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HOW TO PREPARE MATERIAL FROM THE ROUGH THE OLD FASHIONED WAY, WITH HAND PLANES

Most material in the rough is neither straight and most likley has a twist over it's length, say for instance you you would like to prepare a door style from the rough, lay the material on a suitable work bench against a bench dog, then eyeball the best face for straight and out of twist. the face has to be straight and out of twist , with the face upper most on the bench place a winding stick at each end on the face of the material  ( this is a 2 foot long 1/2 in. thick by 2ins in height  material , one painted black the other white , or you can simply have them unpainted, place the white one at the far end, the other at the near end, now sight through the two winding sticks, this will show how much twist there is on the face. To remove the twist use a jack plane on the diagonal  ( preferrably a wooden model , this will remove material very fast , periodically check with the winding sticks for out of twist , when to your  satisfaction you how have to straighten the face by removing the amount of material with a large wooden plane which is about 30 ins long ( called a HAFLIN in Scotland this plane is also quite a bit wider that a wooden jack, in to days world this plane is made from steel and quite a wee bit shorter , and will not remove waste material as fast as the wooden models the length of these planes accomplish the straighting ability, the final surface is completed with a metal jack plane and eyeballed for straight. ( These planes when properly sharpend will remove a shaving in one contiuous sweep from one end to the other ) this will be seen when the material has been straightened

    The next procedure is to have an edge straight and at exactly 90 degrees to the face, to straighted use the jack for fast removal, then the haflin to straighten the edge, final edge is accomplished with the steel jack , all this by the eyeball and a square, when the face and edge is satifactory mark the face and edge with a suitable face and edge mark , because the best face and edge is always facing the Laird, or best face up and edge out

    Now with a marking guage set to the finished width of the material mark all the way round the style with a deep scoring mark , now remove the material with the wooden jack down to the spur marks which are readily seen when reached , this face is usually finsihed when the door is glued up, with a finishing metal plane

    How to prevent wooden planes from cracking and keeping the wood supple , fill the bottom of the frog with putty or other then fill the frog with boiled linseed oil , leave for a week or so untill all the oil is absorbed by the plane , repeat occassionally

IF YOU EVER HAVE TO SLIT A PLASTIC PIPE or any other round material on the table saw screw a 1*3 to the side of the pipe then ride the 1*3 against the rip fence this will give a straight cut.

TO CUT DOWN ON FRICTION COAT THE TABLE SAW TOP AND RIP FENCE WITH KIWI BOOT POLISH NEUTRAL COLOUR THIS POLISH WILL NOT MARK FINISHED WOOD this is also great for anything that slides

TO CLEAN SAW BLADES lay them in a flat tray and spray with easy off oven cleaner leave for a half hour and wipe clean then spray with silicone

HOW TO STRAIGHTEN BOARDS WITH A UNEVEN EDGE and cut small sheet material at any angle .FIRST cut a scrap peice of say 1/2in.ply large enough to support your material for instance 30 in. long by 24in.wide,place this base pannel against the rip fence and blade,for uneven boards place the board on the base ply over lapping the saw blade the amount you want to remove,raise the saw blade to the required height, now place finishing nails along the the other three sides against the edges about 9in apart this will hold the board in place while you pass it through the saw to straightening the uneven edge.for cutting sheet material at any angle,place the angle pencil mark inline with the left side of the base ply and blade,again place finishing nails around the other three sides against the edges,then pass through the saw, you can now have repetive cuts

OR USE THIS OTHER METHOD to straighten a boards edge,tape an aluminum angle iron to one edge and ride this against the fence,if the material is thin just block up the angle iron

SNAPPING CHALK LINES when snapping chalk lines on roofs or siding two workers can hook their chalkbox lines at the clips by passing one through the other,worker A reels in to chalk his,worker B reels in to chalk his,THIS eliminates walking back and forth to rechalk the lines,thus saving much wasted time

TO STOP NAILS spliting the wood burr the points once or twice with the hammer

TO DEVIDE EQUAL SPACINGS in the width or to find the centre of a board,place the tape measure across the board at an angle to the nearest number,for the division,eg. say the board was 4 5/8in.wide and you wanted to devide this into 5 equal devisions,at an angle place the tape at 5in. from on side of the board to the other,now mark every measurement at 1,2,3,4,in. on the board,this is five equal spacings,to find the centre, mark the 2 1/2in measurement on the board.

HOW TO DEVIDE EQUAL SPACINGS IN A CIRCUMFERANCE place masking tape around the work peice at the appropreate position and mark where the tape overlaps,remember to also mark the overlap position on the work peice,remove the tape.procure a fairly large peice of paper or plywood and draw parallel lines say for instance 1in. apart and as much as required to accomplish your divisions,now place the tape over the parallel lines at a angle from one end of the tape to the over lap mark,in other words the length of the circumferance if the circumferance length of the tape touches 7 of the parallel lines this will give you six equal spacings, mark the tape where the parallel lines cross,this will give the equal spacings,depending on the size of the circunferance and the number of spacings required,the amount of and spacings widths of the parallel line will have to decided accordingly,replace tape on the mark on the work peice.

FOR A FAST AND SIMPLE COMPASS use a receprocating saw blade,insert a nail in the hole and use the teeth spacings as the diameter of the circumferance required

BATTER BOARD STRING LINES instead of using nails which can be bent out of alinement use a small saw cut down to your mark, the string will hold fast if it's lapped over itself in the kerf

HOW TO INSERT HEADERS FOR A NEW DOOR OR WINDOW in a existing wall with out shoring up the ceiling,mark out position on the wall,cut gyproc and out side siding and remove,now cut the nails on the top and bottom of the remaining studs with reciprocating saw, metal blade,instead of removing the studs just turn them on their flat,either to the inside or out side of the wall,insert one 2by header with the stud and cripples under,remove the remaining studs and insert the other header,no ceiling shoring required

HOW TO HOLD A NEW DOOR IN PLACE WHILE FITTING TO A SET OF EXISTING JAMBS.cut a 1*4 fairly tight between the jambs,now cut a notch in the 1*4 the thickness of the door and about a third the way through,place this about 24ins up from the bottom of the jambs and clear of the jamb rabbets, with a scrap peice of say 1/4 ply behind to protect the jambs,place the door in this notch to hold it in place while you do the fitting etc.

NOW TO HOLD UPPER CABINETS IN PLACE before attaching ,use a sissor jack the kind used in some cars,screw a plywood base to the bottom and a padded one to the top,remember you have to place the bottom cabinets first.ps you can even make an adapter and use a 1/2in drill to raise and lower the jack.

SOME BI-FOLD DOORS ARE HARD TO CLOSE this is aparent if the handle is not placed on the leading leaf,if this is the case place a 1/2in.rubber bumper at the lower hinges on the inside in the centre of the stile,this will stop the door leafs closing to far together

TO ENLARGE AN EXISTING HOLE bore a hole in a scrap peice of3/4 ply the size required, centre and clamp over the existing hole and rebore

CAULKING GUNS not enough elbow room in awkward positions tape to the tube tip a peice of 3/8id. tubing with duct tape,this tape is strong enough to resist the pressure,this gives you the flexability

LAMINATE SHEETS to keep the two surfaces apart before final placement use the old plastic slats from those cheap window blinds as spacers and to spread the contact cement use a 6 in. painting pad

HOW TO BEND YOUR OWN FLASHING cut the exact cross section of the flashing in a peice of 3/4in. plywood at least 18in.wide with a jig saw or other and nail this between two studs at waist height,cut the leading end of the flashing to a point and with one person pulling it through and the other feeding it through the cross section,there is your flashing all nicely formed

TO STOP END GRAIN ROT IN THE BOTTOM OF OUTSIDE POSTS router a half dovetail on all four edges,this is a steep enough angle to allow the water to drip off

HOW TO KEEP YOUR PAINT SCRAPER CLEAN when using a chemical stripper,get a large tin and cut a slit about 4in down from the top, pull the loaded scraper through the slot the stripped paint will fall into the tin

TO CONDITION NEW BRISTLE PAINT BRUSHES steep them for 24 hrs in linseed oil

TO KEEP THE WOODEN HANDLE OF YOUR HAMMER NICE AND TIGHT steep in the same oil

THIS IS A GREAT IMPROVEMENT TO THE BUTT AND V GROVE JOINT IN BOARD ENDS to make this joint 45 degree each end for an over lap joint, and v grove the top leading edgeof the 45 degree cut,this eliminates the need for a second v grove on the other board and it will also hide any shrinkage in the joint , the cuts can be less than 45degree

HOW TO SUCCESSFULLY FIT DRYWALL ROUND ELECTRICAL FITTINGS smear liquid detergent or hand lotion on the the box,place wallboard ,the paper will absorb the detergent ,remove and cut the hole

TO GET PERFECTLY even over hangs when installing a top on a cabinet case,dont measure the overhangs at all,mark the centrelines of the top and case and line them up

STORY ROD FOR SHELF SUPPORTS cut a strip of peg board to the width required to give you the correct margine from the front and back of the shelf,drill through the selected holes

SPACING SLOTS OR HOLES start by making spacers the length of the selected spacings,use a stop block on the fence and with the spacers in place ,and removed, or added, to position the slot or hole

ADD A NOTE PAD TO YOUR TAPE MEASURE cut a disk of laminate (light colour) and glu