# TEACH ME!! Calling all Woodworkers. Teachers wanted



## bald9eagle (Mar 22, 2014)

Here is what I want to try and do. I want to build SOMETHING! I'm as green as a fresh cut sugar maple when it comes to woodworking. Okay......maybe I have dried a little. I exaggerate. 

So boxes seem like a good start. Maybe something in the furniture section. What I want to do is get some ideas from you folks to help get me started. I'm thinking about a persimmon box for starters. 

So where do I start? I've got the wood. Needs to get planed and dried some more. Now what? I want to go through each step and let all you folks help talk me through it. You know....it takes a village kinda thing.

Reactions: Like 1


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## Mike1950 (Mar 22, 2014)

Persimmon is slow to dry and hard. You might try something just a little softer- oak or? Lots of builds in classroom with step by step instructions. Shop notes Mag has some well written plans- you can get them on line. Or I am sorta partial to this box but then again I am sorta biased- probably have built a hundred+-
http://www.woodbarter.com/threads/build-da-box.2601/


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## NYWoodturner (Mar 22, 2014)

Matt - I can't think of a Village I would rather raise me than this one.  
I think you would do best by picking your project. We got folks on here to teach you how to build anything. Decide what you want to build, post a pic of something similar or post a sketch and start there. You can even do it as a "Community" classroom post where the masses teach you rather than you teaching the masses. I think it would be a very popular thread!

Reactions: Agree 7


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## Kevin (Mar 22, 2014)

I agree with what Scott said but I will diverge slightly and go ahead and offer a suggestion on where to begin. Start with long grain cutting boards. That will teach you most of the basic rudiments of woodworking. Flattening (jointing) , planing, squaring, gluing (joining) , clamping, scraping, sanding, finishing . . . . make a few of those then do a couple of end grain (it is a little different and you'll see why quickly) boards.

One of my electronics instructors way back int he day used to tell us _"Everything no matter how complex is a series of flashlights. And a flashlight is a power source, a load, and the 2 wires in between. That's it."_

Woodworking is not much different. Everything is a flat board. If you can make a quality flat board (a cutting board) then you aren't far away from making a box, which is nothing more than several flat boards joined together, and if you got the "flat" part down then the challenge of your joinery is half over. Learn the very basics now, and you too can do justice to wood that begs for a master.

Reactions: Like 6 | Agree 2


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## NYWoodturner (Mar 22, 2014)

And so it begins. This is truly an amazing approach to the classroom. Matt - If your willing I'll start and set up the thread. It basically breaks down like this - you will be in the classroom. There are 2,406 members here. Minus you that leaves roughly 2,403 instructors  Actually My guess is you will have no more than 10 active instructors. Its your project. You pick and choose what you want to do or not, but will have the benefit of several different options/ opinions. You will just opt for whats best for your project. You might be the only "student" in the classroom but I guarantee you there are about 2000 other members that will be cheating off of you. I'll be one of them... Wanna give out a go?

Reactions: Like 1


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## Wildthings (Mar 22, 2014)

I'll be cheating too - for sure!! - subscribed!!

Reactions: Like 1


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## dycmark (Mar 22, 2014)

I will join in, i am kind of in the abyss thought, not sure I'm qualified to be a teacher but maybe a little above beginner. I ALWAYS have 2 cents though! and I think that is about what my next project will be worth


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## ripjack13 (Mar 22, 2014)

Ah yes....another great thread is building up here. I can just see it. 
Let's make a woodworker.....

Ok...go!

Reactions: Like 1


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## bald9eagle (Mar 22, 2014)

Let's do this. It will be a week before I start anything. Turkey season is ongoing. :)

Reactions: Like 3


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## Terry Summerville (Mar 23, 2014)

A week gives you time to formula a good plan and get some good advice from your "teachers"!

First thing I suggest you do is envision what you want to make. Tell us what your ideas and thoughts on this project are so we can give you instruction on where to begin.


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## bald9eagle (Mar 23, 2014)

Let's start with a simple cutting board. I currently have oak, cherry, and black walnut that are dried. My little kiln can handle foot long boards so I can also dry some Persimmon and osage. Dad made me a kiln in the same fashion as some incubators he used to make. Little fan and a heat lamp gets the temp close to 100 pretty steady. Does awesome on pen blanks and pot call blanks.

So here is where I need to let everyone know what we are working with. I have a bandsaw (30th Anniversary Grizzly, which I am quite proud of), lathe, drill press, biscuit joiner, 12" Dewalt planer, miter saw, and access to table saw, router, and radial arm saw. My intial step into woodworking was turkey calls. I had a heart attack in July of 2012 and needed a hobby to get off the couch. So that's where I began.

In April of 2013 we lost our oldest daughter (Caitlyn, the beautiful girl in the picture to the left) in a car accident that also severly injured our youngest daughter, Alison. She was in a coma for several weeks and has been working her way back from severe brain damage. That has pushed me out to the shop more as a means of easing my mind. So you see I need to channel my thoughts on something productive.

So I'm thinking a cherry/black walnut laminate cutting board as a beginner project.

From there I would like to go to some boxes.

After that maybe some small furniture.

I'm really up for anything. My biggest issue is not knowing all the terminology and then how to actually carry out the plan. You can only get so much out of a book and I don't know any real good woodworkers, at least not any that I would talk to.


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## Mike1950 (Mar 23, 2014)

If you have clamps, you have more then enough tools to do a bread board. If you keep design at 12" or under, planing it will be easy. Cherry and walnut would look nice.


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## bald9eagle (Mar 23, 2014)

Ahh yes.....I have clamps. Just a couple though. Can get more. I'm guessing cutting boards are just about getting good joints and a good smooth plane.

Reactions: Agree 1


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## Mike1950 (Mar 23, 2014)

You are right in your guess. I would think for a 12" x 14" 3 or 4 clamps. I say 14" because I think that is minimum length for your planer?


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## Terry Summerville (Mar 23, 2014)

Sorry to hear about your daughters, and your health issues! I can see why you are looking for a distraction.

It sounds like you have a nice array of tools on hand. Are you experienced using them also? What do you have as far as sanding tools? I assume you have some sort of clamps also.

With the wood mentioned above I picture a cutting board made out of strips of your harder woods (oak and black walnut) as the center. Not sure how much of each wood you have tho. In my head I'm seeing the corners weaved together, but I'm OCD with details in my woodworking and have many years of experience. You may not want to get into that yet. Anyhow, I would outline the entire cutting board in cherry with one of the short ends bowed outward with a shallow groove on the underside to hold it. I would also put a shallow groove around the complete cutting board to stop any liquids from running off the sides, possibly a small hole through the curved end to serve as a drain and to hang it for display.

This is just my vision of your project! Like I said tho...I'm OCD! Hope this helps...

Reactions: Funny 1


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## NYWoodturner (Mar 23, 2014)

Matt - Pictures all the way man!


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## NYWoodturner (Mar 26, 2014)

Matt - Your call on everything. You get to evaluate all the suggestions and choose which path you want to follow. Got any design ideas? nailed down your wood choice?


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## tocws2002 (Mar 27, 2014)

I will be watching this thread as it will be interesting to see how it plays out.

As a note of caution, if you do an end grain cutting board DO NOT RUN IT THROUGH YOUR PLANER, use a drum sander if you can find one, but not a planer...it is not a safe operation to plane end grain. 

If you go with a laminated board then planing is fine. If you are not sure of an operation ask before doing it is much safer than the other way around. 

Look forward to seeing you cutting board! And yes, we need lots of pictures. 

-jason

Reactions: Agree 2


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## bald9eagle (Mar 27, 2014)

I'm thinking about starting out with a laminated pizza board.

What I've got in mind is a center piece of persimmon that runs all the way out to the handle. From there either two strips of cherry about 1/4 thick followed by black walnut or just black walnut. I've got plenty of all three so I'm pretty flexible. I think the black walnut will compliment the persimmon quite nicely. 

The second project will definitely be a box. I want go do a presentation type box for a turkey call set. I want to inset some glass that will have some stuff etched on it.

Reactions: Like 1


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## ButchC (Mar 27, 2014)

bald9eagle said:


> I'm thinking about starting out with a laminated pizza board.
> 
> What I've got in mind is a center piece of persimmon that runs all the way out to the handle. From there either two strips of cherry about 1/4 thick followed by black walnut or just black walnut. I've got plenty of all three so I'm pretty flexible. I think the black walnut will compliment the persimmon quite nicely.
> 
> The second project will definitely be a box. I want go do a presentation type box for a turkey call set. I want to inset some glass that will have some stuff etched on it.



How about something like one of these three? I kept the Pizza board fairly thick because it was actually to be used as a cutting board, not as a pizza peel.

Reactions: Like 5


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## bald9eagle (Mar 31, 2014)

Sorry no pics....I started on my project this evening before going to work. I learned some lessons.

First thing I did was take the persimmon that I had dried and cut it down to just over 4" wide. I know it isn't the thing to do but I used the planer as a jointer to clean up my edges. The persimmon board is roughly 18" long. I am going to do a 12" round pizza board with a 6" long handle. The handle will be roughly 2" wide. I'll see what looks better when I draw it out.

First lesson. Make sure all your boards are planed to the same thickness. I didn't do this before making my biscuit cuts. Second lesson. Measure and mark where you are going to cut for your biscuits. Third lesson. Know what size biscuit you are using and what setting you have your biscuit jointer set for.

So I cut 2 X 1 1/2" cherry strips just over 12" long. Like I said the thickness was all wrong but I kinda made it work. Next lesson learned.....make sure you are close to your finished thickness. I am at 1 1/4" on the persimmon when I was looking at finished thickness being 1/2" tapering to 3/8" ( or 1/4") at the "scooping" end. I should have thought about that before gluing..... My intent was to cut the board down to 5/8" thick and get it planed before gluing. Oh well.

So right now I have a 4" wide persimmon board that is too thick, glued and clamped to two cherry boards that may or may not have the biscuit joints in the right position. When everything is set up good I am going to plane it all down to a better working thickness and prep my outer pieces by getting them to the same thickness. I will see how bad I screwed up the biscuit joint positions (as far as centering them up and down) when I start planing. I am going to try and take equal amount off either side until I get about 5/8" thick.

Now for a question. My thought is to get it all glued and planed first. Then I plan on shaping it out. Bandsaw or jigsaw? I've not yet tried cutting shapes on my big bandsaw but I have to imagine that it is possible. My only thought is that you might not get the control that you want on a bigger bandsaw.

Second question. To get my tapered thickness.....should I shim the piece on one end with a 1/8" or 1/4" piece (depending on what I decide on finished thickness) and run it through the planer? I don't know if I want the entire piece to have a taper or even what is normal. Do all pizza boards have a taper and if so is it just the leading edge or the whole thing? If it is just the leading edge I will set it up on the table saw to get the taper/bevel that I want.

OK...........I think that is it for now......I think.


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## ButchC (Apr 1, 2014)

I watched an episode of Rough cut Mac where one of the guys built a pizza peel. The only part that was tapered was the leading edge.

Sounds like you're learning by fire! The cutting boards that I showed pics of earlier in this thread have no fasteners between boards; just glue.

As far as whether to use your bandsaw or jigsaw, only you can be the best judge of that. If you're comfortable with the bandsaw, that would be my choice as you'll get a much better cut with less tearout on both faces than you would with the jigsaw.

Be careful. Work Slowly and methodically. Think 2 steps ahead of your next procedure. Make 2 of your project; many times it takes just a fraction longer to make two than it takes to only make one.

Before you try to taper a rounded edge, find a youtube video about it and watch.

Ask questions. You started this thread asking for us to help you.

Have fun. Butch


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## Alan Sweet (Apr 1, 2014)

BTW... I live in Chelsea, Al. We have a very good Wood Workers Guild... The Alabama Wood Workers Guild. If you are not too far away, you would have access to tools, machines and people that know how to use them. If you are too far away, there are a number of WW clubs and Guilds around the state.


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## bald9eagle (Apr 1, 2014)

Chelsea is a little bit away. I'm in Hatton (Lawrence County).


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## Alan Sweet (Apr 1, 2014)

Here is a link to most Wood worker organizations in Alabama. I know that some are great for helping the beginner.

http://www.oldaveswoodshop.com/AL.php


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## bald9eagle (Apr 4, 2014)

Okay....the pizza board is coming along nicely. Just need to finish up. It wasn't as tough as I thought it might be. I might even get pics one day....

Now for a challenge (if folks think I am up to it). My daughter's karate instructor is trying to get kids interested in chess. So I want to start on a chess board. 

Step #1 - ?????????????


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## tocws2002 (Apr 4, 2014)

Are you planning on using solid wood or do you want to use veneer for the squares? Either way, the process is basically the same (I'll describe as if using solid wood), if you need/want veneer let me know.

1. Decide how big you want each square to be (i.e. 2" x 2"), which will determine the overall size of your board (16" x 16" for 2" square).
2. Choose two species of contrasting colored woods (i.e. walnut and maple)
3. Plane to desired thickness
4. Rip 4 strips of each species to the width determined in step 1 (i.e. 2" wide) x ~18" long (if using 2" squares)
5. Glue strips together, alternating colors/species (i.e. walnut, maple, walnut, maple, walnut, maple, walnut, maple)
6. After glue sets you should have a "striped" piece that is approximately 16" wide x 18" long
7. Rotate the piece so the stripes are 90 degrees to your tablesaw blade and set your fence to the square width (i.e. 2")
8. Rip the glued up piece so you end up with 8 strips that have alternating squares of walnut and maple
9. Flip over every other one end for end and glue them up (the flipping is what produces the checkerboard effect).
10. Sand and finish your completed checker board (you could add a frame, feet, or other embellishments as desired).

Hope this helps, it's probably easier to do than to describe.

-jason

Reactions: Informative 1


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## bald9eagle (Apr 4, 2014)

That is what I had figured in my head but wasn't real sure if that was the right/best/most efficient way.

OK....so we (I) know how I am going to do the board. I have curly maply and black walnut.

I want the board to rest on a box with a drawer for the chess pieces. I am thinking cherry on this. Best way to build box? Dovetails? 45 degree corners?


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## Terry Summerville (Apr 8, 2014)

Dovetail the corners of the drawer for sure. The case housing the drawer should have 45's tho.


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## bald9eagle (Apr 8, 2014)

So here is where we are with the chessboard. I cut the walnut into 2" strips. I wanted it to be pure 2" but because of the size of the oak board I have it ended up getting cut to 1 7/8". http://i1338.Rule #2/albums/o694/bald9eagle/20140408_175149_zpsd5tdpjn3.jpg

I lined everything up liked I wanted and squared and drew a couple lines across them for reference. 

http://i1338.Rule #2/albums/o694/bald9eagle/20140408_180300_zpsxvxxgqjb.jpg

I cut biscuit slots in each piece, minding that I marked the outside pieces so that I didn't cut the outer pieces. 

http://i1338.Rule #2/albums/o694/bald9eagle/20140408_181403_zpszaat0nik.jpg

Glued and clamped till tomorrow.

Here is the pizza board. Still needs a finish.

http://i1338.Rule #2/albums/o694/bald9eagle/20140408_175038_zpsqt5xys9y.jpg

Reactions: Like 3 | Way Cool 2


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## bald9eagle (Apr 8, 2014)

I noticed that the pizza board looks a little "off".....like I messed up somewhere. I measured everything and it seems good. I think it is an illusion caused by the persimmon grain.


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## Terry Summerville (Apr 9, 2014)

bald9eagle said:


> I noticed that *the pizza board looks a little "off"*.....like I messed up somewhere. I measured everything and it seems good. I think it is an illusion caused by the persimmon grain.



Are you referring to it looking like the strips of cherry seem to angle in towards the thin end of the pizza board? You could be right about the grain causing that illusion. Or it could even be the angle the camera was in when the pic was taken....or the fact that it gets thinner on that end. I bet if you took your camera, tilted the pizza board handle back a bit so you were looking at it as a flat surface everything would appear as it should. JMO


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## bald9eagle (Apr 9, 2014)

Yup....that's it. I really don't know why it looks that way. It's 4" wide from one end to the other. I really think the grain is playing tricks. The only other thing I can think of is maybe I didn't get the boards squared up well when gluing.


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## NYWoodturner (Apr 9, 2014)

Matt - Glad to see this pics. This concept is so much more effective with pics. Thanks

Reactions: Agree 1


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## bald9eagle (Apr 9, 2014)

Yeah....I would do a couple things and then forget to stop and take a pic. Thus far the little projects haven't been particularly difficult so I haven't been terribly concerned with getting help.

I promise to do better. :)

Reactions: Thank You! 1


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## David Wright (Jan 13, 2015)

I don't know if I should put my 1.365 cents in but since you asked..
I started by deciding to do a remodel or our home while my wife was out of town for a few weeks. If ya want to get away with something...that's the time or so I thought. I figured I had plenty of time before she got back.....I was wrong. Had a three bedroom home when she left and when she got back (drum roll please) a studio!
The only reason it didn't get done (I tried to reson with her with her eyes in shock)was that my daughter-in-law reminded me that I told her I'd make her a bed. So my first major project with a gutted home (or shack at the time) was a California King 4 poster pencil bed out of mahogany that I had seen on the web. Do you know how much trouble the Internet can get a guy into who loves wood.....

Reactions: Agree 1


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## ripjack13 (Jan 13, 2015)

How does your post apply to the board he made?


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## David Wright (Jan 13, 2015)

If I read the beginning post right (to lazy to review) I belief he didn't have any woodworking experience but had a lot of wood to play with and was asking for ideas and guidance on what to do (or make). I was just tossing in there that I love wood but had no real experience with it other than doing handy man stuff since I retired from the navy. My point being that I had someone whom I love dearly that ask me for something and through trial and error; along with asking questions from all (whom I consider friends) in both the internet wood working family and those around me I created something nice for her. Without woodworker support I would not have moved forward. Did that help?


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## NYWoodturner (Jan 13, 2015)



Reactions: Agree 1


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## David Wright (Jan 14, 2015)

NYWoodturner said:


>


So sorry then. I'll just stick to looking for lumber and trying to help all with wood I may have.


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## bald9eagle (Jan 21, 2015)

Haha....y'all's is funny.

So update....I haven't made squat. I started working on my cnc router and put everything else on the back burner. I've had to try and get pens made for Christmas and now I'm working on turkey calls. I'm going to make an effort to get back at this summer.


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