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Just found this thread, I've got to say there's some pretty impressive stuff in here, especially that bendy rocking chair. Hope you find the pictures of when you were making it, I'd love to see it being made. The only woodworking I do is lathe work, but it's more than enough to keep me occupied and tearing my hair out every time some little mistake fucks everything up. Anyway, just made this for father's day this Sunday, not perfect but I'm pretty pleased with it.   You can't really see it from those angles, but I turned the rake from some really green wood, and as a result it looks like a banana now when you turn it sideways. But it's still functional! Just going to keep telling myself that.
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Jun 20, 2009 17:18
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optikalus posted:I'm just now debating how to finish it. Maple doesn't take stain very well, but I have some mahogany gel stain and all the prep stuff. The gel should work. Next time try a dye. I prefer them to stains but they are especially good for woods that don't stain well.
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Jun 25, 2009 06:55
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wormil posted:The gel should work. Next time try a dye. I prefer them to stains but they are especially good for woods that don't stain well. The gel worked pretty well, except for a few places, but I actually like that imperfect appearance anyways. I tried to apply a 2nd coat of stain and it dried way faster than the 1st coat and destroyed my arms trying to rub it off.  It is covered with helmsman spar urethane (satin), two coats on all surfaces (water protection). Sanded between the coats with 300, then finished the last coat with 0000 steel wool. It has been airing out for the last week, but I'll get it in place eventually.
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Jun 25, 2009 22:30
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Looks good, I like it.
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Jun 26, 2009 05:01
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I'm looking into getting a table saw. Definitely something I can put a dado on, for sure. A lot of them that seem reasonable in price (~$400) don't seem like they'd work for my needs. They seem more like contractor saws--not to mention I'm pretty sure I can't put a dado on them. I feel like I need something fairly accurate, since my focus will be on furniture. I don't mind paying for quality, but I don't need professional-grade top-o-the-line. I'm obviously just starting out, but the long term plan is to expand on the tool set as I go, since I do want to turn this into a business. For what I really intend on using the saw for is basically for rabbits and other kinds of joints, aside from the obvious of just cutting things. I could technically probably come off better with a good router table for the joints, but I feel like a table saw would be more beneficial since currently my only saw is a miter. Any suggestions on a good brand, or even a specific saw to look for? Or, if maybe I'm thinking about it wrong and should go for the router table instead?
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Jun 29, 2009 16:10
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Total n00b question here. I just refinished a dining table that i bought. Sanded it completely down and smooth as glass, finishing with 0000 steel wool. I finished it with Minwax 'Polyshades' which is a 1 step stain and polyurethane, (satin finish.) I did 3 coats, smoothing it out between coats with the 0000 steel wool per the instructions. I was using a fairly expensive brush that claimed to be appropriate for the task. It looks fabulous, but it is not satisfactorily smooth or slick. The instructions didn't specify using the steel wool again after the last coat but it seems to need it. I know from the first two coats that this will dull the finish a bit. What's my best course of action here? Should I smooth it out and apply a coat of some other clear finish that will give me what I want? Should I have used something other than a brush? edit: It seems like I have pores that probably needed filling. I'm not sanding this all back off so I'll take whatever is the best case scenario moving forward with this. frumpus fucked around with this message at 17:50 on Jun 29, 2009 |
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Jun 29, 2009 16:35
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Yeah man, go with some clear poly for your last coat, and avoid the polyshades from here on out, they kinda punish you for sanding and wanting to make it look good.
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Jun 30, 2009 03:00
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Not sure how many folks follow Christopher Schwarz's blog, but he announced a new book today that will hit the shelves in August on the topic of hand planes. More importantly, he released a free chapter, "Coarse, Medium & Fine" which covers much of the same material as his Lie-Nielsen video of the same name. Great into to what type of handplanes are used for what if you are a beginner to hand tools. his blog is here
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Jun 30, 2009 03:41
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iwannabebobdylan posted:Yeah man, go with some clear poly for your last coat, and avoid the polyshades from here on out, they kinda punish you for sanding and wanting to make it look good. Am I still ok using a brush? I'm noticing more and more brush marks in the polyshades the more I look at it. Wondering if some sort of pad might work better.
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Jun 30, 2009 22:44
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frumpus posted:Am I still ok using a brush? I'm noticing more and more brush marks in the polyshades the more I look at it. Wondering if some sort of pad might work better. I use foam brushes, they seem to work well enough.
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Jun 30, 2009 23:02
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iwannabebobdylan posted:I use foam brushes, they seem to work well enough. I will give this a shot tonight and report back tomorrow. Thanks!
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Jul 1, 2009 16:18
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I don't think I've ever posted any of my projects. Here's a few recent ones. A foam-filled case for a buddy's recording equipment.  A porch swing for my parents' new house. I've got some finishing to do.   A box for my airguns. They came in a crappy bag and I needed a project for them. Nail guns change the game. I've built a ton of birch hand drums, but somehow don't have any pictures of them, I'll get those up eventually.
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Jul 2, 2009 22:53
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Applying smooth even coats of liquids to surfaces with implements of any sort is not a skill i possess. The first coat with the foam brush was much worse than my attempts with a regular brush so I had to sand that one off and switch back to bristles. The clear poly is an improvement, but I'm still not thrilled about the brush strokes. It's a very large table so I'm having a tough time keeping a wet edge and it shows. I'm going to keep my day job. I suppose it's one of those things where nobody else will even see it but I am accutely aware of every bristle in every brush stroke on that table. Especially the bristles that are now encased in polyurethane on the surface.
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Jul 3, 2009 19:55
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When I built my large desk last summer, I used wipe-on polyurethane. For my previous two desk buildings I had used brush-on poly, and that was a huge pain in the rear end due to brush strokes. The wipe-on poly turned out pretty great, I applied it with an old tshirt wrapped around a wad of paper towels. The only problem was that it took me a long time to finish it because I did like 12 coats.
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Jul 4, 2009 03:50
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iwannabebobdylan posted:a bunch of cool stuff Very nice cases! I like the porch swing too A contoured seat is always a plus! Is it an original design?
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Jul 4, 2009 05:45
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frumpus posted:I suppose it's one of those things where nobody else will even see it but I am accutely aware of every bristle in every brush stroke on that table. Especially the bristles that are now encased in polyurethane on the surface. But yeah, I used a stain pad when I did my floors a couple months ago. It worked super well, so if you want to try that I really do recommend it.
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Jul 4, 2009 06:05
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Has anyone here built a kayak before? I've been looking into the process, and it doesn't seem too complicated, but I don't have a lot of woodworking experience. I would probably go for the stitch&glue method, as it seems the most straight forward. Anyone able to give me some insight?
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Jul 5, 2009 11:57
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Bantaras posted:Very nice cases! Yeah, I kinda made it up as I went along. I think it'll be able to support a few tons, I may have oversupported it.
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Jul 5, 2009 18:13
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iwannabebobdylan posted:Yeah, I kinda made it up as I went along. I think it'll be able to support a few tons, I may have oversupported it. What do we have to do to get the plans and some assembly instructions? Do you think you can put something together for us and post them here?
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Jul 7, 2009 16:05
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Bantaras posted:What do we have to do to get the plans and some assembly instructions? Do you think you can put something together for us and post them here? I'll get something together I guess, if nothing more than a bunch of photos and numbers. I need to figure out the chain connections and paint the thing first. Here's some birch and oak plywood hand drums. I think I finally have nice enough tools to start making these to sell, but I can make instructions on them, too, if anybody wants them.
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Jul 7, 2009 18:15
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nwzinc posted:Any suggestions on a good brand, or even a specific saw to look for? Or, if maybe I'm thinking about it wrong and should go for the router table instead? I have this one or a model almost exactly like it and have been very happy with it. I don't think you'll get a better saw without going to an actual cabinetsaw. I think I paid around $700 for mine but that was over ten years ago. They offer two fences, the Unifence and the Biesemeyer. After much handwringing I chose the Unifence and have no complaints but there are more shop built jig plans for the Bies. Jet is another quality brand. Grizzly is good but usually suffers in the fit and finish department. Powermatic is out there but are always a little more expensive. Benchtop saws are the small portable saws that generally have direct drive motors, they are not designed for what you want to do. Router tables are awesome tools but I doubt you'll regret buying a tablesaw.  edit: actually my saw has a longer side table wormil fucked around with this message at 04:58 on Jul 8, 2009 |
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Jul 8, 2009 04:51
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Hey guys, quick question regarding a finishing project I will be tackling soon. My Mom picked up a pair of Adirondeck chairs the other day, and she said she doesn't want them to weather and turn grey, so she asked me if I'd "stain" them. According to the guy selling them (he's also the one who made them), they were treated with "sealant". Which, to me, means that they won't weather. But I guess according to the guy, if I don't stain them they will start to grey. The chairs are both made out of cedar, and I'm just wondering what the best way to go with finishing them. I don't think I need to sand/strip off the sealant, but I am unsure what type of product to use here. Any and all suggestions welcome!
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Jul 10, 2009 23:04
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Without being sure of what kind of sealant you've got on there I'd say try some minwax first on one of the leg bottoms where if it's hosed up it won't be seen. Wipe some on with a rag then wipe it back off after a few minutes. Assuming that works you can do the whole thing then put some spar urethane on it. Maybe some deck stain/sealer would work well too, I don't know though, never really used it. Also if you have unfinished cedar and it does turn grey you can hit it with a pressure washer and it will actually bring a good deal of the color back. We did this quite a few times on an outdoor bar we had at my old frathouse.
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Jul 11, 2009 00:19
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I have a couple of questions here about refinishing. I recently picked up a cherry buffet at a garage sale -- overall the wood is in very good shape. However, it needs serious refinishing. Thus far I've done fairly well with the use of a random orbital sander. There was a very thick coating of varnish/lacquer on most of the surfaces, so I began with 160, then switched to 220, and finished with 0000 steel wool. My problem is that there are still a few stubborn areas of stain on the wood -- notably under the old drawer handles, which were bulky copper things. There are also some tricky grooves around the edges and the base of the piece -- spots where I can't use the sander, and steel wool doesn't seem to get very well. Should I use a chemical stripper on the stubborn spots and the detailed grooves / ridges? If so, what do you recommend? I had some other questions about stains, but I will save those for later.
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Jul 16, 2009 18:25
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For the grooves and contoured parts I found this just the other day from the woodworkers journal ezine that I somehow got subscribed to: http://www.woodworkersjournal.com/eZine/Public/QA.aspx The sanding star thing looks pretty interesting and might get in there for you. For the other spots under the handles, it sounds like the handles were screwed on tight enough to compress the wood. You could try sanding off the clear layers with some sandpaper wrapped around your finger, then blot some water on there, put a damp rag over it and take a clothes iron to it. That should expand the wood fibers hopefully enough to where you can sand it all level with the surrounding wood and get rid of the rest of the finish, and maybe even use smaller handles without it being too noticeable. As for chemical strippers, they're great if you're stripping the whole piece at once and don't particularly care if there's still some stain left in the wood. If you've already sanded around it you might wind up with some unsightly blotches. mcrandello fucked around with this message at 21:55 on Jul 16, 2009 |
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Jul 16, 2009 21:53
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My wife and I share our office in our little apartment and the desks we had didn't fit really and were ugly. We sold one and tossed the other. So with only a hand saw , a drill, screws, stain, and polyurethane I made some simple matching desks. Pretty cheap and came out about even with the money we got from the old desk. The first I've built living on my own ,married, and all that lovely poo poo.  I like them. I am a man now.
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Jul 21, 2009 02:57
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wormil posted:I have this oneor a model almost exactly like it and have been very happy with it. I don't think you'll get a better saw without going to an actual cabinetsaw. Thanks for the recommendations. Right now, I think I've narrowed it down to: DELTA 36-979 DELTA 36-715B or Powermatic 1791228K I'm trying to keep my options basically from Amazon, since there's no tax, free delivery, and all that jazz. I may end up just going for the Powermatic, since the difference between that and the Delta Hybrid is ~$150. But would the hybrid be better than a contractor saw in general, or would it come down more to just personal preference? I'm sure I would be perfectly happy with the first one, but I like to plan for the future, and the idea of shelling out more money later makes me ill. I'd rather just save up for an extra month or so and be done with it.
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Jul 21, 2009 06:20
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nwzinc posted:Thanks for the recommendations. Right now, I think I've narrowed it down to: You may already have noticed but the first saw comes without a fence, the most important part. I'm not familiar with the hybrid saws, that's something new since I bought mine. Likewise I'm not familiar with the T2 fence; but all things considered I would probably still pick the Delta over the Powermatic for the enclosed cabinet and miter gauge.
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Jul 21, 2009 18:07
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wormil posted:You may already have noticed but the first saw comes without a fence, the most important part. I'm not familiar with the hybrid saws, that's something new since I bought mine. Likewise I'm not familiar with the T2 fence; but all things considered I would probably still pick the Delta over the Powermatic for the enclosed cabinet and miter gauge. I have the first saw, but since it's my first I have no basis for comparison. So far it's done everything I want to do with little fuss. Mostly that's been cutting sheet goods. I did foolishly rip a pressure treated 4x4. I didn't have anything more appropriate to do the job with (band saw?) I did replace the blade it shipped with with one of the brands recommended in this thread but I suspect to stock blade would have done what I wanted. There are only a few negative things I can say so far: 1) assembling it was an enormous pain in the rear end. 2) I think I did something wrong with the feet and caster that I need to go back and fix but I'm not sure yet what it is... it's just a hassle to get it to sit flat, which is stupid when it has threaded leveling feet. 3) Watching woodworking videos and reading comments in this thread makes me wish it had a riving knife. The splitter, cover, and little anti-kickback catch it has kind of suck. I did have to buy the t2 fence and I can say without reservation that I love it. It didn't take long to set up and calibrate (getting the sight set was the only even slightly tricky part and that's largely because I'm ham-handed). The action is easy, it stays where I put it, and so far it's been accurate and square. I don't see any indication that that's going to change. It also doesn't seem to foul. I spent a day cutting speaker box pieces out of two 4x8 sheets of mdf and never had a problem with the amazing poo poo-heaps of sawdust. I'm not sure that any of these things are criteria someone more experienced would care about but another data point can't hurt. EDIT: forgot to mention that the little miter guide thing it has doesn't seem that great. A lot of that is probably my inexperience. laod fucked around with this message at 00:57 on Jul 22, 2009 |
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Jul 22, 2009 00:53
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I'm thinking of buying a cheap used lathe. I haven't used a lathe since school. Anything I should be on the lookout for, be wary of, buying a used lathe?
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Jul 23, 2009 09:06
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I'm interested in building a hardwood table top. I'm trying to google for the techniques involved but I'm getting a lot of garbage (thanks free woodworking plans squatters!). Can anyone give me a brief overview or even just a few key words (beyond the obvious) for me to narrow my search? I guess I'm really just interested in making a large piece of wood out of smaller ones in a way that gives me a nice looking final product. Naively, it seems like if I could get all my component lumber as square as possible I could just epoxy it together in an appropriately overlapping pattern, and then finish the whole thing. That seems fairly inelegant and error prone, though.
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Jul 23, 2009 17:37
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laod posted:I'm interested in building a hardwood table top. I'm trying to google for the techniques involved but I'm getting a lot of garbage (thanks free woodworking plans squatters!). Can anyone give me a brief overview or even just a few key words (beyond the obvious) for me to narrow my search? I guess I'm really just interested in making a large piece of wood out of smaller ones in a way that gives me a nice looking final product. Naively, it seems like if I could get all my component lumber as square as possible I could just epoxy it together in an appropriately overlapping pattern, and then finish the whole thing. That seems fairly inelegant and error prone, though. An extremely brief overview of building a hardwood tabletop... 1. Select boards, preferably S2S (surfaced 2 sides) unless you have the tools to surface it. 2. Joint edges either with power or by hand. 3. Match the boards together for best appearance. 4. Apply glue to edges and clamp boards together. Allow to dry overnight. 5. Plane or sand top smooth. 6. Finish edge as desired. You have 3 main options: a) breadboard ends b) route the edge or leave it square c) or you can build up the edge, this is done when the top is built from 3/4 stock but a thicker appearance is wanted. A thicker, often 6/4 (1.5") edging is glued on. 7. apply finish, usually varnish, poly or lacquer. You'll need to research building tables and just ignore the legs/apron part.
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Jul 23, 2009 19:04
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Can some one tell me if mineral spirits are supposed to be milky colored? I'm finishing some of those cheap read-to-finish cabinets from lowes and decided to try making my own wipe on polyurethane. I bought Klean Strip brand odorless mineral spirits and mixed it 50:50 with Cabot glossy oil based polyurethane, resulting in a creamy white-tan concoction. It didn't really look right to me but I went ahead and put a coat on the cabinet frames and it looks ok. edit: I neglected to shake the mineral spirits prior to mixing, I suppose that might be a problem? I shook the remaining 3/4 of the mineral spirits and it looked about the same as the liquid I mixed with the poly
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Jul 28, 2009 18:16
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dyne posted:Can some one tell me if mineral spirits are supposed to be milky colored? None I've ever used but a quick google search suggests that some brands are milky.
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Jul 29, 2009 09:34
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wormil posted:None I've ever used but a quick google search suggests that some brands are milky.
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Jul 29, 2009 15:36
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This is a lovely tiny question that would go in the fix it fast thread if I didn't think I'd get answers from more experienced people here. I'm making a desk top out of a piece of 1/2" oak laminate plywood and a piece of 3/4" plywood. Is there any reason that I can't just wood glue them together and use 1" wood screws from the bottom to reinforce it?
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Aug 2, 2009 01:58
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You could but you'd probably want to drill pilot holes and there's always the risk of pushing the drill a little too hard and getting a hole through. I doubt if you got a good, thin, even coat of wood glue or even elmer's white spread out between the two sheets that you'll ever see them apart again though, even without wood screws. I'd put some weights all around the top (whichever will eventually be the bottom side) piece of wood, and a plastic drop cloth under the whole deal. I'd also put a line of blue tape or something around the bottom. Tangentially related- my shop teacher always taught us to let the glue dry then scrape it away with a scraper or chisel but I've found that can tear away wood fibers, especially with woods like red oak. Dad always took a wet sponge or rag and went over it right after gluing until it was clean. You raise the grain a little that way but you're going to be sanding/scraping it again anyway, right? mcrandello fucked around with this message at 02:12 on Aug 2, 2009 |
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Aug 2, 2009 02:07
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Grisly Grotto posted:Has anyone here built a kayak before? I've been looking into the process, and it doesn't seem too complicated, but I don't have a lot of woodworking experience. I would probably go for the stitch&glue method, as it seems the most straight forward. Anyone able to give me some insight?
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Aug 2, 2009 21:03
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Loztblaz posted:This is a lovely tiny question that would go in the fix it fast thread if I didn't think I'd get answers from more experienced people here. Just to reinforce what mcrandello said, the screws won't be necessary if you can clamp the two pieces together tightly or weight them down with something very heavy (probably 100+ lbs.) overnight; otherwise the screws will suffice just be very careful not to go all the way through. One other concern with the screws is creating a dimple on the desk top, careful predrilling should help prevent it.
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Aug 3, 2009 09:57
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wormil posted:Just to reinforce what mcrandello said, the screws won't be necessary if you can clamp the two pieces together tightly or weight them down with something very heavy (probably 100+ lbs.) overnight; otherwise the screws will suffice just be very careful not to go all the way through. One other concern with the screws is creating a dimple on the desk top, careful predrilling should help prevent it. The situation changed a little. I found some better plywood that's 3/4" inch oak hardwood plywood, and I'm using 1/2" MDF on the bottom. 3/4" wood screws would leave about half an inch of wiggle room, which makes me a lot more comfortable than just having a quarter inch left with a veneer on top. I'll have to sand up the MDF, but that's not a huge deal. The only reason I want to try the screws is that this thing is 90" long, and it's going to be hard to find enough crap to weigh it down evenly. I also have some scrap cuts to try the screws on, so I should be set. Thanks both of you!
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Aug 3, 2009 10:13
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