Don't Make These Lumber Mistakes! | Tips for New Woodworkers

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I imagine most people think wood is a fairly simple material. But the more you work with it, the more you can appreciate the subtle peculiarities of wood and what it takes to work with it effectively. Over the years, I've made a number of mistakes with regard to purchasing and cutting lumber and plywood and hopefully this list of tips will save you some heartache.

+ Wood Moves After Milling
+ Wood Can Move During a Cut
+ Plan for Expansion and Contraction
+ Don't Cheap Out on Plywood
+ Crap In, Crap Out
+ Buying Thicker Lumber and Resawing Is Not Cheaper
+ Shop Around for Best Price
+ Finish Doesn't Forgive Crappy Wood
+ Learn to Paint With Grain

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[woodwhisperer]

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[JGV_IX]

Every single new woodworker needs to see this video! As an amateur woodworker myself I’ve seen this happen first hand. Even today on my table saw I saw the off-cut wood bow out as I was cutting it. If only I had left enough margin on the stock to joint it again 🙄 But I’ve learned very early that a project is very fluid - the design has to change with the wood sometimes.
Love your channel and thanks for teaching an amateur all the way down in South Africa 🇿🇦 all these great lessons!

[mattydominic]

Glad to hear you say it, bc choosing just the right pieces of lumber for a particular component is always among the most time-consuming & laborious chores I face when doing a project. I just thought I was nuts. 🤪

[David-hmic]

Your discussion of plywood was spot on. I bought a lot of birch veneered plywood that was apparently from Vietnam. The veneers were paper thin and came off easily, the cored were irregular with voids/overlaps and poorly glued causing lots of issues. I have never had so many splinters from any one material in my life! Fortunately, most of it was used to cover the walls in my shop rather than building something from it. I got a bunch of Baltic birch from the same source and it was very nice to work with.

Recently I bit the bullet and bought some Purebond maple veneered plywood from a local home center. It is almost as nice as the Baltic birch. The core is all poplar. My good sawblades are out for sharpening so I'm using an inexpensive Diablo at the moment and still had no chipout from the Purebond ply. The veneer is much thicker that the cheap birch veneered import ply and it handles beautifully. My wife was even impressed with how nice the French cleats looked in maple veneer.

[jnix]

I just came here to say how much I appreciate your sense of humor, Marc! I imagine your thought process (or maybe you even said it somewhere) “ugh I hate clickbait-y videos, but they work, so fine, I guess I’ll try it. But darn it I’m going to poke fun at the whole concept at the same time”. Your thumbnails are awesome.

[VladDonkov]

I am just starting out with my first trips to the lumber yards and living in a small country like Bulgaria where there are not exactly the type of businesses that cater to high end woodworking - your videos are a life saver for someone who bets almost all his cards on woodworking since my other field of work nearly vanished during the pandemic. Many, many thanks!

[tiagofino]

Wow! Nine tips AND a high school picture! My week is complete!😆

[annee.]

9 minutes of pure gold... so much information. Thank you.

[cyurchwoodworks]

I love the maturity, self awareness and self deprecation that you include in your videos these days! That picture from high school is my favorite thing I've seen all day!

[Thesaltymaker]

I really appreciate the “what I’ve learned” series of videos. Thanks Marc

[patrickbink]

All your points are important but I quite appreciated your last section on "painting with the grain". I need to pay more attention to that.

[TimberBiscuitWoodworks]

Great point on buying boards for specific parts of the project. I do this every time I go to the lumber yard and yes it takes a little longer but man is it with it! Awesome tips Marc!

[sunalwaysshinesonTVs]

Loved the Kyrsten Sinema curtsy when ya said, "work".

[egbok]

Great tips sure did open my eyes to some very important am now, not questioning my choice of purchasing Baltic Birch plywood for shop cabinets/carts rather that the other you!!

[ilivelivemusic]

Some good tips I hadn’t focused on before. Thanks.

[jamesgallagher]

I'm a joiner of around 23 years and even now I still like to be reminded about this stuff. Great advice as usual

[al]

It’s been a while since I’ve heard you say “stack the cards in our favor”. Good to have you back!

[inthewoodworksco.]

These tip videos are great. Thanks for posting it. Please keep them coming.

[slowburnwoodworks]

Been studying up on wood movement and this was a great bit of info to add to the knowledge bank. As always, thanks for sharing 🙏

[johnsanchez]

Thank you for sharing your wisdom and experience. I picked up a lot from this video!