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New woodworkers are often confused by the difference between jointers and planers. I know this because I get asked what should I get first, a jointer or a planer, and my answer has not changed on that topic, in my opinion the jointer is probably the best choice for most people, and if you have planer, you will still need a jointer. I often wonder if one of the reasons for that is because we frequently call "thickness planers" the shortened term of "planer" and "jointer" terms is shortened from "surface jointer".
I have seen people trying to "plane" wood on a jointer and what happens most of the time is you end up with wood that is wedge shaped. Similarly, jointing on the planer, is possible in some instances but you need to know how to do it in order to get usable wood.
The best and safest woods to joint using a planer are thicker boards, that will need to be long enough to satisfy the safety aspects of your planer. Most planers need wood to be at least 14" - 16" long, otherwise you risk the wood getting turned around inside the planer and either damaging the machinery and or the user. Something well worth avoiding.
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Despite that fact that woodworking in one form or another has been around since the dawn of man, and word "traditional" is thrown around like mainstay in the industry, there are always new tools, techniques and ideas being introduced and adapted literally every week. Many years ago, when working in another industry I discovered that a company down the street from us could provide us with some promotional products, including some very cool clear glass coffee mugs with our logo engraved on them. When I went to place the order, they showed me the machine that would be used. It was of course a laser etcher and I had never seen one before. That year was around 1995 ... and I wanted one of those machines from the first time I ever saw it. They were, and still are expensive for the commercial versions and I could never really justify the expense ... but move forward 20 years and technology has changed and now there are "hobby" or "home" versions of laser engravers that are affordable for non-commercial use, and the one that I am using was provided by www.banggood.com
I received the engraver in large cardboard box, well packaged in plastic packing and all in pieces, which is what I expected. Because of such a large international customer base there are NO instructions in the box, you go to their website to watch the video for assembly and how to download and use the software that drives the etcher. Think it took me ...
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Dremel was the original rotary tool, and when it came out in the market in 1932 it was quite revolutionary. Mr. A.J. Dremel was apparently quite the prolific inventor and it was easy to see all the applications that a tool like this could be and so began the marketing of the bits and accessories.
Over the years others have come along to make their version of this popular rotary tool in an effort to provide customers with a convenient way easing into a specific line of tools. Milwaukee brought out their 12 volt like of power tools a number of years ago and since that time they have been adding tools and accessories to the line that all operate with the same 12 volt capacity batteries. Such is the case with this rotary tool version.
The tool itself is similar to many other rotary tools. One of the few added features of the Milwaukee version is display of battery charge left in the cell. While there are many battery operated rotary tools, few will let you know how much life is left in the battery before it needs recharging. That is one nice feature of the Milwaukee tool ...
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In this video we look at the Panel Raiser on the table saw. With many thanks to George Vondriska from the Woodworkers Guild of America (see link at end of video) for his video on using the Panel Raiser with a wood router on a router table. Because woodworking has so many different way of accomplishing the same thing, we thought it would be good to show another way of using the Panel Raiser.
Be sure and and stay tuned for more great woodworking videos ....