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Made from beech and birch, this workbench is incredibly strong and stable. It has two different vices to hold jobs in a variety of positions for carving, planing and general woodworking. Also underneath there is a cupboard and 4 drawers. Cost in excess of £1500 when bought. Now I only want £300...

My first job would be (and was many years ago) to make a sturdy bench out of sawn stock timber. This gives lots of practice at square cross-cutting with a hard-point saw and then planing of the top surface. Don't use thin timbers but big beefy chunks that are bolted together so the whole thing...

You might find a band saw with a deep throat and fence of long-term benefit if you have to do this often .... but on the other hand you won't get so fit if you do that. Just make sure the rip saw's teeth are kept really sharp and trimmed.

The traditional way is using a draw knife and shave horse. You sit on the shave horse, press your foot on the pedal which jams the branch you're de-barking pretty rigidly and then draw the knife towards you - see link [http://www.neillmapes.com/bodgers-shavehorse]. It was used in situ in the...

What a waste of shelf space - why not just use two blocks of wood. I still use some wooden planes that my grandfather owned, mostly the specialist ones like rebate planes or profile planes that have a shaped blade and soleplate - it's so much quicker than getting the router out for small jobs...

I have loads of large planks of exotic hardwood such as teak and afromosia to sell (up to 125mm thick, 400mm wide and 2m long). All were inherited from my father so, if you're prepared to accept that this was felled at least 50 years ago before we knew what we do about human climate change, then...

Agree Zinsser as it sticks to anything is the best - but, since it's meths based, it will dissolve foam rollers. Dries almost too quickly for rolling. They also do a water-based one but I've not tried that.

I'd use Danish Oil rather than something like Sickens microporous paint which will spoil the effect of using real oak (even pine would look much the same after applying that). I have a solid oak front door which is about 15 years old which I have treated with Danish oil since it's birth and it's...

Olive oil should be okay if you don't mind an oil finish - non-toxic after all.

Nice looking box. I'd use Danish oil but thin it down first with white spirit so it really soaks in rather than leaving a sticky residue on the surface. Will need a few coats.

You'll regret not making it all from the same wood. As for staining, I wouldn't bother as you might as well use deal rather than spoil an expensive piece of hardwood. Use oak for all if you possibly can and it will look much better - beech has little or no grain to speak of.

Use stone tumbler polishing compound starting with course 80 grit then getting finer to eventually a pinkish powder (something oxide) but it needs to be done wet. Very hard work if done by hand. Results depend on the original mix - try flicking in some concrete powder dye in different places as...

I soaked a wooden bench in WD40 as an experiment before putting it outside. Worked a treat so worth a try but any type of varnish will flake off.

The true definition is European Redwood. Fast grown wood like this is usually straight grained so is ideal for case construction but, to my mind, does not lend itself well to quality furniture.

I used oak which I've been using for years. Oil with olive oil which is non-toxic.

Just plant a really valuable tree. The cat, and every other one in the area, will always scratch this.