WT316 – My FroMona

Today’s show is sponsored by QALO. These rings are incredibly comfortable and start at just $15.99. Head to qalo.com, and use the discount code “WoodTalk” for 15% off your order.

On today’s show, we’re talking about refinishing a table top, fixing a laundry rack, determining if an old table is veneered, cambering jointer plane blades, and wood movement.

What’s On the Bench

  • Marc is contemplating a move and the implications for his tools and shop
  • Matt made a hexagonal box, a farm table, and now has some torrefied wood
  • Shannon launches his new web site and the Apprenticeship product, then had a successful glue up

What’s New

Kickback

  • Dan like Japanese saws because they are cheaper and often “disposable”

Voicemail

  • Andreas has a question about refinishing an old table top
  • OCD Woodworker is trying to fix an old laundry drying rack
  • Jake has a question about wood movement for small boxes

Email

  • Richard is restoring an old round table top and is trying to figure out if it is veneered or solid wood before he cuts into the surface
  • Scott wants to know if we camber the blade in our jointer planes and if so how much.

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9 replies on “WT316 – My FroMona”

I was just wondering about stripping a tacky finish… and I don’t have any first hand experience, but you mentioned it would prolly get stuck in the throat of a plane. I wondered if it would be possible to powder the surface first. You wouldn’t want to use an abrasive powder that could dull your plane, but what about plain old flour? Just a thought.

Really not sure. But that’s something that would only work for the surface material. As soon as the blade cuts into the goop, it exposes more gummy finish that would go up into the throat. My guess is you’d have the exact same issues. Also, the powder won’t make the finish any firmer, which is also part of the problem.

First I would like to say that I really look forward to your show, because there is not much excitement here in Northern Colorado.

Second, Congratulations to Marc for deciding to move to Gods country.

Third, You guys are great and VERY entertaining.

Marc – congrats on the potential move. I have relocated a few times with my family and, while stressful, there is something really special about discovering a new city with your kids.

P.S. I don’t know how big the humidity swings are in Denver but I am sure it is more than AZ. I know Shannon can relate, but here in chicago my indoor RH is about 20% in the winter and 60%+ in the summer (and that is with the HVAC running 24/7 365 days a year). Even following all wood movement rules, stuff moves like crazy. You will have fun watching your furniture move with the seasons :). Whoever says “with modern HVAC, wood movement is not the problem it used to be” is smoking some of that fine CO stuff.

Maybe I missed something but another option for the laundry rack dowel would be to use a lathe. Just find centre on the dowel stock, mount it with either a chuck or a spur bit and a live center and turn the ends down to the desired diameter. Could even make your own dowel from scratch! Length becomes a limiting factor depending on the capacity of your (or your friend’s) lathe.

In response to the conversation about stripping, I have a favorite method. I place my item in a large tray. It may be something as simple as a cut off cardboard box. Once I have the chemical stripper on the item I use handfuls of cedar shaving pet bedding to scrub the old finish off. It’s abrasive enough to scrub away the softened finish, not abrasive enough to damage the underlying wood, and absorbent enough to soak up most of the stripper/old finish. The tray catches all the shavings. I simply let the shavings dry, and toss the whole batch out. A bale of pet bedding is cheap, and the resulting mess is mostly dry and easily cleanable. If the project is large, the dried shavings can often be reused on a second area.

Hi guys,
Got a neat surprise today. I had to go over to Carbatec, (one of Sydney, Australia’s premier tool shops), and who do you think had themselves all over one of the big screen tv’s in the store. None other than our beloved Mark Spagnolo!! Neat hey? Seems that my constantly bragging about what a great teacher you are and my telling it to anyone that has ears is paying off. Even tho the guys from Veritas did a tour down under here a few weeks ago and were so worth the hour and a half drive each way to see them, it wasn’t the guys from Veritas on the screen but one of Mark’s free episodes it seemed. Now just have to get them to add Shannon and the two Matt’s to their playlist and all shall be right down under lol. To be fair, the Veritas guys do feature prominently on the website of one of the staffers there (search for Dave Stanton on YouTube). So good to see the free advertising for you Mark, and as a guild member it’s always a pleasure to learn from you as well as Shannon and the two Matt’s, hmm does that mean we now have one for the front door and one for the back?? Sorry, Aussie humour there. Keep up the great work guys and if it happens, all of God’s blessings to you on your move Mark, I’ve done lots myself and you have my sympathies. Take care all, the best from down under, well, actually it’s up over as it’s really us who are on top of the world :), see ya

For the question about a tenon on the end if a dowel, router table version of your router suggestion is in workshop tips in the Sept/October 2016 issue FWW

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