Noah B Woodworks

A woodworking page for the free time foot soldier

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about

Hello there! My name is Noah Budd and I am a woodworker from southeast Michigan. I hail from a small set of towns in the Upper Peninsula called Houghton/Hancock. I lived there for 24 of my 31 years, and graduated from Michigan Tech in 2019 in audio production.

In my free time I am a dad first and hobbyist second. I make music, read books, smoke pipes, and kayak fish. I am a broadcast engineer in my professional life, working an early morning 3:30 – 11:30 am shift. The early bird has most definitely gotten a worm or two.

Thanks for stopping by my site and feel free to reach out to me on Instagram @noahbwoodworks or via the email found on the contact page

-Noah

    • Videography and Woodworking

      I’ve been on and off with filming my projects for the last 3 to 4 years. I have gone through a few phases of style and presentation, but I have not landed on anything consistent. I’m talking about video that is made specifically for YouTube. Longer format video is tricky, because you’ve got to keep your audiences attention longer. Keeping their attention these days is difficult because the shorter format videos of TikTok and Instagram have shortened the attention spans of many as a biproduct of constant use. Woodworking is a long format endeavor, so I believe that long format videos are better suited to show the process of building.

      My journey as a videographer as been rather hectic. I started by doing some fancy lighting, and narrating, pulled back from that and stripped it down to captions, then went crazy with a more vlog style format. None of these really took off in the way that I had hoped, and that is partially due to inconsistencies in style and frequency of upload. There are a few commonalities I see with very successful YouTube woodworkers. Their videos are thorough in story, and do a good job of outlining why the object is being made. Their videos are often narrated with good audio instead of talking to the camera which can be off putting, especially if the viewer is unsure about the maker. Finally, their videos have beautiful imagery and the footage is shot thoughtfully with plenty of good light and movement.

      I am thinking that I can copy their approach, but start with the last point. Shoot the video beautifully, upgrade the camera, lighting and aesthetic of my workshop first so that the images are pleasant to look at. Then narrate what I’m doing in post. There are a couple of advantages to that. I don’t have to worry about talking to the camera while I’m making something, which can often be a huge distraction, and I can calculate exactly what I’d like to say without worrying about spending excess time when I’m building.

      I’m looking forward to attempting to make the shop look more beautiful, and it is always fun to upgrade the camera. My current setup is a Canon M50 with a nifty 50 speed-boosted and adapted lens. It is a pretty sweet rig but it has a few weird quirks. Every time I turn it on the shutter will click a bunch of times because the camera doesn’t recognize the adapter well, and the autofocus on the M50 is atrocious. Manually focusing every shot is hard on the small screen, so I got an external monitor to accompany the rig. I also can’t use it to capture photos, as the shutter will lock up when I click to shoot.

      I’ve used my GoPro Hero 13 for the most recent video, but the footage from that is really strange and doesn’t look amazing. It also has terrible low light performance, and I often woodwork in the morning. It’s hard for viewers to watch a wide angle for a long time, so I’ll probably attempt to use the GoPro for short format; vertical footage. The GoPro takes really awesome timelapses, so maybe I can make or buy a moving dolly for it, to spice some of those longer shots up.

    • Moving Forward

      Yesterday I had a little extra time and so I ended up finishing my new spoil board. It was one of those rare instances where everything came together really nicely and no major mistakes were made. The new spoil board is 21.5″ by 21.5″ which is quite a bit smaller than the 32″ by 32″ bed. The whole point is to make clamping on the CNC grab and go. I put a fence on the new spoil board that is I’d say 98% squared to the machine. There is probably a small bit of error but it is good enough for me. The fence ensures that I have a consistent starting point, as there is a recess for my XYZ zeroing probe.

      If the spoil board is ever damaged, all I need to do is chalk up a 2 foot by 2 foot piece of MDF and I can run a few tool paths, level the surfaces and I’m ready to go. Next on the docket is making cam clamps and it would be wise to make a few clamps that clamp the workpieces down in the z axis as well. The cam clamps will be designed to hold the work tight against the fence, so clamping will be fast and easy. I’ll need a set of z axis clamps for the heavier, larger toolpaths that I run into hardwood.

      While the CNC is doing its thing, I’ve been carving a little wand. It sort of looks like Voldemorts from Harry Potter, but I’m putting my own little touches on it. It feels fantastic to be carving again, and it is very satisfying to see the shape of something small come together. I can sit and be around if something happens on the CNC I’ll be a few steps away from the red emergency button, and I feel like I’m getting more done this way.

      I’ve still got to test the touch probe fits in the recess that I cut for it. I also need to ensure that the XYZ probing works for my machine. So far I’ve been able to probe for Z with no issues, but it would be fantastic if I could do all 3 and be super accurate. My next moves, after making a few simple cam clamps, will be to make a small lidded box, so I can quickly figure out the right tolerance for a snug fitting lidded box on the CNC. It’ll kill a few birds with one stone. I’ll get to test the new spoil board clamping system, the XYZ probe, and figure out the lid tolerance for the humidor project I’m trying to complete as well.

    • Quality of Life

      The barn in which I do my woodwork is tattered and old. It is often a home for squirrels, and bugs. It has been a nesting place for birds that open holes in the side that have grown in size. Since moving into our house in 2022, my attention towards the barn has not been about the overall aesthetic of the space. I have been merely focused on its ability to churn out work. Can I work in the space?

      When we first moved into the house, the barn had no insulation. I installed some R13 on the walls and doubled the thickness on the ceiling. I used cheap OSB to cover it between the studs that were not 16″ on center. I was too impatient to sister and frame the barn correctly, and could not afford sturdier, better looking drywall. I was simply trying to cover the insulation. I don’t regret these decisions. However, the quality of the space has suffered.

      In order of importance, I need to fix the holes in the barn, replace the windows, paint the exterior and put a steel or aluminum skirt along the bottom to keep water off of the base. Then on the inside, I need to strip the walls and reframe the studs so I can put insulation up properly. Before the insulation goes in I should have an electrician re wire the electrical. Once the insulation has been reinstalled, I need to finish with drywall and paint. For me, this is a multi year project that completely removes my ability to woodwork, so I have neglected to give it any attention.

      I am simply grateful that I’ve got the space to work in, and I am making the best of the space that I’ve got. It would do me a great service to address some of these issues though, for the long term health of the barn. I am hoping to hire out a lot of this work in the future. I have also sort of wondered if I can let it ride for as long as possible and rebuild the barn completely later down the road. Seems like it might be worth it to start completely over, but the funds just are not there at the moment. The barn does have a certain charm too.

      This post and yesterdays are telling me that it might be a good idea to shake things up in some way or another that drastically improves quality of life for the barn. I have a clearer idea of what it is that I am trying to make: CNC’d objects, pipes, wands and occasionally chairs. However, that tends to change with the season and I’ll inevitably agree to take on a project that lasts over 6 months. As long as I can make these objects I’m happy, but I can clean up the overall look and organization of my tools on the inside as an easy place to start. I can’t help but worry about the long term health of the barn, seeing it degrade in real time is worrisome. At the end of the day I’m grateful that it is still standing.

    • On My Shave Horse

      Last year I built a small shave horse. I sort of made my own design. It is small, and sturdy but has quite a few limitations. It does the job but not perfectly and I suppose that is okay. I made it to take up less floor space than a larger one because I work out of a 20 foot by 20 foot barn. As a result of bad priorities, the shave horse sits outside and I use it little, especially in the winter which is coming.

      As I am writing about my barn and its limited floor space, I can’t help but think there might be a better way. Perhaps I build a big console with heavy duty casters on the base. Basically a home for every large tool in the shop. The table saw takes up the most space. For that, I need a table to catch the work I push through, and side to side space for the fence which can go up to a few feet. Next is the miter saw, which has its own resting place on the side wall of the barn. If I could squeeze those two tools together I’d free up some space. Even more so, if I could squeeze my planer into this equation that would be even better. Is it too much to ask for the jointer and router table too?

      I’m envisioning a huge rectangle in the center of the barn. 10 feet by 6 feet. Into a corner of this rectangle, I build the table saw so that I can push work through and use the whole fence. Then, perhaps in the corners, I build surfaces that flip to hide the larger tools like my lunchbox planer, jointer, and miter saw. These tables that rotate 180 degrees will have to be quite sturdy as the miter saw and planer are very heavy instruments. It would be worth it though, to free up space for a sturdier, longer and more adjustable shave horse.

      I originally built the shave horse to shave legs and spindles on chairs, but recently I have been making wands. Wands are basically fancy chair spindles. I can turn wand blanks out with great speed on the shave horse, and it has to be the most fun woodworking activity in existence. There is something so fun about using a decent quality spoke shave to make a spindle or wand blank. I could sit there all day.

    • The Spoil Board

      Seems like a good title for a woodworking blog page. “The Spoil Board”. Anyway I am currently working to increase the efficiency of my CNC. I flattened it yesterday for the first time since I got the machine. It had a mosaic of past carves outlined into it. I’m working to make a spoil board that is easily repeatable out of a 2′ by 2′ sheet of MDF with work holding built in. This spoil board will go on top of my current spoil board, meaning I’ll most likely never have to flatten the bigger surface ever again. I rarely cut objects bigger than 20 inches, so when I need to do that, I’ll remove the new spoil board. For small, quick, and repeatable projects I am opting for a cam system.

      I’ve placed holes in 25 locations on the MDF in a grid spaced 3 inches apart and offset from the left and bottom sides of the spoil board to make room for a fence. These holes have T-nuts at the bottom, and serve as mounting nuts for the cam clamps. Once these holes have been cut, I can flip the spoil board over and cut a recess for the fence, and the mounting holes that go through the original spoil board table. Cutting a recess for the fence with the same zero as the mounting holes squares the spoil board to the CNC meaning that placing work on the table will be automatic.

      Once the fence is in place, I can run another toolpath that creates a pocket in the corner of the fence for my XYZ zeroing probe plate. This plate overhangs the bottom most corner of the workpiece and is a very accurate method for obtaining zero. I have to make a slight adjustment to the way I draw, though. I’ve used the center of the workpiece as zero previously, now I need to use the bottom left corner. Then I can make the cam clamps out of some spare plywood. I’ll probably make 4, with differing sizes. 3 inches of space between bolts is a lot, and I am anticipating using milled pieces of scrap wood to fill in the gaps if the space between cam clamp and workpiece is too great. Hopefully this works in my attempt to keep these cost effective.

    • Machining is The Way

      I’ve been racking my brain to figure out a fun innovative way to utilize my CNC machine. It is much easier said than done. I’m working on a humidor that is a small mahogany lidded box for my cigars, but then inlaying that box into a larger piece of wood and then shaping that larger piece of wood into something interesting with a handheld sanding disc (or something of the sort). The lidded box will be encased in wood, similar to the thin strips of Spanish cedar that line the inside of an artisan crafted humidor.

      These instruments shine when there is more than one cut made on a singular object; when the process has multiple steps. The trick is getting the machine homed to the right location, especially if you’re intending to flip the wood over 180 degrees. I’ve seen people drill holes with the quarter inch bit into the spoil board, and then use dowels to hold the stock in place. This method is genius because you don’t have to re zero any axis, you just flip the stock over and it is already aligned perfectly to the spoil board.

      The other trick, and the one I am currently working on, is getting the tolerances right. Any seasoned woodworker knows that wood moves when you cut it. It tends to bow and warp in unpredictable ways, no matter how dry it is. When you relieve the internal stress, the stresses that remain tend to take over. When designing a lidded box on the CNC, you need to ensure that there is a small gap because the wood will move. The size of that gap I am still figuring out. I’m chasing a nice piston fit, but not so much that the box won’t close.

      I’m looking forward to inlaying more with the CNC. In the past, I attempted a more advanced V carve method, with a 6 degree bit, but I could never iron out the tolerances. I never offset the mating piece so when I went to glue them together, hardly any of the male piece dipped below the surface of the female piece. I’d like to simplify my approach and do a vertical inlay to practice the fundamentals of inlaying with a CNC. My vision is for a circle inlayed into a piece of wood. Simple. 1 inch stock, with half of an inch depth, mill the piece flat and repeat. I’d like to inlay 3-4 different circles each with different wood, on top of each other, with the centers offset in multiple steps, and then make something from that stock. The resulting piece resembling a Venn Diagram but looser and artsier in feeling. This is where getting the centers correct (or incorrect) is important when doing things in multiple steps on the CNC.

      I had another idea as I was driving to work this morning: to inlay a ring of circles onto a small piece of wood, Almost like a clock face or a moon chart. Inlay circles of different woods in steps but cut into the previous circle until a ring has been created. The inlay method is simple and vertical, with no fancy V bit needed, but I still need to work out the tolerances. I don’t think it will work unless there is at least a .001 inch gap between the female piece and the male piece. It’s amazing that these instruments can achieve that level of precision. I’ll start small, with no tolerance, see if I can slam the pieces together, and go from there in .001 increments. As the wood moves, and stresses are relieved it becomes harder to gauge what tolerance is needed. The glue has to go somewhere and if it doesn’t then the pieces aren’t really getting glued together.

      These are fun problems to have. I bought a cool tool that is complicated and flexible. How do I make it work for me? Drawing on my last post, how can I use it to create something repeatable, each object is unique and has inherent value?

    • Repetition is Reputation

      I have always struggled to do the same thing over and over. I realized late in life that becoming a jack of all trades, master of none is actually somewhat of a nightmare. I am endlessly curious and tend to get distracted by activities that look interesting for a couple of weeks or months and then I’ll move on to the next shiny thing that comes into view. Once I realized this was a problem for me, I didn’t fix it. I don’t know if ever I will. Some of the beauty of what I do is in its versatility. I am never working on the same thing, and often, if the project is big, it will push the boundaries of what I’m capable of. This is a positive, but also a negative. I’m not mastering the making of the same exact table/chair/pipe/box in the same exact style. I’m making a bunch of objects that are wildly different.

      I am probably being a bit too literal here. It’s not important that I make the same thing the same way every time I make something, but the process, commitment and style which matter. Finding a repeatable process that guarantees the same quality object, that is uniquely different from the last, but holds strong value. That is what I’m after. I recently got into pipe making and it is todays shiny object for me. Pipes are a good example here, regardless of how long I stick making them.

      A pipe is a pipe, it is a hollow tube which holds tobacco (or other leaf) and you draw through it. Simple as they are, a pipe will work if you accomplish the above, so it has inherent value. They’re small and simple; they don’t take a ton of commitment to finish. They vary endlessly, making their creation interesting. The major road blocks I’ve had in the past with pipes have been solved. I am unable to fashion a good looking mouthpiece, so I purchase from Amazon. I was unable to drill accurate holes, but now I have a drill press.

      I’ve ironed out the process, so now comes the fun part. Shaping and finishing them to be unique and beautiful. I can carve a myriad of different lines, shapes and styles. Embellish the design however I please. But I’ll always start with a blank and a mouthpiece, draw the rough shape, drill the holes, cut, sand closer, carve closer still, and finish to make the wood look beautiful.

      I’ve been inspired in the past (and present) by Christopher Schwarz and his Lost Art Press. If you’re reading this, please investigate his work. His writing is of incredible literary quality, and his educational resources are fantastic. In his early career he was making everything from tables and benches to researching the origins of ancient workbenches. However, in recent years, he has settled into the rhythm of chairmaking. He has ironed out the sturdiest of processes and replicates many a variation on his chair. He writes books and teaches classes in his Kentucky studio. His process is what I’d like to highlight here. He makes the same object, a chair, by using the same repeatable steps, varies the shape, style and dimensions of its pieces and finishes it tastefully. I hope to find the commitment in my own life to hone a process as stable as his.

      I’d like to note that the object in question, a chair, like the pipe, has inherent value. Can you sit in it? Why, then it is quite useful. Now the only pertinent question is, how does it look? According to Chris, who has thought a lot about chairs, you should be invited to sit. It is not just a chair, but a place to ponder; to better oneself. That is not verbatim; I am embellishing his words, but you get the idea.

      I am not a machine made for repeating, but the key idea here is to become a human one. Make the same thing over and over again. You achieve mastery. If the object you make has inherent value, then, with repetition, you will get better at making it. In an almost linear fashion, the object will become more desirable as you bestow it with its ability to invite you in.

    • Slow vs. Fast Woodworking

      Does spending more time and energy make the work more valuable? Depends on what you’re creating. Spending time on work that nobody wants is not time well spent, unless you aren’t planning to sell the work. In todays day, there are plenty of precision tools that speed up the mundane tasks such as jointing and thicknessing. These tools make work more efficient and precise, however it cheapens the experience for the creator. My lunchbox planer is one of my favorite tools but feeding boards into it is quite boring.

      Do the machines that make woodworking quicker remove the soul from the craft? Milling a board manually with hand planes leaves an exquisite texture on the wood, especially if not smoothed with a no. 4. Old furniture has this texture that screams into the room “I was handmade!”. Not to mention, hand planing with a sharp, well tuned plane is a fantastic experience and good exercise. If you’re experienced, you do not sacrifice a whole lot of time as compared to the faster, modern methods of milling. However, getting experienced takes a lot of time. Learning to sharpen, true and thickness by hand can be a frustrating and tedious process.

      Last year, around this time, I purchased a very nice CNC machine. It was not cheap, but not industrial. Pro-sumer grade. These machines take precision, quickness and repeatability to the next level. I can’t help but think that everything that comes off the machine is rather lifeless. I’ve made some things I’m really happy with: Whiskey smokers, wood trays, and some other miscellaneous trinkets that I’ve made specifically for my own needs. The CNC comes with its limitations. For example, you can’t carve the underside of a ledge, and it is recommended for the average user to use average bits: Quarter inch end mill, miscellaneous vbits, etc. I have been working to innovate with my machine, which is quite capable. Use it to carve something useful, such as a lidded box, and then inlay that box into a piece of wood I can shape or carve in a unique; soulful way.

      The Shaper Origin router is a really great compromise, expensive as it is. It is a CNC router that you can hold in your hand that uses an external grid, almost like a QR code, to know where it is in space. It feels like woodworking, not manufacturing. You can clamp, rout, unclamp, move, then rout again. It is like using a tool to shape something special rather than making 15 semi-special things in one go on the CNC bed. I don’t own one, so I’m sure it has its limitations and annoying tendencies.

      If you work slowly, and put more of yourself into the work it will always feel better, no matter who the owner of the work is in the end. In todays day though, working slowly feels like you’re falling behind. Taking 15 minutes to thickness a board by hand makes less sense when the job can be done in 3 minutes. Efficiency vs soulfulness. I attempt to find balance. Often, it is much easier said than done.

    • Falling Apart

      One of the main reasons I started this daily blog was to simply get into the habit of writing my thoughts down. It is a personal archive but also an exercise in discipline. I am absolutely not feeling like writing today but I saw something last week that motivated me to make small changes in my life. Psychologically, talking about your dreams gives you the satisfaction of achieving them. The people who discipline themselves to practice routinely end up actually achieving their dreams. The people who talk about their dreams without action give themselves the satisfaction of achieving the dream without actually doing anything.

      I have made this mistake so unbelievably often in my life. All throughout my 20’s I was talking about how I wanted to make it big in the music industry and making excuses for why I couldn’t work on achievement. It is an easy cycle to fall into if you’re not aware of the repercussions. I fell into the habit of making plans with no thought of how to execute them. Your dreams can make you weaker instead of lifting you higher. It is a painful truth to realize.

      I tend plan so much that I even scheme for what to do when I don’t feel like doing anything. I’ll give myself resources and source material to draw inspiration from. I assume that when I don’t feel like doing anything that I’ll be able to inspire anything at all. That is rather naive of me. The real obstacle is not inspiration, but getting started. When motivation is an issue, getting started feels like I am about to climb a vertical wall. Putting one hand in front of the other and lifting myself onto one foot is the real problem. Discipline is the issue, not inspiration.

      I must endure the discomfort of daily practice and put myself into action, instead of sitting idly by as time gets away from me. In the video I watched last week they said “dreams without action quietly waste time. And time once lost, can never be reclaimed.” It is with small, steady actions performed every day that I’ll bring myself closer to my dreams. Train insane or remain the same.

    • Marking Out

      In my attempt to improve my own woodworking and further my understanding of the craft, I purchased a set of books published by Lost Art Press in 2016 titled The Woodworker. This unique set of four books sets out to preserve the work of Charles H. Hayward, a premier craftsmen and educator. Over the next few posts I’ll be discussing some key points from these books, and I’m still working my way through the first.

      In an article from the first book, Hayward writes: Marking out is one of those jobs that cannot be skimped. It must be done carefully because the success of the job depends on it (Lost Art Press LLC, 2016). These days, I often mark with a pencil because its fast, easy and abundant. When I was dovetailing, I used to mark with an extra long bladed Veritas marking knife that I got from Lee Valley for $15. It’s an awesome knife and I will be using it more often. I often notice that pencil marks do good enough work but not first-class work, at least by yesterdays standards.

      When I first started woodworking, I learned about what it took to make a reference surface. A reference surface is essential to accurate marking, but how do you create one without a jointer? A few years ago all I had was a cheap Stanley no. 5, some cheap chisels and some winding sticks. I found the cheapest square that Rockler had as well. I was haunted by a set of questions: Is the sole of my cheap Stanley flat? Is the surface I use to sharpen my blade flat? What is flatness? The answers are no no and yes.

      At the time I bought a small piece of float glass which is glass that is cooled on top of a pool of water, which makes it as flat as the waters surface. Its a really good place to start if you’re looking for a cheap reference surface. I found it was too small for the lapping of tools though, so a few years later I splurged on a piece of granite reference stone that had a flatness certification. This piece of paper showed the tolerances at each corner and the center of the block being less than one thousandth of an inch. I used the block to flatten the bottom of my plane bodies, and now I can use those planes with more confidence.