Beginners Woodworking Videos

Using a Wood Planer

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Planers are often one of the last larger tool purchases that woodworkers make. This is because it is easy to purchase "sized" wood in most places and when a lot of woodworking projects are 3/4" (2.54 cm) there is often not an immediate need for planing wood. If on the other hand you are purchasing rough lumber a planer is a must have item, and in my workshop it gets lots of use.
There is not a lot of options when it comes to using a planer but knowing a few tips and techniques can make a big difference in your outcomes of planed woods, and the first rule of thumb is to make sure you have sharp planer knives. It is not always easy to check these but it's imperative that you have good sharp knives as this will ensure you get a good cut and that there is not needless wear and tear on your wood planer.
It is recommended by all planer manufactures to space the cuts you make across the breadth of the blade, this means when you are making multiple cuts, don't make them all in the same spot as this will create more wear on one part of the cutters which can make future cutting unbalanced across the breadth of the knives.

One of the challenges of planers (and jointers) is wood tear-out. This occurs when the blades are forced to cut against the grain of the wood and is also enhanced by dull blades. Cutting with ...

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How to Select Wood Glues

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We get many questions about woodworking glues. There is such an array of glues available these days, it's no wonder that people can get confused on what to use. We understand that having at least a basic knowledge of what is available is important in order to get the best results we can.
Of course the other issue is that many glues overlap in their uses so often there is a variety of choices and a variety of brands to choose from as well. In this article we will deal with only some of the basic glues, when to use them and for what applications. There are many, many other glues we won't be touching on that may also be suitable for different applications and if you are in question, the internet is a rich resource for information on glues, especially if you want the details on a particular glue, where it should be used, it's cleanup requirements temperature requirements and of course it's PSI or holding strength as a glue.

PVA Glues, or Polyvinyl Acetate glues are easily the most common glues used in woodworking with natural woods. The reason for this that this glue has been around for 100 years and gives consistently good results when uses as it should be. It cleans up easily with water, or you can leave it to dry and harden and clean up later, and .... 

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All About Drill Bits

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We never really think about drill bits ... until one snaps, or we don't have the size we need, or we have so other need for hole drilling. Then, drill bits become indispensable. In this article we provide more background on drill bits than what we could provide in the 5 minute video shown here. I am always amazed at how much information there is on seemingly in smaller topics like drill bits.

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