Hey guys, I have been lurking for a bit, decided to register and have two questions that I need some knowledge on. Firstly, I am a new woodworker - about 3 years - been gathering my tools and machines and building my home shop a bit over this time. Actually, I just sold my first table and benches set to my first customer this afternoon! feels great! But I have 2 questions as of now, and many more to follow, as I search the forums..
1) I got a new orbital sander which is hook & lock (my previous was an adhesive type). I noticed that at my retailer the Velcro type is up to $2.00 more per pack than the adhesive. I'm going to use a lot of these, so I tried to DIY it to make my Velcro sander able to use adhesive pads. I took an old Velcro pad, and glued epoxy it to a piece of 1/8" thick rubber. stuck the Velcro to the sander, and the adhesive sanding disc to the rubber. worked out great!.... until the epoxy melted between the Velcro pad and the rubber under the high heat of the sander after about 35 minutes. so question 1: what do you suggest to use as a high temp adhesive. I've googled of course, but want suggestions from people who know.
2) As stated before I am just starting out my woodworking "business?" and had my first customer today. I am into making different tables and benches, so far out of douglas fir or redwood, as I'm sure many of us started out at. But as I am buying construction grade wood (from my local diy store) I spend up to 50% of my time just sanding the wood to make it usable. This really increases the time it takes to make anything, and therefore increase the cost of making anything. I know there are some options.
a. buy a planer and get rid of that top stuff that sucks. ( great idea but they are quite expensive for me right now).
b. buy from a mill ( but every mill around me wants to charge crazy money for simple pine... like 67$ for a 2x4x10)
c. try to find a place where you can purchase douglas fir/whitewood/pine in 2x4x8 and 1x4x8 and 2x10x8 where the quality of the wood is above the diy stores and not insanely priced ( less pits, breaks, curves)... I have no idea where to find this.
I guess I'm just wondering what you all have experienced as you were starting out, and if this resonates. I could really find a niche if the time it took was greatly reduced in the "sanding of the cheap wood to make it look good" phase could be addressed. I'm looking for all knowledge and appreciate your advice.
Thanks in advance. and this is my first post.. more to come. hopefully to assist others as well.
J.
1) I got a new orbital sander which is hook & lock (my previous was an adhesive type). I noticed that at my retailer the Velcro type is up to $2.00 more per pack than the adhesive. I'm going to use a lot of these, so I tried to DIY it to make my Velcro sander able to use adhesive pads. I took an old Velcro pad, and glued epoxy it to a piece of 1/8" thick rubber. stuck the Velcro to the sander, and the adhesive sanding disc to the rubber. worked out great!.... until the epoxy melted between the Velcro pad and the rubber under the high heat of the sander after about 35 minutes. so question 1: what do you suggest to use as a high temp adhesive. I've googled of course, but want suggestions from people who know.
2) As stated before I am just starting out my woodworking "business?" and had my first customer today. I am into making different tables and benches, so far out of douglas fir or redwood, as I'm sure many of us started out at. But as I am buying construction grade wood (from my local diy store) I spend up to 50% of my time just sanding the wood to make it usable. This really increases the time it takes to make anything, and therefore increase the cost of making anything. I know there are some options.
a. buy a planer and get rid of that top stuff that sucks. ( great idea but they are quite expensive for me right now).
b. buy from a mill ( but every mill around me wants to charge crazy money for simple pine... like 67$ for a 2x4x10)
c. try to find a place where you can purchase douglas fir/whitewood/pine in 2x4x8 and 1x4x8 and 2x10x8 where the quality of the wood is above the diy stores and not insanely priced ( less pits, breaks, curves)... I have no idea where to find this.
I guess I'm just wondering what you all have experienced as you were starting out, and if this resonates. I could really find a niche if the time it took was greatly reduced in the "sanding of the cheap wood to make it look good" phase could be addressed. I'm looking for all knowledge and appreciate your advice.
Thanks in advance. and this is my first post.. more to come. hopefully to assist others as well.
J.