3 Ways to Edge Joint Wood Without a Jointer

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Edge jointing wood is one of the most important things that woodworkers will do. Without straight flat edges to work with the rest of the project will be difficult at best to bring together and may not even come together if the joints cannot align with one another. Further, if you are gluing narrower boards together to make the wider board, edge jointing is critical to get matching edges.

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In ideal shops, we use a machine called a "jointer" to do this task, or if working without machinery a hand plane is used, but there are other alternatives, and some of these may even be used by advanced woodworkers in special situations  ...   

** CHECK OUT**  PODCAST of Daniel Carter with Colin Knecht  (approx 45 min.) listen here - http://bit.ly/2XU8HQL

Workshop Tricks You Need to Know!

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I'm not sure why so many of us are fascinated by woodworking tips and tricks. I love finding easier are more efficient ways of doing things and sometimes just experimenting with who to do something is reward enough. I have also learned a lot from other woodworkers and through friends at woodworking clubs and guilds, they are a warehouse of knowledge.

Watch it on Youtube: https://youtu.be/KEE2d2XV4vI

One of the highlights a guild I belonged to many years ago, was a kind of show and tell where some would show off their work while others show how they achieve certain woodworking techniques, like sharpening of <everything>, cutting difficult angles, and all sorts of cool and interesting ideas.

Watch This Before Buying Spiral Router Bits

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Spiral Bits are the one set of bits that can be confusing for many woodworkers. The main reason for this is the description given for these actually changes depending on where the bits are installed, in either a handheld wood router or CNC router, or ... upside down in a wood router table. 

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The nomenclature for router bits is - when the bit is vertical and the tip of the cutting edge is at the bottom of the bit.
Thus a Spiral Up Bit would have the cutting edge at the bottom of the bit and as it rotates in the wood it will drive the wood chips up the flutes and the tear-out will also be driven upward, which if cutting through the wood, will give clean cuts at underneath the wood. 
Conversely and Down Spiral Bit will have the wood chips and any tear-out drive down into the wood or if cutting through the wood, the wood chips and tear-out will be in the bottom of the wood whereas the top of the cut will be clean. 

Subscriber Submitted Tips and Trick #17

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It's interesting to me how woodworking tips on one topic and lead to another tip on a different topic, even when they are not related. Like saving glue (which is not one of the topics of this article) and how that can spin itself into getting better use from paints and finishing products (which is here ... later on).

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In these cases, personally, I am less concerned about the costs of replacing the materials which compared with the lost time in productivity not to mention the workflow time, which is often far more expensive than the materials. For me, it's frustrating to open a can of paint or similar finishing material and find that it's dried out or has formed such a thick top crust it almost makes the material valueless especially if you have to pick out chunks of dried paint or whatever inside before you can even use it ...
** CHECK OUT**  PODCAST of Daniel Carter with Colin Knecht  (approx 45 min.) listen here - http://bit.ly/2XU8HQL