Woodworking Plans - How To Build A Wooden Reindeer

Posted by: Ryan Henders Post date: July 4th, 2009

It seems that even those of us that aren’t all that artistic seem to become more creative around the Christmas season. Woodworkers will start building and decorating nifty ornaments

One of the most admired outdoor ornaments is the white Christmas reindeer made from a simple sheet of 4ft.x8ft. exterior grade plywood. No need for a lot of tools either as an electric jig saw will do just fine. One thing you may want to plan on is that just making one of them doesn?t fit the picture. You need at least two and if you feel really creative go ahead and make as many as you like.

There are many places on the internet that you can find quite a few patterns with some variations to them. If it?s your first woodworking project then stay with a simple basic pattern. You can get fancier on your next ones.

So to get started. First, lay your pattern out on the plywood. If you follow the layout instructions that came with your pattern, you will not have much waste of wood. You will find that you can make two reindeer out of just this one sheet of plywood. Now this is the simple way of doing your set but beware because once this set is done you can bet the neighbors and friends are going to being giving some hints on how they would like some. Therefore, to save yourself some work later on make a wood pattern from your paper pattern. You will find it?s much easier to work with. Luan material is good for this.

If you feel that, you don?t want to ruin your pattern by tracing over it then make a paper pattern using graphite paper. Then you can tuck the original away and use it again when your temporary one is no good.

Now using your jigsaw and taking some time just follow the lines of the pattern you traced on the wood. You are going to see an area that has been marked for the slot so be sure you do a perfect cut here so the pieces will interlock properly. Now once this is done and your project is taking shape give them a quick sand and you are ready to add some life to them. You may be a little confused with all the parts that you now have before you but just follow the step-by-step instructions for assembling them.

These little guys are going to be outdoors so you want to give them a good coat of high quality outdoor paint. You may find that its necessary to give them two or three coats but that doesn?t take all that long. After your final coat of white and it?s dried well then paint on the features and give it a couple of coats of urethane. Then out to the yard they go to say merry Christmas to all.

How Do I Reduce Dust During Woodworking Projects

Posted by: Ryan Henders Post date: July 4th, 2009

Keeping dust levels low during woodworking is critical. It avoids accidents, keeps you healthy and preserve your tools.

You may take a look around your shop and be thinking this isn?t applicable to me it?s not all that bad. If you want some proof that it is or some assurance that its not then you can conduct a test to determine this.

At the end of your workshop day turn off all the lights then shine a flashlight into the air. Everything that you see there you have been breathing in all day. If this isn?t enough to convince you to wear a respirator then you are risking developing some serious health problems. If the test serves no other purpose it will at least tell, you if the air is clean enough for you to put the finish on your project which of course should be dust free.

As if one type of dust wasn?t enough to deal with there are actually three types that you must contend with. If you plane by hand then you are going to compile shavings. These wouldn?t get into your lungs but they will sure clog up your hoses. The bi products of your routers and shapers for example will be wood chips. Here you will want a shop vac to gather these up.

You must design a dust control regime and it really isn?t difficult. The first and most simple method is ventilation. Just keeping a window or door open helps immensely. It would be even more effective if you blew the dust out by fan.

Another valuable piece of equipment is air cleaners. These automatically filter the air then recycle it. There are very effective for small particles. There is a variety of other equipment on the market to help you keep your shop a safe place to work in. There are shop vacuums designed for heavy-duty removal then various types of dust collectors such as single and duel stage collectors. Then there are separators that will segregate the various sizes of debris. Then if you want to get really elaborate, there are whole shop systems.

The whole point is that you want to use whatever method you can to keep the various types of sawdust under control. Aside from your health and safety, it?s most frustrating when your projects work out great then the finish is full of dust particles.

Ideally the best thing to do is incorporate the simple measures that we have talked about here and if they are not doing a good enough job then research some of the more larger aggressive ways that we have supplied as options to you as well. Where ever you buy your tools and equipment from should have various options for you to consider. They are well worth the time and money to invest in.

What You Must Know About Wood Putty - Woodworking

Posted by: Ryan Henders Post date: July 4th, 2009

All too often, novice woodworkers don’t realize the power of wood putty. No doubt, they have heard about it and perhaps worked with it once or twice but had poor results. Chances are they either used the wrong product or the wrong application or maybe even both. It is sometimes referred to as wood filler or wood patch. It may be a water base or a solvent based. Solvent base has probably been the favored choice in the past. The water-based products have really made some excellent strides in their performance and are now being used more.

There is nitrocellulose-based putty. This dries very fast. To clean up all you need is some diluted acetone or lacquer thinner.

A gypsum-based putty comes in a powder form and you have to mix the proper ratio with water. If you clean up while it?s wet, it?s simply done with plain water. If you let the gypsum dry and try to clean up with water, it just isn?t going to happen.

Finally, an acrylic based putty will clean up with water as well until it dries then after that you will need to clean with acetone or toluene.

There are advantages to working with water wood-based fillers because they don?t have the heavy fumes to them that the solvent-based ones do and they are easier to work with. What woodworkers like about it the most though is how easy it is to clean up. It is also more economical for storage as it doesn?t? dry out as fast as the solvent-based putties do.

All wood putty is really is a glue mixed with material such a sawdust or gypsum for example. It creates a binder that holds the filler together.

Once you get used to working with wood putty ideally, you will want to keep both on hand if you are an avid wood worker or do it yourselfer.

Knowing which putty to use in the beginning may be a bit of a challenge. You want one that is going to stick and not shrink once it has dried. Another attribute about a good filler is you should need to sand it a great deal and it should have a satin finish to it afterwards.

Woods like poplar, rosewood or walnut just to name a few have very large pores and open grains. You can use wood filler to even out some of the grains in these types of woods.

Another good feature about wood putty is that it comes it different colors, which makes it much easier for blending. Ideally, before you use any of the colors check it on an unobserved piece of the wood to see what the end result is going to be. It may come out lighter or darker than you intended. If you are new to using wood putty ask your local paint supplier which seems to be the favored by most of their customers. This often gives you a good indication on how good and effective a product will be.

How To Restore Your Cedar Furniture Easily

Posted by: Ryan Henders Post date: July 3rd, 2009

If you have a cedar chest that is passed down to you as a heirloom, it is important that you know how to take care of and maintain it. You have to take steps to restore it now so that it can withstand the hands of time.

One of the most significant things that you may have noticed is that familiar cedar odor is gone. You may remember as a child perhaps when you grandmother would open the chest you would get that woody cedar aroma. Just the thought of it brings back memories. Sadly, though you noticed it is no longer the case. Now when you open the chest there is nothing.

Fortunately, you can restore this. Aside from it creating wonderful memories for you, the cedar has a useful side. It is a natural bug repellant. That s why it was such a favored wood for building these chests. This is where precious items were stored and everyone wanted to ensure they would be where pests would not destroy them.

Over the years no matter how preserved the cedar chest was dust gets into the pores of the wood and clogs them. Or it has been a cedar chest that was in continuous use then the pores may have become pinched shut. So what has happened now is the aroma that once emitted through these pores can no longer do so.

The objective is to open the pores to restore the aroma that is waiting to be let loose. There are a couple of ways you can do this. One method is to very lightly sand the surface using a fine 200 grit sandpaper on a sanding block. What this will do is the sandpaper will penetrate the pores and will open up pockets in the wood where the precious cedar oil is contained. Be very careful with the sanding though as you don?t want to end up with scratch marks. This is avoidable if you sand in the same direction as the grain. You will find that it?s not going to take much sanding before you smell the aroma of the cedar once again.

There are times though when the cedar is just too old for the sanding technique to work. Before going to all that work try sanding a discrete area to see what the end result will be like.

Another way of doing it is to rejuvenate the piece. You can do this with extracts like cedar and some cedar sprays.

You may want to try putting some good grade cedar chips in a nylon and tying it tightly. Place this at the bottom of your cedar chest. Although not as good as the actual odor from the chest it will still no doubt stir up so old memories.

The Secrets Of Reaction Wood For Woodworking

Posted by: Ryan Henders Post date: July 3rd, 2009

Many individual woodworkers even seasoned ones don’t really understand the term reaction wood. This is where a piece of wood has a flaw or imperfection in it but one cannot see it easily. Then what happens is when a thin strip is removed from this type of wood it warps or twist. Then it could also pinch the blade and you end up with burns in the wood caused by friction or the blade stalls.

The culprit of this is that the piece of wood you are working with as been cut from a tree that had a lean in it. If it happened to be one of the softwood trees that it came from than the reaction wood will be called compression wood because it comes from the lower side of the lean. You may notice that this type of wood is very dense. Additionally it will be hard and brittle.

With hardwood trees, the compression wood comes from the opposite of the softwood types. In this case, now the reaction wood takes place on the upper side on the lean. It is now called tension wood. You may notice with tension wood that you get a lot of shrinkage in the length and it will have that wooly surface appearance to it.

If at all possible you want to avoid buying the reaction woods. To begin with if it?s the hardwood then the density it going to give you a problem when you go to stain it. The stain will not take evenly. This will be noticeable when you put it with the other parts of your project.

Another problem with reaction wood is its weakness. It won?t accept a heavy load. Then also, when you go to put your nails or screws into it the wood is liable to crack or split easier. If you are using this type of wood for carving or getting it to take any type of shape you are going to find its not very cooperative. It will react adversely to moisture changes as well.

The difficult issue about this whole problem is how to be able to identify what is a piece of reaction wood. For the untrained eye, it?s almost impossible but there are a few common place things that you can look for that may be of some help.

If you take a close look at the piece of wood you are thinking of buying and you notice there is a sweep to it or it seems crooked then don?t buy it. Most likely it is reaction wood. If you are familiar with the type of wood, you are looking at and it seems out of character then use caution. If you find that the piece seems harder than usual or dense, it?s most likely reaction wood.

If you see that, the wood looks fuzzy or there are cracks that are pulling away from the board that?s another sign of the reaction wood.

Hopefully by knowing a little about reaction wood your tools aren?t going to get all the blame that comes with the mishaps of this type of inferior wood.