I Shouldn’t Complain About Not Having Enough Space
New York has a lot going on and a lot going for it – space is not one of those things. If you are not a people person, it probably isn’t the city for you. If you like to have room to work and a place to put your stuff, it definitely isn’t for you. Luckily, I am used to working in a tight space with a lot going on, and I don’t mind it. It doesn’t speed anything up, but as long as everyone isn’t too grumpy, working in tight quarters can be kinda fun and exhilarating. It only becomes less fun when it is time to get your stuff done and there is no way to actually get to it.
Our first installation trip in New York had both the joy of working closely with all of the other trades and the exasperation of having those same people in your way most of the time. I often feel like our shop is too small, but after going to New York and having 15 guys, a truckload of cabinets, a bunch of fridges and everyone’s tools in 1,200 sf. of showroom, I feel like I should shut up about it.
Click on the video below to see how much stuff we were able to put in a 5 lb. bucket.
“Hey Buddy, I’m Walkin’ Here!”
Well, we got our cabinets to New York, off the truck and up to the 6th floor job site, but not without some excitement. I didn’t get it on video, mostly because it’s not easy to video while everyone is yelling at you, but I can tell you it would have made for some great TV. Will he get the truck unloaded on time? Will the other contractors let him live? Will the honking ever stop? All of these questions and more will be answered on the next episode of “This May Not Have Been a Good Idea”.
It started out great. The driver was there by 6 a.m. He pulled a magnificent u-turn in the corner intersection and got into the loading dock rather expeditiously, and everyone was joyous.
The marching orders from our general contractor were to get in early, claim your spot, unload the truck and ignore everyone else. That’s not really how it normally works for me, but hey, I’m in New York. You do what you got to do, and we did it. The first 30 minutes went great. Everyone we saw was still riding the adrenaline high of getting the truck in the loading dock. Then the mood started to change.
Other contractors in the building began showing up, early mind you, and couldn’t get in because we were in the way. Pedestrians started heading for work, also early, and couldn’t get by. Drivers trying to beat the rush could only use one lane. I know it’s hard to picture here in suburbia where we are used to having space.
We unloaded the truck as fast as we could, but it wasn’t fast enough. The yelling picked up and so did the honking. It seemed like everyone was on the phone talking to somebody else about how they were trying to speed up the process and get us out of there. Finally, the employees in charge of the loading dock said we were out of time and made our driver pull out and park in the street.
We focused on the truck. We got him unloaded and out of the way and at least stopped the honking. At that point I thought we were on easy street. The truck was gone and more than half of the stuff was up to the job site. All we had to do was get the rest of it up the freight elevator, and we had all day to do it. Wrong again. Turns out freight can’t be delivered after 8 a.m., so as not to disrupt the other businesses in the building. Fine concept, I just didn’t know about it. I have never worked in a building where the freight elevator can only carry freight before 8 a.m.
Right at 8 a.m. one of the building managers, popped out of the freight elevator, violently waved her arms as though she was calling a runner safe at second and yelled, “No more, no more!” She disappeared back in the elevator and we stopped moving. I didn’t know how to handle this one.
We stood there in the basement for awhile, knowing we had to do something. The freight elevator is big and we decided that if we got one more shot at it we could fit everything else. So, we went New York style, loaded up the elevator, made sure we got it in one load and headed to the 6th floor. We did not see the building manager and had everything officially off of the elevator and in the job site before 8:20 a.m., just a little past curfew.
Then our general contractor turned his phone back on.
Apparently, you just need to get used to people yelling at you when you work in NY.
We’re Moving: It’s Officially Official
After 10 years in St. Charles, MO we are moving a bit west to 821 Midpoint in O’fallon, MO. We started moving in earnest last week, and this past weekend I officially pulled the plug on the tools in the old shop. There is no turning back now! The new building is a 12 minute drive west of the old location on Highway 70. It is a nice stand-alone building which can easily be found by just Googling the address. No need to aimlessly wander around a giant building trying to find the wood shop buried in the back corner. We don’t have a sign yet at the new location (of course), but you won’t need it.
This Saturday will start our conversion to the new shop. By then, all of the wood and most of the slabs will be at the new location. So, if you are planning to visit on Saturday morning (open 8-12), please report to the new shop. From then on, 821 Midpoint will be our official location.
To kick it off, I put together an announcement video so you can see the outside of the shop (that was the day I got the keys) and our first moving video. Click on the video below to check out the progress.
Installing New French Doors
Installing doors isn’t the quickest and easiest thing to do. They need to fit well, with even gaps all around and they need to shut securely, but easily. It is a demanding task, which I decided to make even more so by adding a second door to the mix.
While challenging, you’ll get no complaints from me. I like this little finicky stuff almost as much as I like sanding. And, while that sounds like sarcasm, it is true. I really do like both. I find it rather relaxing to just chill out and get into the work. When I was working on these doors and shooting the video for it, I even thought about making a “slow” woodworking video, with the beautiful weather and the birds chirping and me just chiseling away. Maybe that will be for another video, when everyone is clamoring for me to slow down the action a bit and make the videos much longer (I expect that to happen on the 12th).
In the meantime, click on the link below to see my zen video on installing a set of mahogany french doors at regular speed.
Milling Curly Q Logs
I just milled a short hollow maple log for a customer which ended up having a fun curly Q shape. The log clearly had a wound along the side, running up the length of the log and it was never able to heal over. In the log’s attempt to close the wound, it added extra growth which made the fun shape.
While I was milling the maple log, it brought to mind a sycamore logs which I milled a couple of years ago. They produced some slices with the same curly Q shape, but they were much larger. I clearly remember being quite sad when I cut into the giant logs and discovered they were hollow. Just when I was about to make them firewood, I got a clear view of the curly Q shape and decided to save them.
There really aren’t many practical uses for these cuts, but they attract viewers like crazy in the shop and as far as I can tell have all ended up as pieces of artwork. Check out the video below to see the final product.
Quartersawing a Large White Oak Log: Part 2
It’s official. I’m going to end up with three installments about quartersawing. In an effort to not bore everyone to death in this video, I had to keep out all the important details, like why are we even bothering to do all of this extra work? There are a couple short answers (it’s pretty, it’s more stable) but since I like to give long answers, I’m going to need more time.
My focus for the last video was to show how I deal with oversized logs and this week I show how to actually quartersaw. I think it will help a lot for everyone to see, in a video, how riftsawn and quartersawn lumber are produced from the quartersawing process and see how I tackle the task.
Quartersawing a log takes much more time because each log essentially produces four individual logs (quarters) and each one needs to be processed separately. Throughout the process, lots of decisions need to be made to produce the most and best lumber.
Click on the video link below to see how the quartersawn lumber is cut and to see some really pretty boards.
Quartersawing a Large White Oak Log: Part 1
I spend a lot of time talking about quartersawn lumber with customers and have always wanted to get my thoughts about it into one place. Turns out, it is probably going to be in at least two places when I get done covering it. There is just too much to know and the more I try to explain it, the deeper in the weeds I get, and staying out of the weeds is not my forte.
Since I have spent over twenty years discussing it with customers, studying it on my own and generally just worrying about if I am producing the best quarter sawn lumber as efficiently as possible, I have come up with a lot of talking points. Luckily, for you, I am not going to get too deep into it until the second installment, when I finish producing the quarter sawn lumber.
In this first video, I was most excited to show how I get a log which won’t fit on the sawmill prepared for quartersawing and to get a chance to use my chainsaw (which I do whenever I can). Click the link below to see how I get the large logs ready to be milled.
Visiting Mueller Brothers Timber
I love visiting Mueller Brothers Timber in Old Monroe. It just feels right to me. I like the the guys that run the place and I like that it feels like I’m out in the country, even though I’m less than thirty minutes away from the shop. I visit there somewhat regularly just to see what is going on, look at logs and to purchase lumber. They run a big operation that I have written about before (click here to read more), but this time I decided to shoot a little video while I was there.
My main reason for visiting was to purchase some hard maple lumber for an upcoming project, since I don’t get hard maple logs, and therefore, hard maple lumber very often. While I was waiting for my lumber to be pulled, I took a look around the log yard to see if anything caught my eye (I don’t purchase logs very often – but I can be persuaded). I’m always amazed by the amount of logs that they have and this time they had even more than normal. I know I love to look around their sawmill and I thought you might too. Check out the video below to go on a quick tour with me.
Some quick notes:
The lumber bundles I am looking at are dry and available for sale, but they only sell by the bundle (usually in the 300+ bf. range). They move a lot of product and don’t sell in smaller retail amounts.
I mention cutting maple logs in the winter, which is desirable because the white (sap) wood of maple logs discolors and stains quickly and easily in warm weather. It is better to cut white woods in cooler weather because they decay or discolor more slowly.
I passed over the double-trunk white oak because I have a lot of white oak slabs and white oak is difficult to dry, especially when cut extra thick. Water doesn’t move readily in or out of white oak which makes the drying very slow and any attempt to speed the drying usually ends with the lumber splitting. Thick white oak can be dried effectively, just not quickly.
Setting Up Shop: The Most Useful Power Tools
When customers visit my shop we usually start by talking about their wood needs. If it is someone’s first time to visit I also try to get to know them, what they are looking for and what they are expecting from me. Half of them are just looking for rough cut wood, while the others are looking for wood that is processed a little bit more, perhaps jointed or planed, or even sanded. During our time together I get to understand their needs and abilities, and our discussion usually turns to the tools they have in their shop.
I am often surprised at what tools woodworkers don’t use or own, especially when they are some of the few that I find essential. Sometimes it’s just the difference between hand tool and power tool guys, but sometimes it’s just from lack of experience or the fact that they haven’t given it too much thought. Most likely they just buy tools as they need them and never really considered what tools would give them the most bang for the buck.
Since this is a common conversation, I decided to compile the following list of what I think are the most useful power tools and should be the building blocks of any woodworking shop:
Notice how my table saws can work both as a table and a saw.
Table saw. Of all of the tools in the shop, the table saw is the most useful and versatile. It excels at making straight cuts, and with the addition of any of a million jigs, can be made to perform an amazing number of tasks with repeatability and precision. I use the table saw for roughing out smaller parts from larger pieces, all the way through trimming parts to final size. The only limit to the table saw is that the piece needs to be small enough to be pushed through it. Above a certain size, the table saw becomes less useful and even impossible to use as the saw needs to be brought to the piece, instead of the piece being brought to the saw.
The table saw is best suited for making rip cuts, which are cuts along the length of the board, but with a crosscutting jig, the table saw can do just as well on crosscuts, which are cuts across the board. I even use the table saw for resawing thick lumber into thinner boards. The bandsaw is usually the tool for resawing, but any lumber under 6″ wide can be resawn on a 10″ table saw by cutting from both sides of the board.
Besides just making through cuts, the table saw can also cut dados, rabbets and other grooves with just a few adjustments. And, with the addition of profiled cutters and a creative mind, the table saw can be used to make all kinds of mouldings, including large crown mouldings.
The table saw also works amazingly well as a table. Mine is big enough to not only hold stuff, but serve as an assembly table when necessary. The table of the table saw is set apart from other tables because it is commonly the only one open and available in the shop. I try to keep it clear enough to actually use, which means that at least part of the top is usually available and ready to be used as a table or maybe even a saw.
My Powermatic planer has prettied up a lot of wood.
Thickness Planer. Running a rough board through the planer is always fun. Even after sending billions of board feet through a planer, it never gets old. The amazing thing is that beyond making the wood look good, the planer can size lumber in ways other tools can’t.
I have met a lot of customers that don’t have a planer. And, while it is possible to operate without one, I believe that once you own one, you will find it hard to believe that you ever ran a shop without it. For me, it is along the same line of thinking for spray guns, where I say, “Stop thinking about buying a spray gun.”
Even if you buy your lumber already planed, you will still encounter many circumstances that require the use of a planer. For example, you might want to build a simple and delicate jewelry box out of small scrap pieces lying around the shop, and you will end up making a small and clunky jewelry box because all of your lumber is 3/4″ thick, and that’s how it is going to stay. That is just the first example. Think about all of the other times that you will pick up a piece of lumber in the shop and it will be the wrong thickness, either just slightly wrong or in an entirely different size category. A planer is a real problem solver and can fix all of that.
If you work with rough lumber, a planer will be absolutely necessary, except for the most rustic of projects. Every piece of rough cut lumber ends up somewhat not straight, not flat and not consistent in thickness, either from variations during the sawing or from stresses which occur while the wood dries. The planer, combined with the jointer, is a one-two punch to remove these variations and produce straight, flat and consistently thick lumber. The reason the planer is ahead of the jointer on this list is that some lumber is straight enough and flat enough to plane without jointing if the job is a little less finicky, thereby skipping the jointer.
Flattening the face of a board before going through the planer makes assembly so much easier.
Jointer. I use my jointer a lot. When preparing rough lumber it sees as much action as the planer. As a matter of fact, almost every piece of lumber in my shop gets surfaced on the wide face to straighten things out before it even heads to the planer. Without the jointer, my life would just be a crooked, twisty mess of painful attempts to make things seem straight.
One of the misconceptions about planers is that they make lumber straight. They do some straightening, but they don’t make lumber straight. That is what jointers do. Many lumber mills just send rough lumber through the planer allowing the board to exit the machine with the same ups and downs and whoops that is entered with, only now to a consistent thickness. This is especially apparent when gluing up a couple of these roller coaster type of boards and trying to get them to line up. After a couple of those glue-ups, you will swear by lumber that has seen the jointer before the planer, and never skip the jointer.
Besides flattening lumber, the jointer also puts a straight edge on lumber for joining two boards together and for running through other machines. I also use the jointer for making small adjustments during the final fitting of parts like drawer fronts, where small changes can make a big difference.
With these three power tools (and a few hand tools), I feel like I could make about 80% of the jobs that come through my shop on a daily basis. Obviously, some jobs will require more specialized power tools to complete, but these three probably find their way into almost all of my work. With that said, there are a few other tools that I couldn’t imagine being without and I feel need to be added to the list.
Spray gun. Not every woodworking job gets a film finish, but most of mine do. And of those, every one will meet a spray gun. For a million reasons, including making finishing fast and fun, I recommend using a spray gun whenever possible. It will raise your game and make you n0t hate finishing. (Click here to read my thoughts on purchasing a spray gun).
The chop saw (compound miter saw ) gets a lot of use, especially trimming long pieces of wood.
Chop saw (compound miter saw). I do a mix of woodworking from furniture to built-ins and even finish carpentry, and I find myself regularly using the chop saw. Even if used for nothing more than roughly cutting a long board into two shorter ones to fit in a car, this tool earns its keep. It is especially useful (with the help of an outfeed table) on long pieces that are precarious to push through a table saw. But, since a table saw with a jig can perform many of the same functions, this tool doesn’t make it to the essential list. With that said, I expect to have a chop saw wherever I am working, whether it be in the shop or at an install. If this was a post about on-site woodworking and trim carpentry, the chop saw might be the #1 tool.
I have three impact drivers and could use more.
Impact driver. I am a giant fan of impact drivers. I have been using them for a while now and can’t really remember my life before them (Click here to read more about my introduction to impact drivers). This is the one tool that I always have with me, and I expect to be within easy reach. So much so, that I own three of them and could imagine myself with a couple more. Like the chop saw, if this was a list of on-site or installation tools, the impact driver would be near the top.
The FatMax is my favorite tape measure.
Tape measure. I know this isn’t a power tool, but it is the one tool that you should always have with you. It is a pet peeve of mine – if you are planning on building something, or you are actually building it, have a tape measure with you. If you are in the shop, on the job site, or even at Home Depot make sure you have a tape measure with you or at least one very handy (Home Depot probably isn’t the best example, since they have them widely available, but you get the point). Without a tape measure, not much beyond rough work can get done. (Click here to read about my favorite tape measure).
What’s Going on at WunderWoods
Everyone always asks what I do. Here's the answer. Click on the photo above for a short video tour and see all of the steps it takes to go from a tree to finished furniture.