Fixing Gap in Joint - Question of the Week

November 19, 2007 | Filed Under Blog, Question of the Week | 13 Comments 

This week’s question comes from Kevin. He writes:

Hello, I love your site. It’s really helped me get started and inspired to do more. I’ve not been woodworking very long, and have a question that may seem simple. I build staved hand drums and every once in a while my jointer will put a tiny dip on the end which leaves a hairline crack (can’t quite get a fingernail in it) between the the two staves about 2 inches long at the bottom (I could just cut the drum off 2 inches shorter, but I didn’t plan for this and that would mess up the design of this drum. I’d hate to toss the drum aside at this point, and the crack is tiny and the drum still passes my strength test of me standing on the drum. Is there a trick or technique to fill in that gap so it’s not as visible? The miniwax wood filler I tried has grains too large to fit into the cracks. Any help would be great. Thanks.

And here was my reply:

“Hey Kevin. For a crack that small, I would recommend cyanoacrylate (CA) glue and sanding dust. I usually us a medium viscosity. Just put a little glue over the crack and start sanding. The mixture of glue and dust will give you a pretty close color match. It will also destroy that portion of the sandpaper. And sometimes it does require 2-3 applications depending on the crack. Now I’m surprised you didn’t ask me specifically why your jointer leaves a dip at the end of the cut. The CA glue is the band-aid but adjusting the jointer is the cure. Any time that happens to me, its a clear indicator that my outfeed table is just a bit too low. Even an adjustment as small as 1/64″ can improve the situation. So I usually nudge it up a bit and take a test cut. You may consider recalibrating the outfeed table all-together. Good luck!”

Note***- Several folks have requested links to the specific glue I use. I use Medium the most, but I always have a bottle of thin on hand as well.

Quick-Set Glue Quick-Set Glue
Quick-Set CA (Cyanoacrylate) adhesive has a clear, fast cure and strong bond for a variety of materials, including wood, metal, glass, rubber, ceramics and plastic. ..

Quick-Set Glue

Little Red Wagon- Viewer Project of the Week

November 16, 2007 | Filed Under Blog, Project of the Week | 2 Comments 

This week’s project comes from Art in Lake Forest, CA. Its a sturdy classic red wagon and is a design from the New Yankee Workshop. I actually built one of these with a student a couple years back. Its definitely not as easy as it looks. Great job Art! Let’s hear about it from Art himself.

I built three of these red wagons for my three grandchildrens’ families. It’s based on a Norm Abrams’ New Yankee Workshop plans. Most of the project is red oak, including the painted wagon sides. The most interesting challenge was the front and rear axle assemblies, especially the front with it’s steering table. The most difficult fabrication was the front axle support’s 16-inch long, 1/2-inch wide hole into the 2-inch square red oak’s end grain. The hole is for the threaded rod that runs through the support and the wheel axle holes. Bolts at the rod’s ends hold the wheels on the wagon. I only have a 9-inch Craftsmen bench top drill press. I made this l6-inch long hole with 7- and 18-inch drill bits and the drill press’s metal working vise that I turned perpendicular to the ground. I kept the vise in the exact same position throughout the process. Starting with the 7-inch drill bit, then ran the longer bit into the existing hole. It took a while, but I’m proud to say the holes all came out the other end close enough for it’s purpose.

Wagon Wagon Wagon

On the Road Again

November 15, 2007 | Filed Under Blog | 18 Comments 

Well tomorrow we leave for sunny beautiful Tulsa, Oklahoma! Its gonna be a crazy weekend of fun and woodworking comradery. I was even interviewed by a local paper, Tulsa World. Check it out.Not sure what’s up with that picture though. LOL.
So if you are going to be in the area, be sure to stop by. And if you need more information about the event, check out the Green Country Woodworker’s Site.

As usual when I travel, I may get a bit behind on emails. But I always catch up. My fingers are like 10 little ninjas and the keys are the unsuspecting victims! So have a great weekend.

New Yankee Cam Live Today!

November 15, 2007 | Filed Under Blog | 8 Comments 

Just got the word from ToolMonger.com today that the New Yankee Cam is up and running today. And apparently this is the last time for this season. It’s no TWW Live, but it is Norm! So if you are bored at work and counting the hours until the weekend, this is a great way to pass the time!

Norm Cam




The Wood Whisperer Store - Do Over

November 13, 2007 | Filed Under Blog | 15 Comments 

For those of you who don’t know, we have an Amazon.com affiliate store setup here at TheWoodWhisperer.com. It has served us well in the past and people really seem to like the concept. You buy something you need and the show receives a commission. About 8 months ago in an effort to improve the store, we stopped using Amazon’s free software and invested in a more powerful, more customizable, 3rd party program. The back end of the program is difficult to use and set up and I have never been happy with the product. Furthermore, I have had numerous complaints from shoppers about the crappy search function and the inability to find what they are looking for.

So its time to give Amazon’s free software another shot. Fortunately, they’ve made a few changes and my “coding skills” have improved. So now the store is fully integrated into our website. There are many improvements: its easier on the eyes, has a simple interface, and has a more robust search. Sometimes simpler is just BETTER.

I already set up several custom categories with hand-picked items. If there is a category you would like me to add, just let me know. And if you have any ideas for custom categories, I would be happy to hear your suggestions. So take a look around, maybe do some early holiday shopping. Or maybe treat yourself to a few new toys. As always, Nicole and I appreciate your support.


The New and Improved Wood Whisperer Store

Exposed Dowels Too Dark - Question of the Week

November 12, 2007 | Filed Under Blog, Question of the Week | 12 Comments 

This week’s question comes from John. He writes:

Hey Marc. As usual, I have another question! :) I cut some maple dowels from the same piece of stock to put in the center of the rear vise jaw, so they’d be invisible. And they really were quite hidden, UNTIL I put on the finish and then they jumped right out, especially the ring around the edges. Any tips how I could’ve avoided that?

dowels

And here was my response:

“Hey John. Excellent work! I really like how the bench turned out. As to the dowel contrast, you will most likely always have that problem. Remember that the dowel is endgrain, while the face of the jaw is face grain. So when finish hits it, the end grain sucks more in and becomes darker. This is nearly impossible to prevent with dowels. Usually, the easiest way to prevent end grain color contrast is to sand the endgrain 2 grits higher than the face grain. This will prevent excessive finish absorption and will lead to an even color. But how can we ever do this with a dowel?? So instead of preventing, lets come up with a competely different strategy. How about a plug, instead of a dowel? Pick up a basic set of plug cutters and you will have all of your common sizes. Then you can cut your plugs out of face grain. And if you orient the face grain in the proper direction, paying close attention to detail, you should have a well-hidden plug. Good luck!”

Wood Talk Online - Episode 22

November 11, 2007 | Filed Under Blog, Wood Talk Online | Leave a Comment 

Download Episode



Kudos to Neil Lamens at Furnitology

November 10, 2007 | Filed Under Blog | 14 Comments 

Its hard to believe that just over a year ago, there was only Matt’s Basement Workshop, and a few scattered woodworking videos on YouTube. What’s the current state of affairs?? About 12 audio and video shows dedicated to woodworking and more cropping up every day! How cool is that?!?! As can be expected, some shows come and go. Many people come in with the best intentions but quickly realize this stuff is harder than it looks. In the podcasting world they have a term for this: podfading. But for those who stick it out, you will usually see a steady growth in quality of content, as well as overall presentation (mine included). But some shows really stand out in my mind. Some shows go beyond the status quo and create what could be considered by some as “broadcast quality”.

I just had the pleasure of watching the most recent episode of Furnitology, the fourth installment of the Carlo Mollino series. I was mesmerized by Neil’s highly-skilled techniques and learned a lot from his methods. I couldn’t believe the number of curves in that piece and Neil pulled it off. Quite impressive! But what struck me even more was the quality of the video presentation itself. The voiceovers, the cross-fades, the multi-angle shots, and the tasteful use of music were all present. Now, these things are something that most of us as casual viewers take for granted. But once you make a few of these videos yourself, you start to get an appreciation for the amount of work involved, as well as the amount of restraint. I know in my earliest videos, I was overwhelmed by the POWER I had (thanks to iMovie). I could put music HERE and THERE and then HERE again! I thought it was awesome. But after receiving some feedback, I had to rethink my approach. It didn’t make sense to me at the time, but in retrospect, these critiques were right on. And I have seen Neil go through similar challenges. Neil has quite a bit of video experience, but I think these short format videos are a bit of a different creature. And learning what constitutes a “good video” can be pretty subjective and difficult to nail down, especially when you are the video’s creator. I still consider my own video production and editing process firmly in the “beta” stage. But as a spectator, its a little easier to identify when someone has hit that sweet spot. And I just want to congratulate Neil because I think he is there.

This may sound kind of odd, but when I am watching a really great video on the computer, I forget where I am. I sometimes feel like I’m sitting on my couch watching it on my big screen. And when I watch crappy video, I am constantly reminded throughout the presentation that I am sitting at my computer. And I think that’s why it hit me all of a sudden while I was watching Neils most recent episode: I forgot I was watching it on my laptop.

So if you haven’t watched Furnitology in a while, you are really missing out. Head on over there and give Neil a much-deserved virtual pat on the back. And not to take the focus off of Neil but you also should take a listen to Matt’s Halloween episode. Its not often you get to listen to pure genius.

Episode 32- Pop Goes the Maple

November 9, 2007 | Filed Under Blog, Video | 24 Comments 

Low Resolution Version
High Resolution Version

In this episode, I put the finish on the pencil holder. But its not just any finish. Since we are working with a beautiful curly maple, I think the finish deserves a little extra specia attention. Curly maple looks fantastic with a few coats of an oil based varnish. But it will BLOW YOUR MIND if you “pop” the grain with a dye first. So that’s exactly what we do in this episode. Thanks for watching.

The finishing materials I used in this episode are available from Rockler via the affiliate links below:

TransTint® Dyes Zinsser Bullseye® SealCoat™ General Finishes Original Seal-A-Cell Clear

***Note***
Project videos like this one take a significant amount of time to film and edit. So I am going to start something new. If you like what you see and you want to support the cause, please consider donating. There are no set amounts. Just decide what the show was worth to YOU.





Lingerie Chest- Viewer Project of the Week

November 8, 2007 | Filed Under Blog, Project of the Week | 12 Comments 

Rob1 Rob2 Rob3

This week’s project comes from Rob in New Concord, OH. His story is a perfect example of why we should always keep our eyes and ears open for those lucky bargains. It’s also a good reminder to make sure your family knows you are always on the look out for cheap wood and good bargains on tools. I’ll let Rob tell the story.

My dad called me one day and told me that his friend had a death in the family, an old time woodworker. The family was auctioning off all his tools. I was told that he had 2000+ board feet of walnut and that I could get some cheap since my dad’s friend knew that I like woodworking also. So I said “Sure, I’d be more than happy to buy some”. I could not make it to the auction but I told my dad to get me 100 bf of the walnut. About 2 weeks later he shows up with a bunch of wood in his truck. I’m looking, I’m looking… It is all rough cut lumber but it isn’t walnut…. So I got a little sander out and I’m trying to figure out what it is. Turns out it was about 150 board feet of mostly cherry, some curly cherry, some walnut, and some mahogany.

Well my plan was to build a walnut table but I had to scrap that Idea cause I didn’t have enough. So I decided to build my wife this Cherry lingerie chest instead. It was my first solid wood project taken down from rough lumber. The drawers I made out of oak with hand cut dovetails, the bottoms I made out of 1/4″ cedar from home depot labeled closet liner, and the dividers are made from soft maple. The frame around the jewelry chest was made from what I believe is mahogany. The finish is a Minwax wipe-on poly. I also purchased roller bearing underneath drawer slides for the drawers. Overall I was very happy with it though and it makes me feel good that the old timer’s wood was not wasted. Oh yeah, my wife was happy too.

Well Rob. Great job my man! There is nothing like taking an old pile of boards and creating something beautiful. Its even more meaningful when you know the wood belonged to someone who carried the torch before you. And what a wood score! As Tampa Tom would say, “YOU SUCK”. By they way, that’s a funny way of saying, Nice Score!

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