August 18. 2008 - Stop - Think & Analyze

Thinking a project through is a key to its success. I'm often asked if I'm gonna get off my b*** and do something. "I'm doing it now." I respond as I'm staring into space. In reality, I'm building it in my mind. thinking of how each joint will be made, how it will be attached, how everything will relate to each other. Things like how will I access to install drawer runners, or how will I attach a back, or when the door closes, what will it use as a stop.

If I do this first, how will it relate to other operations, kind of like do I get the skillet hot before or after breaking the egg. Do I pick out my clothes before or after I take a shower.

The point is to think through your succession of operations, then proceed.

I will build the case first making provision for the doors/drawers. After it is done then I go to the base, crown, doors/drawers, organize your project into many parts and focus on it the same way. Breaking a project down into achievable goals and sections allows thought processes to flow and will make it much less overwhelming. Remember the "whole" is a sum of the parts, keep it simple, one step at a time.

Safety is the same - think it through and prepare. What may seem safe for me may not be safe for you. If you are going to perform an operation and it doesn't feel safe, it isn't - and that's a fact.

Complacency is another issue, I have to constantly calm down and make myself "Stop and Think." I have done this stuff so long that I get in a groove and just start rockin'. I go to the table saw and start cutting, not stopping to thing that's dangerous. Think of it this way, if you travel the same route every day to work, you become complacent and really don't pay attention to the road, you think you do, but then consider when you are on a new route and how your "state of awareness" is different.

Woodworking is dangerous and an acute awareness and thought process is essential to your success and safety.

Oh yea, I saw a dog lift its leg and do its business on a fence post, what the dog didn't know was it was an electric fence! Walked away with a limp after a very loud howl. Ever since, he really gives everything a good sniff. I didn't know electricity had a scent, did you?

Catch ya Later!

August 16, 2008 - Expansion & Contraction

Our lawyer recently had a tiger maple chest made (about a year ago). He brought it to me to see if I could fix it. The original maker told him that he didn't know how to fix it and that it must have been "bad" wood. That is just not the case.

The chest cracked across the front and back, dovetails are coming apart and the top is twisted. It is a mess!

Okay, first problem is the dovetails. They were cut at 18 degrees, extremely tight, probably required a lot of pounding and clamping to get it together. Very little glue in the joints and no finish on the interior.

The bottom was very, very tight across the grain and the battens were glued and screwed fast across the underside of the top.

Whoever built this worked their butts off and thought they were doing it correctly. They used very little glue. Fitted the bottom way too tight allowing no room for expansion or contraction. Poor guy nailed the base on with big cut nails. Here, the grain was running in the same direction so he could have just glued.

Glue battens across the top? Never. Screws in slotted holes to allow for expansion and contraction is critical.


Remember, expansion and contraction over its length is not usually an issue although highly figured/curly woods can move a little. BUT, it does move constantly across the grain. It gets wider when it expands and narrower when it contracts. Gluing the battens to the underside of the top locked it down, maybe he thought it would stop it. Well, that is not going to happen. If you lock it down it IS going to split. That simple, a 10" wide board can move an 1/8" over a seasonal change.

Wood absorbs moisture and releases it with humidity changes and you are not going to stop it so build with this in mind. Failure to do so will, like this chest, have your hard work turn into a shameful mess.

This builder is a good woodworker, good design, good proportion, dovetails hand cut and obviously very precise - BUT, the expansion and contraction thing - lack of an understanding wood movement has all but destroyed the piece.

I used a thin hot glue (cyanoacrylate) and flowed it into the cracks from front and back, pushed the dovetails apart and using a glue injector loaded them up with wood glue, I then re-clamped. I used a chisel and removed the battens from the underside of the top, removed the bottom and cut it a little narrower and on it goes.

Now I will strip and sand and finish everything, INSIDE and OUTSIDE. You must finish both sides and I don't care what all of the experts say. If you don't balance wood, it will move adversely, it will absorb more moisture from one side than the other. I really don't see how so many people insist that it isn't necessary, IT IS!

I hate this kind of work. What bothers me most when I run into something like this is that the original builder hasn't bothered to find out what went wrong but rather insisted that it wasn't his fault. They have had to experienced these issues with other pieces.

Whenever you have something go wrong with a piece, don't just toss it aside and say oh well, you need to find out more about why there was a problem. Ya know, doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result is the definition of .....................

Catch ya Later!

Friday, August 15, 2008

Okay, took a shower, shaved, all that stuff. Fixin' to film this little jointer thing and the table/chair leveling thing and I'm already running late. I've been out on our Forum this morning, Ace Hole in One has posted his finished dyed/stained poplar table and now it is ready to top coat. I really hope you are following this thread as it is a good learning experience and I hope you join in our forum and chime in. Remember, the only stupid question is the one you don't ask.

I've been emailing with Kevin at Texas Timbers, he sent me some photos of "Box Elder" turning blanks, WOW, the choices, beautiful stuff.

Just got a call from Norman Hughes, my friend at Good Hope Hardwoods in Landenberg, PA. Wants me to come up and get a big bubinga slab and finish it for one of his customers. Sounds like a fun video. I've done several of these and a ton of slabs, it is hard work but it sure makes for some pretty stuff. Besides, it would be nice for you to see Norman's operation and wood.

Talked with Bob Kloes, aka Big Bob on the forum, trying to convince him to work on some "wood bundles" for our folks. Tiger Maple, Birds Eye Maple, Curly Cherry, etc. Told you, he has some nice stuff.

While talking with Bob we were both talking about all the Sales going on in the tool world, it is definitely a buyer's market, so if you are needing things, you may want to take a look around.

Hmmm, my hands are still green. Had a hail storm the other night and it did a number on my garden so I've been pruning plants in the evenings and the tomatoes turn my hands green.....gloves? hmmm, why didn't I think of that.

Okay, need to go find a crooked board to show ya the jointer thing.....

Catch ya Later.

Thursday, August 14, 2008

Hmmm. Sherri comes out to the shop where I am processing walnut and poplar panels for a Step-back cupboard and says, "I need you to write a BLOG." HUH? Okay, I turn off the sander and dust collector, get a pencil and a piece of scrap poplar, sit down and then I realize I have an issue. I go into the office and ask, "What's a BLOG?" I am told that every day I am to write something and every day she will put up a new video as well as one of my infamous one-liners. So she tells me to just write what I'm thinking ::snicker:: "Oh really? don't know if that's a good idea!" So, ummm, here's my first ever BLOG:

We did a clip for Woodcraft on setting up a jointer and using one, but yesterday I was jointing some pretty crooked ash. I was using it for bed slats and I was thinking this would make a neat "video tip" because it certainly wasn't a typical jointer operation. Tomorrow, if all goes well, I'll shave, comb my hair, put on a decent shirt and show ya. I also have a neat way of leveling a chair or table so it sits flat, we'll film that too. After that, it is rock and roll time, gotta get this Step-back built.

I was also thinking what our next project video should be so Sherri and I sat down and talked and she is going to poll you guys from our website. I'll let you know when it's ready, she said it may be a few days but I'll post it in my BLOG!

Been thinking and planning my turning video. Now turning is a major woodworking hobby except for me, it's a necessity and that is how I'm approaching the video. Legs, spindles, bed posts, and so on and so forth. The other evening I was playing around between coats of finish and was turning a bowl, thought I'd try out some new chisels, thought it might be a fun clip. Now, I'm not a bowl turning expert by any means and I don't have any of the fancy bowl turning chisels, I do pretty well with the basic stuff. I called Kevin at Texas Timbers down in Texas :D and ordered a hunk of box elder. I love turning this stuff so I'm going to do a short video on that. I have some "Curly/Spalted" maple that I cut dead standing about 2 years ago, it's like a brick, hard to turn, so I'm gonna throw that in. Keep an eye on the BLOG and video, a lot will be coming at ya.

Have had a tremendous response to the quilt rack video, if ya have suggestions, please let us know.

Catch ya Later!