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Sean

1)First off I want say how much I’ve enjoyed listening to your podcast over the past year or more.  With the right balance of instruction and interaction between the hosts, it’s both informative and entertaining.

I’ve been woodworking for quite some time and I ran across something I never experienced before and was hoping you might have some insight.  I’m building a floor lamp with three curved legs as a base.  I made a template for the leg profile out of ¼ inch hardboard.  Using a straight pattern bit on my router table, I was able to easily create three legs out of ¾ plywood for my prototype.  Happy with the design I used the template to trace out the legs on some ¾ walnut.  I then rough cut out the legs on the band saw, leaving a 1/16inch of material outside of the line.  From there it was back to the router table where I attempted to flush cut the legs using the template and straight pattern bit. This gave me no trouble at all when routing the plywood prototype legs, but as soon as I carefully eased the walnut into the bit, it would immediately catch and tear out. I purchased a ¼ inch spiral flush trim bit and also used a starting pin but the results where the same. I continued to get bad catches and tear out no matter how carefully or slowly I went.  In all my years of woodworking, I’ve never run across anything like this. Any ideas on what I could do different? Terry

2) Hi guys and thanks again for making the ULTIMATE (remember that episode?) woodworking podcast,

And by the way, thanks for answering my last question.  I live in Bergen, Norway and a small local timber merchant is selling Beech (I guess it is European beech) and Alder (again European alder I believe) at quite a reasonable price. Here in Norway poplar is not readily available.

Given a choice between the two, which would you choose as a secondary wood (for drawers and parts that won't be seen)? And if you were to make furniture project wholly out of one of them, which would you choose? And of course, why?

Both are rated as perishable. The beech is quite a lot harder according to the janka scale. 6460N vs. 2890N. The beech is supposedly superb for steam bending, but I have yet to get there in my skill set. And both seem to have quite good workability.

I am not sure I appreciate the ray fleck look or the slightly yellow look on the beech that I have seen, but that may be fixed during finishing if the other attributes make it worth while. I have however, little experience with alder. Looking forward to your discussion on this. Sincerely, Gøran Eliassen Nomad Makes

Guy

1) Hey guys. My question is about pricing your woodworking and getting past imposter syndrome. I have recently started making some items for a group of dog breed enthusiasts and I have experienced a substantial growth in demand for items that fall much more into the "art" category than the "furniture" category. As a hobbyist woodworker,  I do not have a huge portfolio of work that I've sold, only a few items here and there. Moving forward, I plan on building into a more substantial business. I obviously want to price my work at what it's worth, but I can be very self conscious about my skills and tend to undervalue what I'm worth. I obviously want to sell as much as I can, but how do I sell my work at a value that gets its out into the world without setting a low bar price-wise for the future? I am my harshest critic. Joshua

2) Hey Guy(s)! Thankfully this question is not very time sensitive, so hopefully you can get to it before I need to take your answer(s) into consideration.

My wife and I are in the process of redesigning our kitchen that is in need of a serious facelift. We plan on contracting out the plumbing and electrical and fortunately aren’t doing any structural modifications to the house itself.

Our current debate involves the cabinetry. I’m a fairly competent woodworker and love a good challenge. Personally, I’d rather take the money we would pay a cabinet shop to build and install new cabinets and make some needed upgrades and additions to my own workshop to do them myself. I’m not a fan of raised panel designs so I’ll probably do more shaker style cabinets. 

I have a Sawstop contractor saw, 14” bandsaw, 13” planer, basic router table, bench top drill press, and an older model Festool track saw, plus various other hand tools

Considering I expect to save somewhere in the range of $5-10K by doing it myself, what additional tools would you recommend? As specific as you’d like to be would be great if you have machines you’ve been very happy with.

Side note: we had to take down a large white oak in our back yard and I plan to have it milled up and kiln dried to continue its life on our property.

Thanks for your time and your continued insight to help us all become better woodworkers!

Shawn @terpax

Huy

1) Aloha Boys!

 I have a question about managing humidity and rust in the workshop.  I live in Hawaii and have my workshop in a detached garage.  Most buildings here including my workshop have jaulosie style windows and I can't completely seal and temperature control my shop.

 I am spraying or wiping down my larger tools with T-9  and other rust inhibitors,  but many of my other various tools and equipment are quickly rusting.   

 Outside of temperature controlling a shop, any other tips tricks or ideas? Are silicone gel packs a waste of money?   Would it be crazy to put rubber weather sealing on cabinet doors?  Mahalo boys, you are the best! Matt

2)Hey again, love the podcast and the advice you give. Recently you answered why I suck at hinges, and one reason mentioned was the cheap hardware I often use. This lead me to another thought. When do you buy the hardware for a project? Before you begin, or once it's all made?

I tend to wait until after the project is made, and unfortunately that also means I sometimes struggle to find hardware that will work. I've been known to buy many different sets of hinges to take home and see how they look on a box, or even carried boxes into Rockler to try there.

I've also ran into the issue of fit. I recently made a shoe-shine box, and when I planed the lumber, i just ran it through until I thought it looked good. I didn't measure at all. But when I went to buy hinges, the odd sizing left me with hinges that were either too big and stuck out, or not strong enough for the weight of the lid/shoe support. I ended up with external hinges that I didn't like, and 3 of them for strength, all because I didn't plan ahead. My wife likes it, but what does she know about design?  Peter