Woodwork project, no matter how small or big, requires expert craftsmanship, professional tools and safety precautions. It’s all about working smarter rather than harder. If woodwork is your passion, have a look at pro tips to lead your next project successfully.
1. Easy Sanding
Sanding manually is indeed laborious but it’s all about having the right tools at your disposal and technique that’s sure to make it all convenient. You need to have a high-quality sandpaper that can even outdo a power sander if handled properly. Not to mention noiseless as compared to the mechanical counterpart that give away a lot of dust flying all over and creates a lot of racket.
Another alternative is a sanding block for even faster and more efficient results. It evenly distributes the pressure applied during the sanding process whereas amazingly maintain a much flatter surface as compared to folding and refolding the sandpaper.
For final touch and grits, sand using a wood grain whereas you can easily remove scores, scratches and stains by graining with an angle of 45-degrees. When sanding painted surfaces, opt for clog-resistant sandpaper to do it faster, smoother and more efficiently.
2. Drywall Screws, Not for Woodworking Projects
When you’re screwing two pieces of wood, prefer using traditional wood screw over drywall for better and even results. This is because drywall screw is threaded at full length and upon entering the wooden board, it can pierce the wood in pieces. On the contrary, the wood screw’s top thread is a smooth trunk that wouldn’t grip the board thus making it easier to easily clamp two wood pieces together.
Then there’s another reason to avoid drywall screw which is the fact that it’s made of hard and brittle steel that often break during installation, especially on screwing into the hardwood. And on removing, the surface is likely to get damaged. Wood screws are thicker, soft metallic and break-resistant making them a preferred choice of expert carpenters and for helming a delicate woodworking project.
3. Moisture Content in the Wood
It’s obvious that wood is collected from tree that have moisture settled deep in its roots. Before beginning with any woodworking project, any professional would first understand the moisture content present in each wood. Extreme dry wood may crack or swell during the finished product whereas excess moisture would result in the final produce to either shrink or warp. This is why professional carpenters say that around 80% problems during woodworking projects are due to lack of knowledge on the appropriate moisture content in the wood.
If your next project contains using two different species of wood, you should know the moisture content for each to ensure the inlay glue joints remain intact. A failsafe method to avoid failure or a ruined project is using a moisture meter. For professional carpenters, hobbyists and high-school students taking reins to a woodworking assignment, they can take highly accurate reading using professional or industrial-grade moisture meters from many different brands.
There’re many different smartphone apps that can calculate Equilibrium Moisture Content (EMC), solves common moisture-related problems in the wood while also give you access to helpful resources, like expert carpentry services in Dubai if your search is specific for instance.
4. Avoid Excess Glue Stains
Stains from oozing glue at the joints can be too irritating and to avoid getting in such a mess, you can always clamp the wood pieces together without glue. Use premium-grade masking tape, wrap it neatly over the joint and cut it smoothly, evenly with a utility knife. Then comes the step to apply the glue but before that, separate each piece, gently apply the glue and re-clamp. This way, the glue would ooze on the tape rather than onto the wood. Gently remove the tape before it dries up.
5. Take Measurement Using a Drafting Square
Make your measurement and marking layouts extremely precise, faster and easier using a drafting square that’s easily available at any supply store. Take for instance your project that may require accurate square within 2-to-3-foot range, drafting squares can easily help you avoid the drywall squares while returning accuracy. A much easier way is however to call in expert carpentry services and let the professionals do their job with far greater precision.
6. Keep the Blade Edges Sharp
Lighter or dull tools like blades, chisels, planes, gouges, scrapers and other such give unprofessional and unclean finish. In fact, they can tear the wood fibres which results in fuzzy, uneven appearance. Chipped, nicked and worn tools require grinding that can be done using a bench or wet grinder or even a belt sander. In case of using bench grinder or sander, avoid overheating the tool or it may deform and lose temper. Keep dipping it in cool water every few seconds for smoothness. Once grinded, hone it for perfection using either oil stone or a flat-wet stone followed by polishing.
Other Considerations
To have your woodworking project move in the right direction, there’s more to it than just the tools and carpentry expertise. Some of the most common are:
- Overhead lighting for proper illumination
- Specialised/focused lighting
- Specialised tools bearing custom lights
- White paint on the walls and ceiling can surely distribute light evenly all over
Now you’re ready to take on your next woodworking project with much confidence and precision. You can even take advice from a typical home maintenance company in Dubai. Happy woodworking!
