DETAIL SANDERS: Tips for Using This Key Tool for Outdoor Wood Refinishing
Bailey Line Road » Beginner Woodworking
by Steve Maxwell
3y ago
Detail sanders are tools that help a lot with refinishing work, and there’s really nothing else like them on the market. Also called multitools because they can also cut and grind with different attachments, detail sanders are not for stripping back large expanses of bare wood. A 6″ random orbit sander is my tool of choice for that, but not all stripping is about bulk removal of old finishes. When it comes to those small nooks and crannies that are part of most refinishing jobs, detail sanders are king. They’re so much better than fooling around by hand with little pieces of folded sandpaper i ..read more
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Quartersawn Wood Lumber: Why Woodworkers Should Be Looking At The Ends of Boards
Bailey Line Road » Beginner Woodworking
by Steve Maxwell
3y ago
I’ve noticed that most woodworkers start assessing a board by looking at its face. But if this is where your investigations end, you’re missing out on insights that can lead to a lot of creative control and better woodworking. That’s because the appearance and behavior of solid wood has at least as much to do with something that’s best seen on the end of the board, not the face. The orientation of the growth rings of a tree relative to the face of the board as it was sawn exerts a big influence on how completed furniture looks, as well as how it behaves in relation to moisture and humidity. T ..read more
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MILL YOUR OWN MICRO-LUMBER: Tricks for Sawing Real Boards From Small Logs
Bailey Line Road » Beginner Woodworking
by Steve Maxwell
3y ago
It’s easy to look past the obvious fact that lumber comes from logs, but once you start thinking this way, interesting things can happen.  It’s surprisingly easy to mill short, small logs into furniture-grade boards, right in your own workshop, all without special equipment. Dry this wood properly and you’re ready to joint, plane and cut material into parts for small projects. Small, white ash boards sawn from short logs that were too nice to use as firewood. Besides saving money, this kind of micro milling gives access to species of wood you’ll never find for sale in lumberyards. You’l ..read more
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GAP-FREE WOODWORKING JOINTS: Simple Trick Makes It Easy
Bailey Line Road » Beginner Woodworking
by Steve Maxwell
3y ago
Sometimes a little woodworking trick can deliver a lot of value. That’s the case with an operation called “kerfing”. Click below to watch how I use kerfing to tighten up a visible joint that’s got more of a gap than I care to live with. Kerfing is fast, easy and effective. There’s a written transcript of the video below, to make it easier for you to review all the details. Video Feature VIDEO TRANSCRIPT: 00:09 I‘ve got a situation here with this open veranda that I’m working on, and I want to show you a trick that has usefulness in a lot of different situations. I’m installing this skirting ..read more
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REFINISHING FURNITURE: Tips for Getting Great Results
Bailey Line Road » Beginner Woodworking
by Steve Maxwell
3y ago
There’s a little-known fact about the beauty of stripped and refinished woodwork, and I discovered it the hard way starting with a blunder I committed in the spring of 1990. I’d just built and hung two insulated exterior red pine doors that I’d made and began applying a walnut-coloured outdoor varnish to it. I’d never used this product before and in my haste to get the job done I let impatience rule. Instead of testing the new finish on scrap wood (as I always tell other people to do), I went right to the finely-sanded, bright new door with brush in hand. That proved to be a mistake. The first ..read more
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RABBETS & DADOS: Understanding These Bedrock Woodworking Joints
Bailey Line Road » Beginner Woodworking
by Steve Maxwell
3y ago
If glue could create a perfect bond between pieces of wood, there would be no need for anything other than simple butt joints. But since adhesives will probably never get that good, woodworkers everywhere have developed ways of using interlocking connections to help glue do a better job. And by far the most popular of these are the rabbet and dado joints. Behind these weird names you’ll find nothing more than simple grooves. The dado has three sides, and the rabbet has two. Adjoining pieces of wood interlock with these grooves, substantially boosting the surface area of the joint and its load ..read more
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New Life for Dead Chisels (and other dull woodworking tools)
Bailey Line Road » Beginner Woodworking
by SteveM
3y ago
Good chisels never die, they just turn into paint can openers. But concealed under that dull and dirty exterior could be your best chisel of all. In fact, when sharpened correctly, old chisels often make the best chisels.  Chisels sold before WWII were made for a world where woodworkers actually earned their living with hand tools. A good chisel cost a day’s wages back then (the equivalent of several hundred dollars today), and woodworkers expected their money’s worth. Today, these forgotten old chisels, glorious as they can be, are practically free. All it takes to bring an old chis ..read more
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Why We All Need to Create
Bailey Line Road » Beginner Woodworking
by Steve Maxwell
3y ago
When my wife and I moved one of our sons into university a few years ago, I couldn’t help but notice all the posters around campus advertising free help for mental issues. Not that I was surprised. As the years roll along, and I see life through the eyes of my five kids, I hear about more and more young people with debilitating depression or paralyzing anxiety.  I’m convinced there’s an increase in this sort of trouble, and I don’t buy the argument that “we’re just more aware” these days. That’s hogwash. The big questions for me are “why the change?” and “what can be done to help?” One op ..read more
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EDGE-GLUING SOLID WOOD: Three steps for success in the home workshop
Bailey Line Road » Beginner Woodworking
by Steve Maxwell
3y ago
UPDATED 11Sep2020 + video below. Trees only grow so wide, and that’s just one reason gluing boards together edge-to-edge to make wider panels is a basic woodworking skill. Stability and appearance are the other benefits of edge gluing solid panels from narrower boards, and success depends on mastering three steps.  Too many novice and intermediate workshoppers spend more time struggling with edge gluing than they should. That’s where this article can help. Edge-Gluing Step#1: Jointing Solid Wood This is me jointing a piece of rough ash lumber in my shop. This is the second pass on the jo ..read more
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HOW TO CHOOSE A CORDLESS DRILL: A Quick Video Tutorial
Bailey Line Road » Beginner Woodworking
by Steve Maxwell
4y ago
Video Feature When it comes to power tools, there are more options than ever before, and the quality of choices is higher than ever, too. This is especially true for cordless drills. In this 2-minute video I’ll give you the inside scoop on cordless drills: standard features, what the controls do, and how to buy a model that makes sense for you. Click below to watch and learn. Video transcript below so you can follow along. VIDEO TRANSCRIPT: 00:00 Hi, it’s Steve Maxwell. Here I’m going to show you how to choose and use a cordless electric drill. This is a 20 volt model. 18 volt ..read more
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