Podcast
Woodshop Life Podcast
Hosted by Woodshop Life Podcast · EN
Bi-Weekly Podcast Focused on the Craft of Woodworking
12episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
Shop Lighting, Router Table, Easy Veneering, and MORE!!!
Mar 600:46:49Tap to summarizeBrians Questions: Hello gentlemen, I love your podcast. I appreciate the care and detail you put into maintaining a consistent format and clean, listenable audio. Having been a radio production director in a former career, I loathe most podcast audio, so your effort to provide a professional listening experience is apparent. In my brief time as a woodworker, I’ve found it difficult to source hardwood. I don't have any woodworking stores nearby—the closest is several hours away. Buying from private parties feels unreliable, and I strongly prefer kiln-dried wood. Furthermore, online ordering is expensive, even for small stock. So far, the only hardwood I’ve been able to work with was purchased from big-box stores or salvaged from pallets. Do you have any advice for sourcing hardwood in my Southern California area? Thank you! Todd from Barking Beavers I’m curious your take on shop lighting. I’ve got 12’ ceilings in my garage and I’m on thinking the lights could be far away. Maybe I should focus on task lighting instead or possibly lowering lights on chain but that is a less appealing option. Tyler -What are your best strategies on negotiating time with the wife to be in the shop? Brian Guys Questions: I’ve been listening to your podcast on and off for a couple years now. I know I haven’t listened to all the episodes but I’m trying to work my way through them on my commute to work. I appreciate the podcast, I’ve learned a lot. Thanks for doing it guys! I’m a weekend warrior, with an old craftsman contractor saw. Well maybe not that old, 20 years. Not old enough to be really sturdy built but it’s been a good saw. I would like to upgrade to a cabinet saw. I’m interested in getting a Sawstop for the safety aspect as well as I’ve heard they are well built saws. One convenient feature on my Craftsman saw is it has a built in router table on the table saw wing. I can get the same setup on the Sawstop. I’m not a professional wood worker but I do want a good quality table saw and router table set up. My questions are: 1) Will the Sawstop be a substantial upgrade to my Craftsman contractor saw or should I consider another brand? 2) Do you know anything about the Sawstop router table accessories such as the router lift and downdraft box. Are they good quality components, anything I should be cautious about. 3) What are the pros and cons to having the router table built into the table saw versus a stand alone router table? Would I be better off getting a stand alone router table? Thanks for the help! Appreciate the Podcast! Marty I recently purchased a shaper and power feeder to run mostly door profiles and other trim as well. It's been a huge upgrade from the router table, but I still get tear out if I try to mill for example a shaker style door in one pass (the long edge not the coping cut). I've seen videos of other guys running their shaper in reverse and cutting for profiles with a climb cut but ONLY WITH A POWER FEEDER. Would this be a case where you would be comfortable breaking the "never climb cut" rule if you had a power feeder in order to produce a cleaner edge? Thanks! Jared I would like to begin my first foray into veneering. I’m thinking a small table top for a side table or nightstand would be a good first project. How would you suggest a first time veneerer approach this—I don’t want to invest a lot into veneer specific tools (vacuum bags, etc), so any tips for using stuff already laying around the shop would be appreciated. Thanks for the great pod! Andrew
Transcribe →Router Bearings, Easy Finish, Loose Router Bits, and MORE!!!
Feb 2000:48:15Tap to summarizeBrians Questions: I currently have a Sawstop PCS 1.75, an 8” Laguna spiral head jointer, a Jet two-stage dust collector, a Laguna 1412 bandsaw, a Bosch cabinet style router table, a Dewalt DW734 lunchbox planer, an entry-level CNC, a Festool ETS125, a Festool dust extractor and various smaller power tools. I’m not particularly happy with the stability, adjustability and fence on my Bosch router table and I feel like my planer isn’t giving my a consistent cut across its width. I’m thinking of upgrading either the router table to something with an Incra lift, or maybe a planer like the DW735 with helical head or similar. However, I’ve also been seriously considering a Festool Domino DF500. Lately I’ve been working on decorative boxes and small furniture like side tables and coffee tables. Who knows what’s next? What would you purchase next and what do you think would make the biggest difference in my woodworking? Thanks, Kevin Westbrooks Hey this is Brooks from BROOKS BOARDS in Utah, I really enjoy the podcast while I work on the shop, and a lot of my questions get answered, but I was hope maybe you could help me understand the best way to round over a board that is a curved shape like my longboards I make, when I use a bearing router bit the issue is that when you flip the board to route the other side where the bearing would ride along the wood it routed off so the roundover is un-even and usually a line is left over, would you guys have a potential solution to this? I would love your suggestion, thanks in advance you guys are awesome. Brooks Guys Questions: When making flat panel drawer fronts I keep running into drawer fronts that need to be just a little bigger than my 8" jointer. Say 9-10" tall. Most of the rough stock I buy is 8-8.5". In this case I have two options, use two boards of similar grain and try to hide the glue joint which becomes a straight grain only situation. Or make a veneer drawer front with some wider stock if i can find it. How do all these European cabinet makers do it with large flat drawer fronts. Do they all just have a 12-16" jointers? Jesse Hi y’all! I’m Chris. I love your podcast and listen to it while I drive for work. I am on my second round of listening while I wait for the new episode to drop! I will be proposing to my fiance soon and I am making a ring box for her engagement ring. I am going to use White Oak and I have seen several videos of guys using a rub on finish that slightly darkens the wood and leaves a minimal sheen. I am wondering what finish you would use for durability, to darken the wood, and leave no sheen! Thanks and love the show! Chris Huys Questions: I have a Makita Track Saw which I purchased a couple of years ago. I use it only for cutting full sheets of plywood and melamine, mostly plywood. Although I haven't used it all that much the Makita brand saw blade is not making clean cuts and leaving burn marks on the sheet goods. It's a 48 tooth blade measuring 165mm x 20mm. I cleaned the blade hoping that would solve the issue but it hasn't. The cut quality is the same. I've considered sending the blade out for sharpening but not sure if it's worth it. I'm thinking my money might be better spent buying a new blade. I could always buy a new blade and have the Makita blade resharpened and use it only for cutting melamine. I'm sure track saw blades are not all made equal so I'm looking for your recommendation for a new blade based on your knowledge and experience. I'm interested in saw blade brands as well as the type of blade such as the number of teeth for making clean cuts in plywood. Looking forward to your comments and thanks for hosting such an informative podcast. Jack Francis Hey guys, I’m a long time listener and continue to learn with every episode. You’re one of only two podcasts I listen to cause there’s no stupidness and you just talk woodworking and don’t feel the need to waste the listeners time talking about what you had for lunch or whatever other personal garbage every other woodworking podcast seems to delve into. I have a very simple question. Last week I was routing a dado in some oak with a quarter inch straight bit. Nothing unusual about the setup and nothing I hadn’t done a hundred times before. This time, however, the bit managed to come loose from the collet and came up through the work piece and essentially ruined it. Has this happened to you guys? Should I assume that I just didn’t tighten it enough? Should I be constantly checking it as I’m batching parts? This one bugged me cause I don’t feel like I know how to prevent it in the future. Any advice would be appreciated! Bill
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