Do you have a LEAST favorite wood for woodworking? These 15 woodworkers do… I didn’t put these woods in any sort of order. And because least favorite woods are often toxic or allergenic woods this post ends with some resources on wood toxicity.
Inspiration for this post came from the SawmillCreek thread: I think I got hit by a camaro! It starts with a humorous story. Check it out!
Cumaru
“About as heavy on volume as Ipe, just as hard, but it smells like horse dung when milled, and the splinters seem to cause an immediate infection. Makes white oak seem like balsa wood.”
-Peter Quinn
Red Oak
“hard as nails which is why it’s equally hard on saw blades. The grain pattern is difficult to match when gluing up panels. I don’t even like the way it smells when it’s cut. And probably the biggest reason of all, it’s used frequently in styles of furniture that I don’t enjoy building.”
-Craig Stevens of Woodworkers Resource
Mahogany
“I think it is too prone to splintering and creates way too much dust when sanding. ”
-Tom Sheehan
Wenge
“Every time I even look at a piece of wenge, I get a splinter.”
-Gary Herrmann
Bloodwood
“It turns to dust when cut, and wreaks havoc with my sinuses. Mahogany is the same.”
-Mike Cutler
Hickory
“hickory is impossible to plane without extremly sharp blades as it chips and splinters around any grain shift, the color is impossible to match to any filler that i have found or made, as it changes color all the time, and to remove the voids where it has chipped takes hours of sanding and leaves you with a wavy board.”
-Jay Angel
Purpleheart
“Dusty, hard, doesn’t smell all that good.”
-Ron
Cedar
“The shop smells like a F-ing hampster cage to me. Plus after about half a day exposure to it I want to gouge my itchy, watery eyes out with the corner of the tablesaw.”
-Karl Brogger
Ipe
“yellow sticky dust, and makes my skin itch, but the guy I was working with broke out with a rash something fierce.”
-Roger Barlow
Black Walnut
“The stuff tears me up - I’m not right for days afterwords. It has that smell that just about makes me sick to my stomach.”
-jeff
Maple
“The one project I did with hard maple, gave me horrible splinters and chunked out alot. Even the soft maple (yeah, right) seemed to be harder on my blades than other woods that I have used. The soft maple was 8/4, so that may have been why it dulled the blades faster?”
-adowden
Padauk
“creates a fine dust that gets into everything ,clogs it as well as staining any cloth or filter components.”
-purple thumb
White Pine
“too soft, too brittle and if cut the wrong time of year it will gum up everything.”
-rbdoby
Cottonwood
“it ABSOLUTELY has the worst smell of any wood I’ve come across!”
-SkintKnuckle
So I was lurking the other day over at Woodnet and stumbled on a video that shows a smart, easy to build and cheap mobile power tool base. That got my wheels turning and I started up my research engine. When the dust settled I had 15 mobile base plans for you! Here’s the thread that inspired this post: Shop Built Mobile Base (with video)
The biggest problem doesn’t seem like it’s mobility, but rather STOPPING a mobile tool from rolling so you can use it safely. There’s an astounding range of solutions for this below - it’s interesting how many variations there are on such a seemingly simple problem. I hope you enjoy the following plans, videos and diagrams. A note - there aren’t actual plans for some of these, especially from the guys who have the really innovative ideas. I think you’ll be able to figure it out though. You’re a woodworker.
Here’s what you’ll find in this post:
>> Meet Matthias Wandel and His 3 Amazing Mobile Bases
>> 9 Mobile Bases and Plans
>> 3 Mobile Bases for Portable Table Saws
>> Mobile Base Building FAQs
>> Mobile Base Forum Discussions
>> Bonus Videos from Matthias Wandel
>> More Free Woodworking Plans Read the rest of this entry »
So. You’ve picked out the sawhorse (or workbench or picnic table or router table) you want to build and now it’s time to hit the lumber yard (you’re building LOTS of sawhorses .
How do you know how many board feet to get?
A SawmillCreeker asked this same question recently in “How to calculate board feet for project?” Like all things, it’s simple but with some serious complexities the more you dig into it. We’ll start simple, add some complexities to confuse you and end with some links to calculators and other resources that will really muck things up
Here’s one way:
thickness (inches) x width (inches) x length (feet) / 12 = board feet
Here’s a variation:
thickness (inches) x width (inches) x length (inches) / 144 = board feet
Ok, now lets get a little funky…
So it’s not as simple as figuring out your cubic footage of wood.
You have to account for waste in the form of cutoffs, any planing and jointing, grain and color selection, saw kerf, resawing, splits, and even cracks you didn’t notice at the lumber yard.
And now let’s further complicate things with some highly insightful quotes from SawmillCreeker Peter Quinn:
“You didn’t mention species. Pattern grade mahogany? For me, add a 10% waste factor maximum. You couldn’t build a bird house with the drops. Walnut? Add 40%, maybe more if things don’t go well. Sap, sap, sap. Jatoba? There are lots of checks and cracks that seem to appear only in the bright light of my shop but never in the dim light of the lumber yard! White oak? If color matters you’ll need to carry each board out into the day light, because they all seem to match under fluorescent light. Cherry? Good luck. Each species is a new adventure in beauty and frustration.”
So what were those calculations again for the cherry sawhorses you were planning to make?
Getting Way Too Technical About It
This is how the Departments of Commerce of all states require vendors to measure board feet, according to Gene Wengert a technical advisor at the WoodWeb (in other words he knows his sheet…. goods.):
For hardwoods: First, you need to use the standard length (4′, 5′, 6′, etc. and not include any inches over the standard length). However, 12′11″ is still 12′. Then multiply by the actual width in inches and fractions and then divide by 12. Now round to the closest whole number. This is called the surface measure (SM). If you have several pieces of the same thickness, add up all their SMs. Finally, multiply by the *standard* thickness in inches (not actual). So, a piece 1-7/32″ thick is 4/4, so the multiplier is 1. Apices 1-15/32 is 5/4, so use 1.25. The final answer is a whole number and not fractions.
For softwoods, you would use the standard width (not actual). You would also use two decimal places for SM and BF. Otherwise, it is the same as for hardwoods.
Refining Your Lumber Yard Strategy
Here’s a bit more from Mr. Quinn on how he buys wood for projects: “You can punch a bunch of numbers into a spread sheet and churn out another number. That tells you how much lumber is in the finished product. What’s tough is walking into a lumber yard and picking boards that agree with the spread sheet. Figuring the waste factor and minimizing it its the hard part and no computer is going to do that for you.”
He checks his parts off as he finds them in the wood at the lumberyard. He even describes changing his plans based on the wood he finds available… As he puts it, “I like to understand my plans intimately then go searching for parts in the boards, not boards for the parts.”
Software Assistance:
There is some useful software for maximizing how many parts you get out of your sheet goods - Cut List Plus. I’ve not used it, but the site sure looks good Apparently it figures out your board feet for you AND helps you figure out the most efficient way to cut so you get the most out of your wood. It costs though.
More Software + Free Calculators: Timber and Lumber Calculators from Woodweb
You’re not going to find a better collection of free calculators anywhere… they have lumber weight calculators to wood shrinkage to log volume. There’s definitely more of an industrial slant here though.
Woodbin’s Free Tabulator
You’re not going to find a more THOROUGH board foot calculator anywhere.
There you have it folks… I hope that’s enough information on calculating board feet to keep you busy for awhile. If you have any questions be sure to check with any of the folks I linked to
Little did I know there was such a “wealth” of laser guided tools out there…
But first the laser guided hand saw video followed by a few choice quotes from the original thread… (and though I think the laser on this hand saw is a little bit much I would still totally love to have one
Woodnetter quotes:
BJ Kavanaugh: “My laser guided chisels are not impressed…”
colibas: “I might have an experience to help clear up why this saw is necessary. I had a laser saw, but I was having a lot of trouble getting my laser to line up with my mark, so I put a laser on the laser. Now it’s a lot easier to put the laser exactly where I want the laser, I just follow the laser. Of course, eventually I want to get a laser for the laser laser. I’ll get that later. My buddy got a later laser laser to line up his lazy laser laser, which made the later laser laser and laserer. When he began to saw, lasers went everywhere and he might have blinded his dog.”
Joe Fisher: “When he used it for compound angles and crown molding, I thought it was actually pretty cool.”
This one is currently sold out folks, sorry It would have made a nice companion to the larger laser guided hand saw. Here’s a “review” Laser Guided Hand Saw, Hand Saw 2.0
The laser guided drill press gets its fair share of jokes in the woodworking forums. It’s cool enough for me to want one (though that’s damning it with faint praise .
Ok ok, it’s a laser guided roller for cutting fabric. But it sure looks like a pizza cutter to me. No more fights about whose piece of pizza is bigger either…
I started off getting “blown away” by this piece called “Tex” from 1976:
That’s a bent wood barrel! HOLY COW. He has a whole gun series on his website: MichaelCooper.us. Some of his guns get a little, er, “manly” so may not be safe for work. His site’s in flash so I can’t direct link to any of it…
Here’s some of his more recent work - and you can see he’s come quite a way since his early days.
Gunrunner by Michael Cooper:
The Gunrunner’s from 2007.
“For this exhibit Cooper spent over 4000 hours creating Gunrunner, a 10 foot long low riding vehicle made from over 1000 individual pieces of beautifully finished exotic hardwood including tires, chains, springs, nuts, bolts and valves, exhaust system, hoses and gears.”
Woodworking is an expensive hobby, and an even more expensive business… it’s no wonder that there are so many woodworking cheapskates out there Dust collection is NOT something you want to skimp on though. That said, it’s unreasonable to expect newbie hobbyists to jump right in with a cyclone for their garage workshop.
I want to go on the record though saying that protecting yourself from saw dust using a dust collection system AND a respirator is vital for those woodworkers who wish to continue using their lungs at current capacities.
Get the Dust Out with Your Shop Vac
If you’re just getting serious about dust collection then your first step should be getting the most out of your shop vac. More and more tool manufacturers design for connections to dust collection systems. There are collection systems made so that you can wheel your vac/collector from tool to tool in your shop and attach it as you use each tool. Also there are collection systems like this one from Lee Valley for those whose tools are stationary.
If your tools are old you may have to rig up your own dust collection port and close up the areas where dust escapes. This write up: Shop vac dust collection provides excellent detail with those who have more time + DIYness available than cash (this guy goes pretty McGyver on his dust collection - it’s worth a read).
Windows Open + Box Fans with Filters
Another “bare minimum” way to handle dust is to open your shop windows and give yourself a cross breeze with 2 open windows and a box fan. Add a furnace/AC filter to the backside of the fan and you’ll scrub a bit of the dust from the air. This approach isn’t going to make your buddies from OSHA happy, but it will do something. I unequivocally recommend using a respirator if this is the only method you’re using for cleaning the air. Also, open windows and box fans could make your winter woodworking projects a bit uncomfortable.
To add a box fan to your permanent dust collection efforts, here’s an idea I found from Woodworking Tips: “When it’s turned on, the fan pulls the dusty air up and through the filter. The filtered air is then expelled into the cavity between the joists, where it can return to the shop”
Respirators are a Must
I’ve only recently become a convert to the church of dust collection. In part this is because of the forum reading I did for “5 Top Air Respirators for Woodworking.” Here’s an excerpt: “After working on a project for about six hours last spring, I began to have some wheezing and shortness of breath. I took a break and walked out side and felt better. This had happened once before after several hours in the shop and resolved itself within a few minutes of stopping work. A few of days later I went back in the shop. The symptoms reappeared in about an hour and were worse this time. They barely got better when I stopped working.My wife (who is a physician) came home for dinner took one look at me and said ‘we are going to the emergency room.’” Folks, even if you’re running a cyclone you still need to wear a respirator when you’re making sawdust.
Small-ish Dust Collection Units
Without going hog wild and overwhelming you with options (I will do that in a later article here are a few $400ish and under dust collectors that I heard good things about in forums. Not exactly budget, I know…
There’s a woodworking maxim that goes “you can never have too many tools.” No one ever mentions the accompanying maxim though: “…there’s never enough room.” This holds true for wood too.
In this article I scoured the web for lumber storage plans AND lumber storage advice. You’ll find the plans first, followed by the tips. On the plans I identify for each if it holds sheet goods, full boards and/or cut offs. Here’s the organization in case you want to skip ahead to a particular spot:
1) 3 Overachiever Lumber Storage Awards
2) 5 Rolling Lumber Carts
3) 6 Wall Storage Solutions
4) 7 Lumber Storage Tips
5) Resources and Citations
6) Other Free Woodworking Plan Collections
1) Overachiever Lumber Storage Awards
Some lumber storage solutions go above and beyond. I selected these either because of high-efficiency or high wow-factor. Yes, I am easily impressed - that’s what makes my job so much fun.
Panel-Cutting Sheet Goods Cart
Get out of TOWN. Not only is this sheet good storage unit on rollers for added convenience, but there’s a dang panel-cutting jig on the front of it. This one’s a big time overachiever.
Storage for:
Sheet Goods
Workbench with Lumber Storage
Yup. This one’s an overachiever. You’ll be restricted on how much lumber you can put in there and actually get work done. Be careful with this one - you may end up turning your workbench into a storage unit
Storage for:
Full Size Boards
Cut Offs
2) Rolling Lumber Carts Roll-Around Store-All
“It’s like having a lumber yard in your shop. Storage for long boards, short cutoffs, and sheet material.”
Storage for:
Sheet Goods
Full Size Boards
Cut Offs
3) Wall Mounted Lumber Storage Solutions Lumber Rack by Grant Smith
“a lumber rack capable of storing over 1000 bd ft of lumber for around $200″ For straight-ahead lumber storage you won’t beat this one for efficiency. Why reinvent the wheel.
Storage for:
Sheet Goods
Full Size Boards
4) Quick Lumber Storage Best Practices
from Proven Woodworking:
Keep lumber off the floor. Especially concrete floors - concrete is porous and will “feed” water into your lumber.
Allow wood to stabilize in your shop - it will need to sit for several weeks to acclimate.
Mark your wood with its size for easy reference.
from the Woodwhisperer:
“The bottom line with wood storage is that you should store it in conditions that closely match the final destination whenever possible.”
“Stack it FLAT off the floor in a neat manner so it won’t twist.”
This comes from mark page in the SawmillCreek.org forums. He was admiring a Sawstop in the showroom. He says in the thread I actually got hurt by a Sawstop!!!:
“Was my second time disecting a sawstop and admiring the quality that went into building this tank. (Sans all the electrical safeguards). I was spinning the arbor from the drive belt inside the case and admiring the smoothness of the total system. I was pulling down quickly multiple times on the secondary drive belt.
“My index finger got caught up between the pulley and belt on the inner side. My finger thankfully did not go the complete turn between the two, or I could have ended up with a broken finger or worse a possible partial missing finger. Have a very large “blood blister” pinch and hurt like hell at the time. But looking backwards, we all had a good laugh at the store.”
Mr. Mike Heidrick “helpfully” pointed out that, “on the door you opened there is a warning and a caution/safety picture of a finger getting caught in the belts. You were warned!”
And it turns out Page isn’t the first person to be injured by a Sawstop… Mr. Michael King reported that, “Last year I was helping the maintenance men at our school move a new Sawstop into the school shop when my thumb got smashed, no, crushed, flat as a pancake, between the cast iron table top and the door jamb.”
Here in North Carolina the sweetest picnic season is just arriving… Fall! I woke up this morning with visions of picnic tables dancing in my head and I just knew there would be some crazy, practically ludicrous picnic table plans out there. I only found a few worthy of an award, but WOW, we’ve got some beauties there in the awards section In all I found 32 free picnic table plans out there on the web - plus some helpful videos and even a picnic table faceplant (in the fun with picnic tables section).
So here ya go, a complete resource for building a picnic table from scratch. 32 plans and 11 picnic table sections. Enjoy!
1) Picnic Table Plan Awards
2) Overachievers: Hexagonal, Octagonal Picnic Table Plans
3) Classic Picnic Table Plans
4) Separatists: Benches Separate from the Table
5) Picnic Tables For Kids
6) Wood Suitable for Picnic Tables
7) Finishing Your Picnic Table
8) Picnic Table Videos
9) Fun with Picnic Tables
10) My Picnic Table Plan Sources
11) More Free Woodworking Plan Goodness from ToolCrib
1) Picnic Table Plan Awards
Our expert panel of judges (er, ok it was just me) declared these picnic tables to be the most awesome and outstanding picnic tables from the 32 picnic table plans I uncovered.
Most Awesome: retro 80’s hexagonal BEAUTY: THE PICNIC TABLE EVOLVES
Individual, butt-cupping seats for each diner, a revolutionary hexagonal shape, plus an undeniable 80’s flare. You can’t beat this picnic table people - it’s the queen mother of them all. Take a look and you’ll see why Mother Earth News titled this article - in all caps no less - THE PICNIC TABLE EVOLVES. I’m not sure it’s evolved much further since this one.
Most Awesome runner up: A Picnic Table that Folds into 2 Park Benches
Step back Jack! This picnic table will amaze your guests. It’s more than a conversation starter - it will be the focal point of your entire backyard bbq for at least 2 seasons. You will have some guests who will not be able to stop talking about how cool this thing is. Guests like me for example.
Most… sheltered award? THE SHELTERED TABLE
This one wins the award of most sheltered. Also, it’s the only sheltered picnic table plan I found. It’s outstanding I suppose mostly in its determination to make the picnic a success, no matter what the weather. Now if you could just hang mosquito netting from the roof line you’d be set here in NC.
2) Overachievers: Hexagonal, Octagonal Picnic Table Plans
For some people the classic picnic table isn’t enough to show off their woodworking prowess. That’s why someone invented the hexagonal picnic table. And then someone else promptly trumped that woodworker with the octagonal picnic bench. I’m still looking for the dodecahedron picnic table that you can climb up into to eat… Now THAT would be awesome.
3) Classic Picnic Table Plans
The classic picnic table - benches attached to table - you could almost build it with your eyes closed. There are lots of classic table plans out there, but only a few with AWESOME instructions and write ups. I floated those to the top and included pics. All the others I just linked out to. ENJOY.
Picnic Table Design 101 (an outstanding write up - offers theory of picnic table building)
For picnic table engineers: “The fundamental basis for the design of this table evolved out of the use of 45 degree mitre cuts. This factor, combined with the desire to have the outboard edge of the seat top and legs align on the same vertical plane gave us the width of the overall table and thus, the width of the table top.”
4) Benches Separate from the Table
Do you find that the classic picnic table’s attached bench puts you a little too snug with the table? Would you like something that’s a little easier to store away when you’re not using it? Would you like more versatility from your picnic table? Can you think of any other questions I could preface this section with? Here they are in all their separated glory… the separatist picnic bench and table plans. Some are just benches. Some are just tables. Some are both.
5) Picnic Tables For Kids
Your backyard parties will be much more successful with the kid table set away from the adult table… How else will the kids feel comfortable practicing those new swear words you accidentally taught them while building their picnic table ;P
6) Wood Suitable for Picnic Tables
Ask 5 woodworkers and you’ll get 25 different answers. And they’ll all start with “it depends.” Here are some quotes from forum threads discussing picnic table wood choices. Your mileage may vary.
From Cody Colston at Sawmill Creek Cypress would be my choice. It’s stronger than Cedar and doesn’t dent quite as easily. I don’t like the look of unpainted White Oak after it weathers. It doesn’t hold up that well, either.
Ipe, Mahogany and Teak would all be good but expensive choices.
from Peter Quinn at Sawmill Creek: I’d consider quarter sawn or rift sawn white oak, cumaru, ipe, black locust, cambara, genuine mahogany, eucalyptus, jarrah, or iroko as a short list of worthy candidates. Black walnut is also known to weather reasonably well, though it feels vaguely criminal to suggest it for a picnic table. Cypress might be a choice if you like the look of it, which I for one do not. Sealing all 6 sides of what ever wood you choose prior to installation will go a long way towards preserving your investment in time and lumber.
7) Finishing Your Picnic Table: Finish For Pressure Treated Picnic Table? from Johnnyapollo “After construction, put it in the sun and move it around for maximum exposure (including letting it sit upside down for a week). The green will fade to more of a white color. As already stated - it needs to dry a bit, at least on the surface, to provide better absorption of any stains you use. Next find the stain - you can go dark but understand that constant weather and sun exposure will lighten it with age (so you’ll need to reapply every few years) and apply like you would decking, using a pump sprayer. Try a sample piece (keep some cut offs) to see what stains work the best. A dark walnut will hide most of the green tint anyway - actually the dark walnut stain will probably fade into the greens as it ages.”
What finish for cedar picnic table?
“Left unfinished, they will weather (outdoors) to a fine gray patina within a couple of years. You can enjoy the natural graying or protect them with a quality sealer when they reach the stage of weathering you prefer.”
8) Picnic Table Videos:
traditional picnic table from BuildEazy - not very helpful, but may have good insights to the observant
sidekick driving on a picnic table: can your table withstand this punishment?
faceplant off of picnic table: can your face withstand this punishment?
I can’t understand French, but laughter at the pain of others is a universal language.
10) My Picnic Table Plan Sources:
In addition to spending an hour poking around with Google (site searches on woodworking forums + variations on “picnic table plans”) I relied heavily on the following picnic table plan sources. There are many dupes on each list, but enough uniques that they were worth sorting through for this list. They are in order of my opinion of their awesomeness.
“Making mistakes” should be added to that list along with “death” and “taxes.” Especially when it comes to woodworking. Mistakes are the only way some of us learn ANYTHING, so I guess we should be thankful Fortunately there are some great resources available for the more common mistakes. And if those don’t help you maybe you’ll find solace in the mistakes I pulled from Woodnet in the thread “Whats the biggest mistake you have made?”
HOW TO FIX 10 WOODWORKING MISTAKES (you wish you hadn’t made)
This is a classic article, focused on classic woodworking mistakes. It’s not gospel, and none of the fixes are mind blowing but it’s a great place to start, especially for newbie woodworkers. Read the rest of this entry »
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In all I found 32 free picnic table plans out there on the web - plus some helpful videos and even a picnic table faceplant (in the fun with picnic tables section).
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