The Test Cut

Learning woodworking the expensive way, so you don't have to.

Latest from the shop

Build4 firsts

Making IKEA Look Expensive

I wanted to make something nice again, so I put an oak top across two IKEA bookcases. Then I glued two panels end to end, remembered how grain works about an hour too late, and spent the rest of the build repairing my way to something defensible.

February 2, 2026

Build9 firsts

A Workbench, Some Shelves, and a Bucket That Kept Imploding

I gave myself three tools for Christmas and immediately needed somewhere to put them. So: a folding workbench, shelves for a garage that isn't level, and a dust collection setup that destroyed bucket after bucket before a T adapter and some tape finally solved it.

January 25, 2026

NewsNew: Cutting Board Designer

Never Tell Me the Odds

Meet the new Cutting Board Designer. Pick a style and two woods, and it draws your board to scale, spins it in 3D, counts the wood and walks you through every cut. Everything my butcher block ran without.

December 20, 2025

Build12 firsts

Pine Is Fine. I Bought Walnut Anyway

After one pine side table, pine felt like ordering chicken tenders at a fancy restaurant. So I found walnut in the back of a veneer warehouse, drove it home in the kids' booster seats, and spent four weeks earning a real butcher block.

December 3, 2025

Build6 firsts

I Bought a Circular Saw and Declared Myself a Woodworker

I bought three tools and declared myself a woodworker. Then my 2x3s turned out smaller than their name, the first leg I cut went straight onto the floor, and the pocket holes started smoking. My drink got its table anyway.

November 3, 2025

Offcuts

The short stuff, straight from @thetestcut.

All offcuts
  1. Two shelves of clamps, and it’s still not enough clamps.
  2. Tools are a pyramid scheme, but this track saw square came out of a printer.
  3. 1/2A clean shop is a happy shop!
  4. My end grain board does butcher block duty most of the time, and this on occasion.
  5. There is now a Resting Birch Face mug, and yes, I made that pun on purpose.
  6. This walnut end-grain checkerboard board turned out better than I expected.

The toolbox

Calculators and designers that do the fraction math, so the only mistakes left are yours.

All tools
Cutting Board DesignerDesign a checkerboard, chevron or brick cutting board step by step, see it in 3D, and get a build guide with a drawing for every step.Finish SimulatorPick a wood and a finish, preview roughly how it lands, and get the sanding plan that combination actually needs.Gridfinity BuilderDesign Gridfinity baseplates and boxes to the standard, ready to print.Board Foot CalculatorEstimate lumber volume and material cost for a project.Wood Movement EstimatorPredict how much a board will move across the seasons.

Woodworking Wisdom

From the Shop