Shop notes

Notes from the bench

How the work actually gets done, written for the fellow who hasn’t met the jargon yet. Nothing here claims more than the app can do.

7 September 2026 · 5 min readHow nesting saves a sheetThe quick pack left a sheet on the table. What the optimizer does differently, and the one job we measured it on.Read the note →7 September 2026 · 5 min readHow to measure a kitchen for cabinetsThe order to take a room in, and the four numbers people forget until they are back at the bench.Read the note →7 September 2026 · 5 min readWhat a post processor is, and where G-code fitsThe word "post" scares people off a thing they already understand. Here it is without the jargon.Read the note →

One-liners from the bench

Habits worth stealing, the ones that keep a job clean from tape measure to install. Got one of your own? Send it through the support form — the good ones land here with your shop's name on them.

Run the first program on scrap, every new machine

Reduced feed, an air pass first, the setup sheet’s corner/face/Z checked against your table, and mic the first part. The app asks you to tick this once per machine — it’s not a formality, it’s the whole difference between a config error costing a sheet or costing nothing.

— the WoodWright bench
Grain lock costs yield — spend it where eyes land

Locked grain on every part can eat a sheet or more on a big job. Doors, drawer fronts, and exposed ends earn it; backs, decks and stretchers don’t. The nest’s grain toggle is per-run for exactly this reason.

— the WoodWright bench
Scribe allowance beats a perfect wall that doesn’t exist

Walls lie. A filler with 3/4″ of scribe planned from the start installs in minutes; a run designed tight to drywall installs with a grinder and regret. Put the filler in the design, not in the truck.

— the WoodWright bench
The dado slop is a hundredth, on purpose

A 0.01″ of width slop per side lets a tongue seat with glue room without racking the case. If your parts press together dry and squeak, you’re fighting the assembly — check the slop knobs before you blame the router.

— the WoodWright bench
Print the shop-floor pack to a tablet, not paper

One HTML file opens on any phone or tablet: cabinet index, assembly sheets, part check-off, find-by-part-id. The paper stays clean in the office and the greasy thumb scrolls the tablet.

— the WoodWright bench
Islands get seen from every side — design them that way

Finished backs, applied ends, and ribs that hang proud are all normal island moves. Draw them as they’ll be built (the bench can seat a rib into its housing dado) and the cut list stops surprising you.

— the WoodWright bench
Measure twice, but write it once — in the job

A dimension that lives on a sticky note dies in the truck. Field measurements go into the room walk or the job brief the day you take them; the quote, the nest and the install sheet all read from the same numbers after that.

— the WoodWright bench