Smitty
JULY/AUG
2003
Volume 46/Issue 4
IN
THIS ISSUE
Project
Articles
•
Knock-Down & Store-Away Table
• Home Shop Workbench
• Rolling Pin & Dried Flower Vase
DEPARTMENTS
•
Ask Smitty
• Owner’s Gallery
• Letters from Owners
Academy Notes
Clean
Cuts - Pt. 1
Service Pointers
Bandsaw
Service Pointers
Safety Tips
Horizontal
Boring Safety
What's
New
Shopsmith
and Lowe's Team Up
EDUCATION
• Find
A Shopsmith Woodworking Academy Near You
• National
Woodworking Academy in Dayton, OH
ONLINE
CATALOGS
• Online Accessory Catalog
• Request
Printed Accessory Catalog
• Online
Replacement Parts Catalog
MARK
V INFORMATION
• Find
A Shopsmith
MARK V Demo Near You
• Request
MARK V Information Package
LINKS
•
Links Worth Visiting
•
Free Woodworking
Tips
FEEDBACK
Contacting
Shopsmith
Copyright
2003.
Shopsmith, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
ASK SMITTY!
Don't worry, SMITTY can help. Just use the special e-mail link to send your questions to SMITTY. He’ll do his best to get back to you soon, with the answers to those questions.
Here are the questions . . . and SMITTY’S answers for this issue!
If you're having a problem
setting-up, aligning or maintaining your Shopsmith equipment, you should
contact Shopsmith's Technical Support Staff (NOT Smitty).
Call TOLL-FREE, 1-800-762-7555 during normal business hours to
speak directly with a Shopsmith Technical Support Representative.
Printer friendly PDF copy of article
Temporary
finish for cake stand
From Paul Paine (Waltham, MA):
I am
completing a cake stand for my daughter's wedding. (Like an old coat stand
with a column of 2x2 red oak with 8 "arms" each supporting a platform
for a cake.) I'd like to give it a light coat of "something" that would
not hide the grain yet would give it some uniformity of finish. I'd rather
not coat it with a poly or a shellac because my daughter intends to use
it as a plant stand later on and we want to be able to finish it to match
the decor of her house later on. I was thinking of something like a Tung
Oil. What do you think?
Two choices:
The best choice would be a light coat of clear shellac. Why? Because once
you're done with the cake stand, you can remove the shellac easily with
denatured alcohol....which will dissolve it instantly. If you need to
get into the wood grain, use a toothbrush with the alcohol. Then, you
can refinish as you desire.
The other choice would be Natural Watco Danish Oil. Then, later, you should be able to go over it with one of the Watco Danish Oils that also contains a stain, such as oak, cherry, etc.
Figuring
out material needs
From Derek Hunter, via e-mail:
Since I don't build a lot of projects, I have a problem figuring
out the most economical way to buy the materials for my projects. Some
plans include a cutting diagram to help with those decisions, but others
don't. Is there some sort of “formula” for figuring this out
?
No, there's no formula. If there's not a cutting diagram, here's an idea:
1. Buy some graph paper with 1/4" squares.
2: Go to your hardware store, home center or lumber yard and find out what sizes of wood are available in your market area (for example, 8" wide oak may be available in 6-foot lengths and 10" wide oak may not be available at all).
3: Draw the board sizes that ARE available in your town onto the 1/4" square graph paper. For example, if 8" x 6-foot boards are available, assume that each 1/4" square equals 2" and draw a board on your graph paper that's 36 squares by 4 squares.
4: Finally, draw as many pieces as you can onto this 36 square by 4 square area to see what you can get out of each board.
5: Repeat the process until you have drawn all of your project pieces onto graph paper drawings of as many boards as you may need to contain all the pieces you'll need to make your projects.
6: Remember that you'll have an average 1/8" saw kerf every place you make a cut, so don't forget to deduct this saw kerf from your board length everywhere you make a cut.
