10
votes
What are food safe finishes for woodworking projects, e.g. turned bowls?
There are many different kinds of finishes that are food safe. It turns out most finishes once dried or cured are food safe to one level or another.
Most finishes that cure are only food safe after ...
- 1,153
9
votes
How to prepare and carry out drawing line art on a tree round?
Preparation
As the wood dries, it shrinks. You'll likely get big splits and cracks. The rule of thumb for a board (vs. a round) is a year of drying per inch of thickness. Wood dries faster through ...
- 11.5k
7
votes
How can I dye MDF?
This is not really an answer to your title question, and more of a solution to your situation, but, as fixer1234 mentions, no colouring method will evenly pervade the MDF fibres after they have been ...
- 10.6k
7
votes
What kind of lathe would I need if I want to turn pens?
There are several basic groups of wood turning lathes based on size. There are the pen/mini lathes, the midi lathes and your full sized lathes.
Pen/mini lathes are the smallest. These are almost ...
- 1,153
6
votes
What type of thin or light wood is suitable for making box joints?
Plywood is ultimately the answer. When making box joints or finger joints you need to have dimensionally uniform and preferably stable wood.
Plywood comes in many sizes and I would imagine something ...
- 11k
6
votes
Accepted
Is alder wood too hard to whittle?
No, it's not too hard.
For the beginner, Basswood and Butternut woods are the easiest to carve. Don't be confused about the hardwood and softwood definitions as they aren't literal interpretations ...
- 141
5
votes
Accepted
How easy to cut a turn light?
Cutting out the truck and trees would be pretty straight forward. Just find equivalent vector art in whatever format your laser likes. Online trace and format transformation websites are available ...
- 3,235
5
votes
How can I protect the mixed-media surface of my table?
I know that you yourself mentioned glass and listed the downsides, but there are also a couple of advantages that I wanted to point out.
My kids elementary school has an annual holiday boutique, and ...
- 1,576
5
votes
What are food safe finishes for woodworking projects, e.g. turned bowls?
Most waxes and oils are, in themselves, food safe in indeed may of them are in fact food ingredients. The complication is that products used for finishing may contain additives and solvents which are ...
- 1,979
5
votes
Accepted
How to avoid / deal with rough edges after painting plywood?
Not sure if you want to hear this but this is better handled before finishing as supposed to mitigating after the fact. Either way I think you need to sand the roughness out you have first then do ...
- 11k
5
votes
How to avoid / deal with rough edges after painting plywood?
When using a water based paint, you will for certain cause the grain to raise and funny things that look like tear-out on the edges.
To avoid this, before painting, I sand, then intentionally raise ...
- 653
5
votes
How to permanently bend bamboo?
In most commercial applications, the bamboo is treated with steam to soften it. You can also soften it by soaking in water, but it takes a lot longer. You can even apply heat to the bamboo, which ...
- 11.5k
5
votes
Accepted
Can Tea Staining Be Used on Wood That Has Already Had an Oil-Based Stain?
I wouldn't do it.
The oil from the first stain will have penetrated the wood grains to a varying degree, and will prevent the tea and vinegar stain from distributing evenly.
Now, this may not result ...
- 10.6k
4
votes
How do I get reddish scorch marks with a laser cutter?
The scorch marks in the images provided appear to be condensed wood sap, common with laser engraving. They can be completely eliminated outside of the burn area by using a mask, typically ordinary ...
- 7,231
4
votes
How to make a wooden needle?
Disclaimer: I've never actually made a needle for naalbinding, but I have done some other wood carving and the principles are the same.
The site from which you (presumably) got your picture lists a ...
- 2,325
4
votes
How can I mount a polished stone to wood?
Epoxy resin
I love the stuff for the same reason John Vukelic's answer does so I would recommend it here as well. Even some of the cheap 2 parts should work perfectly fine for this. It is very good at ...
- 11k
4
votes
Accepted
What are possible sources of wood pieces from for making musical instruments?
The properties of the wood, especially its density will have a significant effect on the tone of the instrument but there is quite a wide variety used as well as various laminates.
Of critical ...
- 1,979
4
votes
Accepted
How can I safely cut pieces off a small wooden cube?
Jigsaw is a poor choice of tool for this given the size of the finished product and that it is a roughing tool more designed for cutting sheet goods.
Tools to consider
Bandsaw
If the polyhedron ...
- 11k
4
votes
What are food safe finishes for woodworking projects, e.g. turned bowls?
When turning wood, I use paraffin blocks to finish the projects. I hold a solid block against the turning piece and make sure that everything is coated. Then I take a clean cloth and buff the turning ...
- 326
4
votes
What type of thin or light wood is suitable for making box joints?
As Matt said, plywood is likely the simplest and most stable wood material to use to make this box. Though pine tends to be lighter than plywood of the same dimensions.
Pine is easy to shape and ...
- 1,153
4
votes
Accepted
How can I protect the mixed-media surface of my table?
-Note-: I started this answer before there was mention of potential of varnish on the table. This answer would hold outside of that.
While you can usually epoxy over almost anything if you already ...
- 11k
4
votes
Push-to-open lid for box using a special latch?
The first response that popped into my alleged mind was a push-to-open latch. The link points to a Home Depot product, but there are many sources. Consider the concept of the lowly retractable ball-...
- 7,231
4
votes
How do I bring the grain out on soft wood?
You can simply use water. Spray it on, disperse it with a sponge or so, and leave it for a while. The fibers will soak up the water and expand.
For texture to appear the wood naturally needs ...
- 10.6k
4
votes
How do I bring the grain out on soft wood?
You can brush it with a wire brush, going with the grain. The wires push fine groves into the wood that looks like natural wood grain and works really well in miniature crafting. If you press the ...
Elmy♦
- 12.6k
4
votes
Fastening thin pieces of wood with a flat profile
You can use screws, just the right ones, in the right places.
Countersunk machine screws will put the head flush with the outer face. I suggest M3, which I've used in similar applications. In ...
- 6,594
3
votes
Accepted
Wooden camping utensils?
Wittling a spoon or butter knife is not that difficult, but a 5 prong fork might be a challenge. A two or three prong design would probably be easier.
As for "duplicating" the particular style and ...
- 3,235
3
votes
What kind of resin can be used to fill a gap in a piece of wood?
An epoxy resin, or polyepoxide: a resin mixed with a hardener.
This can be used both for filling in gaps in wood as well as encasing wood.
Epoxy can give wood a waterproof, resilient finish. In ...
- 10.6k
3
votes
How to prepare and carry out drawing line art on a tree round?
Cut into rounds that big it will crack. You either need to embrace the cracking or dry even more slowly in a much thicker piece, only cutting later. This is a long term project.
Endgrain should be ...
- 6,594
3
votes
Accepted
How do I approach cutting a new marquetry inlay to fit the space in a metal bracelet
I think that a great way to transfer the shape to the wood would be to use a rubbing to create an outline of the space which you can then cut out of the paper and transfer to the wood. This is sort of ...
- 3,496
3
votes
Accepted
How can I dye MDF?
You will get some penetration, but much less than a millimetre. One thing that should work is to trim very nearly flush, then mask the rest of the headstock and brush or wipe dye onto the sanded face,...
- 6,594
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