- Read Time: 4 mins
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Thickness Planers are one of those woodworking machines that only has one job .. to take our wood and make it evenly thick from end to end and there really is very little else it can do. Despite this limitation the thickness planer is a needed machine and with a bit of innovation we can give a little bit of extra work to help it pay it's way ...
Watch it on Youtube: https://youtu.be/XnfMAL8BwTA
Here are a few tips and tricks you can try with your planer to get some better end results ...
- Read Time: 6 mins
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Every woodworkers does some degree of gluing because gluing in most instances does such an excellent job ... glue joints are almost always stronger than the wood they are holding together. One of the most popular glues is commonly called Yellow Glue (even though some of them are white), Carpenters Glue (even though carpenters seldom use them anymore) but is actually PVA glue or Polyvinyl Acetate. It has been around for over 100 years and changed little during that time ... why mess with success.
Watch it on Youtube: https://youtu.be/Fr515p5uPJw
PVA glues ... as good as it is, does leave us with some problems. One of them is stains when we are gluing boards together ...
- Read Time: 6 mins
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One thing that is constant in woodworking - there is LOTS of measuring and working with numbers and woodworkers have devised many different ways to quickly do things that doesn't involve sitting down with a calculator or trying to work out some complicated math. And first up are tape measures, probably one of the tools we use the most in the workshop, or at least I do. I am always measuring ...
Watch it on Youtube: https://youtu.be/TOve6oVPKVw
For years I always heard the refrain ... measure twice, cut once and for some reason that always bothered me and there are many time I measured twice and still cut the wood too short. I hate that!! Then one day I stumbled upon a tape measure that when I hold it in my left hand (because I always hold the pencil in my right hand) and low and behold, all the numbers were right way up. I didn't have to try and work the numbers from upside down. That was one of the turning points in my woodworking ...
- Read Time: 7 mins
- Hits: 7148
There are many, many different options when it comes to putting a final finish on your woodworking project and to make sure that finish goes on the way you want, there are often some tips and tricks that we can learn along the way to help us do a quicker and better job, and when it comes to the topic of "finishing" many woodworkers (myself included) find the finishing process long and tedious, so anything we can do to help it along is a bonus ...
Watch it on Youtube: https://youtu.be/zgNpTGiAjvU
Finishing Story or Sample Boards
A fancy name for noting more that selection of finishes on some boards that are all the same species so you can see what they look like and make your determinations from there in terms of color, type of finish and type of surface .. glossy, semi-gloss or matte.