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Kaiser Schnitzel posted:I have like 7 16' Stanleys floating around and it drives me crazy if I every have to use a different tape because those are just perfect for woodworking and not huge. I would be alot more productive if I didn't spend the vast majority of my time in the shop looking for my tape or my safety glasses or my pencil. Tape measures are one of those tools I've accreted over the years so I recently did some rationalisation and purchasing to get closer to what I need day to day https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3824923&userid=58623&perpage=40&pagenumber=12#post493717007
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Apr 29, 2019 08:27
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Today's "that would be handy to have" purchase; a coping saw.
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Apr 29, 2019 12:07
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Jaded Burnout posted:Tape measures are one of those tools I've accreted over the years so I recently did some rationalisation and purchasing to get closer to what I need day to day seems like a little more purchasing than rationalizing. Jaded Burnout posted:Today's "that would be handy to have" purchase; a coping saw. trim day?
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Apr 29, 2019 16:04
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Harry Potter on Ice posted:seems like a little more purchasing than rationalizing. Perhaps I was rationalising my purchases. Harry Potter on Ice posted:trim day? "cutting notches for lap joints is annoying with these big heavy saws" day
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Apr 29, 2019 16:09
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Boards too big to use on a table saw easily?
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Apr 29, 2019 16:14
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Harry Potter on Ice posted:Boards too big to use on a table saw easily? I don't have the table saw set up yet, I'm actually working on the table that I'll mount it on, but yeah it's the sort of thing I'd switch to using once it's set up, but honestly the saws aren't too bad. Either the saw blade got "broken in" or I just got better or both but it didn't take long to be able to cut straight. I'd just prefer something a lil smaller and sharper. I also got a false sense of security because the first one I did I gave it a thwack on the end with a wide chisel and it popped the whole chunk out exactly on the line. This was of course coincidence that the grain went that way but I got there in the end with the later ones.
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Apr 29, 2019 16:22
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Kaiser Schnitzel posted:Do you know what kind of wood you got? Dimensional lumber softwoods (most everything at a building supplies place) are usually only kiln dried to 14-16% moisture content whereas hardwoods intended for use in furniture/cabinets/millwork is dried to 7-8% and thus is about at the equilibrium moisture content inside a climate controlled building. Yep Mr. Dougy Fir is what I have. Thanks for the info, much appreciated! I spent a good chunk of time digging through the pile looking for the "best" wood. Don't worry, I neatly stacked the rejects back on the pile, instead of leaving them strewn about like I've seen other monsters do.
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Apr 29, 2019 22:20
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Jaded Burnout posted:Tape measures are one of those tools I've accreted over the years so I recently did some rationalisation and purchasing to get closer to what I need day to day Thanks for the cross posting! Somehow missed your other thread and it has been very entertaining so far 
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Apr 30, 2019 00:18
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What's the best way to level a large table when the floor you're working on isn't level? I'm used to using a spirit level or laser on stuff that doesn't move so it usually doesn't matter whether the floor underneath is perfectly level or not.Granite Octopus posted:Thanks for the cross posting! Somehow missed your other thread and it has been very entertaining so far Thanks! Still lots of work to go. As you can tell by my presence here I'm now in the early furniture stages.
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Apr 30, 2019 14:56
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Hmm I was going to ask about if I really needed glue for my 100% pocket hole table for my BGE but I think all the posts on the last page convinced me to do it. Progress thus far: 
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Apr 30, 2019 15:56
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I trust the uber nerd on the validity of glueing pocket holes.
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Apr 30, 2019 17:56
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Tres Burritos posted:I trust the uber nerd on the validity of glueing pocket holes. Huh, I'm surprised at how strong epoxy is. I'd've figured the wood glue would be stronger, but I don't know why. Neat!
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Apr 30, 2019 18:45
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I would put some sort of bracing to prevent racking - or maybe you have shelving going in later that’ll do it.
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Apr 30, 2019 21:57
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BraveUlysses posted:Hmm I was going to ask about if I really needed glue for my 100% pocket hole table for my BGE but I think all the posts on the last page convinced me to do it. Jesus christ is that unjointed home depot lumber? I could spend a week driving around my area's big box stores and not find 2x4's that true.
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May 1, 2019 21:32
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bobua posted:Jesus christ is that unjointed home depot lumber? I could spend a week driving around my area's big box stores and not find 2x4's that true. Huh yeah good call. Same here.
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May 1, 2019 22:04
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At least in my area, the contractor store (Home Depot Pro) has significantly higher-quality lumber than the generic version. Worth a look if you need some dimensional lumber but not enough to warrant going to a construction supply yard.
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May 1, 2019 22:07
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Western red cedar is (at least here) usually sold rough so maybe it was milled up? It is a lot more stable than whatever you might buy as dimensional lumber normall though, so it could just be real nice and straight. Dougfir also seems to be straighter/dryer than anything yellow pine or godawful SPF and hemlock.
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May 1, 2019 22:16
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It also seems to vary HD to HD. The one next to my house are horrible but then I was at the one a few towns over near my brothers house and had to stop in awe at the perfectly straight lumber. That one was in a area with a lot of new homes so I don't know if they just go through them quicker and the one near me is stuck with the already picked through left overs waiting to be sold before new stuff is stocked. 
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May 1, 2019 22:25
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I made a strangely proportioned box! It's just some oak and poplar from Home Depot. I still need to plane down the sides to try to smooth them out, and then I was going to put some linseed oil on it. My wife will probably use it for her knitting/craft stuff. It's too tall and too narrow and there are a million janky things about it, but it was an interesting exercise in joinery. The bottom panel is fastened with four through mortise and tenons (I guess?). I thought it would add a visual element to break up the overly tall panels but eh. Not sure I accomplished that since it's so low. If nothing else it was good practice with a hammer/chisel. The long sides took a while. No glue as it's all snug enough. Some things didn't quite fit 100%, but overall not terrible for only hand tools.    Excited to start something else. I live close to this place so I'm looking forward to trying a real project with some nicer wood. I've been once for some cedar for a planter box and it's huge. Tons of super big live-edge slabs and other cool stuff.
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May 2, 2019 15:03
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The way you joined the bottom looks neat, and I doubt this box is going to experience a lot of load, but if you decide to re-use that design in a heavier-duty piece, you might want to make some design tweaks. I doubt the side-grain tenons are adding much strength; it's easy to snap a thin piece of side grain off of a board. More importantly though, the box walls are supporting the base with wood that's only attached to the walls by two thin sections of side grain, one at each end. I'd wager it wouldn't take much force to crack the walls there and have the bottom fall out. However, if you just made the base tenons less wide, it'd probably be fine. A couple of fingers slotting into holes in the walls would work better than one long slot, in other words. In any case, those are some good-looking dovetails, and the slots look pretty sharp too. Nice work!
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May 2, 2019 15:19
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Thanks, and thanks for the tips! Yeah in this case it'll just hold like knitting needles and stuff so it should be fine, but it definitely wouldn't be very load resistant for anything bigger. I thought afterward that maybe I should have done two or three slots instead of one long one but obviously it was too late by then. One of the bottom pieces did crack off during the making so you're correct there that it's not the strongest. Stuff like that and build proportions seem like things only experience can really teach you well. I'm going to try to make an indoor firewood rack next so let's see if I build something that looks OK and also doesn't crack apart at first load.
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May 2, 2019 15:26
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For strength, the main thing to remember is that wood is made of fibers. Each fiber individually is strong. But the strength of the bond between two adjacent fibers depends on the length of the connection between them. If you've ever worked with wooden shims, it's hard to crack a shim in half across the grain. But it's fairly easy to snap a shim into two narrower shims by breaking it along the grain, because it's a short, thin piece of wood. If the shim were longer or especially thicker, then it'd be harder to crack it that way too. For design, at minimum you should be sketching things out on paper before you start. You can also try 3D modeling. I use Blender because I'm a masochist, but people also use SketchUp and a few other programs. Modeling is nice for coming up with designs because you can refine the proportions easily and come away with a precise set of measurements and a cut list.
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May 2, 2019 15:40
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I've sketched out my next project. Not sure if I want to put the time/effort into learning CAD, but we'll see if just doodles ends up in disaster.
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May 2, 2019 18:41
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If they do, CAD probably wouldn't have saved you. If you're not confident in your plans, the thread is always open to take a look at them so long as they're comprehensible.
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May 2, 2019 18:45
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bobua posted:Jesus christ is that unjointed home depot lumber? I could spend a week driving around my area's big box stores and not find 2x4's that true. well it's cedar so i think the quality is a bit better (it should be for how much it cost). i did have to pick through the stack for 20+ minutes to get what i got.
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May 2, 2019 20:12
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Just curious how many people here "design on the fly"? I do a LOT. Unless I am building something to some sort of spec, I almost never draw what I am making. In general I will have a concept of what I want to build in my head, say a whiskey cabinet, then I just make it be what it is. I also try to avoid measuring anything like the plague. For nearly the last 20 years I have worked professionally for a CAD software development company. I have about a 25 years of drafting experience. When I get off work the last thing I want to do is use a computer to draw something.
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May 2, 2019 20:15
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If you have 25 years of drafting/CAD experience you can probably do most of the stuff that CAD normally helps you with in your head. I find it useful for things like "these two joints are going to run into each other", or "this board looks too fat/thin", or "I don't actually have enough interior space to fit the things I want to store in this, so the outside needs to be bigger". When it comes time to build the thing, sure, you should cut pieces to fit, not to whatever length your design says. But there's more to design than just figuring out the sizes of each piece. That said, when doing projects where I have a lot of slop either way in terms of how the final piece can come out, sure, I won't bother measuring things.
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May 2, 2019 20:25
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I only use a Fusion if I need to show someone what its going to look like ahead of time. Otherwise I have a picture of it in my head and go off that. I might do a crude drawing to get a material list but really its all on the fly.
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May 2, 2019 20:50
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I use graph paper at either 1-inch or quarter-inch scale, depending. Even that's mostly just to make sure I buy in the right configurations and don't like, buy 8-foot boards when I need 3-foot cuts or whatever. I'll draw the whole thing up and figure my materials, then go back the next day and do it again from scratch to make sure I didn't mess anything up. Beyond that you're measuring off your cuts anyway, so it's not super important.
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May 2, 2019 21:11
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I think Roy said “measurement is the enemy of precision”. When I say I “don’t measure” that is more of a general concept. I measure to get rough size/length but beyond that everything is fit using a marking knife or marking gauge. A pair of dividers was one of the best tools I’ve added to my joinery tool kit. I think to be any sort of builder you need to have a good minds eye for seeing 3D shapes.
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May 2, 2019 21:28
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I took a joinery class with Roy years ago. I had no business being in there at the time, but it was worth it just to hear his speech against rulers. That definitely stuck with me. My wife gifted me a moderate-skill class with him right after I got into woodworking, and I'd never even held a chisel before. I hacked out once of the ugliest dovetail joints I'm sure the man had ever seen. He put a hand on my shoulder and said, "well ... it fits together and they can't take that away from you." I was ready to drive home and throw my toolbox in the creek, but him giving me just that little bit of poo poo brought me back down. Roy's cool.
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May 2, 2019 21:37
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I don’t think you need to go full CAD for every thing you build but using a tape and writing a number down is hardly a lot of effort.
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May 2, 2019 21:49
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As an engineer with ~8 years of Solid works experience, the biggest takeaway I can apply to woodworking is the concepts of Critical Dimension and Datum Plane. Figuring out what's really important and how to keep measuring from the same plane are essential.
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May 2, 2019 22:39
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I scrawl bullshit on graph paper and then kinda halfass wing it from there. When in doubt, use more clamps.
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May 2, 2019 23:14
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I never plan, but I wish I was better about it. I spent a huge amount of time in the shop staring at the wall making the tiniest design decisions. visualizing proportions isnt fun either, but i've heard 3d modeling it ends up fooling you there anyway.
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May 2, 2019 23:54
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I know this isnt the tool thread, but i'm giving up on finding a used jointer. Bout to start the long slog of comparing models. Anyone been through it recently and want to push me in a certain direction? Minimum 8 inch, helical cutter head, parallelagram ways.
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May 2, 2019 23:57
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I draw nearly everything out in sketchup just to see if the final product is going to look like my lazy sketches (it usually doesn’t)
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May 3, 2019 00:16
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I've been on break from work so I've been making some frames for a few antique prints I picked up at book fair Maple and purpleheart:  Mystery wood I milled from a log I found on the side of the road:  Going to put some poly on the second one when the weather clears up. I've got a world map, an art neuvou lettering guide, and a god damned massive Disneyland park map left to frame up
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May 3, 2019 01:26
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I so want to hang out with Roy Underhill. He's like my hero, and I've always known he was just like a nice, cool dude. Nice to have that confirmed. I usually make a drawing mostly because I enjoy hand drafting and I think better with a pencil in my hand and I don't want to take the time to learn any sort of CAD. I like hand drafting, and a nicely shaded pencil drawing has a nice handmade sort of quality that's hard to replicate digitally, but when I have to change stuff I really wish I'd done it in CAD and didn't have to start all over on a fresh sheet of vellum. I mostly just do a drawing to determine proportions and exterior dimensions and then from there it's cut to fit. Tables and chests of drawers and stuff I usually lay out full scale on the underside of the top or on a sheet of plywood and then take measurements off there. A friend of mine runs a shop making reproduction windows and everything gets totally drawn in CAD and every machine in his shop has a digital read out to the thousandth of an inch and everything gets measured with calipers. The setup time for his complex huge shapers and moulders and S4S machines is such that you can't really afford to make mistakes and remake parts. My planer has a DRO to the thousandth and I will say I have come to see the appeal, if only from a repeatability perspective, but it's not something I ever wanted when I didn't have it. bobua posted:I know this isnt the tool thread, but i'm giving up on finding a used jointer. Bout to start the long slog of comparing models. Anyone been through it recently and want to push me in a certain direction? Or apparently a slightly used new Oliver (new Oliver is made in china/taiwan, but marketing itself as being as industrial grade as old, Made in USA out of 2 tons of cast iron Oliver) for $1700 http://www.woodweb.com/exchanges/machinery/posts/516580.html Otherwise, Grizzly is probably your best bet for value per dollar.
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May 3, 2019 01:39
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Super Waffle posted:Mystery wood I milled from a log I found on the side of the road: Dang, this looks fantastic. The other one is nice too, but this is really dramatic.
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May 3, 2019 01:54
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