Practical tips for beginners.

[Tasky]

Maybe have a Newbie section, with sub-forums for Intro threads, FAQs, Beginners' Tips, and all the Getting Started type stickies?

 

[Nelsun]

If you're working in metric... pretend centimetres never existed and save yourself any confusion down the road.

Planing knots is a good way to increase your sharpening skills (and put you off hand planes). As Custard pointed out, getting good stock and learning how to identify it will help lessen frustrations due to knotty banana wood. On that topic, pallet wood may be readily available and free but it's riddled with dirt and nails which will see you increasing your sharpening skills once more!

 

[Fitzroy]

Check if your square is square by marking a line flipping the square over and seeing if the marked line still matches the edge.

 

[offanonone]

If you're working in metric... pretend centimetres never existed and save yourself any confusion down the road.

In construction we use milimeters & metres. Centimeters are the work of the devil :evil: :evil:

 

[Phil Pascoe]

You've read my comments before?

 

[nev]

If you want to be as accurate as possible, stick to one tape measure. They're not all the same size.

 

[John15]

Don't compromise on quality when buying a square. Inaccurate marking out is the road to disaster.

John

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Make sure you know the difference between a Phillips screw and a Pozidrive.

 

[memzey]

Don't be tempted to use PVA that has been sat about for too long. In the grand scheme of things a new bottle of glue will be negligible in terms of cost. The faff of re-glueing is far harder to stomach.

 

[Phil1975]

Make sure all your rulers, tape measures etc read the same!

I always thought all tape measures were accurate. Wrong.

Took me ages, during a recent project, to suss out why things weren't fitting together. Then I had a lightbulb moment & tested all my tape measures & found out one of them was 1mm out at the 300mm point! Still at least it was comforting to know I CAN read a tape measure after all.
I then checked every ruler, square & tape I owned & binned a ruler & 2 tape measures that didn't match the rest.

Things fit better now!

 

[Sheffield Tony]

In a similar vein, don't assume your steel rule is straight. Certainly don't start trying to flatten a plane sole on the basis that you can see light when a ruler edge is put to it. Many of them - especially modern ones - are slightly banana shaped, I assume because of how that are cut from sheet stock.

 

[Jacob]

Sharpening tip!
Get to grips with trad sharpening first:
one or two oil stones or one double sided fine/coarse, freehand, keep stones clean and occasionally freshen up with a pan scrubber.
It's quickest and easiest and any fool can do it.
By all means experiment with jigs, gadgets and systems but they can be expensive and are by no means essential - especially the modern obsession with flattening, which is a waste of a lot of time..

 

[OscarG]

Great thread, picked up some good tips.

I'm a novice compared to most on here but do have a tip that I wish I knew when starting....

Don't buy cheap new powertools. It's a waste of time and ultimately a false economy when you're forced to upgrade.

 

[Sgian Dubh]

For beginners, try to develop patience - the job will take probably twice as long as you expected. Slainte.

 

[nabs]

... but do try and learn freehand first, it will give you the understanding of whats happening and what to do if things aren't going to plan.

that is very good advice - once you get the basic idea then it is easy to experiment with different sharpening media, honing guides etc, without getting overwhelmed by all the complexity you'd encounter if you started with something more exotic.

 

[JSW]

Find the oldest, gnarliest, most crotchety, bombastic, smelly, weathered Joiner you can, and ask him for some tips.

If he's anything like the guy I served my apprenticeship under in the 70's, he'll make your life hell. But you'll never forget a thing he taught you, guaranteed.

And as above, learn how to sharpen the old fashioned way.

 

[nev]

](*,)

 

[novocaine]

thanks Nev, but there were some actual tips you've just deleted.

so, hand planing needs a immovable object, so if your starting with a workmate borrow mass from a wall or tie it down.

 

[kevinlightfoot]

Always have plenty of wedges to hand they are wonderful little tools to help in glue ups or shimming that kitchen cupboard on an uneven floor.

 

[Richard S]

Never sharpen with yellow snow,
..........I think that was it!!