7 Weekend Projects You Can Build With a Saw, a Drill and a Square
No full shop needed. Number 7 is the one most beginners get wrong, and it's the plan's fault, not theirs.
Maybe there's a saw on your garage wall you've hardly used, because nobody wants to waste a Saturday and look foolish. Good news: every project below is straight cuts, a few screws and a square corner.
1. Picnic table
Straight cuts, carriage bolts, and a summer of meals at a table you built. The classic first big build.
Saw, drill, square1 weekendSee how it's built
2. Dog house
Four walls, a pitched roof and a name over the door. Teaches square corners, and the dog won't judge your joints.
Saw, drill, square1 weekendSee how it's built
3. Entryway shoe bench
Shelves for boots, a seat on top. Guests will assume you bought it. Let them ask.
Saw, drill, square1 weekendSee how it's built
4. Garage wall storage
Sized to your wall, not a catalog's. The project that makes every other project easier.
Saw, drill, level1 weekendSee how it's built
5. Workbench
Built to your height. The day it's done, the garage starts to feel like a shop.
Saw, drill, square1 to 2 weekendsSee how it's built
6. Adirondack chair
The "you made that?" project. Curves look hard; with a good template they aren't.
Saw (jigsaw helps), drill2 weekendsSee how it's built
7. A simple bookcase (the one most beginners get wrong)
On paper it's the easiest project here: two sides, a top, a bottom, a few shelves. In real life it's where a lot of men decide they're "just not handy." The real reason: the plan was drawn, not built.
Boards are smaller than their names: a "2x4" is about 1½ by 3½ inches, a "1x10" is ¾ by 9¼. A plan that ignores that leaves every shelf short, and leaves you blaming yourself.
Saw, drill, square1 to 2 weekends
Tested in the Shop. Not in Yours.
Get the plan right and all seven are weekend jobs you can do yourself. Woodworker and woodworking teacher Ted McGrath builds every plan in his shop before he releases it, so the cut list matches the lumber you actually buy.
Imagine Sunday evening: your wife runs her hand across something solid and square and asks, "You made that?"
Hi. My name is Ted McGrath.
Your first clean cut is closer than you think. In a short video on the next page, Ted shows you how you can build projects like these yourself, instead of spending a fortune hiring someone to do it for you.
Watch Ted show you how →