Finding your niche with woodworking as an art is a great thing. It is fun and you’re going to need some ideas to get you on the proper path. Read the following article to learn tips and suggestions so you can enjoy your hours of fun and creativity along the way.
If you will be using stain, always do a test on an inconspicuous area, or scrap of wood. If you test the stain color first, you will not have any unpleasant surprises. Wood and stains can surprise you, so test things out before you put it on the final project.
Your workbench’s height is more important than you realize. To find the best height, measure the distance from the floor to your waistline. A perfect height will help you be more efficient.
Crosscut Guide
Try using a stair gauge as a crosscut guide. With a carpenter’s square these can be clamped down to match up the stair jack. Mark your notches. When you clamp them on the one tongue of the carpenter’s square it will become a good crosscut guide for your circular saw.
Whenever you plan to cut a narrow piece of wood, don’t use your fingers as a guide! It is a better idea to use a long, narrow piece of wood as a tool to guide it through the blade. This will help to keep you from cutting off your fingers, which would be a travesty.
Do not use fingers as guides when you cut narrow wood. Use a thin piece of wood instead. Use it to guide the wood through the saw. That way, you will keep your fingers safe and intact.
Before gluing your project together, you should try dry fitting first to make sure the pieces fit together properly. If you’re trying to fix things up after you have glue on your piece, there is a chance that you’re going to damage the project. Using dry-fit will show you where to put the pieces should go.
Never put a ton of pressure on your wood while sanding. If you apply too much pressure, you can easily find that you’re left with a wood surface that is very uneven. If you’re using the right sand paper grit, the pressure should not matter. Sand with the grain of wood and lightly.
Before you sand, wet the surface you plan on working on. This helps raise the wood grain. Then you can more evenly sand the finer scratches inherent in the wood. As a result, your finished product will look more professional. It’ll also save you work in the future.
Learn about the wood you want to use before you try to stain it. If the wood is paint grade, the quality isn’t as good. If it is stain grade wood, it is meant to be stained. Similarly, veneer and particle board are quite different; the former does not absorb stain well while the latter absorbs too much. Choosing the correct piece of wood helps turn the project you work into something special.
A drafting square gives much needed accuracy to smaller cuts. It can be hard to accurately measure the wood you need. Drywall squares have been known not to be accurate, and the carpenter squares need to be fastened onto an edge which makes them hard to work with. Check out drafting squares at your local art supplier. Those are very accurate and very easy for you to use.
Always check your measurements a couple of times. When using expensive materials, be on the safe side and triple check. Poor measuring is typically where the most expensive errors happen. If you cut too short or cut on an angle, you can ruin a piece of wood completely for the project.
Try to keep your cool. Many people begin woodworking them get frustrated when things don’t materialize instantly. Understand that it takes time to create a project out of wood, and with a little patience something good can come out of it. If you’re patient, you’ll see that you can keep your focus on your work. Soon, the project will be complete.
It is handy to carry a small pocket ruler, but it may fall out whenever you bend over. Get a metal one and keep it in the pocket that has the little telescoping magnet for picking up loose screws. The magnet will keep everything in your pocket.
Spend some time watching shows that are about woodworking on TV. You never know when you’ll learn something, and you also can get inspiration for specific projects. Browse through your local listings to find this type of programming.
Don’t wear clothes that are loose when you are working with tools. Lots of accidents have happened because of this type of clothing. To help protect yourself wear a fitted shirt and keep it tucked into your pants. Steel toed boots are a good thing to wear as well, in case you drop some wood or a tool.
If you’re trying to begin working on a project that you use a new technique or tool on, you should practice a little first. Work on some scrap wood first. If that does not turn out well, repeat the process over and over until you understand how it works.
A golf tee is a wonderful fix for wiggling hinges. Just take the door off the hinges and tap the golf tee into the offending screw hole. Trim the excess wood and put the door back into place. This technique fills in the missing wood and helps hold the screw tight.
Do not put too much pressure on yourself by expecting all your creations to be flawless. Your pieces are personal and they will have character. You’ll get better as time goes by, and these tips will help you do that.