending the weekend both swimming and sunbathing. Kramer stole lobsters while Jerry and George went …
My house is 130 years old, and the “cellar” is a dirt floor with original stone walls. I’m 6’1″, and have to stay low as there is only about 5 feet of space height. After tripping a breaker as I …
Have you ever used a piece of birch wood (solid wood) in a woodworking project? Or are you more familiar with birch plywood, whether all birch or with a birch top veneer? If you have used solid wood in a …
The finishing part of a woodworking project has many options, with staining and painting being the most obvious. It’s the choice of topcoat that has many more options, and one of the most common today is polyurethane. You’ve likely worked …
We like oak wood and use it occasionally in our woodworking projects. Oak wood is a popular choice for many different types of projects because of its strength, durability, and beauty. Here are some good uses for oak wood: Key …
Spar Urethane offers a formidable shield, safeguarding wood from moisture, sunlight, and fluctuating temperatures. Known for its robust composition, this wood finish combines resins and oils, fortified with UV blockers, to extend the life of your outdoor furniture and decks. …
Red is a primary color that attracts attention and is associated with strong emotions. It can symbolize both positive and negative emotions, such as love, passion, anger, and fear. Red is also associated with danger and warning and is used …
We have mentioned before that we are not wood carvers, but we have friends who are. When we have questions about carving, we turn to them and follow their advice. In order to answer the question of this article, we …
If only everything we use in finishing a project were self-leveling, like the concrete or goop, we use to provide an undercoat in bathroom flooring, for instance. Wouldn’t that be great? Everything self-leveling? Sadly, that is not the case. Brush …
Most of us are familiar with cedar wood and its various uses. Perhaps we use aromatic red cedar to build a clothes closet or put a cedar block or a bag of cedar chips in the closet both for its …
It’s likely we all began working with wood glue when we were kids. Crafts time in school and woodworking time in shop class were all glue times for us. When we created our own woodworking shop, we continued to use …
Cedar wood is known for its bug-repelling properties, and several varieties are commonly used in woodworking projects where this benefit is desired. Each of these cedar wood types has unique qualities, but they all share the natural ability to repel …
We know what wooden dowels are, and we have all used them from time to time, either in making something or repairing something in our woodworking shop. You run to the local hardware store, where you will find wood dowels …
We’ve written about aspen wood in a past article when we determined whether aspen was a hardwood or a softwood. It was in that article that we first used the word “dendrologist,” which at that time was a new word for …
We’ve mentioned mineral spirits many times in articles here, but we’ve not discussed in any detail how to use them, what they can do, or why to use them. We thought we should correct this omission and talk a bit …
We like using an oil finish on our woodworking projects at Obsessed Woodworking. We’ve written about a number of oils used in finishing wood, including boiled linseed oil, Danish oil, and teak oil. Today we want to drill down a …