Top Coat For Paint, Mobile Workstations, Headboard Wood Movement, & MUCH More!

Woodshop Life Podcast

Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/woodshoplife

Sponsored by 3M Xtract

Sean

1) Hi fellas. I found your podcast a few months ago and I'm working my way from the start to get all caught up, so please forgive me if you've addressed this question before.

For the last few years, I've been mostly focused on turning, but my wife would really like a new bed frame and has asked me to design and build one similar to one from a local wood furniture shop. I'm planning to make it out of solid cherry. I hear a lot of talk about wood movement, and particularly how it is problematic in cross grain situations. I was planning on using the domino to attach the horizontal pieces of the headboard and footboard to the posts, but that creates a cross grain situation. Is that a mistake? Any tips for making that joint and accounting for movement?

Thanks for the great content. For someone who hasn't made furniture in quite some time, it helps to give me reminders of all of the things I've forgotten. - Firelight Woodworks

2) Hello, thank y’all for the awesome podcast. I am looking at moving from south texas to mid-Tennessee and I worried about the change in humidity. I have many projects on the agenda that I can either push to completion or wait until after the big move. It is extremely humid here in Texas and I have already purchased all my raw materials. So I will have to move all the materials to my new shop (space undetermined at the moment) or risk the humidity shift in the completed furniture. Joshua

Guy

1) Hello guys, always love the show and I tried out the Guy’s tip of the flat cart at Lowes to haul plywood. Not easy still but easier for sure, I had never thought of it! That got you a new Patreon Subscriber and glad to support you.

My latest challenge in the shop has been the quality of cut from my bandsaw. Please don’t laugh. I’m working with a 14” Delta clone from overseas that I bought in about 1986. It has always needed a concrete block on the base to keep it from waddling out of the shop on it’s mobile base when it’s running so I would never call this precision balanced machinery. I do have the guides and blade tension well dialed in, or as much as you can dial in a 35 year cheap bandsaw. I have replaced the tires and the blade I’m currently using is good quality and sharp. Motor is 1HP 120V that have never seem to have bogged down. I typically use 4 or 6 TPI ¼” blades because I’m just too lazy to swap blades.

The saw tracks well but the cut has never been smooth. It’s not rough like a 10 tooth circular saw blade would be on particle board it’s more like a washboard surface with consistently spaced ridges on all the surfaces. This happens with any kind of wood, every feed rate I can try and It happens when I’m cross cutting or ripping. I have made it work over the years with sanding it all out but I wanted to bounce it off you guys to see if you’ve ever experienced that and been able to pin point it’s cause. Vibration is present in the saw but I always figured I got what I paid for and I can’t remember if the saw made that kind of cut when it was new.

I am studying reviews to buy a new bandsaw but I wanted to pass this one down to a beginning woodworker and would love for it to be cutting smoother.

Thoughts? Thanks Bob

2) G'day fellas,
I found your podcast a couple of weeks ago, and I have since binge-listened to every episode (I operate mining machinery in 12 hr shifts, so I have a LOT of listening time).
I'm a motorcycle enthusiast, currently fitting out a new workshop in my spare time. I decided to fit out the workshop myself, and in the process of researching that, I have become obsessed with woodworking.
I'm in the position of having a large, new space to develop as I see fit. It consists of 55m² (about 700 square feet) in total, with a 1200mm high retaining wall along one wall (I have excavated an 2.4m (8ft) high space under the house, and had to leave a metre along one wall for the stability of the foundations), resulting in a floor space of 45m², and a 10m² "shelf" along one side.
Up until listening to your show, I intended to use the space on top of the retaining wall to build workbenches, in order to make the space usable. However, you all seem to value mobility of your workspaces, so I am now considering my options, and think that I could be better off using the majority of the space on top of the retaining wall for storage, with a mix of cabinets and shelving, with a relatively small space for a workbench along that wall, and keep the rest of my bench space mobile.
What do you blokes think? If you had this much space, would you continue to value mobility of workstations, or create more permanent areas? What other tips for setting up a space like this can you give me, keeping in mind that sawdust is the natural enemy of shiny bikes?
Keep up the great content, and thanks for all keeping me awake through the long night shifts!
Jim

Huy

1) Hi Fellas, love the podcast. The value and knowledge us woodworkers get from your content is unmatched. Great mix of personalities and experience. I have worked hard over the last five years to renovate my shop and acquire tools. I have a small space (260sqft) but fully dedicated. Insulated wires everywhere with multiple 240 circuits. I have midrange tools, 6” jointer, 13” planer, table saw, router table, bandsaw, drill press, 14” radial arm saw(yet to rebuild but plan for a joint miter armsaw station. A friend of mine is getting into woodworking and just bought a house that came with a fully loaded cabinet shop. 1600sqft fully loaded. This shop is 5 minutes from me. With access to this, what would you change to your workflow and small shop? I do really like having a full shop so I can work at night when kids are asleep.

Second question, got a pile of zebra wood from an estate sale, I have a 8/4 12” wide 4’ long piece. What would you do with it? Robert

2) Got another one for ya. I know you all have talked extensively about finishing on multiple different occasions but I have a question regarding top coats after painting and I don’t recall that officially being discussed.

I made my son a lofted bed during the pandemic. Really basic construction grade lumber piece ( go easy on me Guy). At the time I stained it with a dark oil based gel stain and followed up with an oil based poly top coat. I am now repurposing the bed for his younger sister. I’ve disassembled it and plan on giving everything a good sand because frankly I didn’t do a good enough job with that the first time around. I’m planning on painting the bed white so right now I’m thinking I’ll need to prime it and seal it before using a basic latex paint and then finish it off with a water based poly. Thoughts? My guess is y’all aren’t painting very many pieces, but when you do what kind of top coat do you use, if any?

Thanks again.Jonathan