| Blog series by sry | updated 400 days ago | 5 parts | 1956 reads | 30 comments total |
Part 1: Getting started
A quick introduction to get things started here. I’m just getting started in woodworking, and thought it would be an interesting idea to post the lessons (mistakes?) I’m learning as I learn them. Things like the importance of “measure twice, cut once”, etc. Whether you guys know it or not, I’ve already accumulated a large amount of knowledge from the discussions, projects, and blogs here at LJ. As I try to turn that knowledge into actual skills and projects t...
Part 2: RIP shop vac
So the story goes like this: I’m in the garage minding my own business routing a groove down the center of some 1×2 poplar when I hear a loud pop and smoke starts billowing out of my shop vac/dust collector. I turn off the router, yank the shop vac cord out of the wall and get outside. It’s then that I remember that I unplugged the garage opener because I needed the outlet, so I had no good way of getting all the smoke out of the garage. So I hold my breath and plunge back...
Part 3: Glue joint strength
Over the summer, I finally decided to tackle the jungle/mosquito breeding ground behind my back fence that I inherited from the previous owners. About halfway through, one of the nice wood handles (oak I think) on my loppers snapped: So being the good aspiring woodworker that I am, I glue them back together with basic yellow glue. A few weeks later I go back to finish up and the handle snaps again. This time though it snapped in a different place. Same handle, but the previous glue joi...
Part 4: Wax makes things not stick
I was putting the finishing touch on my new workbench top the other night with a coat of wax. While I was at it, I figured I could also wax a few other things, like my miter saw top, router bases, etc. I also remembered a tip I read somewhere that said if you wax the bars of your clamps, glue won’t stick as much and will be easy to remove. Although that seems to be true, I discovered that if you wax the bars of clamps that work by friction (such as my multitude of the 6” Irwi...
Part 5: Cutting guides make the world go 'round
As a beginning woodworker without a large shop full of tools, I’m was at first skeptical about my ability to get by and produce interesting things without tools like a table saw or band saw. One of the things that’s really helped me get by is the cutting guide. I built a massive 8’ long cutting guide for my Ryobi circular saw, which makes it about 1000 times easier to chop up plywood without being dependent on the table saw I don’t have. I decided this evening tha...
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