1. When using a honing guide to sharpen your plane blades place a couple of earth magnets on the blade. The metal particles will then collect on top of the blade aiding sharpening and easing cleanup. When finished remove the magnets from the blade over the trash.

2. To drill a perfect sized pilot hole for a finish nail, just clip the head off a same size finish nail and use it to drill the hole.

3. To glue wood together temporarily make a paper joint with a sheet of paper (brown paper bag works best!) in between them. To break apart place the tip of a chisel at the crack point and tap with a mallet.

4. Use Titebond III for gluing dark woods and Tightbond II for gluing light woods. The color of Titebond III dries dark and Tightbond II dries light, thereby minimizing the visibility of a glue line.

5. Use a small amount of denatured alcohol or mineral spirits to temporarily bring-out the grain in a piece of sanded wood. Once dissipated neither of these will leave any trace that will affect your finishing.

These are just a few tips that I picked up lately. They come from a variety of sources including books, magazines, newsletters, online and some from personal experience.

There are more Woodworking Tips and Tidbits located here.

Got a woodworking tip that you want to share? Let me know and I’ll add it in a future issue of Tips and Tidbits!

Back to the shop…

1. Create a ‘measuring stick’ for checking box squareness from an old telescoping antenna. Point each end to fit accurately in a corner.

2. Add a strip of fine sandpaper to your Table Saw’s miter fence for added grip.

3. Throw a couple of silica-gel packets in your biscuit storage jars to minimize the biscuits from swelling due to humidity. You can usually find silica-gel packets in product packing boxes.

4. Sanding small pieces of wood? Tape a piece of sandpaper to your workbench. This will hold your wood in place while you machine sand it.

5. If you have to leave a green wood turning for a while wrap it tightly in plastic food wrap. This will keep it from drying out too quickly.

These are just a few tips that I picked up over this past week. They come from a variety of sources including books, magazines, newsletters, online and from personal experience.

There are more Woodworking Tips and Tidbits located here.

Got a woodworking tip that you want to share? Let me know and I’ll add it in a future issue of Tips and Tidbits!

Back to the shop…

1. Make your own bench dogs using 3/4″ hardwood dowels and rubber chair leg tips. The rubber tip gives a cushioned grip on your work piece as well as well as keeps the dog from sliding down the bench hole.

2. Using alcohol on a glue line is a great way to clean up excess epoxy, if you do it before it cures.

3. If you find that your chalk line is smudging and becoming unreadable try spraying it with hairspray.

4. A plywood block with a saw kerf in the top edge makes a handy scraper rack.

5. Need to copy something but out of transfer paper? Use a soft lead pencil to shade over the lines of your drawing on the back of the paper. Then tape your pattern to your workpiece and retrace.

These are just a few tips that I picked up over this past week. They come from a variety of sources including books, magazines, newsletters, online and some from personal experience.

There are more Woodworking Tips and Tidbits located here.

Got a woodworking tip that you want to share? Let me know and I’ll add it in a future issue of Tips and Tidbits!

Back to the shop…

1. Remove pencil marks on your wood with lacquer thinner. It is easier and more effective than sanding and it works in tight corners.

2. When you need to enlarge a tablesaw dado just a bit tape a piece of paper to the fence and run the wood through again. You can vary the adjustment with different thicknesses of paper.

3. For a quick lubricant for tool miter slots try scribbling on the bottom of the slot with a pencil. The graphite will make things slide more freely.

4. When using wood filler mix in saw dust from the wood you are working on to make the filler a better match.

5. When making wooden toys with wheels use a sharpened piece of copper tube to punch small washers from a plastic coffee can top. The washers make good spacers and the wheels spin better.

These are just a few tips that I picked up over this past week. They come from a variety of sources including books, magazines, newsletters, online and some from personal experience.

There are more Woodworking Tips and Tidbits located here.

Got a woodworking tip that you want to share? Let me know and I’ll add it in a future issue of Tips and Tidbits!

Back to the shop…