Doomwolf

Hi all, thank you for the advice. Looks like I will spend some time this summer stripping old shellac on the back deck.

I recently got an old chest of drawers off of my aunt. The finish is old and I was thinking of stripping it off and restaining it (or painting it - I like the colors you get from milk paint). The drawer fronts have this....interesting finish that is basically 3D at this point. I've been told it's called an "alligator finish" and is what happens when the lacquer(?) they used back in the 20's and 30's gets repeatedly exposed to cycles of heat and humidity. Is that the case, or would someone have finished it this way on purpose. Other than some veneer peeling off the top, the piece seems to be in a good state construction-wise, and is solid with great proportions. NB-piece is currently in a dimly lit garage, so the light spot is caused by me photographing the part that was being illuminated with a flashlight.

I self-cleared the item last Friday. Paid $39.02 in sales tax, as opposed to $108 in stupid UPS brokerage fees. Process was super easy, spent more time driving between CBSA and UPS offices than I did filling paperwork/collecting my item. If you're curious as to what the process is, I have edited my original post and added links, so if anyone in the future is searching this issue they can find it right at the top.

@drzaius Based on my research/the UPS invoices, I should be paying $38.95 HST when I got to the CBSA office tomorrow. HST is a fact of life here, not mad about that. Once I have the square in my hand, I will add a summary of what happened to the first post in case someone runs into a similar issue down the road and searches the forum.

Update: I Googled "UPS brokerage fees" last night and found some information (some from the CBSA website) about how you can self-clear your item in through customs. Will look at going that route, and report back as to how well it goes. Apparently UPS charges the brokerage fees based on the $ value of the item. It has nothing to do with weight or the difficulty of the paperwork. In fairness to the use of the square (once it arrives) - I am part way through* the first of two bookshelves made from plywood, and having only a 12" square was making some things problematic. *still only part way because gf's suck up a lot of time

At this point, I'm going to go through with the purchase. I don't see anything on the Woodpecker website saying they do free returns, which I assume means I'd have to pay to ship it back ($45 at a minimum), and possibly a restocking fee or/and further customs shenanigans recrossing the border .....and it has resale value as long as I don't damage it....and most of the money has already been spent. (paragraph edited out as it is no longer accurate given how things developed) Edit: as I'm paying the import fees, "Duty" is listed as $0.00 but 'UPS customs brokerage charges' are $70, so I think my anger may have been directed at the wrong source. More to follow on this.

I ordered the 26" framing square from woodpecker tools earlier this year. I was expecting to pay more than the receipt says because of the exchange rate conversion, but what I wasn't expecting was an additional $108 in customs dues (31%) on top of that. It's going to end up costing $460. I understand it's supposed to be a great tool, but is it really *that* good? I could buy a Chappell square, and trade off the lesser features for saving almost $300. https://www.woodpeck.com/psq2018.html For reference, I'm a hobbyist that only occasionally works with sheet goods. Update: So what happened is, UPS charges a brokerage fee for clearing an item through customs. This is based on the value of the item, not weight or complexity. In this case, the brokerage fees were $70, and the rest was HST (which you would pay if you bought an item here anyway). You can avoid paying these brokerage fees in Canada by self-clearing the item through a CBSA Inland Revenue Office. Below is a website explaining how the process works, a CBSA page saying the same thing, and a page where you can lookup where the closest CBSA office is. Self-clearing was super easy, less time than it takes to walk across a mall parking lot. Just make sure you have the UPS invoice, photo ID, and cash/credit card. You also need to know where the package is being held. You may need to find a way to fax/scan the invoice to the appropriate UPS office that deals with customs; the one I needed was right next to CBSA, so it was done before I could even go to the depot location. http://trueler.com/2010/11/24/self-clear-shipment-cbsa-avoid-ups-brokerage-fee/ https://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/import/courier/lvs-efv/menu-eng.html https://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/do-rb/menu-eng.html

I was actually using a circular saw and an edge guide, as per the Guild build/I don't own a table saw/I couldn't get one down the stairs unless I took the top off and carried it separately (or got a contractor saw, but I doubt that would work for sheet goods). Having slept on the matter, the issue probably me/layout and not the square, but I'm going to drop by the local cabinet shop and test it against Greg's Starrett to be sure before I do anything else. I'm already out most nights this week anyway, so I'm not really losing much shop time.

Never heard of the five-cut method. Do tell.

The only other square I have is a 4" engineer square, which can't check 12". I tested on a few surfaces doing the old 'draw a line, flip the square, draw another line, see if they match', and it always thickened towards the end. I tested the 4" square at the same time and it didn't, but again, it's only 4" (inset 'that's what she said' joke here). There is a cabinet shop I can drop into next week and ask to check against their squares, which is what I will do before any work will get done on it.

Hi all. I'm making the two-sheet bookcase project from the Guild, and my cuts weren't cutting out square. I check my Starrett 12" combo square, and it doesn't seem to be square any more. Is it fixable or do I now have an expensive paper weight?

Would it be worth doing two smaller tables the same height with equivalent width tops? You could go *considerably* longer than 100" without any overhand issues if you go that route. PWW magazine published an article on a gate leg table within the last year that takes up minimal floor space when both leaves are folded. https://www.popularwoodworking.com/article/modern-gateleg-table-2

I finished off a table last year that is 72" x 37" and it can comfortably fit three people along each side, plus one at each end. Height is 29", and the top is 1" thick, so 28" of clearance for the knees. It fits my space fine, though if the top was an inch or so lower that would better. For reference I'm 5'8"; some of my Dutch relatives (6'3" and up) might prefer it a little higher.

So, had time (and light) to sit down with the camera and take a couple closeups of how everything is held together. The more observant of you might notice that I did not...obsess over the final surface of the trestle base. My rational is that the only people who will notice are A. me and B. toddlers. I do like the chamfers on the center beam - I did some test cuts on a table saw with scrap, and went with what I liked. I did the same 45 degree chamfers on the tenon ends partly to match (and partly to reduce the chance of chipping/splintering, and because it makes putting the tenon through the motise easier).

Update: my table is done. Took from November - August (including a couple of months where no work was done because I was saving for a drill press & having my time consumed by a relationship). Determined that I can single-handedly carry a 3' x 6' maple table top up my basement stairs, but I really don't recommend it. Trestle base is white ash stained with Minwax 245 Golden Pecan. @Trip Thank you again for the book recommendation.