guarantee that is not you.

I have had two of the orbitals burn up on me in the last two months. I was just out on the Rigid from HD because I didn't have any paperwork and they have discontinued them.. I found a great one at the new Menards and they are guaranteed for two years no hassle. I have already done that once I use it so much.

My planer is max 12 inch and after gluing you end up with 16, 20 and 24 inch wide pieces. I hand block planed the first one after gluing but this new Belt sander with 40 does a better job and grabs the dust real well.

Sure, I will check out the finish recommendation, thanks. I just bought another gallon of the minwax polyurethane from HD last week.

Thanks for bringing the knowledge.

Love this thread. Thanks for starting it! I had a nice little wood shop for several years. Used to make furniture as a hobby. :) Love thewoodwhisperer website!

Woodworking has always fascinated me, and alluded me. I know guys who can work wood like Clay. Me, not so much.

"As good as your tools"?

That's really what's kept me from doing any kind of involved hardwood work.

I'm just not good at 'merging' stock. I'm sure it has a name, but when it's time to glue some 2x6s together to form a table-top and then smooth it all out to give it a finished look, I always end up with something with too many high spots or grooves or just an otherwise sloppy look.

Part of the problem is a lack of good bar clamps. Jet makes the top of the line ones and on Black Friday you can find the rare discount on them, but man alive they're expensive. So I make due with mediocre pipe clamps and they just don't hold the pieces together well enough. My planer's a 12 inch Porter Cable and it's a nice machine but I was an idiot and ran a piece with nails in it through there without realizing it and took chunks out of my blades so invariably, when I need it, it's not an option. I guess I could just loosen and offset the blades to cover for the chunks but again, lazy and stupid.

So I'm pretty much incapable of anything approaching furniture grade at this point because anything with a top on it or even a wide side either requires that I buy ridiculously expensive wide stock or somehow affix a plywood (see: shitty) top.

It's like golf and hitting a baseball - I know what I should do, I just don't seem to be able to actually do it.

As for dust collection, I'm kicking myself for not integrating a downdraft table into my bench. Those are miracle workers for sanding. I think I'm going to try a 'hinged' one with legs I can flip down to use and then hook into my dust collection ducts when in use. But again, that goes on the list behind 5 different projects for my daughter that haven't been made in a year, which is to say it will never actually get done.

Shop classes got me through High School, wood, metal, small engine repair and drafting kept my grade point average up enough to get me into College.

Wood shop made a gun rack, stereo cabinet and corner table.

Metal shop, fixed up a milling machine with new paint and made a part to replace half the missing vice clamp, made a gear shift "Hurst" type for my pickup, welded the bung hole on a 55 gallon drum closed just for practice.

Small engine repair, rebuilt a push mower engine.

Drafting really helped me with my current occupation doing layouts and planning.

All great tools to prepare for life in the real world.

You basically water popped the grain.

150 grit is more than enough for most woods. If you want to get Maple or Hickory to stain dark, a mixture of 50/50 denatured alcohol and water will do the trick. Mix it, spray it on (after sanding), and it should be dry in 1/2 hour and ready for stain.

Water popping before stain will allow it to penetrate across the entire board instead of just the grain. Put a heavy sealer and a couple coats of good finish (I use only floor finish, obviously) and you will have a perfectly smooth finished piece that is well protected.

I usually don't like to pop oak too hard because the grain is so open. I usually mix more alcohol in to minimize opening up the grain too much. If you open the grain too much you will get what's called bleedback and the product will look like shit.

Any finish recommendations for hard wood floors?

I've just started sanding.

Water/Oil Emulsified - Glitza Infinity II

Oil - Primero Poloplaz. Stay the **** away from Minwax finish. Their stain is excellent, but finish is pure SHIT.

Water- Don't like any of it, but Pallman 96x is the best of the worst. Bona is okay, too.

Sealer- Pro Finisher Universal Sealer. Varathane makes it, and a normal dude can buy it at Menards


I don't know if you can find the pro finishes at a store.

Not a clue.

https://generalfinishes.com/waterbas...tains-topcoats

Can't offer any kind of recommendation either way as I've never done any kind of flooring. I kept some faux hardwood/laminate flooring for my kid's playhouse, but that's the extent of my flooring ability.

I've never gone wrong with General Finishes and it looks like they have a product but apart from that, I'm fairly worthless.

EDIT: See, Notorious is much more useful than I am.

Yeah but I...uh...use minwax. Poorly.

Hey notorious, I need to rip out the carpet in the basement and replace, son ruined it when he moved down there before moving out. What's a good cheap replacement for DIY, laminate? and if so what would you recommend?

I ended up splurging on the the woodworker 2 for a project with a bunch of 8/4 maple that I just couldn't cut without burning. It's a great blade. That was a long time ago though, so I don't know what kind of competition is out there now.

Burning? That's what they make sandpaper for, man...

#tipsfromashitcraftsman

I've switched to a thin kerf blad as well. Little less waste and I think the lighter blade gives you just a little more oomph so it could save a little burning there. They've gotten so good at the vibration reduction on these newer blade designs that I really can't see a downside. You're not getting any deflection on a quality thin-kerf.

I think if I had it to do all over again, I'd concentrate much more on hand tools. If I ever find the time to really get back into it, my focus will be hand tools and top notch sharpening. I've got a few old Stanley planes to restore if it ever happens.

All laminate is easy anymore. I can't believe some places charge 2.5-3/ft to install. I can do about 100-150 ft/hour, so that would be highway robbery.


I have installed Dupont and Pergo before, but it's been years. The real stuff keeps me extremely busy. Be careful when it comes to the light colored laminate as it will show little black lines (dirt and moisture) between each board after a year or so. Same goes with the dark stuff with dust.

We've gotten the hell away from laminate in rentals and have started using that PVC tile that looks like woodgrain. I don't know what its called but water / moisture doesn't affect it like laminate.

Tell me more, how do you lay it down?

I could also do the kitchen, bathroom and two landing entry ways.

I've got a bunch of old levels hanging in the wall in my living room.

Someone put them together as art and it is somewhat in the shape of a Chevy emblem and fits behind the loveseat perfectly. It's pretty ****ing cool

Putting that in my bathroom with heated tile.

It really does look outstanding. It doesn't replicate hardwood quite as well as laminate but in a lot of ways it looks better. I really am impressed by how far they've come in just the last few years with those.

Yep.


LVT is the way to go. You can install it on the bottom of a pool ffs.

Thanks. I knew somebody would have some experience.

He is right, it's me.

I'll throw in a +1. Buddy of mine installed it in a big area of his house. It is the shit and WAAAAAAAAY cheaper than what I put in my kitchen. Snaps together like laminate. It was hell on his saw blade (all PVC is).

I wish I had done what he did. Christ.

I'm using the engineered vinyl in my kitchen as well, but it has a tile look vs the wood look.

Show me the way, what are you going with? Sorry, didn't mean to derail the thread. I'm sure it will get back on track.

Same here.:D

Do you use biscuits or dowels when merging the stock? I bought a dowel jig and use three spaced evenly and it seems to do the trick. I bought some pretty good long clamps, two 24s and two 36s that have been great. Believe it or not, Walmart has a pretty good little clamp for the small stuff for about three dollars and I have about a dozen of those. I will end up with 10 or so clamps on a piece once it is glued up. Here is a picture with a few clamps on but many more were put on.

My planer is a Dewalt and it says the blades can be reversed. I haven't had to do it yet but the white oak is sure making me think about it.

Dowels but I don't have a jig or anything; I put them on the press and put a stop in there for depth.

I should just spend a few bucks on a biscuit joiner; I've used one a handful of times and have always been impressed by the results.

Your clamp pattern is useful there, as is the idea of using scrap to form an 'edge' on the ends. I try to do something similar but it's more scattershot. I should probably just get more pipe clamps so I can get a better hold. I don't have a good reason not to; my new bench has a 4x6 work surface so I have plenty of room to operate, especially as my table saw has a nice extension table and my assembly table is my outfeed table so I can 'borrow' space from the cast-iron top on the saw or even the extension table as needed.

I have far more shop/tool than I have the skill for is the bottom line and all I can do to address that is keep failing forward. I was looking to make some mobile tool tables (want to build a new rolling table with folding sides for my slider, for instance) and my buddy just looks at me like I'm an idiot and says "guys with 800 sq foot workshops don't need mobile tools; design your space better".

Oh.

I really want to build this:

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/7iNUJjBWlL4?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Looks incredibly practical and since dust collection on any sliding compound miter saw is a trainwreck (unless you find one of those $1,000 jobs like a festool kapex or something), you can build a really nice hood for that rig, put plumbing through the back and run it straight into your dust collection ducts.

Sadly, it just keeps sliding down the project list (and since those Kreg stop kits are expensive as hell, my wife will most assuredly yell at me when I get the pieces for it).

Do you have any pictures of the furniture you made? I will check out that site, thanks.

I am confused as to what you mean about water popping the wood? The quote you quoted of me I had already put the polyurethane on and had used the 400.600 then 1000 prior to buffing it out. Kind of like color sanding and buffing out the paint on a car.:shrug:

The white oak I bought is hard as heck and very tight compared to the cedar. The last real woodwork I have done was over 50 years ago in school and it was all mahogany. :D

Thanks for your input.


You can work on your bench? WTF? Mine is always cluttered with the stuff I am working with.

What is the advantage of a biscuit over a dowel? They seem to have a following. The dowel jig I bought was only about $20 and is complete with bits/collars/adaptors for 1/4-5/16 and 3/8 dowels. I have used a bunch of 3/8.

My bench is in the center(ish) of the shop; pure assembly table. I have a conventional 3x14ish workbench run along the back wall where I have my cabinets, pegboards, etc.... That's what tends to turn into a cluster.

The assembly table stays fairly clean, especially with the drawers and cabinets I built into it; lots of storage space so I can just toss things in a drawer to keep them out of the way.

I don't know what the advantage would be but I suspect there's a little more give there; biscuits don't have to be razor precise to provide solid alignment; the taper and roundness allows for a little play there.

Probably just a margin for error thing. And a 'jig vs. joiner' thing; the joiners really are quick; line the tab in the center of the fence with your mark, push in once, move onto the next mark.

EDIT: Rockler's take on it -- http://www.rockler.com/how-to/doweli...iscuit-joints/

That is an interesting article. I am mainly using the dowels for alignment and they seem to be pretty good at that. Like they said, the initial investment is less.

When gluing five boards up it can take a while! It is brutal on that white oak compared to the cedar.

Oh and I was just kidding on the bench thing, but it is a constant battle for sure. Sounds like you are set up well.

I figure a $70 harbor freight special will do the job in the near term if I get a joiner. A solid jig is in the 20-30 range and the joiner is another power tool so that's always fun. For just a few bucks more, it seems like you'd make back some of the expense in raw efficiency.

I'm going to build a little kitchen helper for the 3 year old in the near future (yeah, right) and I'm going to use knock down joinery with dowels for added stability against twisting. Shouldn't be terribly complicated when all is said and done.

Oh, the way I read it is that you were wetsanding the wood before stain, which wouldn't make any sense but I didn't want to be an asshole. :D

When you say joiner are you talking biscuit joiner?

I have the Porter cable 557 and while it's very nice, I'm not sure it's the type of tool where spending more gets you more. If I had it to do over, I might go with the cheapest one (something I rarely do with tools).

Yeah.

That's why I'd just get the cheap-o from Harbor Freight. My $30 angle grinder from there grinds as well as the nicer ones I've used. My drill press and my dust collector work great as well (though the dust collector has been disassembled and re-engineered).

For certain things, they do just fine and at 1/2 to 1/3 the price in many cases.

Just making sure you weren't considering the HF jointer.

I like to build things out of wood, but I'm a shit finish carpenter. I've built some pine log beds with my brothers and build things out of old stuff more than the fine quality finished things I've seen from some of you over the years.

My power tools for woodwork are old and sad. I don't have half of what I need to do things the right way for finishing wood.

The coolest thing I've worked on was a project for a mentor...I helped him build a wooden canoe made of 1" strips of wood.

My next two planned projects are barn wood related. I plan to build a chandelier for our table and I'm debating between a design using old barn wood, making a shadow box with a flat, rough piece with wires hanging old jars over LED lights or one made with barn trolleys and a couple of old lanterns. Wiring them right is my biggest concern because I'm worse with electricity than fine cut corners.

I also am planning a "railroad cart" style table. I cut some large cat iron wheels off an old safe and want to built a barn wood coffee table out of that.

Additional projects I'd like to do include a free hanging mantle for a large bland wall made out of rough cut beams or old barn beams. I'm also planning to fire up the welder and do some shitty welding to make some 2-3' dinosaurs out of a big pile of old rust wrenches I've picked up along the way.


Maybe I'm just better at these projects because they're supposed to look like hell on the corners.

ROFL Yeah, that would be kind of silly, sorry for being so unclear. I even give the thinner wipe extra time to dry before finish.

I actually don't really like to use stain at all and prefer the natural color.

I am going to play around with some staining on this white oak though just to see how it comes out.

I just finished 2 white oak floors today! One has Special Walnut stain and the other is Early American.

I like white oak better than red. For one, the grain is usually a little tighter, two, the color is is more of a neutral brown instead of a redish color to start.


Little known fact: Most prefinished oak floor is white oak, not red even though red is a lot more popular for everything else.

That barn wood stuff is hot! I ****ed up when I gave a bunch of it away just wanting it gone and out of my way! It was true old Nebraska barn 1 inch thick material. I bet you have access to a lot of it up there, right?

I am 100% convinced that your finished product is going to be related to your tool capability multiplied by how much time you have.

That has to be quite a challenge doing those natural floors. Do you buy it from places like lumber liquidators?
I wish we hadn't have gone with laminate in 2012 when we built this place, but that was all we could swing. It isn't holding up for shit here on the lake.

Cool thread. I used to have lotsa tools. Laid my wood floor and then made chairs out of the leftovers. My granddad made his own grandfather clocks. I took after him.

Was the teachers assistant in wood shop in high school. Sucks my kid didn't get this class. He enjoys helping me build stuff around the house. Just finished a barn door project to the bathroom.

I made my own entertainment center.

I have been doing it so long it's like breathing.

I use the best equipment made. Lagler Hummel Belt Sanders, Lagler Trios, Clarke 7R edgers, etc.


I purchase all my product from distributors in KC, Springfield, OKC, Seattle, and Denver. I get Acacia product out of Atlanta.


Check your PM. ;)

Would love to see pictures! I think it is a travesty they aren't teaching these skills anymore to our youth.



What kind of wood did you use? Pictures?

Beautiful work! I have hardly a clue how the current wood floors are done. Are they "tongue and groove?"

Yep. The only difference now compared to 1969 and earlier is that heavy staples or L cleats are used instead of nails. We also use pneumatic nailers.

It amazes me how much patience the old guys had putting in floor with a hammer and nails. :eek:

I am going to google L cleats.

Those nailers have changed a lot in a fairly short period of time. I had a 24x24 garage built in 1985, for $2400. They used hammer and nails, in fact I still have half a huge box of 16 penny nails left over from their build.

When we had the construction done here in 2012, it was all electric and pneumatic nailers. I get pissed every time I look at two of the decks as they didn't used screws, bolts or lags, just a lot of ****ing nails. Lots of them.

I would lose my shit if someone built me a deck with nails.

Wow, they used nails on a deck?


Lazy. It takes a second longer to run a screw ffs.

I did, and I am the bad guy from Chicago that comes down here expecting things to be the same as they are up there. I spent a lot of money with that contractor and he has one of the best reps around. Not with me.

I have put actual bolts and lag bolts in the back deck where the runners attach to the uprights. He had about a dozen nails where they joined.

Exactly. I have been replacing them with screws as I have time. Flipping the decking boards over as the nails damage them. The upstairs deck railing that is now four years old and is not safe IMO and I am going to have to put bolts where the uprights attach to the sides.

I am coming to the conclusion that it is the way they do things around here. Half assed and close is good enough.

I'd have wrecked his shit man. That is completely and totally unacceptable.

Yeah. He would have been lucky if he wasn't there when I saw it.

He would have started over or we would have had major issues.

Enjoying this thread a lot. Ive been a woodworker for a long time but have sort of drifted away. I have a shop building and a buttload of great wood. I need to get my ass back to building stuff and off the couch. Ive built baby cradles, a beautiful Walnut Wardrobe I copied from the Amana Furniture shop one, all my kitchen cabinets in my kitchen at the farm, and a bunch of furniture for the wife.

Now that I have a new computer with decent memory, I need to organize pics of stuff I have built.

Kitchen Cabinets? Nice. That takes a hell of a lot more skill than I have. One piece that isn't square and you've FUBAR'd the whole kitchen.

I could have sworn DenverChief made a thread with the same title.

I think it was titled Woodslurping.

I don't recall you telling me I was risking my life by going out on that deck.

Somebody had to stress test it.

(cough) our QB (cough)



YOU KNOW I AM KIDDING

Hmmm, an all expense paid guided fishing trip to Table Rock Lake with lodging at a private 5 star resort with wonderful balcony views of the surroundings.
Maybe he should receive some kind of made up award for something he did this last year. Give him a trophy and the vacation package. Surely Ed would go along for the good of the team.

Its one place where having a top drawer table saw and fence will make you look talented. I have a Delta Cabinet saw with a Biesemier Fence and its the ticket. The other piece thats a must is a high quality high power 1/2 chuck plunge router. And a gozillian clamps

I agree, didn't notice it until we were all settled up. He did a pretty sizable addition on this place while we still lived 600 miles away before retiring.

He had has money as there were so many other things the decks were not something I caught. We don't do business anymore.

ROFL

You don't recall me telling you not to lean on the railing on the upstairs deck? None of the rest of it is an issue.

You probably did tell me. I'm just messing with you. :)

It would be a brutal deadly fall from there, for sure! Nice concrete landing area. :D

Ever do any whittling? Ever heard of Diamond Willow? Made a walking stick?

Spent most of the day whittling on my walking stick. Just like grandpa, with a pocket knife, but I live in the Ozarks instead of the Rockies.

My cousin out in Montana gave my Dad a beautiful Diamond Willow cane a few years ago.

Last summer when I visited Montana he gave me the stick on the right still with bark on it.

I spent a few hours on the second from right today. :D Fun times.
http://i64.tinypic.com/10y060n.jpg

Glad I found this thread.

I am trying to make a Christmas Star. I need slates ~1/2" to ~3/4" wide, varying lengths 4" up to 12" long with thin 1/4" finished wood. The actual dimensions don't really matter and can vary.

My problem is that I have planks that is too wide at 1 1/2". I have a very old table saw from my Great Uncle (probably made ~ 1925). The fence is OK but trying to rip a thin 1/4" thick board that is only 1 1/2" wide with a fair amount of precision is proving difficult. Heck the saw blade is 1/8 " wide.

What tool should I use? Do I need to buy a new table saw? Probably. Saber saw? Dremel saw? Or should I use Sharks with Lasers.

Is there a finished 1/2- 3/4" wide wood stock available?

Never mind. Home Depot has 1/4 x 3/4" trim molding that transitions between wall paper and painted walls.

PERFECT!

Awesome! So glad I could help. :D

Timely bump, look what I just found in HemiEd's garage!

nice coffin

TC. To Cool. Beautiful work. I am jealous. I am looking at buying a new table saw. My B*tch made in 1923 almost cut off my thumb last year. No safety features what so ever.

I need to post some pics of the stuff I have done around the house over the years. Mostly walls and stair stuff.

I have a ton of "Furniture Making" books that I bought 30 yrs ago and found I had no time/space/tools to do any of it. So I put them off for "retirement" like in the OP. Then the internet came around:( I had a pseudo Uncle that made INCREDIBLE furniture, candle sticks, carved animals etc. Some Day.

I need a bigger shop:( Or convert a stall out in the barn,,,

Sounds like you found what you needed but I was also going to suggest Michaels and Hobby Lobby.

Thanks, I look forward to seeing some of your work.

I don't have any of the guards on my saws, they are cumbersome. Just have to being playing close attention. :D

By the way, I was trying to hit the thumbs up arrow and missed. It won't let me correct it.

Bought a cheapo craftsman table saw. Trying to cut 45 degree cuts and just can't get it to cut straight. Making cigar boxes for Christmas.

Miter saw or box may have been better for that.

Cheap tools never work out cant keep the saw in adjustment and the fences just plain suck.

Yeah I've used it to rip and do my Dado cuts just fine. May actually rent a radial arm saw for the 45s.

I used to have tons of great woodworking tools. Now my garage is tiny and my neighbors not cool with it. Was wondering what a great idea it would be for someone to open up a warehouse with all the tools for a rental fee...