^{I use a jointer and a planer every day and they are the foundation and the work horses of my shop.  I am blessed with a 12” and an 8” jointer and a 20” planer.  There are not two many times I have to rip down a board to fit my jointer.  Having the wide planer is nice for glue ups.}

^{I use the big jointer for face jointing and the 8” for edges.  This helps keep my 8” knifes sharp to produce a good glue line.  My recommendation to you is to buy the largest jointer you can afford.   Not only the wide width but the long bed is a big plus.} 

^{I just received an order today from Frank Miller Lumber Union City IN and out of 500 bd ft of red oak there are a lot of 10” to 12” material.  Thanks God for my big jointer.  It is nice not to have to rip down lumber to fit a smaller jointer.} 

^{Good luck.}

^{For turning wood does not have to be dry…many prefer turning wet wood…I would just use bigger pieces and not try to glue it up because I do not believe you will have any good results.  Just have fun turning green wood and let the chips fly.  AS far as using this kind of wood for building furniture it would be better to burn it in your fireplace.}

^{ps…buy your self a moisture meter!  Rockler carries a good one.}

^{Check out the IWCS International Wood Collectors Society. They offer a box of samples (36) for a contribution of $75.00 less if you join the club.  They also sell several books on the subject of wood.  A great organization and a bunch of really nice folks.}

Quartersawn boards are created by first cutting a log into quarters and then creating a series of parallel cuts perpendicular to the tree's rings.  The grain in quartersawn wood is relatively consistent, and therefore the end product is stable and often preferred by woodworkers and furniture-makers. Quartersawn wood may include medullary rays and wavy grain patterns that some people prefer to the figures that are revealed with alternative sawing methods.

Since the yield produced by quartersawing wood is substantially lower than other plainsawing, the cost is relatively high. Oak is the most common quartersawn wood; on occassion you may be also able to find quartersawn walnut, cherry and maple. The increased stability, makes quartersawn wood highly sought after for string instrument necks and fret boards.  Most of the quarter sawn white oak we use here at American Sycamore comes from Frank Miller Lumber Union City IN.  If anyone every has the opportunity to visit Frank Miller I highly recommend it.  They have a beautiful show room with tons of wood to chose from!

There is a web site I’ll send you to that will address this problem in depth. On the Internet in the search window type “using wood bleach”. Then click on USING WOOD BLEACH  by Jeff Jewitt.

Curly maple is beautiful once it’s finished, but getting there can be real headache. When sending it through my jointer and planer, I take just a whisper (about 1/64” ) of material off at a time. It takes a lot longer then normal, but the end result is worth it. I do my final dimensioning with my drum sander, again just a little at a time.

Here is the way it’s generally done.

Since wood often bends and warps, especially right after it is cut out of a log, woodworkers have developed techniques to create relatively flat boards. To begin a woodworking project, a woodworker usually starts with rough lumber and must go through various steps to ensure that it is flat. This process is usually called surfacing. Some woodworkers prefer to use handtools only, but for those that use power tools, a jointer is typically used.

A few passes on a jointer is usually sufficient to provide one flat surface. If you were to turn the board over, however, and make some additional passes, you may get a flat side, but it would not necessarily be parallel to the first side.   Another tool is required to create a flat side that is parallel to the first side - a thickness planer. A thickness planer has a flat base and a cutting head on the top. Power rollers feed the wood through the cutting blades and remove a small amount of material - usually 1/64" to 1/32" (.5 to 1mm). If more material needs to  be removed, the wood is fed through the thickness planer for additional passes.

After using the planer, you have two flat and parallel faces. To complete the surfacing process, the woodworker usually takes the partially surfaced board back to the jointer to square up one edge. The remaining edge is usually squared up on a table saw. The ends of the board are usually squared either with a chopsaw or on a crosscut sled on the table saw.

I panelled the walls of the garage with 1X6X10 J-GRADE pattern stock.  I like the natural look but I am concerned about protecting the wood. I would like to know the best way to protect it against the effect of heat/cold and the very dry climate of Northern Nevada.

I am making cabinets for my home office.  I am using cherry wood on the face. but the table saw is leaving burn marks on most cuts.   My blades are fairly new and I have tried different blades.  The burning doesn't happen with pine wood.   None of my other tools burn the cherry wood.

To fix the burns,  I have tried sanding,  but sometimes it is a lot of sanding.  I also have taken the pieces from the table saw to the joiner,  but that at best takes a 1/32" (but it often takes a couple of passes)

Is there a way to prevent burns in cherry wood on the table saw? 

Oh …..the beauty and grace of cherry!  I love the look of cherry.  But it does come with a price.  Cherry wants to burn and avoiding burning in cherry is sometimes difficult.  We need to address three areas in helping to eliminate the burn.

 #1  First of all make sure your saw is cutting square and go through the procedure of checking that the fence and blade are parallel.  

#2  I suggest a 40 tooth ripping blade and

I like the clock works from Woodcraft. The Hermle triple chime movement is the best. It is a great buy. If you use redwood know that the wood is very light and prone to splitting. If you can find some old recycled redwood with sapwood accents you will create a masterpiece! Check out the clock plans at thewoodworker’sjournal.com. I have a tall case Shaker inspired design there that takes about 30 hours to make.

Go ahead and step up to Oak or Birch Plywood. It is much less likely to sag over time.

Tim it is the filler used to fix damage and gaps. My favorite is Minwax two part indoor/outdoor epoxy. Wear gloves when you use it. You never want epoxy to contact you in any way.

What is the proper way in repairing a gouge in a finished piece of furniture?

Gouge is aprox 1/8 deep and ¼ wide

Ouch. It depends on the wood and the finish. The easy way is to use the Soft Wax filler system from FastCap.com. Worth checking out!