Brian1969

I live in Hedrick, right between Oskaloosa and Ottumwa (about 50 miles southeast of Des Moines).

Haha, yeah, I've been looking at those kinds of videos, too. Interesting to see what people come up with.

Clint, that's the main reason I asked in the first place, was for safety reasons. My thinking was "yeah, I suppose I could do iy that way, but is it safe to do?" Asking people who have more experience is the way to go, in my opinion. Like Mark says in his videos "Don't do anything stupid", and what may seem like a decent idea at the time might not be, especially to a beginner like me. My thinking was to somehow get a board in place and keep it there with featherboards and a straightedge, but in hindsight that's probably a bad idea. If something happens or I've measured wrong, etc., there's nowhere for the board to go but up and out of the router. So what I'll probably do, for now, is do one edge, use the circular saw and edge guide to do the other edge, then go from there if need be to flatten both sides with the router and sand (probably pick up a hand planer at some point, too). And, to be honest, right now I couldn't buy new stuff even if I wanted to. I'm between jobs (laid off in December, waiting for the call back but don't know when, or if, it will happen). So I have to make do with what I have at the moment. Thanks for all your help!

Oh I know how to use one, I had shop class and stuff like that in school (was it me, or was every shop teacher missing at least one finger?). It's just that I've seen and read so much over my 45 years that just makes me think twice about having one around. Yeah, I may run it for years without a single incident, but if I do have one....yikes.

I actually have been watching Steve, lol. And Mark, of course. I do have a "wish list" compiled, so there's that. Which makes it more likely that yeah, I'll eventually get them, esp. if I can find a deal on them. Not sure about a table saw, though....just not crazy about the idea of having one. They kind of give me the heebie jeebies. Seen and heard too many horror stories over the years, so it makes me think "yeah...I really don't want something like that in my shop".

On a side not, I check eBay and Craigslist almost everyday to see if there are any good deals on stuff I could use that are in my area. It's not that I'm saying "no way!" to this stuff, just that there's a limit to what I am willing to spend right now.

Right now, I have a few things that could be used for any woodworking projects I might tackle at my level. I have a circular saw with a track guide that can be attached to it (I use it for cutting sheets of plywood straight). I have a dual bevel, sliding compound miter saw (12"). A jigsaw. The router and table and some basic bits. Cordless screwdriver/drill (that thing has paid for itself MANY times over!). Kreg jig for pocket screws. Angle grinder. A dremel. A belt sander and orbital sander. Framing nailer, finish nailer, brad nailer, and the air compressor to go w/them. Some hand-held saws (smaller ones). I've abandonded the idea of using a router to do the second edge on a piece. I thought there may be a safety issue with it, but I thought I might just be paranoid about it so I decided to ask, and everyone has been very helpful in confirming that yes, it would be risky. And, also, I did think of using the track and saw and then everyone confirmed that yes, that would be the route for me to go right now. I understand it may take more time and be more labor intensive. But I'm the type of person who'd be ok with that for now. I take pride in doing things myself and finding a way to do them. No, it may not be the way "it's done", but I still did it and had it look ok in the end, especially if, when I started on it, I had no idea how to do it. You Tube and reading up on whatever task is facing me has helped tremendously. Perfect example: the house we bought is 114 years old. It's an old home with high ceilings, original woodwork, etc. But they replaced all the crown molding in the place and it looked awful. Plus it was falling down when we moved in. So I taught myself how to do crown molding and, through the beauty of the internet, we now have crown molding in nearly every room that looks original to the house. No gaps, no seams, etc. Been up for 6 years and no problems so far. So when someone first comes to our house, they notice almost immediately the crown, and I can't tell you how pleased that makes me. I also had to teach myself how to lay tile flooring, replace some windows, drywall, put in a ceiling, repair some damaged joists (the idiots who lived here before actually cut through a couple in the ceiling, so I had to examine every single one for peace of mind), and so on. I can imagine that, in a year or two, I will more than likely get the stuff needed to do "proper woodworking", but for right now I'm just looking for solutions using what I currently have. I know it's more involved, will be a pain, etc., but I look at it as a challenge. If I can produce something reasonably well with my limited skills and tools, then I'll know I can do better with more investment in the craft. And I'd feel a lot more comfortable with buying those tools if I saw what I was capable of (or, as the case may be, what I'm not capable of). Right now -- and I know a lot of you guys are asking "why would anyone do that??", and I understand totally -- I'm not ready or willing to make that kind of investment.

ok, got it. I'll have to think about that. Probably something for the future, I suppose (if there is one, that is, lol).

Just for the record, this is only going to be a part-time hobby, if that. I may make one or two projects per year, because I have a house I'm fixing up, the usual yard work, the day job, a family, etc. I'm just looking to do something in my free time to relax, basically.

Sam, I will eventually move on to things like that, of course, but right now I can't justify doing it. Spending $400 is a non-starter right now because, for all I know, I will suck at this, lol. Just getting my feet wet right now, so I'm not willing to go overboard and spend a lot of money until I see if there's a future in it for me. By that, I mean, if it's something I can even do. Not really wanting to be the sh*ttiest woodworker in Iowa with the best tools, if you catch my drift, lol.

Freddie, I do that too, lol. Menards isn't too bad when it comes to straight wood, but sometimes the limited stock they have isn't perfect so I either I skip it and get something else (which is what I've been doing), or just don't do it. But if I can figure out how to deal with the not-perfect stuff, as I think I may have (going to try it on some scrap I have laying around), then I can go from there.

Not that I'm aware of. Again, the town I llive in is about population of 100, max (and that's probably highballing it). The nearest "big" town is 30 miles, and by "big", that'd be about 25k people (big for Iowa). The nearest major city is a toss up between Iowa City and Des Moines, each are about an hour, maybe hour and a half, away. Again, if it was something I was super-serious about and could justify the expense and the travel, no problem, but just starting out, I don't think it's worth it just yet. I could go buy milled lumber, the best quality, etc., but if all I'm able to turn out is birdhouses and cutting boards....you see where I'm going. It'd be quite another matter if I was making really nice tables and chairs and the like and maybe even making some money at it. As it is, I'm not, and I'm just trying to learn some stuff to get me to the next level (actually, the FIRST level, since about all I've made, woodworking-wise, is a smallish entertainment center/tv stand which turned out decent, but by no means perfect).

If worse comes to worse, I do have a circular saw with a straight track that I use often to cut sheets of plywood straight, so I might be able to rig something up to saw the unjointed edge with that. I was just looking for a way, since I'm talking about pieces that are probably going to be at most a foot wide, that would be easier and quicker. Added: in fact, now that I think more about it, this is probably the way to go. I'd joint one side, take it over to a set of sawhorses, etc., and use the track with the saw, align it to the newly-straight edge, and go that route. I may have to set something up to make it more stable and give me more room to work with, but I think a jig of some type would be the way to go that allows me to use the circular saw with the track to keep it going straight. And, if I needed to clean that up after the cut, I could probably do that on the router table, since the edge would now be straight and parallel to the other side. Thoughts? The flattening part, I know I can do that with the router (and do both sides), so that's not my issue. I also understand that I'd still have to sand it, etc., to get the router marks off of it and stuff like that.

That was my concern too, having to keep pressure on the board by kind of pulling it toward me. I'm not talking about milling several feet of boards, mind you, just smaller ones, maybe a foot or two, if that helps. I was trying to see if there was another way to do it that I hadn't thought of or a jig that someone may have built that would do the trick. The skills I'm wanting to first develop are basic ones, I will move onto the finer details later (actual milling and all that, and yes, even using hand tools). I figure, if I can't master the basic stuff, there's no sense going any further, haha. I just want to take the issue of having to have a ton of tools RIGHT NOW off the table. I can't justify the expense with no more than I plan on doing. Also, I did look around, the nearest reputable wood dealer you describe is about 100 miles from me. There's a mom and pop place closer, but I've heard nothing but bad things about them, so I don't plan on using them. And, again, for no more than I plan on initially doing, I can't justify the expense of driving all that way just to get a few boards that I can work with right away, etc.

Yeah, I get that part (shim it and flatten one side, then turn it over and do it to the other, and you should have both sides flat and even with each other), but what about doing the edges of the board? I know you can do one side with an offset fence on the router table, but is it safe to do it with the other side? Using, say, a straight board or whatever, clamped to the outside edge of the table, then use featherboards to keep the piece in place, and then slide it through the gap between the straight board and the fence (keeping the already-cut side against the clamped down board, etc., so that the side being cut is even with the already cut side)? I would think the featherboards would keep the piece in place and not let it go flying up and out, while the clamped board (or whatever I end up using) would also help in that department. Again, new at this so if there is a serious risk in doing it, I'd really like to know (really don't want to get hit in the face by a flying board while trying to make a jewelry box for my wife, lol). I'm aware that anytime we use power tools, there's a risk, but I don't want to do anything stupid if I can avoid it.