We have mentioned before that we are not wood carvers, but we have friends who are. When we have questions about carving, we turn to them and follow their advice. In order to answer the question of this article, we …
While we have moved away somewhat from default staining our woodworking projects, turning instead to wood oils or products like Rubio Monocoat, we still will occasionally use a wood stain as part of finishing the project. Stains come in a …
A day doesn’t go by that I don’t use a wooden cutting board in my kitchen. All of my cutting boards are wooden, although I’ve used hard plastic cutting boards in the past. Two are of bamboo, and one is …
Having worked with both Southern Yellow Pine and Douglas Fir, I’ve learned a lot about what makes each of these woods unique from a woodworking perspective. In this article, I will share my experiences with these two types of wood. …
In a previous article, we asked the question of whether something that was hard can also be soft. In this article, we ask in the reverse: can something that is soft also be hard? We’re talking wood here, and we …
Wood comes in a variety of colors by name – redwoods, green wood, and even whitewood. Redwoods get their name because of the bark and heartwood, with their reddish-brown color. The color comes from a high tannin level in the …
The 2×4 is a foundational element in construction, framing everything from desks to homes. Its significance grew in the late 1940s with the transition to 2x4s, measuring 1.5” x 3.5”, the current US standard. QUICK ANSWER: Framing with 2x4s typically …
We all know the words hard and soft, and we know what they mean, generally. When it comes to wood, though, it is not quite so intuitive as we might think. Those of us who work with wood know that …
We’ve written of hard and soft woods in the past, and each has its best uses in a woodworking shop. Don’t conflate hard and soft as strong and weak, though. When used in the right projects, all woods have strengths …
Is a hardwood a hard wood? That may seem like a silly question, but it is a fair one, and the answer depends on something called the Janka test. It also depends on the wood to which one is being …