I recently purchased quite a bit of rough sawn hardwood from someone closing their woodworking shop. Beauties like 8/4 walnut along with cherry, mahogany and maple were a welcome addition to my inventory; however since these boards were rough sawn they did not all come with a straight edge. In lieu of dropping $300 on a benchtop jointer or plenty more on a floor model I came up with a DIY solution for around $25.00. I purchased a pair of 3-Inch Hold Down Clamps (Grizzly G9589) and made a sled to run along my table saw fence. Starting with a squared up piece 3 ½ “ wide oak (choose your length) I glued a piece of ¼” plywood to the...
After doing some research I purchased a WEN 8” 5 speed benchtop drill press as the latest addition to my workshop. (8" denoting that an 8" wide piece of wood is the maximum width one can center a drill hole) This particular drill press received great reviews while having a very affordable price point ($77). Delivery came within a week, the setup was easy and within no time I was drilling straight, consistent holes that were not achievable with my handheld drills. About a month earlier I had agreed to make some small, simple wooden cars that would be placed in boxes and shipped around the world as part of our church’s Operation Christmas Child. I used basic 2...
Being a guy means I suffer with a common problem of male ego. We don’t always like to ask for help nor do we like to feel intimidated by what we don’t know. My first few trips to the lumber yard shopping for quality hardwoods were all about breaking that barrier. On my first trip I was asked by different employees if I needed some help, but I kindly replied “no thank you” and proceeded to walk around, observe the variety of woods, trying to not to look like I was new. After 30 minutes of “wandering” I finally swallowed my pride and went up to a guy and asked for help….and help I got! After that, it...
One of the common questions that came out of our first festival participation was “Where do you get your wood?” (usually posed by another woodworker or weekend hobbyist) This question sparked several conversations that led to an exchange of valuable information. It's human nature.............we enjoy sharing things we've discovered with others who share our interest. As far as wood sources go, for convenience there are the Big Box stores, but without offending anyone,they're primarily good for plywood and structure based wood (2 x 4’s, etc). Then there are lumber yards; however many of them are also focused on building materials. The places where you get prime hardwoods are specialty lumber businesses, generally to be found via online searches...
As I develop my skills as a carpenter I like to share “little discoveries” that have made a difference in my projects. Much of what I have learned is from watching videos and then putting that knowledge into action, so I thought I’d first give a nod to some helpful sources. When it comes to making end grain cutting boards I have primarily used 3 sources. The “Wood Whisperer” (http://www.thewoodwhisperer.com/videos/) is very informative and entertaining; Mtmwood (http://mtmwood.com/) has exceptional Youtube videos and The Boardsmith (www.theboardsmith.com/). Although the boardsmith doesn’t include videos he has some great information on “why” we do endgrain boards. These artisans have been gracious enough to share their expertise with the world, so I try to...
