Brands/items I found worthwhile to invest in

I have learned that even when starting off, it is better to save up for good piece of equipement then buy the cheapest one because you later end up regeting and spending more money to replace it. Thankfully I've only done this with a few small, cheap items and not a major powertool.

When I do sanding of pens and turned objects, I found regular sandpaper just tended to clogged too much, especially with really resinous woods like argentine lignum vitae. That use to gum up that sand paper with this hard shell after barely any use on the lathe. Then while searching the woodworking forums I found abranet. It is more a wire based sand paper that just lets the dust fall through no issue. It is expensive compared to a sheet of sandpaper but I have yet to go through one sheet when the box I bought had 5 sheets of six different grits.

I also found that the woodriver handplanes are nice to when you are getting into them. You can hone them out of the box and tinker with them to get the absolute most but I was very surprised by how well they cut right out the box. I have the #5 plane and a block plane and I love them. Sure there are better planes, veritas and the top one being the lie-nielson planes and chisels but I can't justify dropping $300-400 on one plane. Maybe if I was a mastercrafts man or I had more money that I knew what to deal with but I don't.

I also found some interesting finishes, one of my favorite when I'm dealing with pine or what ever species "whiteboard" from lowes is milkpaint. The stuff takes a little getting use to as it does not form uniform colors or coatings and needs to be mixed alot. All milk paint now is casin (milk protein), lime, and some natural pigment. The stuff dries very quickly once painted on though you need to multiple coats. When it dries it feels like chalk and for the first couple of years is very sensitive to water contact. I usually use a 2-3 coats of milk paint and then 3 coats of polycrylic which allows the paint to breath and harden while protecting it from moisture. You can tell if an old piece of furniture is actually coated with milk paint by putting some paint stripper on it. Milk paint will not strip without a special stripping agent or alot of sanding/scraping.

What has gone before this blog

The projects I have made before I started this blog were not many. I have made 4 bookcases, numerous pens, and some cutting boards.

The bookcases were not my best work, I have yet to get the knack down to cut a circle or curve that isn't somewhat jagged or off balance. I also have had some other mistakes with the bookcases, learn from my mistakes and maybe have a laugh while your at it.

Mistake #1 was gluing the top of a bookcase on the bottom of it. It was suppose to have 2 shorter legs and 2 shelves about 10" apart. Instead I have a stubby little shelf at the top, a large shelf, and really long legs. Gluing together the thing after working 14 hours was not smart and to make it worse I didn't realize it was glued upside down until 3 days later when I took the clamps off, well after the glue had set up and there was no way I was going to be able to break that glue bond, the maple was going to break before that glue did.

Mistake #2 was not double checking my measurements on a little bookcase, I cut the sides about 8" too short so the shelving end up with smaller spacing. It now has life as a telephone stand at my parents house, seems to work well enough and they put other papers to be filed on the 2nd level.

Mistake #3 was trying to use pocket hole screw and then put plugs in, then trying to flush cut the plugs. That just ended up with me taking a chisel and knocking the plugs out while tearing some of the wood, thankfully it was on the underside and back so it was not really noticeable.

Mistake #4 was when I was making a bookcase for my cellar workshop out of some plywood. I forgot to account for dados when I cut the shelves, and I tried to use a jigsaw and a board as a straight edge. That didn't work too well, which caused me to break out the circular saw (borrowed from my father). I ended up cutting off part of the MDF top of one of my mobile shop carts.

The pens have had enough mistakes a seperate post will be devoted to them later.
Photos will also be posted once I have a camera to take the photos and upload them.