How to Apply Finish to Soft Wood. Softwoods are a boon to us woodworkers.
They are cheap, or at least cheaper than most hardwoods, easy to machine, commonly available and look great. That is, they look great right up until they get splotchy when you stain them. Softwood Characteristics Let’s be sure we’re all on the same page: common softwoods include pine, cedar, spruce, hemlock, fir, cypress, larch, redwood and yew.
These woods are characterized by distinct alternating bands of earlywood and latewood. The earlywood bands are softer and less dense than the latewood bands, and lighter in color.
DIY Smart Saw - Router Forums. Wood Magazine's Solar Kiln. Granberg Original Alaskan Small Log Chainsaw Mill — Model# G777. Ideas. Make Poplar Look Pretty. The wood we know as poplar has many common names, such as tulip poplar, yellow poplar, tulipwood, yellow tulipwood, tulip tree, whitewood and canoewood.
The “tulip” part of these names comes from the tulip-like flower the tree produces in the spring. Where the “poplar” part of these names comes from is a mystery, because the tree is not even a true poplar—it’s a member of the magnolia family. In fact, poplar is known as the “king of the Magnolias.” It’s also the tallest hardwood tree in North America.
Regardless of what it’s called, Liriodendron tulipifera Magnoliaceae produces very useful and versatile lumber. An ugly duckling So why isn’t poplar popular with furniture makers? How to Dispose of Old Mineral Spirits. This is a question that has probably vexed many of us.
Mineral spirits is often used in the world of woodworking. Many woodworkers wondered how to dispose of used mineral spirits when you’re done with them. The first suggestion offered — and endorsed by several other contributors — was to recycle. Put the used stuff in jars and let the sludge settle to the bottom (takes a few months). Once the jar is clear, decant the good stuff into a clean jar, filtering with discarded pantyhose or coffee filters. Making table saw push sticks. I'm a big fan of using push sticks on the table saw, and I usually use two of them to guide the work past the blade.
I particularly like this design of push stick, so I thought I'd do a short article and video about making some. What I like about these is the shape of the handle, with a corner to prevent your hand from sliding down towards the blade. They also have a relatively long notch at the front to help hold stock down. They are relatively thin, useful for pushing narrow stock through between the fence and the blade.
Tenon method: Stay with the tablesaw, but add a shop-made jig. If you're not prepared to pay $100 or more for a high-quality dado set, cut tenons with the workpiece held vertically on the tablesaw.
You need a dependable jig for this operation; the drawing right shows you how to build one at minimal expense. We designed it to clamp the workpiece in place and ride flush against the rip fence. Now, mount a combination blade in your tablesaw and add an auxiliary fence to your miter gauge. Also install a zero-clearance throat plate to keep the thin waste pieces from being caught and kicked back. Now proceed as shown below. Tenon method: Stay with the tablesaw, but add a shop-made jig. Cut a Mortise with Your Router Table. There are lots of ways to cut a mortise.
Home Improvement and Remodeling Tips & Tricks. How to Build a Router Jig for Perfect Dadoes. Learn how to build and use a simple router jig for cutting perfectly square shelf dadoes.
A handheld router is an incredibly versatile tool, and when you're just starting out, it's among the four most useful handheld power tools you can have in your arsenal. A cordless drill, circular saw, jig saw, and router will get you well on your way to producing beautiful, well-built furniture that will serve you well. Routers do two things very well: they profile edges with a variety of shapes, and they plow out grooves. In woodworking terms, any groove running "with the grain" is called just that: a groove, while any groove running "across the grain" is called a dado.
Routers really shine when building bookcases, perhaps one of the most common projects novice woodworkers take on. Here's how to build a simple router jig for cutting straight, square dadoes: Materials Wood glue Four screws Two pieces of plywood or hardwood scraps, about 3-1/2-in. wide. Cut Better Casework Dados with a Router. Make the jig big enough to give you room to clamp it down without the router interfering with the clamps.
Secure the Work and Fix the Location Two clamps are needed to keep the jig from shifting. I place a clamp on the guide that clamps both the guide and the work down to my bench, as shown at right. A sliding bar clamp will securely hold the guide bar to the edge of the workpiece. Making the bar as long as possible provides plenty of room for your clamps. An alternative location for the second clamp is to clamp down on an additional piece on the opposite side of the router from the guide.
Woodworking for engineers. Homemade - How to build a "Drill Press"! Portable Drill Guide - Rockler Woodworking Tools. How to convert a drill press stand into a DIY lathe. I had a broken drill press stand laying around and I decided to convert it into a home made lathe.
I’ve seen many people in the web making drill powered lathes and I borrowed ideas and inspiration from many of them. First of all I disassembled the drill stand and kept only the part that the drill is mounted on. I connected this part with two parallel wooden boards. To do that I drilled two holes on all of them and added two screws with washers and nuts. 116.jpg (JPEG Image, 432 × 288 pixels) How to Cope Joints. How to Cope Joints. Woodworking - Making Crown Moulding yourself. How To Make A Sliding Moxon Vise. The Art of Woodshop Design. When you look at someone else’s shop, you can’t help but to think of improvements they could make.
But what would you say about your own shop? Here’s my upgraded Jet DC-1100 dust collector. I bought a large 16 oz. singed-felt filter bag, and a non-breathable, sealed duck-canvas lower bag to ensure fine dust collection. Notice the difference between the picture below and this one. 8 Real Life Shops. Ordering a custom trailer was a bit more expensive than purchasing a stock model, but well worth it. To save my beleaguered back, I stipulated that it be tall enough that I could stand fully upright inside (I’m 6' 1").
My driveway at home is tight, so I narrowed the base a bit from the standard 6' to 5' wide. And I wanted to be able to easily carry sheet goods so I made sure that the main body of the trailer was 8' long with a V-front to make it more aerodynamic and provide extra room for long material. I chose a swinging door at the back instead of the fold-down ramp option, and chose a side door for additional access. John's Basement Woodshop - Shop Tour - The Wood Whisperer. How To Make A Sliding Moxon Vise. My 10 X 14 basement workshop. Basement Shop, Pros and Cons Question... Woodshop Layout – Tour and Tips from Matt's Basement Workshop. I can’t deny that I’ve always wanted a large woodshop. Patterned after a professional shop, my large woodshop would include: Space for hundreds of board feet of lumberDedicated power- and hand-tool workspacesA finishing roomMy own design area to play with mockups and such Large would be nice.
5 Basement Workshop Essentials - Bob's Blogs. Basement - Fine Woodworking Workshop. Thinking Wood: Project 2 - DIY Portable 3-in-1 Workbench / Table Saw / Router Table Combo. Getting Started. Simple Yet Amazing Rustic Furniture And DIY Video. This amazing collection of rustic natural furniture demonstrates the ideas of many craftsmen. Sometimes they are built as a living, sometimes they are designed out of necessity. The idea behind natural furniture isn't just about how much you can spend to buy it, unless of course, you have the funds to do so.
How to Use a Circular Saw: Long Cuts. Even if your woodworking is limited to an occasional weekend project, you'll eventually need to cut a narrow piece from a long board or sheet of plywood. Sawing long boards is easy if you own a table saw. Could you live without your tablesaw? Two Essential Saw Cutting Guides.