# My new to wood working experince



## Weth (Mar 17, 2011)

O.K. I am new to wood working. I do have a few pieces of advice that I have learned. I have just completed my first jewelry box make from butter nut.
1.	Square and Straight - Your tools will not cut straight and square out of the box. I have learned this the hard way. Every piece of equipment I owned that was fine for general wood working, stunk when I went to make the box.
2.	Do the jig - Every jig you make will make the next jig more square and straight. So far I had to make a table saw sled, a fence for my router and, a over lay fence for my table saw.
3.	Buy measurement tools - to check that things are square and straight. I could not trust my eyes because they lied.
4.	Cheap tools take more time to use and you will make more mistakes. Since I am new to wood working and I have made one box I do not know if I need the really good stuff. I will say that because of squareness issues I had to remake my box a few times. It went from a 9x16x9 box to 5x12x5. 
5.	All you need to get started is a table saw a router and a belt sander.
6.	Beware of all the gimmicks that are for sale.
7.	Think about what you are going to do. Research problems you are having on the net. Most of my problems were documented on You Tube.
8.	Develop a good way to fasten down your portable equipment. They can and will vibrate off the bench top. I am actually amazed that the equipment I own is not designed to be clamped down. If your shop is as small as mine, you cannot bolt things down. So I have had to put my tools on plates that could be clamped down.
9.	Craig List has the best deal on tools. However the really good deals go fast.
10.	If you do not have a scrap pile, start collecting wood pieces. I first made my box from MDF before I stated with wood.
I hope that this list helps you. The straight and square issue really amazed me. I had to spend about 24 hours just to correct all the issues. Much of that time was figuring out how to fix the issues and researching fixes. Time spend to make the jigs and making adjustments was actually 8 hours. I figure that a person who knows what do could get it done in 4 hours.


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## jw2170 (Jan 24, 2008)

Every new project teaches us something else......


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## xplorx4 (Dec 1, 2008)

Excellent advice Bill one suggestion regarding the square and straight issue, tools don't always stay square and straight so check them periodically and for sure at the beginning of each project.


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## Ralph Barker (Dec 15, 2008)

Good list, Bill. If I may add:

11. Assume nothing, verify everything.


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## papawd (Jan 5, 2011)

cool advice and it is all true


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## LowLyfe (Aug 1, 2011)

Lots of good information in this thread and all over the site. you guys rock


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## del schisler (Feb 2, 2006)

LowLyfe said:


> Lots of good information in this thread and all over the site. you guys rock


Also a good little tool is the Beall tilt box. I set everthing up using this. Now everthing is set to dead center 90 or what degree's you want. Their is a waxey one but this one is better.


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## 3wieout (Jul 27, 2011)

I'm new to wood working too. I like all your advice, but 1 & 3 are so true for me.


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## Barry747 (Jun 16, 2011)

Bill is dead on when it comes to straight and square. I sent a lot of chips into the dust collector while trying to figure out how to do that. I recently purchased a 6" planer/jointer. To get a square edge the fence has to be exactly 90 degrees but I just couldn't seem to get it right. Then an Igaging angle cube went on sale so I got one. What it showed me was that I was setting the fence to 90 but when I locked it in place the clamping action moved the the bottom and i ended up with an angle of 89.9. I've learned to set the angle at 90.1 then clamp it to end up with 90. 

Although I don't blame my tools when I get poor results, the right tools do help.


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## Brian guitar man (Aug 1, 2011)

Jerry, I hope you don't think I'm being cheeky, but if you were to check that your straight edges, squares, etc are true, like you say, what would you check them with? More straight edges and squares? And how do you know if THEY are straight, true or precise without using another set of straight edges and squares, and then.... OMG, this could go on and on.
Ha ha ha.
Sorry. Couldn't resist it.
B


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## JillB (Apr 20, 2009)

Most of my mistakes occur because I am rushing the job to get it finished. My bests advice is " Measure twice, cut once"


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## rhnelson (Aug 5, 2011)

Brian guitar man said:


> Jerry, I hope you don't think I'm being cheeky, but if you were to check that your straight edges, squares, etc are true, like you say, what would you check them with? More straight edges and squares? And how do you know if THEY are straight, true or precise without using another set of straight edges and squares, and then.... OMG, this could go on and on.
> Ha ha ha.
> Sorry. Couldn't resist it.
> B


For a straight edge, draw a line between two points, flip vertically then draw again. For a square,draw a line perpendicular to an edge then flip and draw again. Will be obvious if they're off. Works for table saws, routers, bandsaws, etc. also.


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## Mike (Nov 22, 2004)

Jill, The more you measure the more likely you are to make a mistake. Bob Rosendahl of the PBS show the Router Workshop used a stretchy rubber ruler to make this point. This is why we prefer brass set up blocks and templates for duplicating parts, it eliminates most of the measuring.


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## hal (Sep 14, 2004)

Bill, a couple of tips if I may. Go to Office Depot or Staples and buy yourself a couple of drafting triangles, a 45-90 and a 30-60-90. about 8 inches on the 90 degree side. use these to check your miter guage to saw blade and blade tilt to table top. These are accurate and cheap. Also a set of machinist squares have save me a lot of headache. Grizzle has a set for $17.75 thats what I have and I love them . If you don't have a Grizzle catalog get one they have good prices and everything I have bought from them I have been more than satified. 

If you have a question--ask, the people on this forum are some of the most helpful you will ever find.


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## Odd Arne (Dec 2, 2009)

You need three straight edges that all fits perfect when put them together two by two. If so, they are all straight. If one or more pairs don´t fit, you have no straight edge.

Then when you have the straight edge, you could check your square by making a test line both from right and left. If you get more than ONE line, your square is not square.

Now is time for checking and eventually adjusting your tools !

This time the box will be "dead on"....


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## annaatkins (Nov 30, 2011)

Great advice ! Thanks for that! I am new to woodworking as well and I do believe the best way to learn stuff is the hard way. That's the only way you'll remember!


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