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...ricks on the eye, you can usually get away with this color discrepancy and few people will ever notice. But there are some areas where this end grain issue is much more obvious, like the top of a rail and stile door frame, and you absolutely must take precautions. Its All About The Prep First and f...
Then One of the first fixtures I ever made for my shop was a cross-cut sled. Heavily-influenced by David Marks, I modeled it after his design. The sled opened up a whole world of possibilities for not only cross-cutting, but joinery as well. I didn’t have a reliable compound miter saw at the ...
One of the things I feel sets a craftsman apart from a woodworker is the continued attention to higher quality and detail. A very important detail that you should always think about is grain continuity. This is one of those things that the average onlooker has a hard time putting their finger on....
...ady your hand is. - The biscuit doesn’t penetrate very far into the joining workpieces: a #20 biscuit will penetrate less than 1/2″. - The grain of the biscuits runs on a 45 degree angle. Ideally, the grain would run perpendicular to the joint. Despite their shortcomings, biscuits are s...
...t and easy, but the quality will be bad. You’ll have a good bit of tearout to contend with.” “Now in most shops, we have one other issue to consider, and that is plywood. We always want a smooth crisp edge, and a cross-cut blade with a high tooth count will do that for you. So i...
Wood Moves! If you’ve been involved with woodworking in any capacity at all, you have undoubetly heard that wood moves with changes in moisture. And if you delved a little deeper into the topic you found out that the movement primarily occurs across the grain. You might have even discovered t...
In an effort to relieve our backlog of viewer submissions, this is a grouping of several projects from multiple woodworkers. We will do a few of these over the next few weeks so there will be plenty of eye candy! Cypress Planter by Dennis This is a cypress planter I made for my mom. The panel a...
...ut if one board cups up and the next board cups down, the overall effect on the panel is canceled out. The end result would be a much less noticeable issue. So while its not necessary to alternate the grain, doing so could very well lessen the effect of unexpected cupping. I can sum it all up by...
This viewer question comes from Chip who asks: “In your finish video, you show how to fill the pores on an open grain wood like oak. Is this a required step, or is it an aesthetic decision? In other words, what happens if I don’t fill the pores?” And my reply was: Grain filling oa...
This week’s question comes from Matt. He writes: After reading much debate on this issue, I thought I might like to hear your input. What does the Wood Whisperer think about running end-grain through the planer? Im SOOOOOOOO tempted to try it because it would be so easy to clear up some hi...
...eave a rough edge. The blade may also drift during the cut drawing your workpiece away from the fence. Any thoughts on how we might overcome these two issues? For sheetgoods, look no further than the circular saw. Outfitted with a good quality blade and a nice clamping tool guide, you can make some ...
This Viewer Project was sent in by Jim. He writes: This is my most ambitious furniture project to date and one I am verrry happy to be finished with. Needless to say, my wife is happy also. She wanted two new end tables to replace the nice, but 30 year old ones we had in our living room. I began...