Woodwork/carpentry advice

[A Man on Fire]

Ah man, I wish I could have a shop—not just for woodworking but sculpting, airbrushing, metalwork, lapidary etc.. I've wanted to turn a burl bowl for a while.

Woodturning is pretty easy imo, and pretty inexpensive. You can get a decent lathe for under $300. Plus, there are tons of YouTube videos to get you going.

 

[Vx1]

I've always been interested in woodworking but don't really know where to begin, what could be a good place to start?

Depends on exactly what you're interested in doing. If you just want to have some fun then a lathe or a scroll saw are great tools. For general woodworking, though, you'd be best off starting with a table saw, drill/driver and if you can swing it, a planer. You can do a lot with those three. No matter your budget there's some decent options for each of those. As far as the table saw, if you trying to keep it inexpensive ish then look at the Dewalt contractor saw. It's got good power but it does have a Dewalt screamer motor. Do not go for a little ryobi thing. You won't find any aftermarket accessories for anything ryobi and you'll quickly hate it. Rigid seems to be a bit better these days than ryobi but I'm not as familiar with them.

 

[Vx1]

Teach me kemosabe. I’ve been learning on my own using YouTube videos for the last year or two. There was a wood shop in high school I used a bit, but now I’m ready to move up. I’m learning CNC, collecting tools (bandsaw, table saw, chisels, etc). I got a shit ton of wood from an estate sale (a lot of great Brazilian Rosewood). I’m taking my time, I want to make guitars and furniture.

Youtube is all you really need to learn. You seem to be pretty well set up tool wise. Guitars are awsome to build. Luthiers have tons of cool techniques you can apply to other kinds of woodwork.

 

[Vx1]

Woodturning is pretty easy imo, and pretty inexpensive. You can get a decent lathe for under $300. Plus, there are tons of YouTube videos to get you going.

Very true. Turning tools can be expensive but if you stick to carbide then you don't need but a few different ones.

 

[hog cranking frog]

Depends on exactly what you're interested in doing. If you just want to have some fun then a lathe or a scroll saw are great tools. For general woodworking, though, you'd be best off starting with a table saw, drill/driver and if you can swing it, a planer. You can do a lot with those three. No matter your budget there's some decent options for each of those. As far as the table saw, if you trying to keep it inexpensive ish then look at the Dewalt contractor saw. It's got good power but it does have a Dewalt screamer motor. Do not go for a little ryobi thing. You won't find any aftermarket accessories for anything ryobi and you'll quickly hate it. Rigid seems to be a bit better these days than ryobi but I'm not as familiar with them.

Seconding this.

When I was researching which saw to buy in ~2017, I got the impression all the basic entry ones with a cast iron top had the same motor and just a different coat of paint on the outer frame. Mine is branded Rigid but I think Craftsman had a version of the same saw. Comes with a nice fence and miter gauge with places to hang them on the saw itself. Was $600 back in 2017 new so its probably $600,000 now. It comes with plans for a router table that hangs off the side of the fence. Nice solid compact package, recommend. Something like this

 

[Vx1]

Seconding this.

When I was researching which saw to buy in ~2017, I got the impression all the basic entry ones with a cast iron top had the same motor and just a different coat of paint on the outer frame. Mine is branded Rigid but I think Craftsman had a version of the same saw. Comes with a nice fence and miter gauge with places to hang them on the saw itself. Was $600 back in 2017 new so its probably $600,000 now. It comes with plans for a router table that hangs off the side of the fence. Nice solid compact package, recommend. Something like this

I agree BUT be careful with craftsman specifically. One of their older contractor Saws came with non standard miter slots which meant there was absolutely no after market miter guages, feather boards or other accessories you could get for it. That one did have an aluminum top however so not what you're talking about. Just make sure whatever saw it is has standard 3/4" x 3/8" slots.

 

[A Man on Fire]

Very true. Turning tools can be expensive but if you stick to ca

Very true. Turning tools can be expensive but if you stick to carbide then you don't need but a few different ones.

I got a large 1930s lathe at an estate sale for cheap that came with a huge amount of turning tools. They were pretty rusty, but the great thing about rust is that it is possible to get it back to near new shape and then sharpen it. Sharpening is like a form of meditation for wood workers.

 

[Maverick Vile]

Apartment and general poverty. Someday though.

Try doing a simple project using lumber from a pallet. It's free lumber at most Lowe's and Home Depots (ask an employee before just taking them. Some of the pallets are owned by their distributors and they get money back for returning the pallets).

Buying lumber just to fuck something up because it's your first try can get expensive, so using pallets lets you relax a bit and get experimental.

If you're not sure about carpentry, don't be afraid of buying tools from Harbor Freight. Most of the tools are shit, and if you try to put them through their paces you'll probably melt them, but better to have a complete set of shit tools that you gradually replace with quality tools as you learn which ones you use a lot than a limited set of really nice and expensive tools only to find out you rarely use half of them.

Free tip I wish I knew before getting into woodworking: your final project needs a finishing coat, or else you'll get splinters running your hands along the wood. Even finely-sanded wood can give you splinters. There are a few materials you can use for a finish coat, I personally use a water-based polyurethane because you can apply it with a brush.

 

[Higgs Bonbon]

Try doing a simple project using lumber from a pallet. It's free lumber at most Lowe's and Home Depots (ask an employee before just taking them. Some of the pallets are owned by their distributors and they get money back for returning the pallets).

Buying lumber just to fuck something up because it's your first try can get expensive, so using pallets lets you relax a bit and get experimental.

If you're not sure about carpentry, don't be afraid of buying tools from Harbor Freight. Most of the tools are shit, and if you try to put them through their paces you'll probably melt them, but better to have a complete set of shit tools that you gradually replace with quality tools as you learn which ones you use a lot than a limited set of really nice and expensive tools only to find out you rarely use half of them.

Free tip I wish I knew before getting into woodworking: your final project needs a finishing coat, or else you'll get splinters running your hands along the wood. Even finely-sanded wood can give you splinters. There are a few materials you can use for a finish coat, I personally use a water-based polyurethane because you can apply it with a brush.

I did woodworking (and metal) in highschool and have a strong spatial sense, so I'm not too worried about the learning end of things—I also cook and sew so fuckups are something I'm familiar with. Still, I appreciate the recommendations and I'll try to return with some more concrete plans.

 

[Vx1]

Try doing a simple project using lumber from a pallet. It's free lumber at most Lowe's and Home Depots (ask an employee before just taking them. Some of the pallets are owned by their distributors and they get money back for returning the pallets).

Buying lumber just to fuck something up because it's your first try can get expensive, so using pallets lets you relax a bit and get experimental.

If you're not sure about carpentry, don't be afraid of buying tools from Harbor Freight. Most of the tools are shit, and if you try to put them through their paces you'll probably melt them, but better to have a complete set of shit tools that you gradually replace with quality tools as you learn which ones you use a lot than a limited set of really nice and expensive tools only to find out you rarely use half of them.

Free tip I wish I knew before getting into woodworking: your final project needs a finishing coat, or else you'll get splinters running your hands along the wood. Even finely-sanded wood can give you splinters. There are a few materials you can use for a finish coat, I personally use a water-based polyurethane because you can apply it with a brush.

Honestly if it's a small project I'd say to skip the pallet wood and spend some money on small, pre planed boards. You'll end up with a nicer end product whereas with pallet wood you'll quickly become frustrated that you don't have a planer and it takes a ton of effort to flatten and smooth amd square a board without one. It is more expensive BUT having flat faces and square edges makes the whole process much easier and more professional looking.

 

[Neodanthril]

i am turning a wardrobe into a pantry and so i am going to make some shelves. the use case for the shelves is holding heavy kitchen gadgets like air fryers and bulk containers of flour. he space is 19x34 so im going to be cutting a lot of 2x4s to width and then gluing them together, all supported by large metal brackets at the deepest and shallowest point of the depth of the cabinet. do you think woodglue and clamps is sufficient to hold the shelf together? should i run a supporting rib on the bottom in the center? should i connect each board to its neighbor with dowels, or is that overkill?
other question, i do not have a circular saw, only a sawzall and a jigsaw. how do i make clean cuts with a sazwall? i own a bench saw but it is in another state and will be for a longer than i want to put off completing this project.

 

[Vx1]

i am turning a wardrobe into a pantry and so i am going to make some shelves. the use case for the shelves is holding heavy kitchen gadgets like air fryers and bulk containers of flour. he space is 19x34 so im going to be cutting a lot of 2x4s to width and then gluing them together, all supported by large metal brackets at the deepest and shallowest point of the depth of the cabinet. do you think woodglue and clamps is sufficient to hold the shelf together? should i run a supporting rib on the bottom in the center? should i connect each board to its neighbor with dowels, or is that overkill?
other question, i do not have a circular saw, only a sawzall and a jigsaw. how do i make clean cuts with a sazwall? i own a bench saw but it is in another state and will be for a longer than i want to put off completing this project.

Wood glue alone is certainly strong enough. It's stronger than the wood itself. However if you want to make sure the boards align better and it's totally flat you could use dowels or something but it's definitely not necessary for strength in an edge grain to edge grain joint.
Edit: sorry didn't read the second part.
As far as clean cuts with either saw it will completely come down to the blades. If you can drop a few bucks on nice cross cutting blades for soft woods that'll help. You can also run Masking tape over the areas you'll cut to prevent blow out.

 

[Lurkin' 'n' Jerkin']

For a table saw you need a 4" system for it to actually work.

I have a HF dust collector and it has never given me satisfactory results for my table saw. I assume it's because the saw's dust port is 2 inches, so I have to use a funnel connector. Performance when it's on my bandsaw is decent, but not great. I've read about replacing the impeller with a larger one; apparently you can buy one as a spare part from WEN dust collectors, but I've held off because the price jumped a couple years ago. Not sure what else I can do to improve it, if you have any suggestions.

 

[hog cranking frog]

Got a clear weekend, a bunch of oak project boards, my blades are nice and sharp and the shop is dialed in. It's time to cook boys.

 

[Lidl Drip]

I recently purchased an easle as a gift for a family member made of what I think is pine wood or some other cheap wood, the wood was completely untreated so I decided to paint it with polyurethane clear protection in order to waterproof it a bit and make it so you can wipe any spilled paint off instead of having it soak into the wood.

So the issue is that I didn't sand it down first cause I felt like it was really smooth and didn't need sanding but now that I am applying the second coat I feel like the wood has a bit of an ugly rough texture. I painted it outside so idk if dust got stuck to it while it was drying or the paint just highlighted the little surface imperfections but it is pretty annoying that it isn't nice and smooth. What can be done to avoid this in the future? Sanding it with real fine sandpaper before painting?

 

[Asian tech support]

So the issue is that I didn't sand it down first cause I felt like it was really smooth and didn't need sanding but now that I am applying the second coat I feel like the wood has a bit of an ugly rough texture. I painted it outside so idk if dust got stuck to it while it was drying or the paint just highlighted the little surface imperfections but it is pretty annoying that it isn't nice and smooth. What can be done to avoid this in the future? Sanding it with real fine sandpaper before painting?

It's always advisable to sand before any type of coating. Also I wouldn't paint over polyurethane. The polyurethane would go over the paint. I'm not much of a woodworker or a painter but that's what I've done on past projects.

 

[hog cranking frog]

So the issue is that I didn't sand it down first cause I felt like it was really smooth and didn't need sanding but now that I am applying the second coat I feel like the wood has a bit of an ugly rough texture. I painted it outside so idk if dust got stuck to it while it was drying or the paint just highlighted the little surface imperfections but it is pretty annoying that it isn't nice and smooth. What can be done to avoid this in the future? Sanding it with real fine sandpaper before painting?

Sand between coats. Everyone has their own procedures but I prefer to do light sanding of 220 on the first coat then a wet 400+grit sand. 2nd and greater wet sand with 400+ only.

If I'm reading you right you did one coat? You could sand it a bit and hit it again. Light light light coats.

If you want to get autistic about it this book is great (https://www.woodcraft.com/products/fox-chapel-understanding-wood-finishing-3rd-revised-edition). I thought I had a good feel for finishing but the level of detail this guy goes to really taught me something.

 

[Nonconsentual Pronouns]

I recently purchased an easle as a gift for a family member made of what I think is pine wood or some other cheap wood, the wood was completely untreated so I decided to paint it with polyurethane clear protection in order to waterproof it a bit and make it so you can wipe any spilled paint off instead of having it soak into the wood.

So the issue is that I didn't sand it down first cause I felt like it was really smooth and didn't need sanding but now that I am applying the second coat I feel like the wood has a bit of an ugly rough texture. I painted it outside so idk if dust got stuck to it while it was drying or the paint just highlighted the little surface imperfections but it is pretty annoying that it isn't nice and smooth. What can be done to avoid this in the future? Sanding it with real fine sandpaper before painting?

I had this issue when I built something with my dad a long time ago. We used insanely fine sandpaper that made the wood feel like glass before hitting it with some type of oil rub, which did the trick after we sanded off the failed coat. I think we also did something to keep dust away from it before the oil and second shot at paint happened.

 

[Lidl Drip]

Sand between coats. Everyone has their own procedures but I prefer to do light sanding of 220 on the first coat then a wet 400+grit sand. 2nd and greater wet sand with 400+ only.

If I'm reading you right you did one coat? You could sand it a bit and hit it again. Light light light coats.

If you want to get autistic about it this book is great (https://www.woodcraft.com/products/fox-chapel-understanding-wood-finishing-3rd-revised-edition). I thought I had a good feel for finishing but the level of detail this guy goes to really taught me something.

I didn't know you could sand the paint, won't that remove the paint? I will try sanding it a bit before applying the next coat.

 

[Lord of the Large Pants]

Is it true that replacing all your front door hinge screws with 3" will damage the frame, and you should only replace a few of them?

... I hope not, because I already did it.