Woodshop Life Podcast

This Episodes Questions:

Brians Questions:

Love the podcast fellas! I have a simple question: When I use my table saw, I usually just check if the blade is “high enough” i.e. any height higher than the wood piece. Is there an ideal blade height for a given wood thickness? Thanks!
Matt

What is the most difficult project you’ve ever done?
Brian

Guys Questions:

I’m wondering how thick is too thick to veneer onto a plywood box. I’ll be making a treasure chest for my daughter’s wedding (for cards and such) and lining it in leather. I have some wood I’d like to use for the outside as “veneer”, but it is a 3/8” thick. The species is morado, and they were a “special buy” thing at a Woodcraft I got a while ago. Basically, I have them and I’d like to use them if possible rather than buying something else.
My bandsaw isn’t always the most reliable, so while I would feel comfortable splitting them and then planing them flat again, that might be as thin as I’m able to do. I’m guessing 1/8” thick once all the processing is done. Is that too thick to use as veneer? Is there a glue that’s better for a thicker veneer than a thin one?
Thanks, Peter

I recently bought a small bandsaw mill (Woodmizer LX30) and am becoming an amateur sawyer, exclusively to supply lumber for my own projects. 2 questions, here’s the first:

1. In what use cases, if any, would you use air-dried lumber for your projects, assuming it is stickered properly, outside, with a rain cover on the top, for a year per inch of thickness? I was told by a friend who operates a kiln that air-drying in southern Indiana will never get the moisture content much below 13-15%, it will dry unevenly throughout the board, and it won’t kill powder post beetles and other insects. His conclusion is that for any indoor woodwork projects, I should only use kiln-dried lumber. Do you agree? Why or why not? Fortunately, he’s well-respected, trustworthy, and at $.35/bd-ft dried, affordable. But I can air-dry for free, so I’d be curious to know when, if ever, that may be workable.
   Kyle

Huy’s Questions:

I have another good fundamentals of woodworking type question for you. Could you explain the differences between grain density and porosity? For a while I thought I knew what at least one of these meant. That was until I heard Guy describe oak as a tight-grained, open pore species. That whole description goes more or less right over my head. I’d really appreciate it if you guys could explain what grain density and wood porosity look like visually, as well as what effects these attributes have on working with a particular species, finishing it, etc.

Thanks for all of your time and for sharing your expertise with all of us. The Fridays when you guys have new episodes are my favorite days of the week.
Zach

Hello Friends,
I have a woodshop at my house in the PNW. I’m somewhere between a beginner and not a beginner.
If you want to answer this question on your fantastic podcast, you can of course skip the preamble. I offer it here so you can understand the context and environment in which my question lives. Because we are friends, I care what you think, so I hope you don’t arrive at the conclusion that I’m impractical. I’ve tried to create a shop environment that incorporates a whimsical and creative aesthetic because that is how I aspire to be in this space.
I built an entry door and carriage doors for my 500sq foot detached woodshop. Doors guts are constructed from poplar frames, 1.5” ridged insulation in the voids, MDO skin on the exterior side trimmed in the craftsman style with ¾ cedar. The interior side of the doors are skinned in plywood and laminated with orange counter top material. The orange is the same color as those orange shirts people who work hard wear. I like to wear these shirts to give my wife the impression that I too am working and not just fudging around. I wanted my workshop to feel likewise. Door window sills and trim are walnut. On the entry door, I’ve installed a commercial style stainless steel handset modified for a 3” thick door. Carriage doors are hung with 4 heavy duty sealed ball bearing hinges per side. For the carriage doors, I had custom astragals and a threshold plate fabricated at a local metalworking shop, and used stainless steel cane bolts that plunge through the threshold plate to hold the doors tight against the weather seals and another set of cane bolts at the top to complete the seal. The carriage door handles are two of my favorite axes. I designed mounting hardware, built by the fabricator, with a quick release pin system so I can pull them off when I need them for axe related business. Inside the shop, I’ve installed antique reclaimed maple flooring on the walls. The flooring was recovered from a factory that used to make steam powered tractors for hauling giant old growth redwood trees out of the forests on the west coast in the late 1800’s. It seemed like a fitting retirement for these floors. I didn’t resurface the flooring (which is now walling) so it retains all of its history, factory floor markings, old holes for mounting machinery etc. Now that the doors are in, I need to install interior trim around the frames that is worthy of the walls and doors. I went to Goby (https://gobywalnut.com) to procure materials. They specialize in Oregon hardwoods such as Oregon Black Walnut, Big Leaf Maple, Oregon White Oak, Madrone, and Myrtle. I came home with some burled live edge Big Leaf stock. My idea is to trim the door frames in maple, with the inside edge (nearest the door) all squared and straight, and the outside edges of the left, right and top trim pieces being irregular and strange. Preparing and finishing these trim pieces is the nature of my questions:

I have a ten-foot long 12/4 burled and figured maple board with a live edge on one side. The board ranges from 9” to 18” wide. My plan is to resaw it into a two 1.5” ish boards and dimension them down to about 1 ¼ to make the parts for my project. Before I do that, I need to clean up the burled protrusions on the live edge side because I think it will be easier to do that before I resaw it.

My first question is how do I clean up the live edge burls? Some of the live edge is typical, but other sections have a lot of terrifying spiked peaks and valleys where a burl has boiled out of the tree. It looks like the surface of the sun right before it’s getting ready to disrupt our global communications system for a few hours. If it helps to understand what I’m dealing with, my wife saw the board when I brought it home said things like “your wood is being a drama queen” and “it’s trying to do too much” and “how much was that”. To experiment, I took a wire brush to a small section just to see what would happen. It worked well from the standpoint of clearing out debris, removing bark and burrs. But I suspect this isn’t the best method for ultimately prepping this for finishing and is probably a crime.

Once I get the edge cleaned up, I’ll resaw and dimension my parts. Getting this 10 foot 12/4 stock up onto my bandsaw and perfectly slicing it into two equal pieces will probably go great. Then I’ll sand the faces to 220. That’s where my extensive experience runs out. Rather than give up at this point, what can I do to bring out the wild figuring on these boards? Fesstool made me buy higher grits of sandpaper like 400, 800, 1000 etc that I haven’t used. Is this why I have these grits? Unlike everything else in my life, I don’t want to overthink this, but I’m starting to wonder how much that twisted, gnarled bubbling burled edge is going to drip finish on the rest of the board after I spray it. Should I consider frog taping the faces, spraying the live edge first and then shoot the face as a second operation after the edges are done? Can one of you come over?

I’ve never used shellac before, but I’ve listened to every one of your episodes so I feel like I’m probably an expert in shellac and pound cut related activities. I have a 5 stage Fujispray system that I’ve used in the past to drip finishes on the floor and all over myself and my work pieces. I also have some rags. Robert

This Episodes Questions:

Brians Questions:

I recently bought a good amount of S3S ambrosia Maple from Rockler. I bought it at a crazy discount. The first time I picked some up they were selling it for $3 per board foot, and when I came in a few weeks later it had dropped to $1 per board foot. I asked multiple employees why the price was so low. They all said that they simply just didn’t have room for the material. Looking around this seemed to be the case.

I have been storing the wood in the loft of my shed/shop for several weeks now, which is cool and dry this time of year. I finally decided to begin a project using some of this material, but to my dismay I have discovered that most of the boards have a twist in them. I’ve been able to minimize this problem by strategically cutting the boards into smaller pieces, but when I put them in my crosscut sled, I’ve noticed that a few of the boards aren’t even flat on the edge that is supposed to be jointed.

Is this something I should expect after moving lumber that had been stored somewhere with moderate temperature and humidity to a cooler and dryer location? Or is it possible the store was selling this wood for so cheap because people had had issues with this material already? I try not to be overly fussy, especially when I’ve I’ve gotten a good deal on something, but this is one of the first times that I’ve purchased a significant amount of hardwood from a higher quality store and what I’m looking at is about the same quality I’d expect after picking out hardwood boards at random from a big box store.

Lastly, considering that I don’t have a joiner or a planer, is there any way for me to try to correct the twist in these boards? For now I just have worst of the boards clamped down to a flat surface. Thanks in advance for your time and your feedback.

Sincerely, Zach Owens

Hi guys, I have a question about how long does it takes, when working on a project, before “project fatigue” sets in? I woodwork for at least an hour or more everyday (much more on the weekends) and I have built book cases, a fancy cat tree, a hallway table, small boxes, solid oak doors, and shop furniture in the past year. Sometimes I get to the point where I just want to finish up the current project so I can start something new. It seems to happen around the 4 to 6 week mark. Do you ever get project fatigue? Just curious if I’m not alone.

Also, thank you to Guy for discussing hide glue and shellac in previous podcasts. I’m now making my own glue and dissolving my own shellac flakes. I like the traditional aspect and easy of use.

Cheers
Chris from North Mankato, MN

Guys Questions:

I would like to build my kids a set of montessori style bookshelves out of solid maple, and I can see myself making more of these in the future for others. So, I am trying to figure out how to make the joinery fast, accurate and repeatable. Also, I would like to avoid using screws and I do not own a domino, so I think that probably makes dowels the best option?

How would you make the 2 sides to this bookshelf? My thoughts are to make a template for the sides so I can route the shape. I am struggling with the dowels… Due to wood movement in the vertical shelf pieces, I was thinking about using 2 dowels, where one will be fixed and the other will have a slot cut into the side panel. See attached photos. Each horizontal shelf piece will be dadoed to the vertical shelf piece and the 4 shelves will not be connected to each other to help account for wood movement. If I use an mdf template for the sides and also put the dowel holes and slots in it, how would you cut the holes and slots? Router, router with bearing, drill press, hand drill? Is there a better way that could be easier or faster than I am missing?

Thank you for all you help! Jeff

Hello all! Thank you for a great show! About a year ago I built a cabinet with a cherry top. It was finished with a single coat Zinser Bulls Eye Seal Coat, followed by 3 coats of Poly. (wiped on). See original picture attached. Since then in a few places it developed small white spots. What would you recommend for me to do to fix it? Can I just apply a few more coats on top? If so, how would I prep the top? Or do I need to sand it back to bare wood? If so, what would be the process to sand it back?
Bonus question, what could I have done to fail to prevent this? Max

Huys Questions:

2. I remember a while back Huy mentioned buying a sewing machine and considering upholstery. Have you don’t anything with it? My wife has been on me for years to build a chaise lounge for our living room for a specific space, but even watching folks demonstrate the art I get a bit frazzled. I know Guy’s solution-just go buy the damn cushions. So, Guy, would you have your wife buy them first and build around them or build the piece (whatever it may be) and send her on a quest to find some to fit? Any resources for upholstery on wooden furniture? Peter Downing

A few years ago I got some beautiful, large pieces of white oak from a neighor’s fallen tree. I’ve had them in my garage where they’ve been slowly drying. Unfortunately, I didn’t strip the bark and now I’m seeing signs of bug infestation. The bugs seem confined to the space between the wood and the bark. After striping the bark how can I kill the bugs before bringing them into the shop?

These logs will be used for turning so I could use an insecticide and just wear a mask with an organic compound filter while turning. Or, I could use a handheld power planer to just hog off any signs of insects in the outer layer of the log.

Do you have any ideas? Jim

This Episodes Questions:

Brians Questions:

I’ve been making music boxes and trying to replicate the traditional style (see attached photos). I’m struggling to get the curved edge just right. I’ve tried using a planer, but I keep messing up and have ended up wasting a lot of boards.
Router round-overs almost work, but still need planed or sanded after routing to get the shape just right, and also they’re pretty dangerous given the small and awkward size of the pieces—I’m working with ¾-inch thick wood that’s 2.5 inches high for the box sides. I’d like a repeatable process that provides consistent shapes, but can’t seem to find a way to achieve it. Advice? Trish

I’ve heard a few of your podcasts where you speak about making boxes and using a router to make the miter. I’m assuming you’re using a bit with a 45° angle. What I don’t understand is, how do you get the sides to be the exact same length while using your router table. It would seem to me that having the top of the angle (the point of the angle) against the fence would be almost impossible to get perfectly sized sides. Can you please describe what I am missing here, since a perfect 45° angle using a route a bit seems incredibly simple. Mike G.

Guys Questions:

I have always tried to select straight grain for legs, aprons, stretchers and the frame of a frame and panel. I am now thinking this may be too much straight grain in a piece of furniture. When are the times that you would not do this and would instead use a more interesting grain pattern in these pieces. Does the wood species affect your choice? For example, it seems like the current trend with walnut is not worrying about getting any straight grain in the pieces at all. Thanks for all your help. Jeff

Hi from Melbourne Australia. I’ve been listening for years, and I like how y’all do things! Thanks for making the best woodworking pod.
Like everyone, I have a small shop, that I fit a lot into. Without listing every item… I’ve got stationary machines covered with a euro style slider (Hammer K3), a 14” bandsaw (N4400) and a combo planer/thicknesser (A3-31). Those 3 cover my needs really well, and I’ve learned to work within the capacity of my tools and space.
It’s the secondary/benchtop machines that are causing trouble. Mitre saw was first to go. Don’t miss it, don’t need it. I’m looking at sanders next. The disc sander stays, couldn’t live without it. But the 1632 drum sander and the oscillating bobbin sander are both rarely used and take up space I want back.
Could you life without them? If not, what’s the essential job they do for you?
I’m usually making furniture sized objects. With the finish I get off the helical thicknesser, I find that hand planes/scrapers, ROS, and hand sanding is usually all I need. For bigger flat things, I’m gonna pay a pro shop to put it thru a wide belt sander anyway. Johnny

Huys Questions:

I was trained on a belt sander, and as Guy has mentioned, there is a learning curve. I’m now very proficient with one and it is a central part of my stock prep: from the planer, I belt sand a rough-sized board with 80 grit, wet it down and let it dry to raise any remaining compression marks from the planer, and then belt sand with 120. I then cut the board to final dimension, random orbital sand with 120, cut the joinery, and then random orbital sand the fitted piece to 180 before final assembly. The process leaves flawless surfaces every time. For panel glue-ups and tabletops, I glue up from the planer using cauls and then make sure the 80 grit belt sanding that follows evens out any discrepancies in height along the joints (hopefully they are minimal).

I have zero experience with a drum sander, but I would consider getting one if it could replace some of the above belt sanding, as the belt sander is no light weight hand tool, and it’s a killer on my back when I have to sand a full width dining table. I would likely get the PM2244, as I have heard it is the easiest to adjust. You all have mentioned that a drum sander does NOT offer a finish ready surface, as it leaves sanding ridges along the workpiece. This is not a problem in my workflow if it replaces the belt sander.

My questions:

Are these ridges similar to what I get with the belt sander for a given grit, or are they deeper, requiring by comparison to the belt sander extra time on the following grit?

Since I am not seeking to dimension or flatten, but merely prep the surface for the next grit, would one pass in the drum sander for each grit be enough, or am I looking at multiple passes per grit? With a belt sander, there is a lot of back and forth, but with a drum sander I’m wondering if a single pass through will give the same result.

How easy and fast is it to change the grit on a drum sander if I want to run 80 grit and then 120 in each sanding session? A dual drum unit is not in the budget.

Finally, how reasonable is it to get good results sanding a tabletop that exceeds the width of the sander (i.e., the 22 in the Powermatic) but is within the bounds of the larger number (here, the 44)? With some practice, can I get reliable results, or does this just create more work after sanding, where I’ll likely be pulling out the belt sander to even out a center ridge anyway? Keep in mind this could include tabletops from small night stands to full 8’ dining tables.

As a professional shop, the whole endeavor would be to save me some time and labor. Is it worth getting a drum sander for my workflow, or should I just stick to the belt sander? Michael

After listening to your podcast this week I listened with interest the question that was posted by Jose about track saw blade deflection and you guys had a great response. Unfortunately I was hoping that you would address the issue that I’m having with my Makita SP 6000 unit. I bought this unit a couple of years ago and despite great reviews have been a little disappointed. The saw seems to be underpowered. It struggles getting through material whether its 3/4″ plywood or thicker hardwood. I started with the stock Makita blade 165×20 48 tooth then with with a CMT 165×20 24 tooth and am currently using a Ridge Carbide TRK16048A 48 tooth blade. I have a Festool extractor and using Makita tracks. The problem is the saw bogs down (I have to creep with the feed rate and still have the issue although not as bad) and burning. Also sometimes the right side of the track edges up where two tracks join causing the saw to catch. I have the good TSO GRC12 track connectors. The Makita ones are junk. I What’s up with this? Do I need to move this thing out the door, bite the bullet and buy a Festool?
Love the podcast.
Tom

This Episodes Questions:

Brians Questions:

Thank you for your awesome podcast!
I recently started listening and am still working through older podcasts while staying up on your bi-weekly episodes. I would describe myself as a longtime hobbyist who has built some basic furniture but who still has much to learn.
My current project is setting up my workshop in one car space of a 3 car garage after having moved back to California from Colorado. We’ve been back for over 3 years, but holding down a demanding full-time job and getting 2 kids through grad school has kept my wife and I pretty busy and has left little time for hobbies.
Since I don’t have any specific projects in the works besides setting up my shop, my question is a little broader. Curious to learn more about your thoughts on hand planes. How much of your woodworking repertoire includes the use of hand planes, what types of hand planes do you use the most and for what types of jobs do you use them? Or, do you completely omit hand planes from your woodworking arsenal?
Thanks again for the great podcast.
Best regards,
Darryl Noda (Wildfield Woodshop)

Thanks once again for putting out the most helpful woodworking podcast I listen to!
I’m making a lot of small boxes, many of which I make as one piece and then cut the lid off with a table saw or bandsaw. How do you deal with glue squeeze-out on the interior corners of such boxes, when you can’t access it until after you cut off the lid? My current methods are to pre-finish the interior sides of the box, so the squeeze out doesn’t affect the finish, or else to use painter’s tape at the corners. The pre-finishing works decently but requires a lot of forethought and has some limitations; the painter’s tape is a pain and doesn’t work all that well. Another method I’ve tried is not caring about the squeeze-out and installing box inserts to cover it up. Do you all have a preferred method for dealing with gluing up closed boxes? Thanks again in advance for your good advice. Kyle

can you live without a pedestal drill press? It’s handy, with relatively small footprint. But it seems like I use it exclusively perpendicular holes with Brad point or forstner bits., I could probably replace it with a drill guide like this UJK one. https://www.axminstertools.com/global/ujk-technology-drill-guide-with-10mm-chuck-106072
Thanks again for the pod, and for considering my question! Johnny

Huy’s Questions:

My wife and I were on vacation earlier this summer driving from Iowa to Florida and I was board listening to the radio and she suggested I look for a podcast on woodworking. Boy was she sorry she suggested that! I found your podcast and what an informative and fun podcast! I’ve listen to a lot of them but have not got to them all.

I am getting back to woodworking and have started a side gig and have completed a few projects for a few people and have several more to do. I’m doing tables, shelves, cabinets, bookshelves, benches, and some other smaller things. I have a pretty good shop with a pretty good tool selection. Just purchased a Sawstop PCS 175, 36” fence and I can’t believe the quality from my old Delta contractor saw. It will certainly help me up my game on a lot of things. I have a couple of questions that I hope you can help.

Some of these projects are stained and others are painted. Up to this point I have just used brushes and rollers to paint and use mostly Sherwin Williams paint. The project turns out ok and my clients are satisfied but I’m ready to kick it up a notch by spraying. I’ve used a sprayer called a Criiter and while it works ok it very difficult to use on anything of size. I’m lo

I recently had the misfortune of losing my shop to a windstorm/tornado. So, I now ‘get’ to rebuild. I plan on having a footprint of about 30 x 40 with a 10′ rollup door and one man door. I have several questions so appreciate that you may not be able to answer them all.

1. What would you suggest for the interion walls? OSB, plywood or ? 1/2″ or 3/4″?
2. I plan on putting my table saw and outfeed table in the middle of the shop with the other typical tools – bandsaw, drill press, router table, jointer, planer on or near the exterior walls. Do you have any suggestions as to the layout of the shop?
3. My tools were all rescued thought they undoubtedly suffered some water damage and I won’t really know the extent of the damage until the new shop is up and the tools are unloaded from the storage container. Any thoughts on how to deal with potentially water damaged tools?
4. I plan on getting a new dust collector as my old one didn’t make it; a wall fell on it and I don’t think it can be repaired. Any suggestions for a new one? I plan on plumbing in pvc piping to each of the tools so would like to have something pretty robust.
5. What would you suggest for shop height? My last shop was formerly used as a barn so had a 15′ or so height; I don’t think I need anything that high but am thinking about 10 or 11 feet here.
6. I plan on adding a cnc to the shop at some point in the future. What are your thoughts about placement of this machine? Should be against a wall or ?

Thanks very much for your outstanding Podcast. I really, really enjoy it and learn lots every time I listen. Ron

Hi guys! I love the podcast and have almost caught up to the current episode. You guys really keep it to the topics, which is great!! I am currently working in my garage shop that is 18ftx14ft. I currently have a 10 inch job site table saw and I’m ready to upgrade to a cabnent saw. I am liking the Alpha HW110LC-36Pro but don’t know much about them. I am also considering the Grizzly G0899. What are your thoughts on these saws. Thank you all and keep up the great work on the podcast!!! David Caraway

This Episodes Questions:

Brians Questions:

Howdy fellas,
Love the podcast! I’m in the process of building a bench and misjudged how much wood I could get out of a board. The plans call for two stretchers of 3/4 maple about 65″ long and 4.5″ wide. After squaring and thicknessing, I’m down to 0.75-by-65-by-4.25 which is 1/4″ too narrow. I initially thought I’d start over with a new board, but have decided to forge ahead with the slightly narrower stretchers since it won’t impact the joiner, should still be plenty strong and will probably be imperceptible. In this example or others from your experience, how big of a boo-boo do you allow in your projects? Sorry if you’ve covered this before, I’m still catching up.
Thanks, Bryan

In a previous podcast, Brian mentioned he had used raking light after sanding and was impressed by how clearly sanding marks were visible. I have tried to deliberately use raking light to identify sanding issues. You can lift a small item at a angle towards an overhead light and sight along the surface which works but if it is larger surface this isn’t practical. I have taken an led trouble light and held it at an angle close to surface but rarely see the sanding marks stand out. At some point in the afternoon sunlight hits the top of a project and marks are clearly visible . Any suggestions on using raking lighting on larger surfaces? Thanks for the great program, look forward to each new podcast. Dave at Xcuse4tools Custom Woodwork

Guys Questions:

Appreciate you all and look forward to your podcast. I was making raised panel doors for the cabinets in my shop. The panels are cut on the tablesaw with a tall fence jig and the blade tilted. This works well but leaves a few saw marks on the beveled portion of the panel which need to be cleaned up. The best way i know to sand this area is to wrap sandpaper around a small flat piece of plywood and manually sand it. This is time consuming and you are sanding across grain on two of the four bevels. I was wondering if there are any powered options available. I still have a quarter sheet sander but you hit the outer edge of panel if you use this on the bevel. Have you used a mop or star sanding wheel? This appears to be good for contours. Hoping you might have some insights possibly with Huy’s recent furniture restoration efforts. Thanks, Dave@Xcuse4tools Custom Woodwork

Hi there,

As always, love the podcast and all of the insights and expertise you share. I’m preparing to do a built-in cabinetry project for our entertainment center. The full set of cabinets will be be about 11 1/2 feet wide. I’m planning to do shaker style doors, but with a beaded pdf panel with vertical beads going across the full width of the panel. I know Guy is probably going to say, “I’d just buy the panels and be done with it”, but let’s say that I really wanted to make them myself. How would you recommend cutting all of those beads. I have a Powermatic PM2000 and a nice cast iron router table and handheld routers, but no CNC. I recently saw a video where someone made these kinds of panels with a “Magic Molder” on the table saw. Would love to hear if you have any other methods. Pete

Huys Questions:

I have been woodworking for 6 years and have learned allot from your podcast. I recently took a finishing class and learned about the different finishes. Mineral spirits is the recommended thinner for oil based finishes. Why does Guy recommend Naphtha. What is the difference between Naphtha and Mineral Spirits. What advantage is there in using Naphtha. Thank you for all the great information you bring to the community. John

Gents – Apologies for the long story, but you asked for questions.
At the peak of the COVID pandemic I found myself watching far too many YouTube channels and came upon makers using European combination machines. Call it boredom or simply a need for a good excuse to travel during a traffic density period we hope to never see again, I researched a variety of brands and settled on a Robland X-31. This 1,100 pound beast is equipped with a sliding table saw, jointer, planer, shaper and mortiser. It replaced the Delta Unisaw with a 52” Unifence, a 6” Delta clone jointer sold as “Pit Bull,” and a DeWalt DW-735 that I paid $220 because HomeDepot decided to run a price match plus 10-odd percent discount the same week HomeBase was doing its going out of business liquidation. Price shopping for the best planner deal was just a walk-about as both stores shared a common parking lot.
So back to the Robland. I convinced myself that I need a change. I started milling logs and the Pit Bull wasn’t going to cut face jointing wide boards. I needed a 12” jointer. The 20 by 24 foot shop could not accommodate length of a dedicated 12” jointer, said the little voice in my head. I could sell the Unisaw and the Pit Bull, stuff the DeWalt in a cabinet, it said. The collective footprint of these three tools (the DeWalt was on a mobile base) would be about the same as the X-31, it declared. It will fit into a one-car garage if and when you downsize, it summarized. So off to new custodians these two reliable tools that faithfully served hundreds of tasks. I trekked from Sacramento, California to Yakima, Washington with my 85-year-old dad to pickup a rarely used (red flag as it turned out) green X-31 that had – as the second owner said – sat in the basement of a dentist.
Fast forward to today … can’t say, yet, if I like or dislike the Robland. It is a pain in the ass to set up. The jointer works great once one learns how to accommodate the relatively short wings. I had electrical problems for the first year. I appreciate the planer’s 9” capacity. I miss the efficiency of moving from one dedicated machine to another. There is little end snipe compared to the 735. I don’t know if I’ll ever use the mortiser, particularly after buying a Domino. I love the cross cut table. I hate the lack of micro adjustment to the blade height on the table saw. The shaper is a great addition to the shop. It pains me that woodworking with a micrometer was helpful with the Unisaw and is a frustration with the Robland.
As I deal deal with these tool grievances, the questions:

1. What would be your advice to a new woodworker to purchase dedicated vs. combination machines? What combination would you recommend and why?
2. We’re friends here, right? Did I make a mistake with the Robland?
   Finally, at risk of being accused of pandering: I agree with Guy’s sentiment that the SawStop is a good tool, but its safety feature isn’t a replacement for responsible use of power tools. There is a reason SawStop doesn’t warranty for injuries. Age for age, I wouldn’t trust a 10-year-old SawStop any more than I would a vintage Walker Turner table saw.

Hey guys,

First off, thanks for all the knowledge you share—I’ve been woodworking for a while, but I’m always learning from your podcast. During COVID, I sold my Delta Unisaw, jointer, and DeWalt planer to pick up a Robland X-31 combo machine with a sliding saw, jointer, planer, shaper, and mortiser. I loved the idea of saving space and getting a 12″ jointer, but now I have mixed feelings. I like the crosscut table and shaper, but I miss the efficiency and precision of dedicated machines, and the X-31 can be a hassle to set up.

So my questions are:

1) For someone just getting into woodworking, would you recommend dedicated machines over a combination unit? Why?

2) Be honest—did I make a mistake going with the Robland?

Thanks again for all the insight you share each week. Craig