The novelty, design, craftsmanship, execution, cinematography, all unmatched. Absolutely incredible work.

He took a centuries-old, classic bench design and added function to support his specific workflow needs.

I have incredible respect for populating your workspace with beautiful, functional things. If it makes you enjoy the work, you’re more likely to do it, and more likely to push yourself to higher standards.

On my to-build list, I want to make some simple floating picture frames for a few canvasses we have in the house. Those are simple enough to build, but I also want to add reinforcement splines to the mitered corners, for both the structural support and as a design detail.

Using a few examples I found (especially this one from Woodcraft by Suman), I drew up this design that’ll allow it to be reusable, support using hold-down clamps, and stop blocks for batching out cuts. Jigs like this can make somewhat complex cuts dead simple and...

One of my next projects I’d like to work on is designing and building a custom dining table. The table we have now was a simple bare-wood pine table we bought probably 15 years ago and painted flat black. For years it was our office desk, where one of us sat on each side; then we converted it to our small dining table. It’s still going strong today, with remarkable durability. I haven’t even repainted the tabletop.

But we want a larger proper dining table that we can use for the family. The current table doesn’t get much use, but...

I had this long, wide, high-on-the-wall shelf in my office that was there since we moved in. I had wanted to take it down and do something different, but just left it there while I considered some alternatives. I considered a piece of furniture, moving my desk arrangement, and different variations of shelves that could work. Eventually I decided I wanted some simple, long shelves to give me plenty of space, and to put them up high over the reading chair area.

I wanted to get back to woodworking, and thought this would be a good chance to design something...

I’m a sucker for YouTube content of makers and craftsmen at work. I’ve posted before about channels like Black Beard Projects restoring old shop tools, and recently Kenji Lopez-Alt’s first-person cooking show.

I grew up doing watching my grandfather’s carpentry in his wood shop, and did many projects over the years tinkering around with my dad and brothers at home. It’s been something I’ve always had ideas about doing again, whenever I can create the space for small projects.

But during quarantine times, Marc Spagnuolo’s Wood Whisperer channel is a...