Category: Uncategorized

Brian’s Questions:

Hey guys,

First of all, thanks for the most helpful woodworking podcast around! My question(s) revolve around a home library project. I’m planning on bookcases on all four walls of a small room and wondering how you’d approach that, specifically:
(1) what would you do about the inside corners of the room where two sets of bookcases come together? Just blank them off? Something else?
(2) as far as the cases themselves, for cost reasons, I’m planning to do 3/4 plywood carcasses close to 8’ high with one fixed shelf in the middle (Domino construction) and shelf pins for the rest of the shelves. How wide can I reasonably go without sag in the shelves? Is one fixed shelf enough for stability or do I need two, say? Do I need a plywood back on each case?
Any other general tips on a library project or this type?
Thanks! Mat

What tools you guys do regret to buy?
Marcello

Alright fellas first question from me. I finally got a Makita track saw and went for the full 110″. I’m going to tear down my old 2×4 oversized work bench and start over with a nice miter saw / work area cabinet wall.
My plan is to go about 30″ deep to accommodate my DeWalt sliding dual bevel giant miter saw while also giving me ample assembly area. Maybe an mft style work area on one side, maybe t tracks here and there.
I’m going to leave it a little open ended for you guys to play around with the idea. What would your dream work area like this include? No limits, all the bells and whistles. No one to tell you no.
Thanks for taking my question. Jim G.

Huy’s Questions:

Hi Guys,
Really enjoy the podcast and all the useful information. I wrote before about a walnut table I am making. I have a couple of questions. I looked at the walnut at the local lumber yard. Great selection but lumber is pretty expensive. Question 1: The lumber distributor has a great selection. For the table top should I spring for quarter sawn at roughly 1/3 more per board foot? Question 2: I am trying to bring some order to chaos in my shop and am considering some shop cabinets. a) should I consider casters? b) should I spend the extra to install side mount drawer slides or will homemade runners be good enough?
Thanks for your help and the great podcast.
-Scott

Good day guys..My question is probably primarily for Huy.
I am getting back into woodworking after a lengthy hiatus to a career that did not allow me the time. Now that I do have the time, I am diving right back in. I am a lifelong contract mechanical designer, and have been a SolidWorks user/license holder since 1999, dont do the math on how much that has depleted my bank account in the past 24 years, and I am no rocket scientist like Huy, I have only done work on 70 ton vehicles designed outside detroit.
SolidWorks is amazing, and I have designed many projects for my woodworking with it. However I feel it is a bit heavyweight on the design side for the projects I want to do. I want to be working in my shop, and not spending hours designing parts, making assemblies etc. Dont get me wrong, the end results are incredible on the design side, but design for my woodworking shoudlnt be 60% on SolidWorks and 40% on tools. Any suggestions for the best solution for this? I have not spent alot of time researching, but have looked into Fusion360 and other solutions but not greatly as I know there will a thought process change required.
I am just looking for something simple, quick and of course accurate. We live in a 3d world, and that is an important aspect for me.Thank you so much.
Kurtis, DutchMillWorks

Hey guys, Josh here, hope this is the right way to contact you all. My question is, what machine do you think you can get away with in order to produce the most projects? I was thinking a lathe for drinkware, baseball bats and so on depending on a mini, midi or full size lathe. But I’m no expert by any means, I only had a couple years of shop experience in school and most of the terminology has escaped me since, but all the hands on experience is still fresh in my mind and I’m hoping to get this hobby started up again. Thank you. Joshua

Brians Questions:

Hi guys, thanks for such a great podcast. You recently got me through the journey back from a road trip to Montreal, although when my wife heard you guys, she was like, “What the -hell-are you listening to?!” But then she fell asleep so we had no problem (don’t worry, she wasn’t driving at the time).

My question is about evening out the sapwood and heartwood colour in walnut, so you can maximise the yield from boards and slabs. Do you have a particular process and/or product you’d recommend here? If your solution is to simply cut it off, it seems a shame to waste all that wood… have you found any good uses for it? Phil Evans

Hi – I am building a seating bench out of figured ash. I’d like to give it a gentle brown color and really accentuate the curly figure in the wood. I’m worried that stain won’t do much to bring out the beauty in it; should i use dye instead? What steps should I go through to highlight the figure? I don’t have a spray solution, so whatever finish will need to be wipe on or brush on. I prefer to avoid rattle cans of finish too, for what that’s worth. Mark

Guys Questions:

I recently had the client that all woodworkers dream of. Came to me literally saying money didnt matter and they wanted a high quality coffee table. I loaded it with design features and in the end it became my highest priced commission to date at over $12k for this 42″ square coffee table. I say that mainly to encourage others that there’s still people who will pay for quality. Anyway my question is that one of the design ideas i pitched this customer was to do a herringbone pattern on the sides of the table using shop sawn veneer. This will be my first time ever making veneer and doing anything with it. What tips can you give me? I have a VERY high quality bandsaw, the Laguna LT18 equipped with a Resawking blade. I do not have a drum sander. I plan to now get a Vacupress 300 for the task. What else should I know about veneering a herringbone pattern? AZ Custom Furniture Bilder

Hi Guys, thanks for the helpful podcast. I’ve been building furniture for a few years now and as a newish woodworker I have tried many different finishes in the pursuit of finding the one and only one. My question is, do you keep a log of which pieces of furniture have which finish so that you can see how they age and for when/if repairs or refinishes are needed? Thanks, Patty

Huy’s Questions:

Thanks for the podcast, guys!

My question: I’m building a sideboard for utilitarian storage when entering from the garage.
It is mostly cherry, will have a cherry top and is about 22″ deep by 60″ wide and 30″ tall.

I’m planning to use 8/4 cherry for the top, with a resulting thickness of whatever results from jointing and planing the boards to be edge glued for the top. Would there be any advantage in building the top from 4/4 boards face glued to make up the 8/4 thickness? I will be chamfering the bottom of the top so that any glue line would not be visible.

Thanks so much,
Bob Clark

Hi fellas,
I first want to say thank you for developing and producing this podcast and sharing your experience with the rest of mere mortals of woodworking. I am a nights and weekend hobbyist woodworker, making small projects for friends and family or DIY projects around the house. I am fortunate to have a modest collection of tools and enjoy trying new things and learning how to up my game. My question is really more about the process of using steel wool and vinegar to ebonize some red oak I’m making into a small case with a couple of drawers. The way I understand the process is that the combination of the steel wool and vinegar ultimately reacts with the tannins in the red oak, turning it darker (I’m hoping black). I’ve also recently discovered Original Tried and True finish (polymerized linseed oil and beeswax) and really like the results I’ve got on a few projects I’ve used it on. Would ebonizing the red oak change how a finish like Tried and True works? Is there a better finish in your opinion? How would each of you finish this if black was the end result, and FYI I don’t have spraying equipment. Thanks again for all you do for the woodworking community!
-Trevor

Brians Questions:

Hi guys,
I’m a hobbyist woodworker on the gold coast Australia. I have slowly acquired all the tools I feel are necessary to build those pieces that my children will one day inherit/sell in a yard sale 😜
I don’t have a bandsaw and have gotten by with a jigsaw in most situations. My major issue is when I have thick lumbar (5/4 for example) and need only a thin board. It’s wasteful and expensive to plane it down and I feel a bandsaw is required for a good quality resaw. Is this a good enough reason to purchase a bandsaw?
Sam Kruger

Hey guys,
Thank you so much for the podcast and as others say in almost every question, I learn the most from your podcast than any other woodworking podcast I listen to.
Being from Indianapolis, I have a woodworking buddy who has taken a lot of classes at Marc Adam’s School of Woodworking (not sure if Brian and Guy are familiar). He has tried to get me to join a class but it is quite an investment due to the cost and also other factors such as possibly a week off of work depending on the class you sign up for.
While I would love to take a class due to being exposed to new technique’s and tools, I just don’t know if it’s worth the investment when Im just a hobbyist with limited budget and space for tools.
Two questions:

1. Have any of you taken a woodworking class like this before?
2. Is it worth the investment for the class, or should I continue to build skills by online research and building my shop with tools?
   Thanks for the great podcast and being willing to take my question.
   Jason

Guys Questions:

Hey folks! First off, welcome aboard Brian. You have filled Sean’s shoes without skipping a beat. And I particularly enjoy how you engage with extra followup questions too I was thinking in my head!
So my question is about Guys favorite bug excrement – shellac. She treated me wrong and I need help from my bros. Ok it’s more of a rant, so hang with me.
I’ve been a shellac lover for a while. She’s never been fickle. Used her on a dozen projects. Always great results. Always a good time. Always easy. And I always use a rubber…you know…to be safe. (babum psshh)
This time and I sanded down a second hand veneer 3’x4′ table and decided to give it a shellac finish. Using the big box store’s version, I grabbed my favorite blonde, got her drunk with half alcohol, grabbed a trusty rubber, and went to town on the table.
Ok. Ok. Enough with the puns. For the life of me, I ALWAYS got streaks on the surface no matter what I did. I tried different cuts, different applicators (rubber, foam brush and paint brush). Sanding between coats. Not sanding. Working super fast, going slow. Light coats, heavy coats. Whatever. I even went to the Google and found an article from 2010 in Fine Woodworking that said dilute with 25% mineral oil and then later wipe with Naphtha once dry. BIG mistake. Won’t get into it. Still bitter. Apparently though, it’s hard to apply shellac on large surfaces?
So here I am asking the experts. Do I really need to break out my HVLP spray gun and section off my garage? Or am I doing something wrong? Have any tips?
Paul

Thanks for delivering this content. I’ve learned a lot and I think I’ve listened to every episode.
My question is about which router table to purchase. I have an old Rockler—they’re cheapest model. Looking to upgrade and considering 3 models in particular: Woodpeckers, Incra, and JessEm https://jessem.com/products/ultimate-excel-ii-package
I believe Guy has both the woodpeckers and the incra and would like to hear from all of you what you have and what you would recommend.
Part 2 of my question is I would like to add dovetail joinery to my repertoire, and was considering the incra router table (with the super system LS17 fence) specifically because of its setup for doing that. Is that a good way to go or should I buy a stand alone dovetail jig and if so which one? The other things I use my router table for are raised panel cabinet doors, dados, and obviously edge treatment.
I’m a hobbyist trying to make this a full time job and primarily build cabinets and cabinet based furniture at this point. Have also done a bed and some tables (dining, and smaller). Sorry to be so long winded, I very much appreciate your input.
-Austin, AJ Squared Woodworks

Huys Questions:

Hey guys, really enjoy the podcast. I hear you were low on questions and I had a couple so I thought I would send them.
First question. I am looking to build a bed for me and my wife. How can I determine the best wood to make it from? Cost is much more a factor than how it looks. Another factor is we are heavyset people and I want to be sure it’s not going to break while we are on it, sleeping or otherwise. ;P
Second question. I want to make the bed in the style that I have seen on my IG feed, with castle joints. My concern is, when you cut the notches, aren’t you weakening that piece of wood? I assume you would want the notch on the top for the side rails where some of the weight would be carried. But in a joint like that, I have always wondered if that type of joint would weaken the piece with the notch taken out of the bottom half.
Thanks Gents! -Jacob

Hi guys! Thanks for continuing to put on an informative podcast, always a pleasure to listen to.
I have a question about dovetail jigs. I make a good amount of furniture pieces with drawers and am looking to potentially get a dovetail jig for drawers. 99% of my drawers are made of 1/2” stock. I have no desire to handcut, time and accuracy are important. I’ve heard these jigs can be a pain to set up but I’d imagine once set up it might be worth it. Any recommendations on a particular jig?
Thanks! Lindsey

Brians Questions:

I hear a lot of talk on forums and social media about buying smaller tools to make more room in your shop. I can see how something like a 52 inch rip fence will take up more room but in my little pea brain it takes as much room to plane and joint a 4 foot board on a 72 inch bed jointer and a 15 inch planer and it does a 46 inch bed jointer and a lunch box planer. Am I wrong? Should I take this into consideration when buying tools? I’m fortunate to have a 1000 sqft shop so space isn’t necessarily at a premium but I’ll also be shop building large built in closets and wine rooms and such so it may get tighter than I think. Thanks for all the info and keep it up. Michael

I know how to sand through the grits. And I know why to sand through the grits. But how long (in general) should you stay at each grit? Obviously higher grits are easy. I usually stay there until any major imperfections are smoothed out. But as I progress, I’m always thinking I should stay there for one more round. Especially at my final grit. Normally I just keep going until the piece “feels” nice and smooth and flat. So far that’s worked for me. I’m sure I’m overthinking it, but figured I’d ask the experts what they do. I’m using an Orbital sander by the way. Sorry for the long winded question, you obviously don’t have to read all that. I ramble haha. Thanks so much. Mick at Broken Levee Woodworks

Guys Questions:

Hey guys and Guy. I’m building a dining table for a friend out of walnut and quarter sawn WO and am starting to think about applying finish. I’m wondering about applying a couple of coats of shellac to deepen the grain and following up with water based poly for the top coat(s). After hearing Guy tout the water based conversion varnish, I’m considering the General Finishes product that has the catalyst you have to mix in. Is that what you use Guy? As far as the shellac, is that a bad idea? I don’t feel confident getting an even coat, especially on the top, using a hand application so I would like to spray. Does that sound feasible? I also don’t want to change the color, jus deepen the grain so what flavor of shellac and cut should I use? Enjoy you guys a lot. My favorite woodworking podcast. Tom Bigmuddy Woodworks

Hey fellas, I have a question about the Domino 500 and 700. What rule(s) of thumb do you use for when to use the 700 instead of the 500 when it’s not an obvious situation? Other than the 3rd’s of the stock thickness. Thanks for all of your different points of view on how to tackle situations we find ourselves in. Matt in AL

Huy’s Questions:

Where do you find the most objective tool reviews? Have a great day Chuck

Alabama ww said he has done half blind dovetails where you cut thru dovetails and add an 1/8 piece on the front. Could you expand on your process for doing this specifically adding the false front and getting it flush to sub front sides. Thank you, Schatz