Shop Tips
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16:55If you are working on a project and the stock has a crack in it, don’t sweat it. You can reinforce the wood, and at the same time add a beautiful detail by installing a beautiful butterfly joint and “celebrating” the imperfection rather than removing it or attempting to hide it. Once you learn how… Read more »
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1:15
How many times have you done this? Predrill a hole, grab a screw eye, put a screwdriver through the eye, and start tediously driving the screw eye in? Putting in one tiny screw eye? That’s not a bad solution. Driving large screw eyes, like you’d use on a swing set, or driving lots of screw… Read more »
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2:47
The table saw is a key participant in many woodworking projects, therefore it is critical to ensure that the saw is performing at its best, and adjusted for perfect accuracy. A well-tuned table saw is capable of producing crisp, square cuts, and helping you to produce projects that come together as nicely as you had… Read more »
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6:07
Keeping track of a drill press chuck key in a shop filled with tools, projects and let’s face it, debris, can be a challenging task. Even though it is a frequently used item, it is small, and it seems to find a way of wandering off when you need it most. The “key” to keeping… Read more »
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1:56
Setting the miter gauge on your table saw to a perfect 45-degrees can be very challenging. And, if you’re planning on making picture frames, being just a tiny bit off will be a deal breaker. But here’s great news. You’ve probably already got a tool in your shop that will give you the precision you… Read more »
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4:03
Wood putty provides woodworkers with a great way to “cover tracks”. When you make a goof, wood putty can help to hide it, and sometimes it does such a good job that nobody will ever know it was there. Another common use for wood putty is to fill holes that were left behind by a… Read more »
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1:15
Everyone loves to score a good deal on lumber, and sometimes that involves investing some “sweat equity” into the material before you can use it. Pallets can be a great source of free lumber, and sometimes there are some very nice pieces of lumber lurking under the warehouse grit and road grime. The patina of… Read more »
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1:55
Making a square end cut with a circular saw can be an intimidating proposition. You can measure, double check, draw a line, measure again, and then when you cut you might still find that it is out of square. Ugh! Don’t give up and use out-of-square cuts for your project; that won’t do. Also, don’t… Read more »
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1:50
Clamping up large projects can impose challenges. For example, sometimes projects require assemblies that involve clamping across a wide span where it’s difficult to apply even clamping pressure to the middle portion of the joint. Consider a wide bench, where you are attaching the top to a wide base, and you do not have any… Read more »
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