Title says it all. One...is there any way to preserve the colors of rainbow poplar? and Two...how faded does rainbow poplar get when it's exposed to the sun?     ..read more

Hey there once again.  My daytime job finds me at my buddy's 'cabinet shop' where no actual woodworking is done.  We're a cabinet supplier with a little warehouse space to hold contractors' and clients' orders.  We can order cabinets either built or flat pack unassembled.  Over the last couple years working there I've asked a few contractors how much different the pricing would be if they got their cabinets unassembled instead of assembled...and most of them said they'd save about 50%.  100% of our contractors order them built btw.  Building them is crazy easy but ..read more

I'm working with a local artist to develop an idea I've had over the last year.  Have you ever seen what's known as a photo collage?  It's where hundreds of small pictures are put together, side by side in rows and columns so that they make a larger picture when viewed as a whole.  Those photos are always made by software.  We'll I'm trying to do basically the same thing except with small wood blocks.  The idea is that I'm to make a lot of different small wood squares, I'll say instead of blocks, and the artist puts them together to make a larger picture.  The sma ..read more

I have an idea for something new that I want to make and if I can find someone who sells these particular parts it would make going into production so much easier.  I'll picture them below but the two parts I'm interested in is the leg of an older style chair as well as the top back brace.   The leg has a good bend to it and the top brace is 'bent' as well and tapers from the bottom to the top.  Any idea where I should start looking to find these parts?  Thanks.   PS.  Sorry, I kept getting 'file size too large' when I was uploading so I had to cut out most of my ..read more

Hey everybody. I'm in the heart of horse country here in Kentucky and I'm lucky enough to have some inroads to some prominent farms. Basically my buddies on these farms know I'm a woodworker and are saying 'show me what ya got.' Secret thing is...I don't really have that much (shhh). Recently I made the garden obelisk pictured below and put it on my buddy's property. What I'd really like to get into is making things, anything they might want for the farms themselves. Does anyone have pictures or ideas about what kind of ornamental structures would be appropriate for horse farms? I don't imagi ..read more

I have an old Performax 16-32 drum sander that was in a fire.  It didn’t burn, but had smoke and water damage and some heat damage.  It seems to work fine, but I get a weak shock when it runs. The open circuit is 120 volts and about 3 amps on a meter.    I have taken it apart and tested as follows:   Unplugged the drum motor and plugged it into power and no voltage measured across the machine, so I don’t believe that’s the problem.   I checked the receptacle where the drum motor plugs in and is fine, no melting and no loose wires. I did not see any melted or ..read more

Hi all, new to the forum  My name is Mike and I am retired.  For a long time I did interior remodeling, wood working, cabinetry and general carpentry.  I don't buy tools much anymore but ti recently bought a PC A3 belt sander on ebay which is in surprisingly good condition.  Except the UPS broke the handle in shipping.  So I am wondering if anyone can point me in the direction of a replacement b ecause without it the unit is just no good.  Unless I can find some of that glue they glue the tiles onto the space shuttle with.  At one point I had four of these sa ..read more

I'm learning to use this new gravity fed HVLP paint gun and I'm afraid I didn't thin my paint down enough for my first test run.  You can see the cheapo paint gun I got myself from Amazon in the pic.  Don't worry, the inside is cleaner than the outside.  I thinned down some Killz 3 using about 5% water and load it into the cup (still about the same viscosity though), set the regulator to 22 lbs dynamic pressure (the pressure reading when the trigger is open), and start spraying.  The trigger rod (as I'll call it) is dialed all the way back so the trigger goes full open and ..read more

Hi everyone,   I'm about to start a big job where we're swapping old roof shingles for new, lighter ones on a bunch of houses. We've got to cut them to fit around things like skylights and vents.   I'm looking for advice on the best tools for the job. Need a good shingle cutter for the main work and maybe a handy multi-tool for the tricky bits. Also, can't decide between air-powered or battery nail guns for working on lots of roofs.   Would love to hear what tools you guys trust the most, especially any that make the work go faster. If you know any cool tools that help out a lot ..read more

Hey everyone.   I'm in the process of purchasing a new property, and as part of the due diligence, I've arranged for a building inspection to be conducted.   However, I'm not entirely sure what to expect from this process. Could anyone who has experience with building inspections shed some light on what typically happens during these inspections?   What are the key areas that inspectors focus on, and are there any red flags I should be particularly vigilant about?   Additionally, how long does a typical building inspection take, and should I plan to be present during the in ..read more