Some of you may have looked at the Adirondack Chair images and read a little about my woodworking hobby. I have recently begun to work with wood so you could call me a novice. In fact, I will call me a novice.
What my intent here is to educate you on mistakes that I have made and little things that I have learned that could help you be a better wood worker. Most of the tips were discovered as a way to overcome mistakes and difficult situations. Mostly through trial and error. For the expert, most of these tips will probably be in the category of “well duh!” The expert is not my target audience. But if you are an expert and notice any of these tips are off base, or you have a better suggestion, please feel free to let me know.
Tips:
1. Whenever possible, sand in a well ventilated area. This tip is for those of us who do not have a sawdust collection system. Be sure to always use a dust mask that covers your face and nose. When the weather cooperates I open both the main garage door and the man-door. This allows for cross ventilation, especially if there is a breeze. With the doors shut the sawdust is suspended in the air and eventually settles over everything.
2. Use steel wool to remove the embedded sawdust at the end of your crosscut boards. When you do a crosscut, the material between the grain can get embedded with very fine sawdust and is nearly impossible to remove. If this finer sawdust is not removed and you stain the end of the board it will leave a whitish residue at the end of the board. I have discovered that if you rub “000” grit steel wool after sanding it will remove the finer particles.
3. Always have some way of securing the cords on power tools. I have a belt sander with a long cord and it can get in the way when working on longer pieces of wood. I use a quick-clamp on the end of my bench and just drape the cord around it. It is not tied, but it helps take up some of the slack and keeps me from running over the cord with the sander.
4. Make templates. If you do repeated projects, make a template so you can make the same cuts and patterns every time.
5. If you use screws to mate pieces together, get yourself some countersink drill bits. This will keep you from cracking the wood as you drive in the screws. A real problem is if you put a screw at the end of a board. If you don’t countersink it will do ugly damage to the wood as you try to get the screw flush with the wood.
6. Keep your work area clean. Periodically, sweep up the sawdust from your work surface and throw away unwanted pieces of wood. Also, when you are done with a tool, put it away. Even if you are going to use it again in a while, it is still a good idea to get it off your work surface. This frees up some extra space.
7. There will be more as I continue to work with wood.
