Woodworking 101--Tools and Tips

[raskal]

It is weak and messy, as it expands and immediately deposits a sticky mess around glue joints which, once cured, can be laboriously removed (which is essential as its color contrasts with most wood). It is this foaming expansion that causes its weakness, as bubbles are formed. Furthermore it is wasteful, as it tends to go off in its container shortly after being opened, no matter the cap being replaced immediately after dispensing.

I recently did a non-wood project trying to glue stones in place. Gorilla expanded and made a freaking mess everywhere! Never again.

And I've got the remains in its container with tight lid attached and in a sealed plastic bag. I expect it'll go hard and useless soon. Pure ****

 

[rrich1]

Back from vacation and I started my son's chest of drawers and night stand today. These will match the hamper I made in back in March. It will be a cherry frame with walnut sides and drawer fronts.

I didn't get a pic of all the wood and me trying to figure out which pieces will come from what boards. From the 8/4 boards I figured out the best layout that would yield me the best excess material. A few cuts got a little close so hopefully I meet all of my dimensions.

After layout, which took forever, I cut the pieces out on the bandsaw. I wanted to leave as few pieces as possible so that I wouldn't be wasting wood off the bat but I decided to cut each piece out. Doing this I should eliminate any surprising twist after I let these sit for a day. Wood stress usually happens when cutting thick boards so hopefully if any movement happens it occurs now and not after final dimensioning.

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[turbowoodworker]

My two cents on gorilla glue argument.
I thought it was a cool idea when it first came out. Then I found that for indoor furniture building, the gorilla is expensive, not any more effective than Titebond II, and turns your fingers brown for a week.
IMO just not worth the price and mess. I may have a different opinion if building outdoor deck furniture but my limited experience says Titebond III is adequate for that as well.

 

[cheechi]

so if I am understanding correctly, epoxy is used as the adhesive of the wooden hull in some boats? Not just the hull coated in epoxy?

 

[ez-duzit]

c--yeah, WEST epoxy makes one of the best wood glues.

 

[jimreed2160]

rrich--Looking forward to watching your build. And the kid should enjoy getting his clothes out of those Amazon boxes and into a nice wood chest.

 

[Craptain]

so if I am understanding correctly, epoxy is used as the adhesive of the wooden hull in some boats? Not just the hull coated in epoxy?

Absolutely. Traditional planked hulls do not use glue. But pretty much all the rest, plywood, strip plank etc do.

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[jimreed2160]

Clamps
I lost one of the feet from my little 8" Quick Clamp. These small lightweight clamps are very handy for small projects and repairs. I use them frequently. A quick trip to Lowes replaced the pair with a new set that had updated feet.

But, hey, I am a woodworker. This is an easy fix. I need a small slot milled in a scrap piece of wood. Even the female side of a sliding dovetail joint would do. But the thought of getting out the router and searching for bits made me tired. I went over to the bandsaw and nibbled a nice slot in just a few minutes.

 

[jimreed2160]

Clamps continued

Once I had my slot, I cut the piece from the block of walnut and trimmed it to size. Then I cut off my four feet. The first two fit nice and tight but the last two had a little drift and were loose. Borrowing a trick from Japanese carpenters I shimmed the fitting with paper and it worked fine. Most of the Japanese planes I have rehabbed have newspaper behind the blade for shimming.

So now I have a new pair of clamps and an old pair with new wooden pads. It was a good day in the shop.

 

[chrislehr]

It has been a while since i posted in here so I'm playing a bit of catchup...

Some spalted maple slab shelves I did for my wife

Maple and purpleheart (also did some walnut) Tic-Tac-Toe boards for all the kids of family and friends for Christmas. Did 13 of the things and still have enough pieces to be assembled for another 4 or 5

Bookcase I made for a customer. 3/4" oak veneer ply and solid red oak edging

Walnut live edge slab with a birdseye maple bowtie that I did for a friend

Nice bowls!! I've been on a massive turning kick as well. Bought a PM2020 but haven't gone bigger than 10" yet! Also, your username is my wife's middle name.

 

[Bob Heine]

Clamps continued

Once I had my slot, I cut the piece from the block of walnut and trimmed it to size. Then I cut off my four feet. The first two fit nice and tight but the last two had a little drift and were loose. Borrowing a trick from Japanese carpenters I shimmed the fitting with paper and it worked fine. Most of the Japanese planes I have rehabbed have newspaper behind the blade for shimming.

So now I have a new pair of clamps and an old pair with new wooden pads. It was a good day in the shop.

Jim, nice job on the clamp pads! I found replacement pads for my small Irwin clamps like yours (I was missing two).

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008CCLV8S/?tag=atomicindus08-20

 

[Mr. Wonderful]

I thought I'd share this end grain "chaos" patern cutting board I made from a box of scraps one of my neighbors leaves out on the curb. There is black walnut, teak, mohagany, maple and something else I am forgetting at the moment.

 

[jimreed2160]

Bob--It is good to see that they make replacements. Which generation? Are they 1.0 or 2.0? My old ones have an open end and slip on. The new ones have closed ends and are stretched to fit.

Mr--Great project. That is exactly why I hate to throw out scraps. I think half of my projects are built from the scrap bin.

 

[Bob Heine]

Bob--It is good to see that they make replacements. Which generation? Are they 1.0 or 2.0? My old ones have an open end and slip on. The new ones have closed ends and are stretched to fit.

Jim, my clamps are quite old so they must be 1.0. The pads I posted are the open end slip-on style for those older Irwin Mini Clamps. I haven't found pads for the larger old style Irwins but I'm not missing any pads so far.

 

[rrich1]

2hrs of jointing and planing and everything pretty much looks the same...ugh. [emoji849] up next is cutting to length and starting the mortises. I have access to both a domino 500 and 700. Probably going that route.

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[chrislehr]

Heres my last two bowls.

 

[ez-duzit]

Very nice bowls.

 

[Performance Over Style]

Man that’s nice...Guess I’m going to have to get a lathe and give this a go...


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[jimreed2160]

Bob--Now you have me thinking. I need to check my larger Irwins to see how those pads are attached. Sometimes I need an odd shaped clamp and maybe the Irwins would be the easiest to put modifed heads on.

Chris--Love the grain of that wood. Great selection and great work on the bowls.

Perform--Lathe work is fun. You will find yourself standing in a pile of chips and laughing. Go for it.

 

[cheechi]

those bowls are amazing.

 

[jimreed2160]

Sorry for no pictures but I just spent all afternoon in the workshop with my daughter. She has the crafting bug and is making jewelry now. We put together a display box for some of her creations. It is just boxes inside a frame and will have a beadboard back. I am sure she will jazz it up a lot.

It seems that all those hours of talking ww lore and enlisting helpers for household repairs paid off. At least one of them was listening.

And get this--she thinks we should have more shop time together. I could not agree more.

 

[cheechi]

Finally got to installing my file cabinet top. I like the colour it came out, it's more red than my reference piece, in this case the 'muddy' reputation of Minwax was beneficial.

I was originally going to mask off the sides and stain them black, the black I usually use is water based so I hadn't done the final grits of sanding on the sides yet. I decided not to mask it and went into stain without sanding the sides anyway.

Some of the knots I didn't fill, after 3 coats of poly in a row are just little cracks. I wonder how many coats would have them smooth like the rest?


Because of the way the sheet metal has punched holes already, lath screws are perfect for this sort of application. I like they are regular gage (in this case #8) with big heads.



Since my cabinet isn't 100% square (and who knows maybe my top isn't either with the humidity) clamps with big jaws made it really easy to wrestle with the inside of the cabinet and not shift it out of alignment.


Much of the office furniture I encounter with pressboard & veneered tops have a very rich deep red wood grain to the plastic veneer. This wasn't meant to emulate that as much as it is an acknowledgement the colours are complementary. I like it.

 

[jimreed2160]

Che--Nice project. Wood (real, not plastic) surfaces are always pleasant in the office.

 

[rrich1]

Chris: love the walnut bowls.

Not a project pic. I picked up a delta drum sander this week. Price was to good to pass up. Came with a mobile stand, extra rolls, and pneumatic spindle attachment as well.

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[ez-duzit]

1--you're going to really need a dust collector connected to that.

 

[raskal]

Not a project pic. I picked up a delta drum sander this week.

man I would love that thing.... I HATE sanding

 

[rrich1]

1--you're going to really need a dust collector connected to that.

Oh I know. I tested it out on a piece and hooked up my jet DC to it. Pretty happy with it for $220.

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[jimreed2160]

rrich--That is a nice sander. It will take your projects to the next level in quality.

 

[Ainsley]

latest bowl off the lathe

 

[Craptain]

I continue to be impressed with your turning. I have tried live edge turning and don't have great success. It's too easy to damage the very edge that makes it attractive. Sometime I need to get back on the lathe and practice. Or maybe I need to practice sharpening my chisels.

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[Ainsley]

I continue to be impressed with your turning. I have tried live edge turning and don't have great success. It's too easy to damage the very edge that makes it attractive. Sometime I need to get back on the lathe and practice. Or maybe I need to practice sharpening my chisels.

You're on the right track, a sharp gouge is key. I use thin CA glue to help stabilize the bark once i get close to the final shape.

 

[jimreed2160]

Ains--I too am impressed. This wood looks dry. Do you turn your bowls wet or dry?

 

[madison069]

That live edge bowl looks sharp! Makes me want to work on my live edged table projects!

 

[jar944]

Spent the other day processing moulding blanks. Im fortunate in that my local yard stocks perfectly clear, exceptional poplar that is cut heavy. I can get 1" finished on a 8"×10' board and occasionally 1&1/16+ on parts. Also another shaper jumped into my truck as I was driving home. Gotta watch out for that.

 

[jimreed2160]

Jar--Nice to have exceptional local wood vendors. I miss Atlanta Hardwoods. The shaper looks nice and the power feed makes it rich peoples tooling.

 

[jimreed2160]

Dad's Brads

Just knocking around in the shop today. When my daughter visits the woodshop she always goes home with hardware. I remember accumulating hardware in my early days. When you are on a budget getting enough of everything is tough and tools are top priority. But your projects stall without proper fasteners. She is into little stuff that requires brads and tacks so I ordered her an assortment from the 'bay. Of course the next problem is how to store. In my early days I used baby food jars because she and her sisters went through a lot and the price was right. Now I use small parts organizers but I wanted to do something different with repurposed goods.

I was off once again to the scrap bin looking for a 2x4. I sliced it up and made my parts. Measure twice, cut once, mill improperly, start over. OK. I only messed up one part and I had another scrap to use. It finally came together.

 

[jimreed2160]

Dad's Brads

After a little sanding it was good to go. I signed it and labeled the box. Everything fit and I left them in their bags so she can replace properly when they are depleted. My hope is that she will get years of use from them. My dream is that she will have a memory keepsake in her shop stash for years to come.

 

[jar944]

Jar--Nice to have exceptional local wood vendors. I miss Atlanta Hardwoods. The shaper looks nice and the power feed makes it rich peoples tooling.

Yeah the local yard is great. He pays a bit extra for boards that meet his criteria (higher than FAS) then Air dries for 3 months at they yard before taking it to the kiln.

As for the shaper, it was cheap ($400) including the feeder lol.

 

[cheechi]

shapers and drum sanders now huh? Can't say I have any machinery anywhere near that big, however I did just finish modifying the Fastcap hood for my miter saw so now it's not quite so tall and even though I lose from 57* to 'only' 52* of cut angle on one side, I'm satisfied with that as it usually only makes 90* & 45* cuts anyway. I could remove the one bracket if I absolutely needed that cut angle back, just the saw hood while reducing quite a lot of the dust in the air is a bit unweildy.

However, I just also opened up my brand new DW735x planer, since a friend made an offer on my other. I'm going to do a flip top table with my 6" Delta jointer and this planer with a 4ft outfeed extension they can both share. Would you also want that much infeed extension on both, or is the planer's infeed table 'extension' enough typically? Since a jointer's infeed is height adjustable I wouldn't expect to need a static infeed table for it, although if you think that greatly benefits the jointer then I will.

 

[Ainsley]

I'm going to do a flip top table with my 6" Delta jointer and this planer with a 4ft outfeed extension they can both share.

I'd Hightly suggest against a flip top. I have one for my dewalt planer and ridgid osc spindle/belt sander and HATE it. I'd much rather have a solution where both tools are accessible without the BS of pulliing out the cart, flipping (without pinching fingers) just to get to the other tool.