Marc Spagnuolo's Blog, page 11

Cool Miter Clamping Trick – You’ll Want to Make This!

Clamping gets a lot trickier when angles are involved. If you have two pieces coming together at a non-90 degree angle, it can be difficult to get clamping pressure where you need it and if you don’t take precautions you’ll inevitably end up with gaps in the joint. There are a number of ways to tackle this problem including notching the pieces while they’re still oversized and cutting them to final shape after the glueup. You can also cut angled blocks and then glue them to your workpieces temporarily, removing them after the glueup. But one of the most reliable ways I’ve found is to use a set of clamping aids. A simple strip with an angled block at one end will allow you to get clamping pressure right where you need it, at any angle, and without damaging your work.

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Step Up Your Box-Making Game | Four-Corner Grain Match

One of the tricks woodworkers employ to make keepsake boxes look their best is to cut the box sides from a single board. If you keep the pieces in order, you can achieve a nice grain wrap around three corners. Unfortunately, the fourth corner will always be a mismatch. There is a way to get a nearly perfect four-corner match, if the material will allow for it. What I mean by that is the board needs to be thick enough to sustain a resaw down the center. In the case of this particular project, I had a board that was a full 1″ thick and after resawing I was able to easily get the desired 3/8″ thickness for my box sides.

To make a four-corner grain match, it all starts with careful layout. Draw a center line down the length of the board and then measure and mark the cross-cuts that will make up the box sides. The layout and cutting process is shown in the video and feel free to pause as needed to get the info you need. You’ll have to forgive me for not writing out every step as this operation is incredibly difficult to describe. So watch the video.

In the end, you should have four grain matched corners. They may not be 100% perfect but they’ll be close enough to serve their purpose. And even experienced woodworkers will look at the box and wonder how you did it. So step up your box-making game and give a four-corner grain match a try!

Relevant Links:Essential Joinery BookMerle Band ClampsBlue Shop TowelsBumblechutes Wood Finish (Save 10% with TWW10)

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Something New! Your Questions Answered!

Every Friday I answer questions from our supporters. This week, I thought I’d try answering them in the form of a video.

Your Questions:
00:39 – Router and Router Table Suggestions
02:17 – Any cool Christmas gifts?
02:35 – Opinions on the Harvey 36” 2HP table saw – My Miter Gauge review: https://youtu.be/wBQtzhCiMhY
04:27 – Is CA glue accelerator a scam?
09:04 – Advice for a cutting board that lives outside

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Adjustable-Height Work Support | Easy Build!

Learn more about Jackery below!
Official Website
Amazon

Many tasks in the woodshop will require more support than your workbench and tool surfaces can provide and it’s essential for both safety and accuracy that you don’t let your boards go all floppy. Using some 2x4s and 1x4s, you can make your own Adjustable-Height Work Support using our FREE Plans!

Download PlanDownload Metric Plan

If you don’t want to build one, there are tons of roller stands on the market that are quite reasonably priced: Like this one!

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Kill That Reverb! | DIY Acoustic Panels

If you’re lucky, you’ll never have to put much thought into the concept of acoustics in your living and work spaces. But if you ever build out a home theater or you have your shop in a space with hard surfaces and tall ceilings, acoustic panels are definitely worth considering as they make the space less noisy and more comfortable to hold conversations in. Obviously in my situation, audio is being captured constantly so if the audio track is plagued by reverb/echo, many people will find the video hard to stomach. I’ve added commercially-available acoustic panels to my previous shops and while they got the job done, they also cost a lot of money. So what I have in this video is my budget-friendly attempt to construct 36 panels that will be shared amongst the two bays of my new shop.

While I opted to use plywood for my frame parts, slicing it in to the appropriate sized strips, you should feel free to use 1×2’s or some other dimensional lumber as an alternative.

Each panel consists of the following:

2 Long Frame Pieces – 48″ L x 2″ W x  3/4″ T2 Short Frame Pieces – 24″ L x 2″ W x 3/4″ T4 Corner Braces – Triangles cut from 1/4″ plywood1 Support Strip – 48″L x 1″ W x 1/4″ T1 – 24″ W x 48″ L x 2″ T Rockwool Insulation Panel – https://www.acoustimac.com/roxul-rb6-... Plastic Wrap – https://amzn.to/3PkjAoO

The results speak for themselves so be sure to watch the video, with headphones if need be, to hear the difference these panels made.

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My First 3-Phase Tool! | Felder D 951 Planer

Ever since using one at the William Ng School in California many years ago, I’ve been lusting after a Felder D951 planer. Just some of the things I love:

Motorized table adjustmentsSuper quiet cutter headExceptionally smooth results on even the most figured woodsAbility to hog off a lot of material per passSuper quiet operation

I mean, what’s not to love? It’s a beast of a machine. But given the kind of work I do and the space I do it in, it’s always been tricky for me to justify until now. The new Missouri shop will allow us to try new things such as selling lumber. And if we’re milling stock for resale, a planer like this is going to be super nice. But let’s be real here: the main reason I got this tool is because I wanted it. And for full disclosure, I did receive a discount on my purchase in exchange for promotion of the product.

Now the only wrinkle in the plan is the fact that this is a 3-phase tool. I don’t have 3-phase in my shop so this video shows what’s involved in installing a phase converter, just in case you ever need to do something similar.

Learn more about the Felder D 951 here.

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Mobile Tool Stand- Quick & Easy!

My new shop space isn’t far from my house (about 10 minutes), but it would be nice to have some basic woodworking tools at home for those little DIY projects and basic builds. So my plan is to start outfitting the garage with various tools as I acquire them. I have a nice Oliver lunchbox planer and in order to use it comfortably, I need some kind of stand. So I came up with a simple design that makes use of 2×4’s, 1×4’s, and casters. You can download the plans below if you’d like to build one for yourself.

Mobile Tool StandMobile Tool Stand (Metric)

Marc uses Titebond 2 for this project
The casters Marc uses in the build
The jigsaw Marc uses in the build is currently on sale!
Grab your own Christmas Vacation Beanie and keep your ears warm in the shop!

Jackery is running a Black Friday & Cyber Monday Sale from November 24-28, 2022 with unprecedented discounts! You can save up to $1080! Jackery and Black Series will give away a travel trailer and other great prizes! Head to https://bit.ly/3txiFqY to register for Jackery’s Cyber Monday Live Streaming Event.  You can also shop the sale on Amazon here.

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TWW Live – We are a Terrible Lumber Store

Show Notes:
00:00:00 – Getting Started
00:00:35 – Welcome to TWW Live!
00:01:40 – Nicole’s 3D printed phoenix from FlexiFactory
Ava’s favorite toy https://amzn.to/3EKklE7
00:02:27 – Black Friday Guild announcement
00:03:20 – Caleb James’ Danish cord bench project
00:06:05 – Marc’s dining table showcase
00:07:48 – Do you get super protective of your kitchen tables when someone spills something on it?
00:09:30 – New and improved circle templates
00:11:10 – Thank you’s!!!
00:12:13 – How can I lessen the environmental impact my basement shop has on the rest of the house?
00:14:45 – How can I cut small pieces as cleanly and accurately as possible?
00:17:20 – Have you named your lumber?
00:18:20 – Which Bumblechutes product are you currently using?
https://www.bumblechutes.com/product-page/furniture-finish?ref=tww TWW10 for 10% off!
00:21:40 – Do you have a digital protractor recommendation?
00:22:20 – Do you have any tips for drying out your whetstones?
00:23:20 – Is there a $50-$100 range solution for a sharpening system?
https://amzn.to/3VcxtXRhttps://amzn.to/3EmDvym
00:26:20 – Have you done a review on 10” saw blades?
00:28:45 – Does a dust collection reducers affect the efficiency of the dust collector?
00:30:38 – How can I prevent paint from seeping into the grain?
00:32:30 – Can you tell us a little bit more about the lap joint on your new table?
00:34:18 – Have any experience with the Rikon 10-305 bandsaw?
00:36:05 – Are there show notes anywhere for watching after the fact?
00:37:30 – Are there any benefits to a 12” miter saw over a 10” one?
00:39:40 – Anyone else notice how quickly Missouri passed legalization after Nicole and her pain relief balm moved there?
00:40:00 – What’s your favorite resaw blade?
00:41:18 – Are Friday lives going to be available as audio-only on iTunes?
00:43:10 – Who’s better? Norm Abram or Tom Silva?
00:43:42 – Will you be doing a refurbishing of your chairs?
00:45:23 – Can you provide any insight to contractor saws?
00:46:20 – What part of Missouri are you in?
00:47:40 – Do you use a gauge to set the tension of your bandsaw blade?
00:49:05 – Who’s better? Matt or Shannon?
00:49:54 – Are you still keeping buckets outside?
00:50:53 – Future reference, scalloped blades work great for cutting cardboard on the band saw
00:51:08 – How many times a day do you drive between the house and the shop?
00:51:42 – Why is there a character limitation on questions to ask?
00:54:40 – Any new tool purchases?
00:55:07 – Is walnut cheaper where you are?

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You can find them at our Amazon stores:
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UK – https://www.amazon.co.uk/shop/thewoodwhisperer

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Inspiring! | Woodworking Shop Tours

Don’t miss our massive archive of Community Shop Tours!

Special thanks to
Diane – D.R. Artisan Woodworks
Paul – Acute Engel Woodworx
Drew – WittWorks
John – Wonky Woodcraft
Jeff – Quicks Craft

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Did I Screw Up?! | Carbon Method Update

A few months ago I decided to take rust prevention a little more seriously since I was gearing up for a move to a humid climate. The product I applied was Carbon Coat from Carbon Method and it’s a thin protective graphene coating that is supposed to do a great job of preventing rust. Here’s a link to that video if you want to catch up: We Moved!

In that video I promised to report back on the condition of my table saw after the move. Unfortunately, the results were not as clear-cut as I expected. I had to do some additional research and experimentation in order to provide you guys with an honest and informative update.  So here we are.

Did I Screw Up?!

When I brought my saw into the shop in August, I immediately noticed a bunch of tiny rust spots all over the table stop. I couldn’t help but ask myself if I had screwed up, on multiple fronts. Did I apply the product incorrectly? Did the product fail to work? Did I put my foot in my mouth by agreeing to report back on this new product? The only way to get to the bottom of this was to contact the company and do some additional research and experiments of my own.

Spoiler Alert

Be sure to watch the video for the full explanation, but let me sum up here. Depending on the water source, standing water may still cause rust to form on a cast iron surface that has been coated with Carbon Coat. My testing, however, showed Carbon Coat to be the most effective at protecting metal from ambient humidity when compared to wax and Boeshield T9. So you can bet I’ll be using this product on all of my cast iron surfaces as a form of rust prevention.

To learn more about Carbon Coat and the other products made by Carbon Method, go here.

If you want to get the pre-order special price on Caleb James’ Danish Cord Bench project: go here.

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