Woodwork/carpentry advice

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Lord of the Large Pants said:
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.
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Pre-drilling can help avoid the frame cracking. Say, if you use a 5mm woodscrew, you drill an approx. 2,5mm hole. The loss to holding strength is nearly non existent.

That's for next time, of course.
 
KittyGremlin said:
Pre-drilling can help avoid the frame cracking. Say, if you use a 5mm woodscrew, you drill an approx. 2,5mm hole. The loss to holding strength is nearly non existent.

That's for next time, of course.
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Good news is, I did do that. After the old screws came out I drilled with a 1/8 bit before putting in the 3". Drill bit wasn't long enough to cover the entire length of the screw, but hopefully it helped.
 
Lidl Drip said:
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?
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For the wood, as a general rule if it's dark it's most likely hardwood /more expensive. If it's light it's not hard wood so less expensive.

You always always want to sand it down to make it smooth and remove impurities dust, paint, wax etc.
When you sand it down got for 240-450 something like no need for more. If you go higher it's useless and the "sand" goes into the wood's pores and makes it harder to coat.
Once it's sanded put some wax/oil ot coat it. Do it a few times and you're done.

Lidl Drip said:
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.
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Yeah but since it's old you might want to remove it anyway. Also if the naked wood is pretty you don't even need to paint it tbh.
 
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Folks,

I need some advice, I have a piece of furniture where the paint/varnish is falling off (Deep ebony color) because I spilled a bunch of alcohol on it. What's a good finish and paint that isn't highly toxic for someone who rarely does woodwork.
The color is staining my hands if they get sweaty on them and I rather not give myself cancer right now.
 
♂CANAM productions♂ said:
Folks,

I need some advice, I have a piece of furniture where the paint/varnish is falling off (Deep ebony color) because I spilled a bunch of alcohol on it. What's a good finish and paint that isn't highly toxic for someone who rarely does woodwork.
The color is staining my hands if they get sweaty on them and I rather not give myself cancer right now.
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Just checked this thread and I'm a long while late but sand the area of the spill down good, then just use cleaning gloves (like the yellow rubber ones) while re-applying a varnish.
 
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Any good beginner projects/books you guys would reccomend? Any particular things like specific joints to reccomend trying out? I'm interested in picking up some basic carpentry and wood turning skills.
 
Lidl Drip said:
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.
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For higher quality finishes you should lightly sand with a ~240 grit between coats (light pressure, 1-3 passes) and a final finish with a 400+ sandpaper (same as above, but not as vital to mind the amount you are sanding the higher the grit)
Lord of the Large Pants said:
Good news is, I did do that. After the old screws came out I drilled with a 1/8 bit before putting in the 3". Drill bit wasn't long enough to cover the entire length of the screw, but hopefully it helped.
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There's a lot of specifics at play, but generally you would want to drill close to the tip length if you are concerned about cracking/strength and frequently technique plays as much a part as what you are doing, but the fact that you did it and you know they are there should give you peace of mind, which is the entire reason to replace the screws.
♂CANAM productions♂ said:
Folks,

I need some advice, I have a piece of furniture where the paint/varnish is falling off (Deep ebony color) because I spilled a bunch of alcohol on it. What's a good finish and paint that isn't highly toxic for someone who rarely does woodwork.
The color is staining my hands if they get sweaty on them and I rather not give myself cancer right now.
Click to expand...
A pretty iron law of Finish is durable = toxic to use, but as long as you are doing things outside where the chemicals can disperse, aren't getting your nose inches away to breath it in deeply, and not doing it a lot, it shouldn't be a concern. And once a polyurethane (yellows, but slightly, unless you are doing double digit coats, or coating white paint) or any other useful coating fully cures it's inert. The toxic chemicals are toxic partially because they off gas.
LowlyPheasent said:
Any good beginner projects/books you guys would reccomend? Any particular things like specific joints to reccomend trying out? I'm interested in picking up some basic carpentry and wood turning skills.
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Try to find a project that would either make your life easier/more beautiful and dive in. Woodworking is tricky and doing something that you want to do will give you experience you enjoy, which is more important and useful to start than the "right" project, and the experience gained will make it easier for you to understand any reading you do about the more technical parts and advancing techniques. Woodworking is largely not about doing things perfectly. The tiny details you mess up and learn from are as much a part of what will make some projects irreplaceable as the beauty/utility that results.
 
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I am making a red oak picture frame right now and want to do something that I've not done before; I want to paint some flutes black while having everything else finished with Danish oil.

I've worked with Danish oil before and I really liked the outcome, but I haven't used it in conjunction with paint and am concerned about how these two finishes might interact. In all honesty, I've not worked with paint much before at all and so I don't know the first thing about what I should do.

What type of paint should I use? what types of prepwork should I do? How does that change if I am also finishing areas of the same piece with Danish oil?
 
MorallyGreyFrog said:
I am making a red oak picture frame right now and want to do something that I've not done before; I want to paint some flutes black while having everything else finished with Danish oil.

I've worked with Danish oil before and I really liked the outcome, but I haven't used it in conjunction with paint and am concerned about how these two finishes might interact. In all honesty, I've not worked with paint much before at all and so I don't know the first thing about what I should do.

What type of paint should I use? what types of prepwork should I do? How does that change if I am also finishing areas of the same piece with Danish oil?
Click to expand...
It's maybe a bit easier with exacts of the project, if you are expecting to masking tape a line or if it's 2 parts you can finish and then assemble or paint then machine and oil the exposed areas.

Ebonizing might also work depending on the finish/style you want.
 
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