Hot answers tagged woodworking
57
Reciprocating Saw
Most fun.
Miter Saw
Fastest.
Circular Saw
Most likely to have on hand.
Jig Saw
Slow.
Hand Saw
Slower.
Butter knife
Slowest.
Pruning Saw
Longest reach.
Fire
Cut right to the chase
Beaver
Requires lots of training, food, and cleanup (thanks @SteveJackson for pointing this method out).
Chain saw
By popular ...
23
Yes, the drill chuck will mar the finish of the shelf. There is a slight chance of damage to the chuck. Plus, choking down on the bit, like that, obscures your view of the hole (the drill and chuck block it) -- making precision harder to accomplish.
The correct way to do this is to use a drill stop.
Drill stops are less likely to slip than tape or ...
21
I usually just wrap a piece of masking tape around the drill bit leaving the correct length exposed. You can either wrap enough layers of tape around so that it is fairly thick, or leave a "flag" of tape sticking out. Either way will let you drill to the proper depth without the risk of marking the surface. The metal jaws of a drill can easily damage the ...
20
Sorry, but I think you may be looking for trouble here. I'm a bit of a perfectionist in my own work, and you may well be willing to accept something more rustic than I'd tolerate. Even so, there are things you will want to do.
This will take some skill to do well, and a lot of time to season that top, and some luck to hope that it does not warp and split ...
14
It has to do with how far back the blade goes on the down (non cutting) stroke. It's usually called the "Pendulum Stroke adjustment." The idea being that it will move the blade back, out of the way of the material on the down stroke.
It reduces the load on the saw when cutting thick materials, at the cost of a bit more splintering. Use a setting of 0 ...
12
There is NO problem with using an 8 inch dado blade on a 10 inch saw. In fact, it is quite common to do so. I use an 8 inch stack on my Delta contractor's saw with no problems, and before that, I used an 8 inch wobble dado.
You certainly would not want to use a 12 inch blade on a 10 inch saw, as that large of a blade might have clearance problems as it is ...
12
The sanding of coats in-between is to give the new coat something to adhere to. It roughs up the surface just enough to give it a bit of grip.
Multiple coats is the same as anything else. Multiple coats makes the coating thicker, stronger and more lustrous.
Cars have multiple coats of paint to protect the body; you paint your walls with multiple coats to ...
10
Depending on how much left over wood you have, you may consider checking to see if your community has a building supply recycling center. I live in a relatively small town and we have a non-profit organization here that takes donations of left over building supplies and used (but usable) materials that have been removed as part of a remodel (faucets, doors, ...
10
The difference between a 10" 60T and 80T saw blade is only slightly noticeable. In practice, chip out with either isn't a huge concern, provided you go slow. An 80T blade is naturally going to slow you down more, so that may be useful if your tendency is to yank the radial arm down and go.
Another consideration is the end grain of the piece, some trees ...
10
The simplest solution is to drill the dowel hole after you fit the joint together.
Fit the joint and make sure everything's square and true, then drill straight through the mortice and tenon in one go and insert the dowel. Chisel/plane and sand it flush and you should be good to go.
Making a mark on the outside of the mortice where you want to drill will ...
10
you can use a bit of scrap wood that is the length of the expose drill bit minus the depth you want to drill so that when fully drilled through with the chuck touching the scrap it will only leave the desired drill depth exposed
this way you can use the scrap as a guide as you drill and also ensure the hole is square
that or use a drill press if you have ...
10
I don't have direct experience but generally speaking while a circular saw blade can go through nails, it's dangerous as it increases the risk of a kick back.
Although slower, you will be far safer if you cut the counter using a reciprocating saw with a demolition or dual wood/metal blade attached. That will cut through nails without the kickback ...
10
I'd make a template in the shape of a square donut out of 1/2" plywood by using a table saw to cut out the square hole in the 1/2" plywood. For example, if ...
i) the recess in the desktop needs to be 8"x12"
ii) the diameter of the base of the router is 6"
iii) the diameter of the router bit is 1/2"
... then I'd ...
1) start with a rectangular piece ...
9
I will show how to build a simple A-frame swingset from pressure-treated four-by-fours and scraps, with minimal cutting.
From a six-inch-wide pressure-treated board (e.g., a 5/4-inch by 6 inch deck board), cut four isosceles trapezoids with bases that are 11 and 16 inches.
Take two legs (8-foot-long 4x4s) and align them with the legs of one of the ...
9
A 60 tooth is a fine blade for semi-smooth finish cuts. Cuts on flooring are always at the wall ends, so even a 40 is good for that since the baseboard trim goes over the cut. You should be leaving a 1/4 inch expansion gap at he ends anyway, so they won't show. The DeWalt 12" blade is a good long lasting blade. It has good balance, heat dissipation and takes ...
9
IF you have this sliced, you might want to coat/paint the ends with wax/paint or something to keep it from drying on the ends faster than the center.
A recommendation I remember a LONG time ago was 1 year per inch of thickness to dry a green wood. Best done in the actual location it will be used - or for instance, the basement of the home if it is not damp ...
8
For what it's worth I've used a 6" stacked dado set in my small 10" saw for years without any issues. My understanding is that dado blades should always be smaller than the saw's rated blade size due to the increased load of cutting a wide dado over just cutting a saw kerf width. The smaller diameter means your saw will be able to exert more force on the ...
8
Put the table/chair on a very flat and very horizontal surface. Ensure and double check with a levelgauge.
shim the table/chair so that the top surface of the table/chair is level using the level gauge
Take a pencil and tape it on a small block that is about the height you want the legs to shorten. Ensure that the block has parallel bottom and top planes.
...
8
ApplePly is a brand name for an all-hardwood veneer plywood that is higher quality than your typical construction or cheap hardwood plywoods. (You may want to confirm that your "applewood" plywood is truly ApplePly). ApplePly should be similar in quality to baltic birch plywoods and like baltic birch it is not supposed to contain voids. You can find these ...
8
If the lumber mill will saw the tree for you, see if they'll dry the boards as well. If not, you will need a cool, dry place to store the planks for a few years(!) - a barn or shed is ideal - and be aware, the planks will warp a bit while they're being seasoned, and will need to be milled flat at the end of it. The wikipedia page on wood drying is insanely ...
8
You really need a router. Either a laminate router (the are small and easy to handle) or any router really. Next you need a trim bit. They have MANY different types. Flush cut, 45, 25.5, finish bit. The finish bit will leave a 1/16 laminate left to sand/file, or you could set the 45 bit to get almost flush.
Another way is with a sharp blade in your ...
8
Dowels are probably your best bet for this fix because the tool cost is much lower for the case that you need to purchase tools to do this repair. The cost of a doweling jig is much lower than a biscuit cutter. Drilling the dowel holes is easily accomplished with an electric drill.
If you end up with just a one inch wide repair strip added in then I would ...
7
I'd use the 24 tooth blade, but be sure it is a carbide type and sharp. Since all your cuts are end cuts and will be covered with baseboard trim, so getting an ultra smooth cut is not that important. Obviously, you don't want to see any large chips on the cut edge, so do your cuts slowly and smoothly. Save your 48 blade for visible finish cuts on softer ...
7
Yeah, that 4" would be a long cut. It could be done in two passes, one from each side. The middle area would have a bit of an overlap and maybe a blade mark, but that could be sanded down. Plus you are probably going to finish it anyways.
What I would recommend though is changing the shape of your transition piece to make it easier to cut, and would also ...
7
If it's a hand tool not designed to be mounted in that manner, I would advise against doing this as it has the potential to be dangerous. Think about what would happen if the tool were to become dislodged or the blade break off. In the event of an emergency, how would you quickly shut it off? Saws like table saws and band saws should have an easily ...
7
You're going to shave the sides, not the bottom. The stability will come from the down force on the bottom of the post - a milimeter shift laterally inside a mounted bracket is nothing.
That said - easiest approach IMO will be to set your circular saw to an extremely shallow depth and notch 8" height to that depth on TWO sides, not all four - and repeat ...
7
I'm not sure if I really understand the question, but I think you are trying to shape the edge of a board by running the router against the narrow edge instead of the wide top/bottom. If this is the case, there are a couple of ways to keep the router steady and perpendicular to the edge. The best way is to mount the router in a table and run your stock ...
7
You can get specialized cutters for that sort of thing, but you can do it without, all you need is a drill, hammer, and chisel. You drill 4 holes in the corners of the hole you want, at the depth you want, then chisel out the material in between. A workbench would be handy for this but you could do it on floor if you like.
That is a load of work though, so ...
6
If you are not averse to designing/building the cabinets yourself, it is not a terribly difficult project to execute. You don't even need a wood shop, only a few select tools.
Seek out a local full service lumberyard or specialty wood shop (not a big box store, a real lumberyard). If you bring a cut list of panels that you need, they will usually charge ...
6
Mineral spirits should work. If not, I would use Goof Off (or similiar). There's lots of glue solvents, and wood glue should be pretty easy for any of them to handle. I think it would dissolve right off, but I'd probably test it on any scrap red oak you have just to make sure it doesn't discolor.
Cotton may work, but I wouldn't be afraid to use a fine ...
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