STL290: Lightning round with Vic and Ben

Vic and Ben answer eight listener questions, ranging from table saw throatplates to shiplap board spacing.

This episode is sponsored by the Texas Woodworking Festival:

[driftlessjoinery]

Those of us over 50 know the drill: Set up, double check set up, take a leak, go to work. Ben laughs....give it 10-15 years my friend.

[alholston-smith]

Another approach to determining the number and width of back boards, is to measure the outside width of the box (or opening the back will be attached to) divide it by 4, or 6 for nominal board widths and see how close to a whole number you can get. Adjust the board width measurement until it divides into the box width evenly, then add in the overlap amount and subtract the gap width to get the rough board with needed.
Cheers

[bernardm.]

Vic Vic Vic... Tool vs Toy? I absolutely LOVE my Nova drill press. My point of view is - if a certain level of precision provided by a tool can improve on my work AND take some of the stress out doing the work, I'm all in. My first drill press was a used Craftsman floor-stand that had so much runout, every hole was oversized or not centered. Changing speeds was a huge pain, the depth stop was a joke, etc. etc. etc. The Nova has provided me with exceptional confidence in proper settings, tight tolerances, and features that I can grow into. For sure there is a durability risk with integrated tech. I was out of warranty and had an issue developing with the interface knob. Nova worked with me to correct it without any hassle. Awesome TOOL for someone who needs (& wants) the technology "assist". My wife laughed out loud about taking a pee break. I've wanted to put a urinal in my shop & her answer is "...when you have a free-standing shop." Can't wait to see your new shop set-up.

[StephenADraper]

I put a small square of camphor in all of my cabinet drawers where I store tools. I do nothing else. For 40 years I have never gotten a speck of rust on any tool stored that way.

[zifnabalias]

(Width of cabinet+(Depth of one tenon*number of boards)+(amount of one gap*number of boards))/number of boards = width of board to cut

[alholston-smith]

When doing shop lap or tongue and grove joints in boards, you have the “face” of the board that you see, and the joint part, the rebate on ship lap, or the tongue on T&G. The gap is the open space between the faces. I you want a 1/4” (.250”) overlap on the joint, you need to add in the gap measurement (.125”) and add it to the joint overlap (.250”) and then add this (.375”) to the board face width, to get the overall width of width of each board. Doing this in metric is much easier math wise, which is what I use when milling custom T&G or Ship Lap boards. That said, traditionally, the small boards used in cabinet backs are not all the same width, and you see this in many antique pieces. Also these boards are just “rough milled” with a trying plane(Jack plane with wide set), and not finished smooth. The backs of these boards are just rough sawn, not completely planed either. Alternatively, if you want the boards to look the same width, use a divider to determine an average board width, then subtract the gap measurement (1/8 or 1/16”) from the face width and add the joint gap (1/4”) to the face width (less the gap width) to get the total board width needed.
Cheers

[beerymr]

Tim Rousseau would absolutely agree with Vic’s response on balancing veneers. Ben, go back and review the videos you shot on the Danish Modern Writing Desk…veneer both sides of Baltic birch plywood.

[zifnabalias]

they make plywood with an odd number of sides for a reason. even super thick plywood - subfloor.

[johnoerter]

Ok, so I’m a preacher for my day job, and I learned a long time ago to make a pit stop before worship … carries over well to my shop work 🙄

[mgmoody]

Vic is overthinking fractions in woodworking. Sorry, it had to be said. 😂

[zifnabalias]

Vic has Dulcet? is that a brand of chisels?

[mgmoody]

Drill presses with electronics are going to eventually fail.