My college has an odd sort of January term, where we are supposed to do independent projects that are outside things you find in conventional classes. The last few years I’ve done research or other academic thing, so I can now take a “personal improvement” project. Which works out to be whatever the hell I want, as long as I can spend the better part of a month on it. I’m currently leaning towards some kind of woodworking project.
I’ve built an impressively large pumpkin launching machine , so I know my way around a shop. Still, I’ve never done anything approaching sophisticated joinery, and I’d like to do something that requires more craftsmanship. Also, I won’t have access to my father’s shop, though I may be able to borrow a few of his hand tools (he’s got some nice planes and chisels).
I’ll probably use this as an excuse to acquire some nice tools for myself, but my budget isn’t really large – a few hundred dollars at most. Probably no power tools, beyond a drill, but I have more time than money anyways.
I have a spare room in my apartment that I can probably appropriate as a shop, but it’s not large, so I won’t have the room to work on large pieces of furniture.
What are some good entry level projects that end up with something useful and fairly nice? I don’t want to make a lot of kitschy birdfeeders… Where are the good online resources?