August Giveaway
Its my favorite time of month again: the time when I get to give some free stuff away!! Of course I couldn’t do it without the help from a couple great giveaway sponsors like Rockler and Eagle America! Here’s the loot!
What you can win this month:
Rockler Clamp Racks – Your choice of any three: F-Style Clamp Rack, Parallel Clamp Rack, and Pipe Clamp Rack. A compact solution to a sprawling problem! This new rack from Rockler herds your F-clamps together and mounts them firmly to the wall or to the Pack Rack (sold separately) so your clamps are where you need them, when you need them.
Box Joint Bit Kit (3-Wing) – The 1/2″ shank assembly includes five, 5/32″ carbide tipped slot cutters, four precision machined spacers, and four ball bearing guides for cutting 1/4″, 5/16, 3/8 and 1/2″ thick stock. Cuts up to 1-9/16″ wide stock in one pass, and 3-1/8″ wide in two passes. Great for jewelry boxes, humidors, music boxes, and other small projects. Made in the USA! Learn more!
Want a chance to win?
All you need to do is participate. Each month, we select the winners(s) randomly from the folks who comment on our videos and blog posts. So the more you comment, the better your chances of winning! And just so you know, comments on this post don’t really count. ;) Good luck!
Differences Between Titebond Glues
Here’s a fundamental question from Jason. He asks:
Hey Marc I have a really dumb question for you. Is there any real significant difference between Titebond Original, II, and III wood glues? Is one really better than another? Thanks for your time.
Not a dumb question at all Jason. Everyone has this question at one point or another. There are actually a number of differences between the three glue types if you dig into the details. But in my opinion, there are only a few factors that really make a difference to the average woodworker.
Price:
The first one you probably already noticed is the price. Looking at Rockler’s current pricing on quarts, we have $8.59 for Titebond Original, $10.49 for Titebond II, and $13.99 for Titebond III.
Water Resistance:
The second difference is water resistance. Titebond Original is for interior use only, Titebond II is water-resistant, and Titebond III is waterproof (well, technically its MORE water-resistant). So if you have a project that will be exposed to light water (cutting boards, outdoor furniture, etc..), Titebond II will suffice. If you have a project that will be submerged for short periods or exposed to ambient moisture for extended periods, consider Titebond III.
Open Time:
The third difference is open time. Titebond III offers twice the open time of Titebond II and Original. So for those complex glue-ups, Titebond III would be a good choice. As an aside, you might also look at Titebond Extend if you need even more open time.
Strength:
Strength-wise, there are some differences as well. But in my opinion, not enough to justify paying the cost difference between the three varieties. Check out the PSI strength ratings below.
I recently had someone give me crap for using TB III on a project when all I needed was Titebond Orginal. And then I used TB II on a project where TB III would have been stronger. Well I don’t know about you guys, but I am not about to stock three different types of PVA glue just for the sake of a few hundred theoretical PSI. A properly-fit joint with the appropriate amount of pressure will create an incredibly strong and reliable bond using any of the three glues.
So bottom line is for indoor projects, all you really need is Titebond Original. If you occasionally make outdoor projects and cutting boards, stock up on Titebond II instead. And if budget isn’t a factor and you don’t mind paying significantly more, you may as well just go with Titebond III and cover all the bases.
And speaking of Titebond glues, you can pick up all of your glue supplies and accessories in our Amazon Store. Its a great way to get the stuff you need while helping support The Wood Whisperer!
The Sawdust Chronicles Build Challenge
Rick Waters is holding another Build Challenge over at his site, The Sawdust Chronicles. The theme is “Earth Friendly” and there are a number of restrictions and rules (its a challenge after all). You can catch up on the rules here. There are many prizes to be won too. Here’s the timeline:
Registration: Now through September 15th, 2010
Begin Building: September 1st, 2010
End Building: October 31st, 2010
End Judging: November 15th, 2010
If you are interested in signing up, you can do so by filling out this form. Good luck to all those who accept the challenge!
July Giveaway Winners
Let’s start the week off with a bang! The winners of our July Giveaway are listed below. Congrats to all of our winners, and a big ‘ol sloppy wet kiss for our giveaway sponsors, Rockler, Eagle America, and Festool.
Rockler’s LED Work Light with Magnifying Head (27017) + Interchangeable Spotlight Head (23917). Get close -up visibility anywhere you need it with this magnifying LED light! 5x magnifying glass so you can see every last detail. Winner: James Maichel
Festool T 12+3 Lithium Ion Cordless Drill – Crafted to the highest level of German engineering, Festool cordless drills offer a level of quality not found in other cordless drills. Learn more! Winner: Jeff Korbman
Screw Slot Bit – 100-4305 = 2-Piece Solid Carbide Screw Slot Bit Set, a $54.99 value. Create #8 screw slots to hold table tops and large panels in place or slide back and forth without breaking screws or splitting the wood. Use countersink (143-0105) for bugle heads, counterbores (143-0205) for washer-head round screws. Winner: Drew Lane
124 – Cutting Board Disaster
Right Click to Download in HD
The Discovery:
A few months ago, I woke up one morning, poured my coffee, and was incredibly disappointed to see that my cutting board exploded! OK so maybe it wasn’t all that violent but it was cupped like crazy and had a very large split. Upon further inspection, I noticed a bit of trapped water in the center of the underside of the board. Now the thing to remember about end grain cutting boards is that even after finishing, they will still soak up moisture like a sponge. So standing water is your cutting board’s Kryptonite!
What Happened?
So how does the split actually occur? Well let’s think about what happened. The water soaked into the center of the board and as a result, the center “squares” swelled and expanded. Because the moisture was in the center only, the wood in the outer perimeter did not expand. So something had to give. The resulting crack is really nothing more than pressure relief. Think of it like surrounding a piece of solid wood in a frame. Eventually, the joints in the outer frame will open up if the board in the middle expands.
The Epoxy Fix:
The first step in repairing this disaster simply involves waiting. After a few weeks, the board flattened out and the crack closed up almost completely. But the gap was still big enough that I wanted to use a gap-filling glue, so epoxy did the trick. Now I know what you are thinking. Is epoxy food-safe? While I have heard that food grade FDA-approved epoxies do exist, I have never seen them. And I can definitely say that the West System Epoxy I use is not FDA-approved. So why would I use this on my cutting board? Generally speaking, its the same logic I subscribe to when discussing the safety of film finishes. That is, once cured, the product is inert. In other words, its not chemically reactive and its not actively leaching chemicals under normal room temperature conditions. Furthermore, the crack represents such a small area that actual food contact would be absolutely minimal. Now while I am not prepared to tell you epoxy is completely food-safe, I will say that I consider cured epoxy safe enough to use on a small crack on MY cutting board. Ultimately, the final decision is yours.
Want to make an end-grain cutting board like this? Check this out!
Benjamin Roesler’s Thoughts on Woodworking
Last week I made a blog post about our Christmas in July sale. This is not the kind of thing that usually results in a lot of comments, but I did receive one in particular that caught my attention. It was a beautifully-written, almost poetic, piece about the importance of what we do as woodworkers. I thought the commentary deserved more attention than simply living inside a silly blog post about a sale. So I contacted the author, Benjamin Roesler, and asked for permission to re-post it on the site for everyone to read. I think you are going to enjoy this.
I once read in a textbook on wood that “Mankind owes no greater debt than he does to wood.” If for nothing else, then for fire. Yet, we refer to a stone age, a bronze age, even a steam age, yet not a wood age? Were it not for the spear, later the bow and arow, would we still be using a stick to probe termite colonies, as our chimpanzee friends?
Were it not for wood’s uncanny ability to become, with a little help, paper, what good then Gutenberg? Without whom, there is certainly no internet. Indeed, the very air we breathe is given to us by the trees, and the water that moves through everything that lives, will pass through a tree, up through the root and out through the leaves’ stomata.
As you plane and saw, sand and scrape, remember this my fellow whisperers. Those boards in your hands, likely lived longer than you have, or ever will. As they lay drying, the moisture content you seek to eradicate may have once flown through the Euphrates. Those piles of dust, which you will sweep up and toss, will join the scraps of your turkey sandwich in the landfill, becoming soil in which a new tree will root. It may well give place for your great grandson’s hammock, later to fall on his roof in a hurricane.
We may never, in all our doweling and dovetailing, give rise to anything nearly as beautiful as the precise engineering of the mighty xylem and phloem. Our silly paper towel holders and cutting boards, entertainment centers and porch swings may seem but paltry daydreams compared to the mighty Sequoia that lived several hundred years before the Magna Carta. Yet know this, as you keep your chisels honed, and pare away the slight layers of history, as you arrange those growth rings into a more stable pattern for your table top, square your shoulders and flush your cheeks, plunge your tenons into gluey mortises and clamp your jaws tight: it is as worthwhile as anything else that can be done. For kings need thrones, ships need rudders, and martyrs need a cross to bear.
Kerry’s Vanity
Kerry sent us pictures of a beautiful vanity he made for his god-daughter.
My wife and I recently worked together on a project for our 9 year old god daughter. Her mother informed us that she could use a vanity to start keeping her “girl” stuff in. We started with a simple idea on paper. Then moved onto initial construction. Stained the piece. Of course it needed a mirror. And finally got finished in time for Christmas. Oh, yea. We made and upholstered the stool as well. We used some of your finishing tips (used a wipe on varnish for the first time) and are very happy with results.
Heath’s Display Case
Heath has submitted a great project! It was nicely executed and its awesome that he has honored his father like this. Let’s check it out.
My dad is a Vietnam veteran who never misses an opportunity to let other soldiers know they are appreciated. I wanted to return that and let him know that he and his service was appreciated. His medals were never cared for or displayed properly so I wanted to fix that. I wanted to do a Greene & Greene project and I was inspired by an earlier viewer project – the Greene & Greene style display case for the Bible.
I’m a very novice woodworker without many tools or resources for project wood and am always on a tight budget. I couldn’t afford to 
order good wood for this. But I had been given a stack of pallets so that’s what I used. I believe they are oak. I have a jointer but I don’t have a planer. So after removing nails and a very thorough inspection for any other foreign materials, I dimensioned them using my table saw and the jointer. I also don’t have a band saw to remove the center piece so I used a dado blade. A hand chisel cleaned up the joints. It took a few practice pieces to get the process down.
I then used my dado blade to cut a rabbet on the back of the pieces for the back panel, and a saw kerf to hold the Plexiglas front and marked the location of the pegs. The square pegs intimidated me at first, but turned out to not be a problem. Since I can’t afford ebony, I made them out of a scrap piece of oak and used ebony stain. I cut a rabbet with the dado blade set to about 1/2″ wide and the height set so that the material remaining was 5/16″ thick. I then ripped off a 5/16″ square strip. With my miter saw set to 15 degrees and using a stop block for consistency, I cut all four sides of the end forming a pyramid. Then I used a fine toothed hand saw and miter box to cut the end off about 1/8″.
To make the 5/16″ square holes in the boards, I used a 9/32″ bit to drill a hole, then squared it with a 1/4” hand chisel. I tapped the pegs into place with a piece of soft wood and light taps with a hammer. Using the disc sander with the table set to 15 degrees, I created the pyramid shape on the end of the fingers. This was followed by some final sanding and a couple coats of “natural” Watco Danish oil. It gave just the type of finish I wanted – it brings out the grain and gives good protection with a slight sheen and it still feels like wood, not plastic. While the case was clamped and glued, I put the inside display together using foam board and spray adhesive. After everything was dry, I attached it and the plywood back.
I see all the little flaws and blemishes, but, I must say I’m still pretty darn proud of it. My goal was to make something nice for my dad 
to show that his military service was appreciated and to challenge my very novice woodworking skills. I think I accomplished both goals. I made a couple mistakes along the way but having watched Marc fix his mistakes, I was able to fix mine which boosted my confidence. So I owe Marc a great deal of thanks for his inspiration and guidance and for introducing me to the Greene & Greene style. I would also like to thank the person who submitted the Greene & Greene style display case for the Bible.
A Peek at a New Woodworking Show
Tommy Mac’s new show is slated to start airing in October 2010. WGBH just put up a little trailer for the show. Looks like a winner!
Doug’s Garage Shop
Let’s take a look at Doug’s garage workshop. As you can see, not every shop is a perfect dedicated woodworking space.
My wife and I bought our house in Nov 2008, it is such a huge step up from our old, very small house. I love my new garage but still have to share it with the family. We park cars in it over winter and bikes, skate boards and lawn equipment share space in the summer. I have some lower end power tools that get the job done and everything moves around pretty easily when I need to work on my car or something. I do have a nice out building with wood floors that I am hoping to move the wood shop into but I have to clean it out and find other places to store all of our junk, you know, the totes full stuff that you have not laid eyes on in over 3 years but still feel you might need it someday. I hope you enjoy the pics, I just recently built a new work bench with a shelf, I have wall installed shelving around the perimeter and I also just got done mounting a PC at my work bench that connects to my internet via wireless.
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