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Lacquer FinishesFor centuries, lacquer finishes have been used to give woodworking a long lasting, durable water-resistant finish. Lacquers are available in two styles: spray and brush-on, although they’re both among the fastest drying finishes. That said, brushing on a lacquer finish is more diligent and precise work and takes longer, but is also cleaner than spraying on finish.


What is Lacquer?

Lacquer tends often to be confused with shellac, which arises from shellac coming from the “lac” beetle. Lacquer, on the other hand, is derived from the resin of a varnish tree which is then harvested, distilled and combined with a lacquer thinner to create the common finish. Lacquer is also typically used with a variety of paints to deliver a strong, durable paint finish.

Today’s Lacquer

Lacquer today tends to contain another type of resin, nitrocellulose that combined with other ingredients, allows for a thin coat of lacquer to dissolve within an earlier coat which results in a hard, yet flexible finish. However, one disadvantage to the above is that nitrocellulose lacquer finishes have a high susceptibility to UV light.

Lacquer Application
As mentioned above, lacquer can be applied in one of two ways: sprayed on or brushed on. Spray-on finishes can be bought as aerosol spray cans or can be used with a pneumatic / airless sprayer. Though the former tends to be expensive, quality of finishes is also unbeatable, particularly for small projects. Also ensure that you work in a ventilated environment since solvents used in the lacquer are highly flammable and odours.

Brush-on lacquer finishes tend to dry quickly but not as fast as spray on lacquer. Start by using a bristle brush (preferably with high quality bristles) to apply the finish, but remember to work quickly by first adding a thin layer and not over brushing your work. Additional coats to even out the finish can be added in later.
One last thing: do NOT try to brush a spray-on application or vice versa, since spray-ons tend to dry faster.

Lacquer vs Polyurethane
An advantage to using lacquer finishes over polyurethane is that that for beginner woodworkers, they’re easier to apply, dry a lot faster and don’t need as many brush strokes for a complete finish. And though they may not be as long lasting as poly’s, they are a lot easier to reapply if and when anything happens. Additionally, lacquer finishes can also protect metals.

It is important to note, however that the two finishes don’t work well together; it is very much an either/or scenario.

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Kreg 90 Degree Corner ClampsAmateur woodworkers will recognize the annoyances that are involved in clamping 90 degree corners and though there are several corner clamps on the market, we decided to pick up a few pieces of Kreg’s new corner clamps. These clamps although ideal for pocket hole joinery, are really equally suitable for any 90 degree joints.

Kreg’s Corner clamps can only, as the name suggests, be used for clamping degree joints which could include picture frames, box and drawer constructions, shelving or T-joints. They are built with heat treated steel and have a nickel plated finish for sustainability and long-lasting effectiveness. The new adjustment nut added to the adjustable spring loading mechanism is great, making adjustments both fast and easy.¬ The clamp is easily releasable without extensive force via the blue rubber coated clamp release. It is ideal for woodworking and cabinet construction owing to its ability to be set for varying thickness levels up to 1.25” (1 ¼”).

There is one fixed blue steel clamp surface with inset 90 degree faces to assist in accuracy during construction. Its unique design allows it to be used for constructions like fixing shelves, instaling drawer dividers or in box-holes. The clamp surfaces are roughly 2” x 1” in width providing a solid clamping surface, preventing damage to the work pieces, especially where soft wood has been used. The secondary mating clamp piece provides a self-squaring joint (preset at a 90 degree angle) as it is set on a screw swivel head.

During use, Kreg’s Clamps are easily clamped and opened, this can easily be done with one hand. During clamping, both pieces are flushed,  making it easier to set the clamps and holding the joint securely level during the time the glue takes to dry. Two Kreg corner clamps hold a T-Joint piece firmly at a 90 degree angle allowing it to be placed virtually anywhere. And while Kreg does manufacture clamps that address this purpose more fully, the 90 degree corner clamp can just as easily be used for pigeon hole joinery, as previously mentioned.

This clamps’ handiness extends to setting shelves into dados and toenailing because they work great to hold the joint at the angle required while you drive in the nails.

Basically, anywhere you need a 90 degree joint to be held together and as long as the material is less that 1.25” thick, these clamps are perfect acting like a pair of hands. This is especially useful if you’re working alone in your workshop,

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Jorgensen Cabinet Master Parallel Bar Clamps ReviewThe Jorgensen Cabinet Master from Adjustable Clamp Co. is at its best when it’s being used for cabinet construction although it does well for any other clamping and spreading jobs. What parallel bar clamps like the Jorgensen do is provide a 90 degree clamp angle where each jaw is parallel to the other.

The jaws and bars are smooth and apply equal pressure to wooden surfaces during clamping jobs; the reinforced steel and casting construction of the Jorgensen allows for a great deal of durability and sustainability. This is then in turn wrapped by bright orange, hardened plastic covers.

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Woodworking JigsawsThough jigsaws have earned a bad rep in the woodworking community for their blades’ knack to bend resulting in cuts that aren’t angular, the upsides are too great to not have this power tool in your toolbox. When curved cuts are called for, particularly on thin surfaces like plywood, etc few power tools are as diligent as the jigsaw .


What you need to Look For when buying Jigsaw

High-end jigsaws include two main features that factor into their elevated costs: Variable Speed and Orbital Action. While variable speeds aren’t necessary for woodworking, adjusting speeds to make complicated and delicate cuts can be particularly useful, especially when dealing with metals. If you start out with a high-end jigsaw and switch to a single speed jigsaw, you’ll miss the flexibility and if you start out low and go high, you’ll never want to switch again.

The Orbital Action feature allows higher end jigsaws to angle the blade into the stock on the upswing, in contrast to standard-action jigsaws which work solely in an upwards and downwards motion. This allows for lesser flexibility.

What Else To Look For

Other features to look for include dust collection, for the super neat freaks out there; a trigger lock which locks into a particular speed and a splinter control shoe. This last helps keep splintering to a minimum, through a small insert on the shoe of the jigsaw.

Jigsaw Cut Depth

Many jigsaws are able to cut through 2” deep in woodwork and about ½” in metals and while some are able to cut deeper, that may not be the best thing as it increases the chance of the blade bending and breaking. More often than not, this will result in a badly angled cut.
To counter this problem, leave about 1/8” of material from the cut line uncut; using an oscillating sander to finish .

Cordless vs Corded Jigsaws

While cordless jigsaws sport the advantages of no cords, they also tend to suffer in performance and should be largely avoided. For starters, cordless jigsaws are not nearly as powerful as their corded counterparts and as a result will not be able to cut as quickly or handle the thickness of stock. We would recommend NOT using these varieties, regardless of the manufacturer.

Scroll Saws

Scroll Saws, as their name suggests have a blade steering knob on their surface that allows their blades to turn as opposed to having to turn the jigsaw as a whole, itself. Issues that arise have to do with pressure; it needs to be applied consistently for the cut to remain clean and consistent. This can be difficult if the knob is turned at a sharp angle and can as a result, be counter-productive as opposed to helpful in the process.

Concluding, while extra features are great to have the only really useful one is variable speeds. Sure, oscillating action models do have their advantages but don’t provide as much bang for buck as expected and the money saved there can easily be invested in…say, a band saw. A much worthier investment, if you ask me.

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JET 629004K 16-32 Plus 16 Inch 1 ½ Horsepower Open Stand Drum SanderIf you’re looking to reclaim scrap or smooth out the rough edges on pieces of stock, look no further than the JET 629004K Open Stand Drum Sander . This is a great, great tool to add to your workshop and here’s why:

For starters, if your stock goes through much re-sawing, you’ll often find yourself surrounded by varying sized thin sheets or strange wedge-shaped pieces and with the drum sander, they can each be turned into uniform, thick, usable stock.  You’ll be shocked to realize how much use can be gleaned from a true, honest-to-God 1/8” of stock that fits neatly into a dado, or from a 30” board with 3/16” on one end and 9/6” on the other; most of it can be saved by sanding it down to 3/8, sawing off the smooth bits and sanding it down to ¼”.

You might want to invest in a pair of excellent calipers for use with it, since the built in gauge is not very accurate. The calipers (and a bit of patience) let you resaw your boards to about an a hundredth of an inch of thickness, before reaching for the sander.
The dust collection systems are great. Hooked up to a good dust vacuum,  you’ll find little dust on the floor.

The one issue, if it can be termed as such, is that with even fairly find sandpaper, the sander will quite likely leave lines on your wood. However, if you don’t want lines you might want to try really fine sandpaper or opt for the fancier, oscillating kind. But the lines aren’t such a big deal and it’s not that hard to change the sandpaper. So long as you’re using Jet’s Pre-Cut sandpaper or sandpaper that you’ve used based on the Jet template, it’s fairly easy and quite manageable to get it right on the first try. You don’t need to be an expert, for that to work either.

We generally like to sand along the grain and since the saw marks are usually perpendicular to the grain, it makes it a lot easier to see when all the marks have disappeared. This not only indicates a smooth board, but also uniform thickness.

The JET 62900416 is a lot quieter than a planer which, even with ear plugs tend to be quite loud. Of course, this doesn’t mean that it isn’t loud, but it’s a lot quieter than most power tools. Additionally, there isn’t any tear-out on figured woods.

Now, if you plan to take stock from ¾-1/2”, this sander might be too slow for you. But if you’re using the planer for smoothing and fine-tuning the wood’s thickness, this is a great and much quieter alternative.

All in all, we would recommend the JEW 52900416 Drum Sander.

 

 

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