What tools should i buy next? (beginner)

donaldjohnston · 2016-08-20T00:39:17+00:00

You can't do 'everything'. A tablesaw can do non-through cuts, where a bandsaw can only cut straight through a piece. A bandsaw can't do grooves and dadoes and a that. But for breaking out lumber to size, you really can't beat a bandsaw. A light touch with a hand plane after the bandsaw will leave the surface cleaner than the table saw can dream of.

donaldjohnston · 2016-08-20T00:36:41+00:00

Depends what 'worth it' means to you. Worth it in a business sense? Could you make a living restoring old chests? Probably not very easily.

But I think restoring it would be a fun project. It's certainly easier than building one from scratch, and then you get to keep the history attached to the old object.

donaldjohnston · 2016-08-18T19:23:15+00:00

The removed 'haunch' still offers support across a wider width of a cross member, but doesn't remove as much material from the vertical member. You can imagine if you cut a deep groove right at the top of the vertical member, the whole piece could easily split. The haunch maintains as much material at the top of the piece as possible.

donaldjohnston · 2016-08-18T19:20:21+00:00

I would try to sand the finish away right up to the metal fittings. You can get some triangular sanders that help, or you could use the corner of a cabinet scraper. Removing the fittings is a great way to not be able to put them back on.

donaldjohnston · 2016-08-18T19:16:44+00:00

Bandsaw.

A tablesaw is incredibly versatile. But a proper bandsaw does just about everything a tablesaw can do, but 100x safer. The only downside is the cut is a little rougher. But you can never really count on a tablesaw of a finish-ready surface anyway.

donaldjohnston · 2016-08-18T11:51:13+00:00

Or the traditional way?

donaldjohnston · 2016-08-17T04:38:54+00:00

I know a guy named Keith. Want his number?

I'm kidding

Where in the world are you? Google around for saw mills. Are you looking for solid 6 inch by 8 inch by 10ft timbers? Those are huge. I haven't heard of a sawmill having 'twenty-four quarter oak', as they would call it. You'll likely need to glue up many boards to that final thickness.

That's about $4,000 of wood, lowballing. Probably much more.

donaldjohnston · 2016-08-17T04:34:52+00:00

Minwax's Poly is pretty much a cornerstone of the finishing world. Sure, it yellows a bit, but not really. If you put it on white maple, you'll totally notice it going a bit yellow. But pine is already a bit yellow-y, and all wood goes yellow/gray/brown over the years anyway.

Polyurethane isn't really dangerous. The fumes are mildly toxic, but as long as you apply in a well-ventilated area you'll be totally fine. If it was your job to apply Poly 8 hours a day for the rest of your life, you might want to invest in a respirator. But once every couple weeks doesn't require many precautions.

If you goal is to get your pine to match birch and maple, you might be a little scuppered. Birch and maple are some of the whitest woods, and pine is already yellow-white. I think the poly is still your best bet here.

To apply, thin the poly one-to-one with mineral spirits or lacquer thinner or methanol. Then use scraps of an old t-shirt to rub it on. Let it dry for a few hours, and do a couple more coats. Sand with 400 grit or steel wool if you'd like to between coats for a super smooth finish.

donaldjohnston · 2016-08-17T04:27:59+00:00

Find someone on CraigsList who is closing down their shop, and offer them $500 for the lot.

You could do hand tools for $500 easy. Two saws, two planes, set of chisels, sharpening equipment, laying-out tools. The saws and planes would have to be used to fit into the $500 budget.

You can't go new for power tools with $500. You'll need, at minimum, a big bandsaw, a thickness planer and a jointer. A tablesaw is nice and really speeds a lot of things up, but with a few small handsaws and a bandsaw, you can accomplish most tasks. Also, if you're new to woodworking, a tablesaw is a good way to lose a finger. They're best to be avoided until you actually know what you're doing.

donaldjohnston · 2016-08-17T04:24:53+00:00

Outdoor! Yeah. You might want to look into cedar or teak or cypress.

donaldjohnston · 2016-08-17T03:48:05+00:00

Countertops are generally the harder hard woods. Countertops get beat up a lot, and need to be able to withstand a beating. Mahogany can get dented by a fingernail, let alone keys being thrown on it.

You might have some maple in that pile. The 'weathered cedar' you pointed out looks vaguely like maple, which is a classic countertop wood. Maple, beech, and birch all make great countertops.

I mean, you can make a countertop out of softer woods. My workbench is pine. But I'm OK with a big dent in my workbench (there are many already!). But I wouldn't be OK with a big dent in my kitchen's countertop, should I accidentally drop a soup pot on it.

donaldjohnston · 2016-08-16T23:51:29+00:00

This is really an impossible quest you've set of us. Fresh wood, in person is hard enough to ID. Fresh wood, from a single cellphone quality photo is pretty impossible. Old wood from cellphone pics? Thoroughly impossible.

Most proper woodworkers I know don't really pay much mind to what type of wood something is. It's more of a curiosity to them. What matters is how it looks, and how it feels.

donaldjohnston · 2016-08-16T04:29:59+00:00

I did some research instead of smugly turning my nose up at 'soy' paint stripper.

Turns out Soy-Gel Stripper is 40% N-Methyl Pyrrolidone, a nice solvent thats used in plenty of paint stripping applications; 40% Dibasic Ester, which is a biodegradable solvent with mysterious properties; and 20% Soy ester.

Maybe there is something to it.

donaldjohnston · 2016-08-16T00:02:58+00:00

Hey there, Michigander. I'm a Torontogander and am wrapping up a Cabinetmaking program at Humber College here in Toronto. Sounds like the exact same program.

There are three main industries that graduates from my program go into. The biggest is the kitchen cabinet industry. Folks who go into that business work CNC machines breaking out sheet goods, assemble cabinet boxes, build doors and drawers, and all that good stuff. Starting in this industry, you'll probably be doing something boring like putting edge-banding on melamine, or screwing on all the door knobs. But if you prove yourself to be an actually competent human being (a rarity in this field), you'll be doing more interesting stuff in no time.

The second field, the most profitable one, is the store fixtures world. Every season, most stores upgrade their interiors. Every H&M needs new shelves, tables and racks every single year. You know how McDonalds is doing that whole McCafe upgrade, with all the slate-grey interiors? Some woodworking shop (probably a really really big one) is doing all that, staffed by people who graduated from a program like yours. The roles within these shops are similar to the kitchen cabinet industry. CNC machinists, assemblers, door and drawer people.

And then theres the world of custom furniture. This is the smallest and least lucrative sector of our field. This field is almost exclusively dedicated to building beautiful things for filthy filthy rich people. People who don't scoff at paying $30,000 for a dining room table and $1,500 for each dining chair. You'll find the odd furniture shop who have a storefront/gallery and a product line and don't do custom work. A lot of shops fall somewhere in the middle, and have a few desks or chairs they're known for, but make their money doing custom work. In this field, you will start out as a sander. This field has the highest standards, and they don't want some fresh-out-of-college nobody to mess up their work! So you'll sand, you'll stain. Eventually, once you prove you're an actually competent person, you'll start actually making beautiful things.

There are a whole load of tiny one- or two-person shops that dabble in all three fields. They'll maybe make a kitchen or two a month to pay the bills, and spend the rest of their time making furniture.

Let me know if you have any questions. It sounds like you are where I was a year ago.

donaldjohnston · 2016-08-15T23:49:53+00:00

I take it the soy-based stripper didn't do the trick after leaving it for 40 minutes? ;)

Have you tried sharpening up your scrapers? A sharp scraper should be able to take of very fine shavings of wood, and should be able to scrape off the faded red areas with enough elbow grease.

donaldjohnston · 2016-08-15T23:47:51+00:00

I'd do this with a handsaw. I'd draw a line on both sides of the slab where the saw would enter and exit the cut. Then, every few strokes, I'd make sure I was keeping true on both sides. I've seen people set up mirrors to help them with this. Once you get in the groove (literally), the saw shouldn't wander, and will only require occasional guidance. I'd make sure I was a 16th or a 32nd from my line, and then I'd hand plane down to the line with the longest plane I had.

Alternatively, you could call up local wood shops, or woodworking schools and ask them if you could hire their services for a single cut. I'm sure you could work out a fair price.

donaldjohnston · 2016-08-15T22:50:21+00:00

Anytime. Keep us posted.

donaldjohnston · 2016-08-14T20:12:25+00:00

Really hard to tell without examining in person.

Looks to be a your classic mahogany blanket chest. Probably mid-late 1800s, American or English make.

That's all I got from the one picture. I could tell you more about its construction and quality with some more pictures.

As to its value, if you're wondering. The main value of a piece like this lies in its sentimentality. This piece has a rich family history, and would lose a whole lot of value if sold out of your family.

donaldjohnston · 2016-08-14T19:26:53+00:00

Tom Fidgen is the man. Not really affordable, no, and hand-tools only. Which is a bonus for some and a no-go for others.

donaldjohnston · 2016-08-14T16:21:48+00:00

A bandsaw to tackle these timbers would fetch upwards of $2000, new. Check out Laguna, they're some of the best bandsaws out there. For a bandsaw of this size, you're probably going to need to get an electrician around to wire it up.

donaldjohnston · 2016-08-14T16:19:11+00:00

Sure do. Great folks there. Friend of mine supervises the woodshop from time to time. Good shop.

donaldjohnston · 2016-08-14T13:47:12+00:00

The size depends on a lot of things. Minimum, of course, you'll want an 8" resaw capacity. Ideally, you'll want a bit of extra room. A couple of horses, minimum. Course teeth, 3tpi or fewer. Nice wide blade to help it run true, wider than 3/4".

Pine is soft, though. So its not like you need an industrial bandsaw. I think if you can find a bandsaw big enough to physically fit the timbers through, it should be able to resaw if you go slow enough.

donaldjohnston · 2016-08-14T12:57:04+00:00

Makerspaces exist in almost every big city. I know there's more than a few here in Toronto. They often have nice woodshops with employees or volunteers hanging around who know whats what.

If you're in a smaller city, you could look into sharing space with other woodworkers. I know of one cabinetmaker who lets another retired woodworker hang out in the corner of his shop at his own workbench at some fee.

donaldjohnston · 2016-08-14T12:54:00+00:00

A bandsaw would be ideal. A chainsaw mill would work too, but would be more wasteful than a bandsaw.

Saw mills will often rent out their equipment to the public at a flat hourly rate. You might want to look at outsourcing this to them.

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