foreign dog woodwork so in my early woodworking career
I made a lot of mistakes believe it or not I was an even bigger idiot than I am today
however a lot of these mistakes could have been prevented if I just would have known
just a tad bit more today we're going to look at seven things that I did in my early woodworking
career where I wish I would have chose a different path let's take a look at these seven items
and see if we can help you out if you're a beginning woodworker so the first thing that
we're going to talk about today is the saw now in your early woodworking career you may
be bouncing back and forth about whether or not you want a miter saw or a table saw for
me I decided to go with a miter saw and I don't think this was the best choice let me
show you exactly why so if we take a closer look at my shop you can see that the table
saw is the foundation and the center of everything and there's a reason for that let's talk about
it when you're first starting out you're obviously not going to have a fancy table saw like a
saw stock however there are a lot of affordable table saws out there that are contractor table
saws I I started out with a Dewalt table saw and it suited me very well for a number of
years when we take a look at the front of my shop you can see that I still have one
of my first spider saws and one of my first table saws that's because these still serve
a purpose even though I've upgraded both of these items so in order to prove my point
of why I think a table saw is a better option than a miter saw as your first major saw upgrade
let's talk about some of the features of what a miter saw can do so in order to do this
comparison I'm going to take two pieces of two by fours and do a variety of cuts at the
miter saw after that we're going to take the second 2×4 and recreate those cuts at the
table saw once that's done I'm then going to show you some of the features that the
table saw can do that the miter saw just can't handle so one of the main features that we
use a miter saw for is cross cuts and a cross cut is simply a 90 degree cut through your
wood to break your wood into smaller pieces so one of the first disadvantages of having
a miter saw is your cross cuts are limited to the capacity of your miter saw so if I
had a cross cut that was very wide I couldn't do it with this miter saw but as well as making
cross Cuts as the name implies miter saws are great at creating miter cuts and a miter
cut is simply just an angled cut in this example I'm going to cut a 45 degree angle not only do miter saws allow you to create
vertical miters but they also allow you to create horizontal miners these are great for
when cutting down things like moldings one of the last features that I use a miter
saw for on a regular basis is creating trenches and trenches are simply creating rabbits or
dados on a thicker piece of wood by doing a trench you don't go all the way through
the wood but only partially Through the Wood so now that we've created this funky piece
of wood let's go over to the table saw and see if we can recreate these Cuts so the first
cup that I'm going to recreate is a cross cut now this can easily be done either with
a cross cut sled or a miter gauge the only problem with a table saw where the miter saw
has an advantage is you're limited to the length of the wood that you can cut at a table
saw so for this example I'm going to use a miter gauge to create that cross cut I've
got my miter gauge set to zero and I'm going to turn the saw on and simply make that cut now the next cut that I'm going to recreate
is the miter cut now this is a vertical miter cut at 45 degrees so let's go over to the
table saw and make this cut now for this cut I'm once again going to use my miter gauge
now my miter gauge has got some positive stuff so I'm going to set it to 45 degrees and make
the cut so now that we've created the cross cut and
the vertical miter cut it's now time to take a look at the horizontal minor cut let's go
over to the table saw and see how we make this cut so this is a cut that's easily made
with a high degree of precision if you have a digital angle finder and that's what I'm
going to use for this cut so here I'm going to place my digital angle finder and zero
it out after that I'm going to place it on the blade and rotate the blade until it hits
that 45 degree angle foreign now that I've got my Blade Set to
45 degrees I've got my miter gauge set to zero degrees now all that's left to do is
to make the cut so now if we take a look at the piece that we cut over the miter saw you
can see that our table saw cuts are looking very similar the only thing left to do is
to do the trenching feature or create a dado on this work piece so let's go back to the
table saw and create that dado so here I've adjusted the blade back to 90 degrees and
I've adjusted the depth of the blade so that's equivalent to what we did over at the miter
saw now all that's left to do is to make the cuts on the piece so let's take a closer look at what we've
just done if we look at our original piece that we did at the miter saw you can see that
it's been perfectly replicated over at the table saw we did our cross cut we did our
vertical miter cut we did our horizontal miter cut as well as the dado and you can see that
the table saw can do all of those things and more so let's take a closer look at some of
the other things that the table saw can do that the miter saw can't so for this video
I'm only going to talk about a couple of things that I used my table saw for on a regular
basis that you can't do over at the miter saw first and foremost it's ripping if you
have a longer piece of wood that you need to cut the entire length of you can only do
this at the table saw let me show you what I'm talking about so obviously at the table
saw I can cut down the entire length of this board by using my fence and this is something
you simply can't do over at the miter saw the second thing that a table saw can do that
a miter saw can't is long tapering Cuts now this is a tapering jig that I made on a previous
video and this allows me to create those angled cuts for things like Furniture legs let's
cut through this and I'll show you exactly what I mean so over at the table saw you may be able to
see that I can match that angle however since this piece of wood is so thick there's no
way I can cut through the entire board foreign the last thing that I want to talk about with
the table saw is dado Stacks now data Stacks I know are illegal in Europe however here
in America dado Stacks are something that I use on a regular basis in fact my original
table saw I always have a dado stack set in there so that I can easily make the dados
when I need them over here you can see at my original Dewalt table saw I've got a quarter
inch dado sack set in there and I can use it whenever I need it alright so that's my
first advice to any new woodworker is save up for that table saw I think it really does
pay off in the long run now let's move on to our second item you ever feel like you're
in prison in your Workshop sometimes I do let's talk about our next item so when you
first start woodworking money is always an issue you're not quite sure if this is a hobby
you're really going to get into so you typically migrate to the cheaper Brands and that's what
I did I set myself up with a bunch of Ryobi tools summer great summer bed now let's talk
about the infrastructure that supports those tools so a lot of people have healthy Hobbies
like collecting stamps or toys but for me I've got a Ryobi collection let me tell you
why I've got so many Ryobi tools there's one reason and one reason only so this right here
is the reason why I have so many Ryobi tools the first tool that I ever purchased was a
Ryobi handsaw and this required a Ryobi battery so I purchased my first Ryobi handsaw and
my first Ryobi battery when it came to buy my second tool it also required a Ryobi battery
so I purchased my second Ryobi battery and my second Ryobi tool and then it started to
snowball now I'm stuck with a Ryobi infrastructure that I'm not quite sure I can get out of so
what does all this mean well if you're anything like me I don't think most beginning Woodworkers
give a whole lot of thought to the infrastructure they're getting themselves into when they
first start woodworking because I trapped myself into a Ryobi infrastructure I can no
longer look at fancier tools like Milwaukee DeWalt or Makita then I was stuck with only
the options that Ryobi had in the long run this actually costs me more money because
I quickly realized I love woodworking I quickly outgrew Ryobi now I didn't want to spend a
whole lot of money on a new infrastructure with a company like DeWalt Milwaukee or Makita
so I jumped all the way up to Festool and this has got a completely different battery
infrastructure as well so I ended up buying all new tools with Festool now I'm not saying
anything bad about Festool I love Festool however I often wonder if I would have purchased
a higher quality tool in the beginning and set myself up with a higher quality battery
infrastructure if I would have moved to Festool or be with Makita or Bosch or one of those
higher quality Brands so bottom line is if you're thinking about getting into Woodworking
and you're not quite sure which brand you should go with save up just a little extra
cash and go with a higher quality brand because once you get that battery infrastructure in
place it's really hard to get out of the brand you start with God forbid you may even go
down the Ryobi Rabbit Hole so far you end up with a rival be drill press so that covers
our first two mistakes that I made in early woodworking those were major infrastructure
mistakes now let's talk about some of the smaller mistakes that I didn't quite know
about as a beginning woodworker before we do that though I ask you to do me a huge favor
make sure you hit that subscribe button and leave a like as it really does help off the
small channel and my subscriber base is really growing the community around the subscriber
base has really been a positive influence on me and I think it will be a positive influence
for you as well so Woodworkers need squares the first two squares that I ever purchased
were these two right here and these were a mistake let me talk about some of the disadvantages
of these two squares and the squares you should purchase instead so let's take a closer look
at this larger square if we wanted to strike a perpendicular line on this MDF we would
rest a square on the very edge of the MDF then we would strike our line the problem
with squares like this though is there's no support for your Square when you set it against
the edge of the work piece it can fall down and create inaccuracies if I were to create
a line using this square with it resting against the edge I can strike a line right here if
I were to just wiggle it just a tad and place another line you can see that these two lines
are out of square here's a closer look at the variation between these two lines with
just a little bit of deviation on the bottom of the square so there's a really easy solution
for this and that's the simple speed square let me show you how the speed square provides
the support to the square that you need to have those accurate 90 degree angles so unlike
the framing square the speed square has got a lip on the very edge this allows you to
actually rest it against your work piece and place it firmly against the wood then you
can strike a line and you can vary it wherever you want and you'll know that those two lines
are perfectly perpendicular to the edge of your work piece it's this little lip on the
edge of the speed square that allows the speed square to have complete support along the
length of the square so that you can make sure that your lines are perfectly perpendicular
as your woodworking skills increase you may invest in some nice squares like these woodpecker
squares you will notice that each one of these squares has that little lip to give support
of the entire frame of the square on the work piece so unless you plan on framing out a
house in the near future these are simply nice little rulers if you're planning on doing
some woodworker the speed square is the one that I recommend so now let's talk about sanding
now I know everybody hates sanding including myself and that's why I purchased this next
tool I thought by having this tool in my shop I would be able to eliminate a step in my
woodworking builds and not have to do that rough sanding that everybody hates to do let's
go take a closer look at it and I'll show you some of the limitations of this tool so
here's my drum sander now I purchased this thinking I would save myself a step in my
Milling process right after I got things out of the planer just to give it a little softer
Edge now this isn't what this tool is used for and I didn't know that at the time let
me show you exactly what I use this tool for and what I should have purchased instead if
we take a closer look at the drum sander you can see that it's basically just a large cylinder
with some sandpaper on it now I typically keep 80 grit sandpaper on this at all times
I use my drum sander for two things and two things only the first thing is when I'm doing
end grain cutting boards if I want to smooth out those end grains this is the perfect tool
to use instead of that planer the second thing that I use this for is when I'm doing veneers
if I have a thin strip of wood that I want to apply to a project this is the perfect
thing to do those thin strips now instead of buying a drum sander to smooth down large
surfaces of wood I should have bought a large orbital sander and that's what I purchased
shortly after purchasing this drum sander let me show you what I purchased instead and
does the trick that I was looking for so what I should have purchased instead of buying
a drum sander was a large orbital sander now this is a six inch sander made by Festool
and I don't recommend a Festool sander right off the bat however you can find cheaper brands
in the six inch and even larger varieties that will do just as good a job so with the
drum sander there's only one grit of sandpaper installed at any time if you need to change
that sandpaper it's quite the process but with a large orbital sander it acts as any
other orbital sander if you need to change your grits you simply pull off the old one
and install a new one so unless you're doing a lot of cutting boards or a lot of veneers
in your shop right off the bat I don't recommend a drum sander a drum sander is a great asset
to have in your shop but not something you need as a beginning woodworker since we're
on the topic of sanding I want to move on to the next mistake I made as an early woodworker
and show you a tool that I purchased that was way too powerful for the job it was intended
for so once again me being lazy I wanted to cover as much surface area with my sanding
as possible and that's why I purchased this large belt sander from Ryobi let me show you
the disadvantages of this tool and how it can really damage your projects so one of
the main problems with these belt Sanders is they're very powerful and they're hard
to keep completely flat if you have just a little twist in your arm you can create a
divot in your work piece let me show you what I'm talking about so here I've got a piece
of plywood clamped down to my assembly table I'm going to take this belt sander and do
some even sanding back and forth across this plywood I'm going to show you how uneven that
sanding is and where there may be some divots now this isn't going to show up on the camera
very well but I sanded this back and forth quite evenly for about 30 seconds now as I
rub my fingers back and forth I can feel little areas where divots were created this is because
it's very difficult with this large sander to keep even pressure across your work piece
as you're sanding back and forth to show you even further how powerful this belt sander
is I'm going to place the belt sander on the top of this plywood and just let it sit for
a moment and hopefully you can see from this angle
here how on even that sanding actually is so once again instead of being lazy and trying
to do large surfaces with this belt sander I should have made the smart choice and purchased
an orbital sander here I've got a five inch orbital sander which does a great job these
things are fairly inexpensive and for the price you just can't beat them these do even
sanding across your work piece and it's much more difficult to create those divots like
you can with this belt sander so that's enough about sanding let's move on to something that's
a little different and that's the screw when I first started woodworking I thought there
was no difference between any other screws on the market but that's just not true let's
go take a look at it so when I first started woodworking I had it all figured out Phillips
head screws were the way to go most of my screwdrivers were Phillip head screwdrivers
most of my bits for my impact driver were Phillips head bits but boy did I have it wrong
let's talk a little bit more about it so I rummaged through my entire inventory of screws
and I only found one box of Philips head screws and there's a reason for that there's a better
screw and that's the star screw let's take a closer look and let me show you why the
star screw is so much better than a Phillips head screw so the difference between a Phillips
head screw and a star screw has everything to do with the points of contact with your
bit a star screw has six points of contact while a Phillips head screw only has four
points of contact this becomes incredibly important when screwing into things that are
extremely dense such as Hardwoods when you're using your impact driver since there's six
points of contact there's a lot less likelihood of that screw becoming stripped and there's
nothing more frustrating than having a strip screw in your work piece just as you're finishing
up your project so now it's time for our last item of this video before we move on to that
once again hit that subscribe button and leave a like as it really does help out this channel
let's see what our last item is in order to be a good woodworker you got to have a nice
set of hammers and nails of course nope believe it or not that's just not true along my woodworking
journey I realized that I only used three sets of Fasteners a wood glue B screws and
C pin Nails let's talk about pin nails so since I was locked into the Ryobi infrastructure
of batteries I purchased this airstrike pin nailer very early in my woodworking career
now I purchased this to put up some Walling in my house however I found this to be very
useful in my workshop let me show you why now there's one thing that I really like about
this nailer and that's that it's cordless now if you don't have a cordless nailer that's
ran by a battery you typically have to buy an air compressor but this one comes with
a battery and it's super easy to use so this nailer has two main purposes in my shop first
and foremost if I have two pieces of wood that I've glued together and I'm in a hurry
I can use this nailer to secure those two pieces of wood together and know that they're
not going to come apart without using clamps the second purpose of this nailer in my shop
is often used when creating jigs if I want to create a temporary joint between two pieces
of wood this thing does the trick and it's easy to do well that's going to do us for today folks
I really hope you enjoyed watching these seven mistakes that I made in my early woodworking
career if you're just starting out hopefully you can learn from these mistakes or if you've
been around the block for a while maybe you made some of these same mistakes yourself
thanks for watching and we'll see you next time [Music] thank you [Music] thank you
