If you have any unique, hand-made furniture, you know how beautiful woodwork can be. When you’d like to tackle such a project for yourself, you need to have the right knowledge in place to be able to find success. This article provides you with some tried and tested tricks for your next project.
Your workbench’s height is more important than you realize. Measure where your waist is from the floor. Your bench will be at the perfect height at this measurement.
Always use the safety equiptment that came with any of your woodworking tools. You may feel that a sheild is getting in your way when you are sawing, but its purpose is to protect you from serious injury. If you feel tempted just think of what it would be like to lose a finger or worse.
A dry fitting is important to do before adding glue to your wood. Attempting to fix a problem after you’ve applied glue is a recipe for damage and disaster. Dry fitting helps you figure out where each piece is placed.
You should have a small ruler on you. A great way to remedy this problem is to purchase a metal ruler, keep this in your pocket with a telescoping magnet that is used to gather up any loose screws. The magnet will keep everything in your pocket.
Understand the characteristics of the woods you’re using. No two pieces of wood are alike. Wood varies in how they take to staining. Also, different woods splinter differently when they are cut. In addition, the grain will look different as well. This is something that you must consider before beginning your project.
Add spring to the grip. You may only have one hand available when you need to use spring clamps. This isn’t a simple task! However, there’s a way to easily open them. Make sure that all of your clamps are in the proper location before starting. Because the clamps will already be open, this will allow you to easier grab and use one with only one hand.
Be certain you have the right protection for your ears. Machinery for woodworking is very loud. Continued exposure to the noise can cause some hearing loss. Use headphones or ear plugs you can throw away. No matter the choice you make, make sure to wear them when machines are operating.
Learn how to find the center in a piece of firewood every time. Mount some flat scrap wood to the lathe’s faceplate. Attach an acrylic piece to it using some double-faced tape. Chuck that in your lathe. Turn your acrylic to a disc. Using a 1/16″ bit in your tail stock chuck, drill a hole through that center-point. Scribe some concentric circles on to the disc at 1/2″³ intervals using a skew chisel. Position this center-finder over the end of your stock and adjust it until one of your circles is inscribed completely in a portion of the wood that is solid and usable. Using an awl or nail set, mark your center through the central hole in the disc.
Take baby steps when first starting out with woodworking. It’s a lot of fun to learn, but woodworking is also pretty dangerous if you get too cocky too soon. Even when you feel like you know the basics, keep practicing them. And always where safety gear. You are much better off.
As you plan out your next project, you can use these tips to master your technique. Each has been written to ensure you can easily integrate them into your technique. As long as you make use of them, you will find the time you spent reading this article was worth it.
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