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Getting started in woodworking
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estebanana
Posts: 9367
Joined: Oct. 16 2009
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 RE: Getting started in woodworking (in reply to ralexander)
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Dude,
I cannot tell you what a treacherous path you are on! HA HA HA enter at own risk.
Arbeit macht frei!
Let me explain the 'Price Per Unit' concept to you now, then if you still want to go forward I will tell you the secret tools.
Price Per Unit or PPU, means you have been getting, ah shall we say the the 'perks of marriage' all these years of marriage and pretty much not doing carpentry work correct? (nudge-nudge, wink-wink know what I mean, know what I mean?) and it has been pretty steady as long as you take out the trash walk the dog, wash the car, and run to the store to buy groceries.
Well that goes out the window once you build your first picnic bench. Price per unit, (Nudge nudge, does she go?) is low now because walking the dog or sudsing up the automobile is pretty easy, right? Make a table and it goes sky high. Until now you've been able to plead "I am tool-less therefore I cannot make utilitarian items" a good solid philosophy backed by many years of proven effectiveness to keep PPU low.
PPU skyrockets once you have been identified as a creator of household utility items. Henceforth your worth will be estimated not in terms of doggie trotting or bringing home the jamon, but in terms of how fast can you build that covered porch addition off the back of the house or how rapidly you can pull up the toilet and change the poop soaked beeswax ring under the throne.
Once identified as the man with the tool set you will forever be placed on that high pedistal of glory as_ The One_ who saves us all by re-topping the kitchen counter with striated granite from a remote quarry in the Central Asian Steppes; and it does not stop there. Once you graduate from wood working to counter top replacement PPU is almost at unattainable levels which make the packaging of junk sub-prime mortgages look like fair and reasonable trade.
The next stop in the trolley of home improvement is the bathroom, the bane of all home improvers. You'll encounter the Trifecta of Wet Rot Death: Carpentry-Tile-Plumbing. It is the end of the line barring demoing out asbestos lined heating ducts in an 18" high crawl space under the house, in winter. If the trifecta is a pain of being water boarded by slimy mortars and vaporous caulks, the asbestos road is a Gulag of Itching, Weezing and Torn Knees.
As notable flamenco guitarist says: "You can't be too careful."
Run my friend, run as fast as you can away from the Tool Aisle.
_____________________________
https://www.stephenfaulkguitars.com
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Date Jan. 15 2013 1:36:28
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ralexander
Posts: 797
Joined: Jun. 1 2010
From: Halifax, Nova Scotia
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RE: Getting started in woodworking (in reply to ralexander)
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Thank you, gents, for the food for thought. My inspiration is now tempered with a healthy dose of fear and hesitation.
This PPU concept described by Stephen totally explains why my father's alcohol intake has slowly yet steadily increased for the past 30yrs!! He's 60 now and his PPU has really peaked in the past few years. For as long as I can remember, some part of my parent's home has been in a fluctuating state of renovation. They just finished remodelling a bathroom, and have another one torn up. They also have 4 Chinese homestay students
Amanda and I have been living in this place, our first home, for just over 2 years now. It's an older home, about 60 or so. Very solid, but there's lots we could update. I've gotten off quite lucky to date - we haven't even painted anything including our deep red livingroom walls. The few smalls things done so far have kept my PPU pretty low.
So, my question is can I pull off replacing some of our ugly modern veneer-covered furniture without skyrocketing my own PPU? I can't get away with shoddy furniture, since I gotta live here too.
Speaking of poo ring replacement, that's on the list as I've been dying to replace our fisher price toilet since we moved in. My wife is short so she likes it, but I feel like I'm stopping in at the daycare to do my biz hahaha
Anyway, we've been together for ten years and married for 1 1/2 now so my "perks" are already on the decline. The way I see it, there should be an increase in the SRR ratio - "sex required for results" ratio. I figure I'll tempt her with the outdoor table first and see what kinds of favours I can generate 
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Date Jan. 15 2013 18:46:44
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ralexander
Posts: 797
Joined: Jun. 1 2010
From: Halifax, Nova Scotia
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RE: Getting started in woodworking (in reply to ralexander)
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I've been researching a bit on using cabinet scrapers, and I like the concept. However, I'm definitely concerned about injuring my arms and affecting my guitar playing. I'm not sure if Anders was referring to the more plain style scrapers or to the Stanley #80 style with handles, but it sounds like the ones with handles are less fatiguing.
I've had a quick look at local suppliers, and there are lots of species available ie all types of maple, walnut, cherry, pine, birch, hemlock etc
I'll keep on with the research for a while since funds are tight.
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Date Jan. 16 2013 17:56:30
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estebanana
Posts: 9367
Joined: Oct. 16 2009
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RE: Getting started in woodworking (in reply to ralexander)
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Ryan,
If you have a table saw and a compound miter saw you pretty much have all you need.
Here is what I would do, go buy the best blades you can afford for the two main tools you have.
For the Compound Miter, depending on what diameter blade you have I would try the Freud line of cross cut blades. Get couple of cheap blades under $20.00 for rough cutting and getting your stock to basic sizes and then invest in a good blade in the $40.00 to $60.00 range that is for smooth accurate cross cutting.
For the table saw same thing for the rough blades, get an under $20 dollar Freud blade for ripping and one with say 24 teeth for medium accurate miter cuts, but not an expensive blade. Then sink your money into the best ripping blade you can afford. You might spend upwards of 60.00 to get something good, but baby it and take really good care of it. An expensive blade can be resharpened at a good sharpeners shop and it is worth it. If you choose to work with fine plywood, which is a good idea, get an excellent ply wood blade. Talk to a good tool dealer about the blades they carry. Educate your self about table saw blades.
Then you can buy SPF lumber at your Home Depot like store....don't know what it is called in Canada. SPF means Spruce -Pine- Fir, depending on what they have. Often you can find clean fairly dry SPF and it is cheap relative to hardwoods. There are species such as Hemlock Fir which are actually like Spruce and Spruce and Doug Fir... various kinds of Pine. Clear White Pine is hard to come by, but you get Knotty Pines etc. It is all easy to get and inexpensive. You can also buy kiln dried grades of the same woods for a bit more at lumberyards.
By using the best ripping blade on your table saw you can dimension this lumber and have it come out with really smooth surfaces and you will not need to strain over much power sanding. To keep from stressing the good blade you use the cheaper blades first to get close to your final dimensions, then make the final passes with the good ripper and you will get smooth clean surfaces. With clean smooth surfaces you can sand with a hard wood block behind your sand paper and go through successive grades of finer grits, then you will have wonderful surfaces if smooth is what you seek. The trick is to begin with a well cut surface before you sand.
In the beginning you might consider a basic construction method where you use the Compound Miter saw set at a stopped depth to create lapped joints. Look up 'Lap Joints'. And in combination with heavy brass or bronze screws you can get at a boat yard you can make a lot of sturdy outdoor furniture.
You can also make mortise and tenon joints with a combination of miter saw, table saw, drill and chisel. Buy a book about table saw technique. And you can get a really inexpensive doweling jig to use with your electric drill. It is a clamp on drill guide and if you index it well you can use it to join big sections of lumber into table tops. Using dowels is underrated in my opinion as a starter technique. If you wanted to make a rustic table top out of 2x6" fir or pine doweling that big thing together would be really fun. You need a heavy hammer, to bump the sections together and some accurate dowel placement and glue. Clamps are helpful, but if you line it up well the dowels will provide the friction needed to bump the seams closed well enough for service.
So my take on it is to use what you basically already have. Plan ahead and maybe in the summer do a lot of roughing out when you can set up out doors. Make a cut list for each project and then store the dimensioned lumber away until deep winter. Then you use hand planes, hand saws dowels, counter sunk screws, etc to assemble.
My advice, start on small projects first. Bigger than a bird house, but smaller than a table. The real secret to wood working, if there are any secrets, is that wood is a fiber material, the wood worker is always thinking about how to cut that material in its different forms of hardness with the sharpest, fastest, cleanest means available. Focus your mind on how to part wood fibers in all your researches and strategies. Sharpen, sharpen, sharpen. The rest will fall into place.
And get some good rulers, a carpenters square, a framing square, a pencil sharpener, a marking knife ( a drywall knife blade works)
Sharp + Square = Fun. Dull + Wonky = Frustration.
_____________________________
https://www.stephenfaulkguitars.com
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Date Jan. 16 2013 19:58:34
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