General Woodworking Videos

How to Make Push Blocks for Table Saws, Router Tables and Jointers

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There are always pros and cons to making things yourself in your own workshop because sometimes they are better than what you can purchase commercially and other times they are not, and often it depends on the materials being used. Commercially we don't have access to some of the material for building things, like stronger plastics and resins. All we can rely on in most cases is wood and sometimes with some sorts of metal accessories or parts. 

Watch it on Youtube: https://youtu.be/wKliiwTpSdM

These shop made Push Blocks are no different in terms of challenges, but in this case, although the materials may not seem as heavy duty, the end result is that they actually work much better than the commercial ones I have ...

Read more: How to Make Push Blocks for Table Saws, Router Tables and Jointers

Table Saw Tape Tear-Out Test: Part 2 / Woodworking Fact or Fiction

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If you are following along with these tests and have looked at the melamine tests I did a few weeks back using masking tape and Frog tape to see if either one of them will reduce or eliminate tear out, the results are quite clear, the tape did nothing to reduce tear out, in fact, it  could be argued the Frog tape made the cuts slightly worse. 
Since most people are using natural wood, it only follows that I should be testing natural wood as well to give some conclusive results to these tests.

Watch it on Youtube: https://youtu.be/mT7gfCkx8ew

Does Tape on Wood Give Less Tear-Outs (Part 1)

I had many people provide many suggestions in the comments section of the last test offering their knowledge on how to better cut melamine, but the test was not how to cut melamine, the test was to see if tape could actually make a difference in the cuts, and in that case, it did not ... check out the results of what it did on natural woods here ...

Read more: Table Saw Tape Tear-Out Test: Part 2 / Woodworking Fact or Fiction

Table Saw Inserts: Tear-Out Test on Natural Woods!

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A short time ago, I made a video to see if using a Zero Clearance Insert in a table saw would give cleaner cuts with less tear out than a non-zero clearance insert. The results that I came up with using double sided melamine doing this test, was clear that making and using zero clearance inserts made no difference to the quality of the cuts. That test used double sided melamine as the cutting medium and many people wondered if there would be a difference if I ran the same test, but this time using natural wood or even plywood. I was not sure if the results would be different, but I suspected they would be very similar to the melamine tests, but that was a guess and the only real way of knowing is to run the test.

Watch it on Youtube: https://youtu.be/38pU_LVtfb4

I decided to use three different kinds of wood for this test, Oak, Pine and a good, cabinet quality 3/4" plywood. I would to both a ripping and a cross-cutting test on all these wood with both zero clearance and non-zero clearance throat plates then compare the differences ...

Read more: Table Saw Inserts: Tear-Out Test on Natural Woods!