Tips and Tricks
Almost 4 decades of woodworking have brought about a collection of tips and tricks that will be shared here. You are invited to offer up your own little secrets also. Hopefully we can all learn something from each other to make our respective building experiences quicker, easier, better, less expensive and above all more enjoyable.
Submit your tips to:
songweaver@geocities.com
Epoxy Mixing Pots: The little plastic tubs that soft margarine comes in make excellent mixing pots for epoxy. I find that they effectively handle up to four pumps for West System epoxy (coming out of the 1 gallon resin can). Wash them thouroughly once you have used up the margarine. When I am finished using the batch of epoxy I leave the mixing stick in the tub. When the remaining epoxy cures I pull out the stick and most of the residual epoxy. The tubs are flexible enough to make removal of all cured resin very easy. When they get too dirty to clean easily, or if they crack, just throw them away. After doing this for a number of years I always have an ample supply of mixing tubs and the price is right.
Best Price Mixing Sticks: Popsicle sticks serve very well for mixing small batches of resin in the above mentioned margarine tubs. I found a bag containing a couple hundred sticks for around a dollar. Use a little extra care during mixing since they are rounded on both ends and therefore they don't scrape the bottom well. In four years of using popsicle sticks I have not mixed a bad batch of epoxy.
Making Duplicate Pieces: The standard practice is nailing two pieces of stock together, then cut and shape the two duplicate pieces simutaneously. For particularly large pieces, like the stem laminations for Song Weaver, I cut and shape one piece. Then I trace it onto the stock used for the duplicate. This piece is cut a little proud of the line. The two pieces are then nailed or screwed together and it is a simple matter of running a router with a pattern cutting bit or laminate cutting bit around the workpiece.
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