Roughly speaking, YouTube woodworking videos fall into two camps for me. The first often starts with, “Watch along as I figure this out”—or they dang well should if the person’s doing something for the first time or just winging it. I approach all woodworking content both critically and forgivingly, but these probably most of all. I make enough mistakes on my own, so I’ll seize any chance to learn from someone else’s.

The other camp of videos is the part showing atop an iceberg of forethought and experience.  Those sneak up on me in the best ways. They’re clean, complete lessons that, while not always perfect, also reveal the scheming, skill, and smarts that go into a successful build. I get a kick out of that. This time around, my kick’s coming from a router table from DIY ‘Til Doomsday – 終末DIY.

Working out of a small shop for years with no table saw, I’ve come to place router tables close to my heart, and I’ve long lusted over making a quality one. This one lands well beyond where I aim, leaving me with plenty of room to situate my own plans. (I, for instance, will not make my own aluminum insert plate. Woof.) The project has plenty of cool ideas, like the drawers, but I’m more interested in how he gets there.

The dude’s a maestro at KISS. His jigs, maybe save the aluminum fences on a few, aren’t more than they need to be.

Sometimes there’s no jig at all, just double-faced tape stuck to his bench.

But he’s not sloppy or slapdash. The video also shows him using dial calipers to great effect.

I rarely check out woodworking projects to learn how to build a specific thing. Truthfully, this table has a couple features I’d never employ on one of my own. But that barely matters to me, because I don’t want to see products so much as methods (ideally conveyed well). The best of those times is when the methods also remind me to be a better woodworker, to keep striving and scheming so I never do more than is needed for the result I want. To that end, this video lands exactly where I want it to.

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-Made You Look are videos that we’ve found on the web that we thought were worth sharing with our audience. Let us know if you find anything you think is worth a look in the comments below!