|
I started 5 years ago when I was 25, turning 30 in a month. Don't know what my point is...just take a look at my post history in my thread to see where my skill level is after 5 years. With youtube, magazines, this thread and other forums you can churn out some quality work incredibly fast. Another thing is don't be afraid to try something outside your comfort zone, really hard stuff can usually be broken down into super simple tasks. If you can saw to a line, chisel to a line and plane to a line there's not much you can't do.
|
#
?
Dec 20, 2018 19:11
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 31, 2024 17:09 |
|
|
Huxley posted:After Jennie Alexander passed, her estate did a sell off from her library and I spotted this book in a pile. I picked it up on Amazon for about $6. I just bought a copy of this for $10. It looks cool, and I end up working with pine and fir frequently enough that I thought it would be fun. I may also be obsessed with books.
|
|
#
?
Dec 20, 2018 19:30
|
|
|
I am also 43 and just started in the last couple years. It's actually been really liberating to have a hobby that's creative and feels wholesome. All my other hobbies have been sports or consumer-driven (electronics especially.) And yeah, for sure finally having a house and a garage to start the workshop is a huge reason I'm even able to start now. I can also relate to the guy that has a really talented dad that you don't want to be around. My dad isn't a jerk, but he was such an all-encompassing know-it-all that it took me until the last couple years before I've started wanting to be around him again. Which is a shame, because he really does know a lot. I've built a few things with him and they've every one come out amazing, but man is it grating to be around. He's mellowing now and I'm able to step back and appreciate him more, so it's easier these days.
|
|
#
?
Dec 20, 2018 21:51
|
|
|
JEEVES420 posted:It is interesting to see the change in Woodworking due to the internet. When I was young and first learning it was all "apprentice" style learning and very much regional. I would talk to one set of woodworkers and be shown a way to do something and then be told I am doing it wrong by another. I used to not like doing repair work, but working on antiques teaches you there are a whole lot of right (or at least good enough for 200 years) ways to do something, and a few wrong ones-or at least ones that don't hold up over time. What's the best way? The fastest? The strongest? The cheapest? Those are all the best way in certain situations and the wrong way in others.
|
|
#
?
Dec 21, 2018 00:19
|
|
|
Is the annual subscription to Fine Woodworking worth it? $89, get all back issues etc.
|
|
|
#
?
Dec 21, 2018 00:28
|
|
|
Sockser posted:I grew up with a dad who did lots of really nice woodworking stuff, real jack of all trades type, but he was a total prick so while I respected his skills and wanted to learn to do the same, I didn’t want to spend any time with him because he was and continues to be awful to be around. Same. Although that does mean I've found a million things to do with pine. Also, having two small children really limits how much time I can spend learning to mortise or dovetail or something.
|
|
#
?
Dec 21, 2018 00:52
|
|
|
Can someone talk me out of/into buying the kreg track saw jig for my circular saw or otherwise talk me into an affordable track saw? I'm assembling an Ikea kitchen and I have these pretty expensive finish panels in 4'x8' and 25"x80" sheets that I need to cross cut and rip to various sizes. I don't have a work bench or anything big enough to work on these things other than the floor, but I do have some bug foam insulation panels that I've been using when I cut sheet goods. So my primary issue is making good cross cuts. For the 25x80 sheet I have to cross cut it to ~40" and then rip a 15" and 1.5" panel which I can do safely on the table saw. For the 4x8 fridge panels I think any cuts have to be done on the floor since I don't have a big work bench or panel saw. I have the Kreg rip saw guide that seems to work okay, but I always find that at the end of my cuts I wind up twisting the saw slightly and not getting a square corner. And I have a DeWalt co tractor saw with the mobile base, but again not good outfeed or side support table. I bought one of those saw guide from Harbor Freight, but the clamps are a few inches long necessitating that the piece of sheet good that you're cutting be lifted off the ground or foam in order to clamp it to the sheet. I'm trying to get the I installation done while I'm on vacation but I really don't want to mess up these cuts, and I'm indecisive. Edit: I found a Makita track saw on craigslist listed for $250 with track. Seems like an okay price, but it's almost a 2 hour drive from me and there are no actual photos of it. MetaJew fucked around with this message at 02:23 on Dec 21, 2018 |
|
#
?
Dec 21, 2018 01:29
|
|
|
Kaiser Schnitzel posted:
I had a big, windy  post lined up about having a shop 2 doors down from Bob Flexner in 1980 and wishing I had the  ial resources to go to work for and learn from him. That quote of yours, that's what he'd always say. Still does. (edit) that's why he hates and never uses aliphatic glue.
|
|
#
?
Dec 21, 2018 01:41
|
|
|
That Works posted:Is the annual subscription to Fine Woodworking worth it? $89, get all back issues etc. IMO very much yes. I flip through back issues when I'm bored at home and always learn something great. The Unlimited sub also includes the full "Complete Guide To" series, which is fantastic (see the OP of this very thread). On a more general note, I like supporting woodworkers whose work I am inspired by, in this case mostly Mike Pekovich, and it also supports Shop Talk Live, one of my favorite podcasts.
|
|
#
?
Dec 21, 2018 01:48
|
|
ColdPie posted:IMO very much yes. I flip through back issues when I'm bored at home and always learn something great. The Unlimited sub also includes the full "Complete Guide To" series, which is fantastic (see the OP of this very thread). On a more general note, I like supporting woodworkers whose work I am inspired by, in this case mostly Mike Pekovich, and it also supports Shop Talk Live, one of my favorite podcasts. Thanks. It really seemed like it but figured I'd ask before dropping that much.
|
|
|
#
?
Dec 21, 2018 01:56
|
|
|
Stultus Maximus posted:Same. Although that does mean I've found a million things to do with pine. Speaking of pine, I've been using it to practice dovetails. I notice that when I try to chisel out the waste, the wood on the other side of the line gets crushed in a bit. Is that a sign that I need to sharpen my chisels, or is it just pine being pine? And speaking of sharpening chisels, how do y'all tell when it's sharp enough? Like, what's your rule for judging sharpness? I should pick up some poplar to practice with, I guess. It's maybe 3x more expensive than pine, but a lot closer in grain to the cherry I'll ultimately be working on.
|
|
#
?
Dec 21, 2018 02:26
|
|
|
MetaJew posted:Can someone talk me out of/into buying the kreg track saw jig for my circular saw or otherwise talk me into an affordable track saw? Make your own. Most circular saws have a variety of holes and mounting points on them, even the cheap ones. Build a track that clamps down to the sheets, and make a guide that allows the saw to run along a rail of some sort. Here is an overly complicated one, but really all you need is a rail, and the plate the saw sits on that fastens to the rail. Clamp it down, and voila! You could probably do it with 3 pieces of wood if you wanted to. 
|
|
#
?
Dec 21, 2018 03:49
|
|
|
TooMuchAbstraction posted:Speaking of pine, I've been using it to practice dovetails. I notice that when I try to chisel out the waste, the wood on the other side of the line gets crushed in a bit. Is that a sign that I need to sharpen my chisels, or is it just pine being pine? It's 90% this, and 10% chisels could be a little more sharp. Pine is not the best wood for the more intricate joints.
|
|
#
?
Dec 21, 2018 04:09
|
|
|
Blistex posted:Make your own. Most circular saws have a variety of holes and mounting points on them, even the cheap ones. Build a track that clamps down to the sheets, and make a guide that allows the saw to run along a rail of some sort. Any recommendations or plans? This doesn't seem like a bad idea if it is something that I can knock out quickly. But I really am in the middle of my kitchen install so whatever method I go with needs to be fast.
|
|
#
?
Dec 21, 2018 05:24
|
|
|
The dead-simple "track" I have is made of two strips of 1/4" plywood. One's about an inch wide, the other should be probably about a foot wide. Measure the distance from your saw's blade to the edge of the shoe. Glue the thin strip down on top of the thick one, placed just slightly more than that measured distance from the edge. Run the saw along the thin strip to cut away the excess material and get a perfect fit. To make a cut, mark the cut on your sheet, clamp the "track" down along the marked line, then run your saw with the shoe against the thin strip. Easy-peasy. Edit: Blistex posted:It's 90% this, and 10% chisels could be a little more sharp. Pine is not the best wood for the more intricate joints. Cheers, I figured it was something like that. And yeah, pine's pretty crappy, but it's also less than half the cost of poplar and doesn't require me to drive out to the good lumberyard. TooMuchAbstraction fucked around with this message at 06:12 on Dec 21, 2018 |
|
#
?
Dec 21, 2018 05:59
|
|
|
MetaJew posted:Any recommendations or plans? This doesn't seem like a bad idea if it is something that I can knock out quickly. But I really am in the middle of my kitchen install so whatever method I go with needs to be fast. If you want it to be fast, just get the Kreg jig. I own it (and a rip cut) and it's great. It's only like $80 even when it's not on sale (I paid about $50), very accurate and easy to set up and use, and dead accurate (which you won't necessarily be able to guarantee with a homemade one). Also, since you mentioned getting the ends of your cuts slightly off when using the rip cut, you may need to re-examine where you're standing/how you're approaching the cuts while you're making them. You might even need to stop the cut, reposition yourself, and resume cutting. Sheets of plywood are nothing if not stupidly awkward to work with. Oh, and those HF thingies are crap. One of [ur=https://www.lowes.com/pd/BORA-2-25-in-Clamp/50092628]these Bora straight edge clamps[/url] is way better.
|
|
#
?
Dec 21, 2018 06:24
|
|
|
Magnus Praeda posted:If you want it to be fast, just get the Kreg jig. I own it (and a rip cut) and it's great. It's only like $80 even when it's not on sale (I paid about $50), very accurate and easy to set up and use, and dead accurate (which you won't necessarily be able to guarantee with a homemade one). I had seen the Bora guide and wondered if i t was worth the money when I bought the HF one. The HF one sure is junk.  Thanks for the input. I think this is what I was sort of looking to hear. I know the Kreg jigs are compromises, but if they will provide reasonably accurate cuts out of the box then it will probably suit me fine. As for my cuts with the Rip Cut, yeah I assume there must be something wrong with my technique, but I'm not sure of what technique to use as you get closer to the end of the sheet. I think I have tended to apply some lateral pressure to keep the guide in contact with the edge of the sheet, but obviously that is causing me to torque or twist the saw out of alignment as the saw guide touches less of the sheet at the end of the cut. Do you just need to sort of "trust" that the guide will keep you cutting straight at the end of the sheet? BTW: This is the craigslist posting I found. The ad has been up for nearly a month, and the guy is far enough away that I wonder if i could get it for, say $200. It seems like a little bit of an extravagance or frivolous purchase, if the Kreg track will do the trick. On the other hand, I can see all the possibilities that open up with "real track saw"... Or maybe I'm just watching too many wordworking channels.  https://sanantonio.craigslist.org/tls/d/makita-plunge-saw/6758827258.html TooMuchAbstraction posted:The dead-simple "track" I have is made of two strips of 1/4" plywood. One's about an inch wide, the other should be probably about a foot wide. Measure the distance from your saw's blade to the edge of the shoe. Glue the thin strip down on top of the thick one, placed just slightly more than that measured distance from the edge. Run the saw along the thin strip to cut away the excess material and get a perfect fit. I think I saw an old episode of This Old House where they made a very similar track. It certainly seems easy enough to make. My only complaint is, again, you need to have the clearance to clamp down this sort of track. I really need a work bench and a second garage. This was another guide I found: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0BZLbW1lvQ
|
|
#
?
Dec 21, 2018 08:37
|
|
|
MetaJew posted:This was another guide I found: I'd go with this one. Pretty much the most simple guide to use and make. Blistex fucked around with this message at 09:37 on Dec 21, 2018 |
|
#
?
Dec 21, 2018 09:22
|
|
|
Mr. Mambold posted:I had a big, windy I’m one of of those bad refinishers that has been known to use non-reversible glues-I just don’t feel like heating up a pot of glue to stick down a veneer bubble when thin CA glue will suck it down in 5 seconds. TooMuchAbstraction posted:Speaking of pine, I've been using it to practice dovetails. I notice that when I try to chisel out the waste, the wood on the other side of the line gets crushed in a bit. Is that a sign that I need to sharpen my chisels, or is it just pine being pine? I sharpen stuff so it will shave hairs off the back of my hand fairly well. Chisels for heavy chopping just need to be sharp enough, but paring chisels and smoothing plane irons and carving tools it is worth taking the time to get them really super sharp. Chopping dovetails you want a steeper secondary bevel like a mortising chisel so the edge lasts longer. IMO the most helpful sharpening tool is a buffing wheel. Harbor freight sells one for like $70 that’s great, or you can stick a wheel on an old fan motor or something. Keep one wheel with rouge and one with green compound for a mirror finish. I think surface finish/polish has a whole lot more to do with edge life and sharpness than the bevel angle, and buffing gets you good surface finish very quickly. You still have to take stuff to stones every now and then, but frequent touch ups on the wheel keep stuff polished and help the edge hold together better.
|
|
#
?
Dec 21, 2018 17:58
|
|
|
Kaiser Schnitzel posted:Yellow pine is a bitch to dovetail. The hard/soft texture difference between the earlywood and latewood makes it really difficult to chop out. White pine is not as bad, but still not great. Poplar dovetails very easily, but it can make you think you’re better at it than you really are because soft woods bashed together in a too-tight joint will just compress and go to together fine. Harder woods (like cherry or oak) won’t squish together and instead you can accidentally split a drawer side of your joint is too tight. quote:I sharpen stuff so it will shave hairs off the back of my hand fairly well. Chisels for heavy chopping just need to be sharp enough, but paring chisels and smoothing plane irons and carving tools it is worth taking the time to get them really super sharp. Chopping dovetails you want a steeper secondary bevel like a mortising chisel so the edge lasts longer. IMO the most helpful sharpening tool is a buffing wheel. Harbor freight sells one for like $70 that’s great, or you can stick a wheel on an old fan motor or something. Keep one wheel with rouge and one with green compound for a mirror finish. I think surface finish/polish has a whole lot more to do with edge life and sharpness than the bevel angle, and buffing gets you good surface finish very quickly. You still have to take stuff to stones every now and then, but frequent touch ups on the wheel keep stuff polished and help the edge hold together better. Interesting. I wouldn't have expected that surface finish would make such a huge difference. Do you have a hypothesis for why that is? My chisels are pretty cheap things, I really ought to upgrade at some point. I just hardly ever used them for the last ~10 years so it didn't seem worth the bother and expense, plus I was afraid they'd get neglected and I'd end up paying hundreds of dollars for something to sit around and gradually acquire rust. Hopefully as I get more into joinery that'll be less of a concern.
|
|
#
?
Dec 21, 2018 18:17
|
|
|
Hey woodworking thread, I just recently brought my great-grandfathers toolbox home from the family farm. From what my dad remembers, most of the tools are from the early 1900s. Specifically, the planes, saws, and hand crank drill. There is also a (not pictured) large wall mounted hand crank drill press and bits that I brought home. Not sure what to do with that yet but I want to restore everything as much as I can and use it all. Any insight on the tools or approximate ages of the tools? I just snapped some random pictures of the stuff.            Also, what the hell is this thing?  
|
|
#
?
Dec 21, 2018 19:09
|
|
|
I just have one nice chisel and the others are cheaper ones. My nice one is a 3/8" veritas, I use it the most when dovetailing and man is it a joy to use. One dovetail practice tip that's in between softwoods that smoosh and hardwoods that crack is to use one hardwood and one softwood. 90% of the dovetails I do are for drawers and I used to use a softer wood like pine or butternut for drawer sides, so you get a bit of flexibility in your fit rather than it almost cracking immediately. I use white oak for my drawer sides now because I got a bunch super cheap, but the 50 or so drawers I did with softwood sides got me pretty good at dovetailing. Here's my favourite dovetail shot from a couple years ago, white pine on walnut. 
|
|
#
?
Dec 21, 2018 19:11
|
|
|
Last one is a sliding T bevel.
|
|
#
?
Dec 21, 2018 19:12
|
|
|
BrianM87 posted:Also, what the hell is this thing? A tool for marking and transferring angles. I use one when marking my dovetail cut lines. Set the angle, screw it down and it'll hold it for you.
|
|
#
?
Dec 21, 2018 19:28
|
|
|
BrianM87 posted:Also, what the hell is this thing? Its called a T-Bevel. Very handy tool. you've got a lot of nice stuff there.
|
|
#
?
Dec 21, 2018 19:50
|
|
|
BrianM87 posted:Hey woodworking thread, I just recently brought my great-grandfathers toolbox home from the family farm. From what my dad remembers, most of the tools are from the early 1900s. Specifically, the planes, saws, and hand crank drill. There is also a (not pictured) large wall mounted hand crank drill press and bits that I brought home. Not sure what to do with that yet but I want to restore everything as much as I can and use it all. Any insight on the tools or approximate ages of the tools? I just snapped some random pictures of the stuff. Google "Stanley plane type study" to date that plane. I'd guess 20s or 30s. E: Wait you have saws. From the photos, it doesn't look like there's much to do in terms of restoration. Sharpen them up and build something! ColdPie fucked around with this message at 20:02 on Dec 21, 2018 |
|
#
?
Dec 21, 2018 19:59
|
|
|
TooMuchAbstraction posted:Interesting. I wouldn't have expected that surface finish would make such a huge difference. Do you have a hypothesis for why that is? Polishing on a buffing wheel is no different than getting a mirror polish off a black Arkansas stone or stropping on leather, it just goes a whole lot faster and is great for odd shaped tools since the wheel basically conforms to the shape of the tool. You still need to hone to a fairly fine stone before you buff, but buffing a little bit frequently helps keep the the edge in shape and knock off any little mountains that have gotten bent over. Most of my carving tools are a pain to grind (especially V chisels) and have never touched a stone-they get constantly polished and it keeps them razor sharp, but they are mostly cutting softer woods and not getting whacked with mallets. BrianM87 posted:Hey woodworking thread, I just recently brought my great-grandfathers toolbox home from the family farm. From what my dad remembers, most of the tools are from the early 1900s. Specifically, the planes, saws, and hand crank drill. There is also a (not pictured) large wall mounted hand crank drill press and bits that I brought home. Not sure what to do with that yet but I want to restore everything as much as I can and use it all. Any insight on the tools or approximate ages of the tools? I just snapped some random pictures of the stuff.
|
|
#
?
Dec 21, 2018 20:38
|
|
|
Just getting into wood working as a hobby, first to do knife handles and now I want to work on more projects, I have a nice little bandsaw a mitersaw and a router but no bits, as a beginner would anyone recommend the HF bit sets to get started? Are they worth it?
|
|
#
?
Dec 21, 2018 21:43
|
|
|
r00tn00b posted:Just getting into wood working as a hobby, first to do knife handles and now I want to work on more projects, I have a nice little bandsaw a mitersaw and a router but no bits, as a beginner would anyone recommend the HF bit sets to get started? Are they worth it? I don't have direct experience with them but given how poorly the slightly more upmarket router bit sets perform, I'm gonna guess they're atrocious and will make you regret buying them the first time you use them. What most people in this thread will recommend is picking up decent quality bits one or two at a time as you need them.
|
|
#
?
Dec 21, 2018 22:08
|
|
|
Magnus Praeda posted:I don't have direct experience with them but given how poorly the slightly more upmarket router bit sets perform, I'm gonna guess they're atrocious and will make you regret buying them the first time you use them. What most people in this thread will recommend is picking up decent quality bits one or two at a time as you need them. We just had a conversation on this a couple weeks ago though. The general recommendation is to buy one of those "16 bits in one box" (or whatever number of bits) sets, recognize that they won't be of great quality, but they'll get you started and help you figure out what bits you do need in good quality. I don't know how HF bits are specifically. I got this set 7 years ago and it generally does OK.
|
|
#
?
Dec 21, 2018 22:43
|
|
|
TooMuchAbstraction posted:We just had a conversation on this a couple weeks ago though. The general recommendation is to buy one of those "16 bits in one box" (or whatever number of bits) sets, recognize that they won't be of great quality, but they'll get you started and help you figure out what bits you do need in good quality. I must have missed that convo skimming the thread. The one i saw was 15 bits for like 30 bucks. I'll grab it after work and try them out.
|
|
#
?
Dec 21, 2018 23:08
|
|
r00tn00b posted:Just getting into wood working as a hobby, first to do knife handles and now I want to work on more projects, I have a nice little bandsaw a mitersaw and a router but no bits, as a beginner would anyone recommend the HF bit sets to get started? Are they worth it? A had a similar question a few weeks ago, in my post here: https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=2819334&pagenumber=541&perpage=40#post490264552 The responses below that referring to it should help you as well.
|
|
|
#
?
Dec 21, 2018 23:13
|
|
|
TooMuchAbstraction posted:We just had a conversation on this a couple weeks ago though. The general recommendation is to buy one of those "16 bits in one box" (or whatever number of bits) sets, recognize that they won't be of great quality, but they'll get you started and help you figure out what bits you do need in good quality. Yeah, that's certainly a decent way to proceed. But the HF one is pretty much guaranteed to be crap.
|
|
#
?
Dec 21, 2018 23:13
|
|
|
I don't get anything from HF that could cause injury or damage if it fails. This covers most fast spinning things.
|
|
#
?
Dec 21, 2018 23:15
|
|
|
Dovetails: nature's way of telling you that you still can't cut a straight line. Also nature's way of telling you to figure out the orientations of your pins and tails before you start cutting.  (They're just asymmetrical enough that they won't go together if I flip one of the pieces around)
|
|
#
?
Dec 22, 2018 01:39
|
|
TooMuchAbstraction posted:Dovetails: nature's way of telling you that you still can't cut a straight line. Glad I'm not the only one that mixed that up
|
|
|
#
?
Dec 22, 2018 02:34
|
|
|
See also: cutting out the tails and leaving the waste on the wood
|
|
#
?
Dec 22, 2018 05:37
|
|
|
I know I'm a big fat cheater, but this has been such a great investment. 
|
|
#
?
Dec 22, 2018 08:37
|
|
|
I got the little Veritas clamp on dovetail jig with the magnetic side for a small thin-kerf dozuki. I find it an acceptable compromise at my current skills. I still need to set where I put each dovetail side, but I can zero them in on the width of the chisel I intend to use to pare out the waste. Using that I made some decent looking ones on pine. Striking with the marking gauge and following up with the utility knife in the waste striking line helped alleviate many of the issues discussed above with pine ones in my hands at least. I'm still too unpracticed for them to be beautiful, but they were definitely pretty clean cut.
|
|
|
#
?
Dec 22, 2018 11:34
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 31, 2024 17:09 |
|
|
I’m now done the three cutting boards I needed to finish before mid January.  The one on the left is maple, walnut and purpleheart and is the first one I did. The middle is the most recent and is cherry, birch, purpleheart and walnut. The one on the right I think turned out the best, that one is maple, purpleheart and cherry. I still have some of the pattern left of the middle one so I’ll be making at least 2 or 3 more of them, then I’ll figure out another pattern to try. I’m thinking the next one will be the one that looks like the qbert board.
|
|
#
?
Dec 22, 2018 19:49
|
|
