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

    • Bad Habits

      I have a nasty habit of seeing what I can get away with when I’m woodworking. It usually happens when I’m trying to save time. Can I do it this way, save some time but run the risk of messing the whole thing up? If I do take the risk, sometimes it works out and I save time, encouraging me to do it again in the future, but sometimes I ruin the whole project. If the whole project does get ruined, I question, “why in the world did I do it that way?” as I start over.

      The wood I buy is fairly expensive ($4-10 per board foot) I have ruined enough of it to question my methods. A lot of the pain of starting over can be remedied by performing small tests. Instead of making the object and discovering it doesn’t work, discover it doesn’t work before you make the object. I tend to skip these small tests because they take time, but what I am realizing is that they actually save time. If it works the way you think it will, then proceed to the making. If it doesn’t, though, it is always worth discovering before committing your valuable resources.

      I made a neat little bottle opener this weekend. The opener is screwed to a flat surface, and then magnets stick the surface to a fridge, and another magnet catches the bottle tops. I purchased a really cool bottle opener, in the shape of a bears head. It is very rugged looking and sturdy, which fit the qualities of the person I’m making the bottle opener for. What I didn’t realize was that the bears head protrudes out too far so that the magnet doesn’t catch the bottle tops.

      I went ahead and spent a bunch of time making a fancy backing piece, with a V carved image and routed edges, installed the magnets, only to find out that it doesn’t work. Used a fairly large piece of quartersawn white oak. I probably wasted a good hour on the piece that ended up not working, and could have done a 15 minute test to avoid wasting that hour. The failed piece is on my shop wall as a reminder to do tests, and to open bottles from time to time. You just have to catch them before they fall onto the ground.

    • Camera Usage and Sliders

      This week I’ve been subconsciously thinking about how to put my woodworking out there. I’ve made quite a few videos in many different styles, but I’ve never been able to land on anything solid. A few blog posts ago I stated what I think a good video is made of. It’s visually interesting, has a clean voiceover, and tells a story. What I missed in that post was a project that teaches something, or solves a problem. If you can teach something well with beautiful visuals, that is a winning combo.

      I’ve got three middle of the road cameras that are of decent quality. The one that looks the best is the hardest to use. It’s a Canon M50 with a nifty fifty millimeter lens and a speed boosted adapter. I can’t take stills with it but the video is beautiful. If I want to shoot 4k its 24 fps, so I usually shoot in 1080p to save on space and it generally looks fine. If I’m not mistaken this means that I’ve got to match my other cameras to this resolution and frame rate.

      I’ve got a GoPro Hero 13 black with a bunch of cool accessories. I bought the media mod, and the macro lens. I shot my last video with it in more of a vlog style and it did terribly. I learned that with woodworking, or any art piece that is consumed visually, the quality of the video is of the utmost importance. So now it is a question of how to utilize the GoPro. It takes fantastic time lapses. There’s no audio in the lapse, so it is quite easy to weasel into the edit. I’m thinking I need to make or buy a slider to add movement to those timelapses and play with motion. It could really shine when running the CNC for a long time. The GoPro also has this neat feature where it can easily switch between horizontal and vertical resolutions, which makes it really great for shooting footage for social media. It also will import directly to my phone with the GoPro app.

      My work just gave me an iPhone 16 Pro so I’m wondering if I can use its camera, which looks really good, to do some things for Instagram or even for my YouTube videos. One of my more successful YouTube videos was shot completely on iPhone. I did a weekly Instagram upload in a horizontal resolution (which looked completely amateur) and then segmented those edits together for the YouTube video. I’m sort of set on using the DSLR for the Youtube videos, but it might be worth it to shoot some projects for Instagram with the new phone.

      In general, especially for YouTube, every shot needs to be cohesive and well thought out. If I’m going to do a timelapse, then put the camera on a slider. If I’m doing handmade joinery, get a close shot with a good angle to show more detail. If I’m showing the final product, put it on a lazy Susan with awesome lighting. Make sure the colors and brightness are matching. Pick the music first and edit to the music, not the other way around.

    • Gifts for Friends

      It brings me a great deal of happiness to make woodworking projects for friends and family. The weekend after next I’ve got a boys weekend celebrating the wedding of one of my best friends. We’re going to Chicago to watch Michigan beat Northwestern at Wrigley Field. Strange because Wrigley is a baseball field. I’m looking forward to it very much so this coming weekend I figured I’d try to make something for everyone.

      I’m making my buddy, Mike, that got married a 3 watch display stand with a contrasting engraved wood plate. The plate will have his name engraved on it and be embellished in some sort of interesting way. I’m going to be spending the most amount of time on this little project. I’m planning on making a small lidded, magnetic box for his wife Loretta with her new name engraved on it. Mikes brother, Chris, just helped welcome his first child into the world, so I will be making some sort of toy for her. I’m thinking about getting him a toothbrush too as a gag gift because he used to be obsessive about cleaning his shoes. Our friend, Luke, had twins a few years back, so I’ll be making a set of toys for them as well. I’m thinking a small ball bearing maze puzzle with their names engraved on it.

      For the rest of my degenerate buddies I’ll be giving them white oak whiskey smokers. I already made a batch; I have 10-15 of them made up so that should be easy. Another one of my best friends, Alex, who just split from a long time relationship is going, so this boys weekend will be an excellent distraction for him. I’m thinking I’ll make a fridge, or wall mounted bottle opener for him with some sort of engraved mountain biking scene. The bottle opener will have a magnet to catch the bottle tops as they fall. The engraving will probably have to be simple, so it doesn’t take a ton of time. He’s huge into mountain biking and beer, so a biking themed bottle opener will be pretty sweet.

    • Projects on the Horizon

      I’ve always wanted to make money with woodworking. I’ve made a few huge projects and have assembled a valid portfolio, but I am far from breaking even on all of my investments. I believe I am still a few thousand in the red. Having a work shop is well worth it though and I wouldn’t have it any other way. I’m constantly juggling the making of projects for myself, my friends and my family for free, which brings me great joy and happiness, and the making of projects for paying customers. The paying customers are few and far between, but usually they make up for it by paying what I’m asking, and having immense patience. I only get a few hours a week to work, and usually a larger project takes a minimum of a few months to build.

      I’ve slowed down quite a lot in the pursuit of paying customers. I’m honing my craft, and trying to catch up on personal projects that keep my fire for woodworking lit. I’m also using this time to optimize the shop. I’m hoping to start filming again, which takes a lot of time and effort, but is usually worth it in the end. I have a nicer camera, that I haven’t been using because it takes a little more effort to setup and get going but the quality of the video is superior. It is easy for an audience to tell the quality of craftsmanship, and it starts with the storytelling and quality of video presentation. These metrics are extremely competitive in todays day. The average consumer has access to a variety of quality tools and there are endless creative ways to utilize them.

      I am working on a humidor, that of which took a little detour last weekend. I decided to just go for it, and I almost made it out unscathed. At the very last moment disaster struck. I was running a toolpath on the CNC and the wood ended up coming loose on my new spoil board. I wasn’t paying close enough attention, and the mahogany got ruined. I’ll be getting new wood for that project and trying again this weekend. Once I’ve got the mahogany box made I plan to inlay it into a thicker piece of wood and then power carve a texture into that, once the box has been glued and the hardware is in place. It should be an interesting result.

      My friend got married a few months ago, and he’s having a boys weekend in Chicago as a bachelor party replacement. I’m looking forward to it very much, so I’m planning to make him a simple watch display case on the CNC. I purchased the watch pillows, and so I’ll measure those and cut 3 watch sized slots into a piece of inch and a half thick walnut or wood of similar beauty. I’m thinking I’ll engrave his and his wife’s name onto it or something. Embellish it in some sort of tasteful way. I’m thinking I’ll probably rout grooves onto the edges to give it a sleeker, more professional look. That smaller project needs to be done this weekend, as the boys weekend is the following.

      I need a place to store my whiskey, so I am pondering the idea of a wall mounted whiskey cabinet to go behind the door in my office. The bottles need to be out of sight, in a sturdy cabinet preferably up high. I’d like to do this project on the CNC as well and use it as an opportunity to push the cabinet making capabilities that the tool possesses. I’m still trying to form the piece in my head, and figure out what I’d like for it to do. It would be good if it could hold 5-10 bottles, and maybe some glasses. I’d be happy if the door had glass or some decorative quality. I’m hoping to film this project because it seems like a good opportunity to do so.

      I’m hoping to finish a speaker project I started in January for my brother, but that project is not any fun. However, he is a paying customer, and if I do finish it, I’ll bring money into the house which is always a plus. I’ve got time for that one though, he’s not in any rush and the wood isn’t going anywhere. I’m hoping to do that one on the CNC as well, but it is tricky to cut miters on the CNC so I’ve slowed down on that project.

      It’s exciting to have projects ahead of me but feels overwhelming at times. I appreciate that there are things to do, my problem is I struggle to find time to do them.

    • 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?