Episode 75 – Marking Gauge, Straining Consistencies, Tight Blades, & MUCH More!

Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/woodshoplife   Sean 1)It seems that no matter what I try its hard to make great mitre cuts.  I have a sawstop with a Osborne mitre gauge,  an older radial arm saw (70's craftsman) that I've tried the broken fence technique on and I seem to still have trouble with mitres.  I do all kids of woodworking from segmented bowls (though rarely) to picture frames to simpler miters.  It always seems to have issues.  Is the solution the Kapex? if its really amazing (as the domino is) I'll spend the money but is there a better less costly solution?  You guys are awesome! thanks, Dan 2) My question is concerning marking gauges, a lot of suggested beginners kits include some sort of marking gauge. When watching youtube very rarely do you see a marking gauge, and even more rare is someone that is putting one to use. While I understand what a marking gauge is and how it functions, i don't see a place it in my workflow. Do you, gentlemen use marking gauges commonly in your workflow, and if you do when do you use them?   As a related question, do you guys use marking knives? I understand marking knives will give you more accurate results but again rarely do you see YouTubers using marking knives. -Jim   Guy 1) Gentlemen I greatly enjoy your podcast.  I have a question about stain.  I just finished a large dining table and like most other projects I’m very disappointed in how the finish turned out.  The table is red oak and I stained it a medium brown followed by three coats of General Finish   Armor Seal Satin    .   I don’t go cheap on stain, I forget the brand of stain but it was $35 per quart and was custom mixed at my lumber supplier.  Is there any tricks that you guys can recommend to get a more even end product?  The top is six boards that are different grain patterns so maybe I’m expecting too much. Also Guy I heard your comment a few episodes back about only using pipe clamps and kind of snickered but in gluing up this table top which is 7’ x 42” my Besseys couldn’t begin to compare with the old reliable pipe clamps.  I used dominoes for alignment purposes and it took a pretty good squeeze to pull everything together.  I’m a believer. -Tom 2) Hello again (you said you needed questions so submitting a second today) Like most woodworkers, I started out with pre-milled lumber at mostly 3/4 inch. Once I got a planer, I found myself often planing lumber down for aesthetic reasons. I make mostly smaller projects, and 3/4 is just too thick for my tastes. My question is, beyond looks, when do you worry about thickness choice? Is there a weight determiner, length of boards, etc. Ever made a mistake and went too thin to suffer later? As a slight followup, do you ever purposely buy thicker material with the anticipation of re-sawing over planing down (like from 3/4 to 1/2") and just wasting material? Peter          Huy 1) Hey guys, love listening to the podcast and was hoping you could help me out with a problem I ran into. I put a nice new glue line saw blade on my table saw and when I went to switch out the blade to my multi purpose, I physically can’t get the blade off the arbor. It is not the arbor nut, that was removed easily, it is the blade itself that is stuck on the arbor. Has this ever happened to any of you and what would be your solution. I have been thinking about heating up the blade to expand it off the arbor but wanted to see if you had any other options. Any help in this matter would be greatly appreciated. Thank you again for the awesome podcast!! Seanvella designs 2) Hey guys, Have any of you taken a chance on wood species that are uncommon both in wood working and lumber yards. Their are many local species in my area (north Arkansas) that I could get, but wonder if people don't use them because there garbage or their just not good for commercial sales. Some of the trees are black gum, Osage, paw paw, pecan, cotton wood, dogwood  Tyler