I don’t think I’ve ever been able to get my hands on 1x3" hardwood, unless it’s been cut/seasoned/planed by someone I know. (I still have a bunch of 1x4" oak that my grandfather put away ~20 years ago :D)
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I like popular science’s series of projects with plywood. Less joinery, and often more efficient and lighter structures, with lots of flat surfaces.
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“1x3” is just off the top of my head, and I mean roughly the size of nominal 1x3 pine, i.e. 3/4" x 2-1/2" or so - quite possibly a metric size. And by “hardwood” I mean harder than softwood (medium wood?) but not furniture grade. I have bins full of tiny scraps of actual hardwood that will eventually come in handy for something.
edit: Just checked - 2x6 cm actual dressed size.
I have relatives and friends that have–and I kid you not–their own (super dangerous) saw mills. But I guess since Oregon was a logging state for so long I shouldn’t be too surprised.
If I could figure out what to do with it, I have access to a couple hundred acres of white scrub oak. But it usually doesn’t dry straight. And it takes forever.
Anyway, one of these days I’ll get back to joining wood in my simplistic, but I think endearing, ways.
I’m imagining a custom butcher-block table top, assembled crazy-quilt style out of all those bits of hardwood, then run through a planer to make it flat.
I installed butcher block countertops last year. Maple, side grain. They look and perform better than granite.
But what I really want…
Is an end grain butcher block that has been cleaned and scrubbed so many times it has wood missing.
This gets my motor runnin’
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I agree on passing on pallet designs. Most pallets are frustratingly difficult to disassemble (they are made sturdy for a reason), and if you tear apart a nice one, you are removing a product that is still useful and making it into less useful whatevers (used pallets are collected, sold, repaired, and reused until the wood is rotted or damaged).
And for topic sakes, I just converted this design to a stander and it turned out very nicely (though I did use an ikea countertop for the top):
Only one angle, I think it was 35 degrees.
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Same here. It makes minor projects more complicated, when your old 2x4 is bigger than your new 2x4, and neither are actually 2x4. Whatever project it is, I already knew I was going to half-ass it. I don’t need this additiional aggravation.
As Dad says, “I cut it off twice and it’s still too short!”
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Hate to rain on the parade, but the PDF that’s linked is a scan of a book that was released in 2014.
Now, while I’m all for discussing the topic. Let’s give the author some credit and buy his book instead
of downloading it before we start thinking about “Cool Furniture you can make at home, in your spare time!”.
(Link: http://www.amazon.com/Autoprogettazione-Enzo-Mari/dp/8887942676 )
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“gorgeous” furniture.
Indeed!
The book currently available on Amazon is a Third printing—December 2014. (The book was copyright 1974.)
To be fair, the linked PDF appears to be a scan of a 2008 reprint of the book, and is found at a blog post dated September 2014.
I’m guessing that Cory and Crapfutures, in looking to the September 2014 post and the 2008 reprint for inspiration, were probably unaware of the newer edition of the book and probably meant no harm.
Good job, Bevelcut , in making us all aware of the newest edition 
Cool to know it’s currently available, thanks!
I heartily agree. I usually design myself (it’s half the fun), but when I get back to more ‘civilized’ areas i may have to pick this book up.
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Another '70s era DIY book which I’ve had a lot of successes with is Nomadic Furniture. It’s pretty hippie-dippie in places, but good fun and has some excellently practical designs. most of them intended to break down for moving.
Nearly all the bookshelves in our house - and we have a lot of bookshelves - are built from a slightly modified version of its basic bookshelf design, which is designed to be cut from a 4’ x 8’ sheet of plywood or particle board and gives you an 8’ tall, 30" wide, 9" deep set of shelves per sheet, with kickplate yet.
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