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Canadian Woodworking eNewsletter #1 May 2004 |
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Table of Contents
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Publisher´s WelcomeCanadian Woodworking eNewsletter By: Paul Fulcher
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Woods to KnowAlder - The Everyman´s Wood
It´s
relatively inexpensive; machines, glues, and screws well; takes a nice
stain; easy enough to finish; reasonable for carving; and none too
shabby for turning. Not what you would use when making an heirloom piece, but excellent for cabinet trim, drawer parts, toys and the like. There
are a number of different species of alder, with Red Alder, Western
Alder and Oregon Alder being one and the same. The wood is fairly
straight grained, and fine textured. Typically it has an orange-brown
tone, and you might even mistake it for birch. Not bad looking, but
don´t expect any figure with this wood. Although a hardwood, it isn´t
very hard. It takes dents fairly easy, has low shock resistance, and
doesn´t bend very well.
Shop TipsTips to Improve your Woodworking. Planing highly figured lumber can be frustrating. The easiest thing to do is run the boards through a thickness sander. If you´re still saving your loonies for a drum or belt sander, you might be able to find a local cabinet shop that will do the job for you. Expect to pay upwards of $60 an hour, with a minimum half hour charge. Want to mill the boards yourself. Here are several things that you can do to reduce tear out:
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It´s
non-toxic, biodegradable, non-abrasive and non-flammable. I´ve been
using it for quite some time to clean up saw blades and router bits. Lately
I´ve been using it to clean up my brushes (from water based and
oil-based finishes), and its doing a super job. I use a concentration
of 1 part Simple Green to 5 parts water. After cleaning
the brushes with the solution I rinse well with lots of clear water. So
far I haven´t noticed any contamination in my finishes when re-using
the brushes. Costs about $6 per 750ml bottle at most hardware stores. www.simplegreen.com Web ResourcesConvert-Me converts your measurements.
Convert-Me
gives conversions in the ever useful metric and imperial, along with
those old standbys: Chinese Imperial, Old German, Ancient Greek, and of
course, Biblical. It´s an easy to use site, one that
would be even more useful as a pop-up utility. One little caveat: it
has an annoying pop-up ad that appears every time you go to the home
page. .............................................................................................................................
Give www.cambiumbooks.com a try. They have a fabulous inventory of books on just about every woodworking topic. I´ve ordered from them several times without a hitch. ............................................................................................................................... Electrical issues for woodworkers: He provides a well written and comprehensive tutorial - the best one I´ve read on shop power in a while.
Spotlight on Canadian SuppliersWood Essence Distributing
Wood Essence´s product line includes high performance, environmentally friendly waterborne stains, coatings and spray finishing equipment. In addition they carry many traditional wood-finishing materials including various grades of dry shellac, a full line of wood dyes, pigments, waxes, abrasives and buffing compounds. Phone: (306)955-8775 New Tools6 Great Tools From 6 Manufacturers. Bosch has just come out with a 10" dual bevel mitre saw (Model 4410), which features up-front controls; a line of lightweight circular saws (Models CS10 and CS20); and an upgrade to the world´s number one selling jigsaw. The 1590EVSK has a precision control blade system (which virtually eliminates blade wander), one touch blade change and a tool-less foot bevel for making cuts of up to 45 degrees. Very cool indeed. www.boschtools.com. New ProductPOURit - Simple and effective cover for pouring paint.
Anyone
who has ever tried to replace the metal lid on a can of polyurethane
for the third or fourth time knows the definition of frustration. And
how about pouring out just the right about of liquid without spilling
half of it down the side of the can! POURit solves both these problems.
Made of rigid polyethylene, it easily snaps on and off
the top of a 1-gallon can. The spout works like a charm; nary a drop
spilled. There is also a POURit Jr for quart cans. If
you won´t be using the can for some time, it´s probably a good idea to
add a few shots of "Finish Preserve" (Lee Valley, item # 53Z21.01) to
keep the contents from skimming over (particularly for varnish or
polyurethane). Priced at about $4CDN each cover, these are a pretty good deal. www.dalescorp.com or (419) 255-5335. New Woodworking EventsSee Complete List Of Woodworking Shows On Our Website For our Ontario readers: After 25 years, The Durham Woodshow has been cancelled. However, there
are a couple of new shows that are moving in to take it´s place:
Welbeck Woodcrafters Expo August 6, 7 Durham, ON (519)369-2144
http://www.welbecksawmill.com and The Barrie Wood Show August 13, 14,
15 800-565-8613 Barrie Special Events Centre
http://www.barriewoodshow.com
My Grandpa´s Tool KitCanadian Woodworking Magazine Starts New SeriesGary Dover has joined the Canadian Woodworking team, and starts off with a brand new series: My Grandpa´s Tool Kit. This series looks at Canadian Woodworking in rural Canada in the early 1900´s. It´s a fascinating presentation of how our forefathers worked with wood. The writing is insightful, the photos delightful. Watch for this educational and entertaining series starting with our June/July´04 issue.Calling All WoodworkersPlease voice your opinionI want to know what you want to see in Canadian Woodworking´s magazine, website and/or eNewsletter.I will compile your ideas/suggestions and respond to them the best I can, so please take a moment and think about what it is that you want. I look forward to hearing from you, and even more to incorporating your suggestions into future issues. Please click here to send your ideas/opinions. Thanks for your input. I am sending you this newsletter only after receiving
a request from you. |
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Alder is a kind of "everyman´s wood".
Looking for an environmentally safe way to clean up in the shop? Give Simple Green all purpose cleaner a try. 
Here
is a pretty neat tool if you´re having problems converting between
different measurement systems - weight and mass, distance and length,
capacity and volume just to mention a few.
Looking for a unique woodworking book, or perhaps you´re local book dealer can´t source a title for you? 
Wood Essence Distributing
is a Canadian supplier of specialty wood finishing products, providing
supplies to hobbyists, professional and industrial woodworkers across
Canada. The company has a strong focus on individualized customer
service, and its staff is happy to assist customers choose the best
suited finishing supplies from their growing product line. Their goal
is to help their clients develop successful wood finishing schedules
and techniques.
This
is one of those products that when first seen you might say "I could
have come up with that"; but once tried you´re likely to think "Now
that´s the cat´s meow!"