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Most of us have cedar chests that have been passed down by our grandfathers/mothers. It is important to restore your cedar furniture if you plan to keep it for a long time.

One of the most significant things that you may have noticed is that familiar cedar odor is gone. You may remember as a child perhaps when you grandmother would open the chest you would get that woody cedar aroma. Just the thought of it brings back memories. Sadly, though you noticed it is no longer the case. Now when you open the chest there is nothing.

Fortunately, you can restore this. Aside from it creating wonderful memories for you, the cedar has a useful side. It is a natural bug repellant. That s why it was such a favored wood for building these chests. This is where precious items were stored and everyone wanted to ensure they would be where pests would not destroy them.

Over the years no matter how preserved the cedar chest was dust gets into the pores of the wood and clogs them. Or it has been a cedar chest that was in continuous use then the pores may have become pinched shut. So what has happened now is the aroma that once emitted through these pores can no longer do so.

The objective is to open the pores to restore the aroma that is waiting to be let loose. There are a couple of ways you can do this. One method is to very lightly sand the surface using a fine 200 grit sandpaper on a sanding block. What this will do is the sandpaper will penetrate the pores and will open up pockets in the wood where the precious cedar oil is contained. Be very careful with the sanding though as you don?t want to end up with scratch marks. This is avoidable if you sand in the same direction as the grain. You will find that it?s not going to take much sanding before you smell the aroma of the cedar once again.

There are times though when the cedar is just too old for the sanding technique to work. Before going to all that work try sanding a discrete area to see what the end result will be like.

Another way of doing it is to rejuvenate the piece. You can do this with extracts like cedar and some cedar sprays.

You may want to try putting some good grade cedar chips in a nylon and tying it tightly. Place this at the bottom of your cedar chest. Although not as good as the actual odor from the chest it will still no doubt stir up so old memories.

For novice woodworkers there are a multitude of things to learn when first getting into the hobby or business whatever the case may be. One of the simpler tasks may seem like reading a ruler. We all had to do it when we went to school right? For some us though that was a while back and we may be a bit rusty when it comes to basic math. It really is not all that difficult and it doesn?t take long to figure out once you get past the panic stage. This is the stage when you go to look for the measurement your pattern calls for and its not specifically marked on the ruler.

Ok so let?s go step by step regarding the markings of the basic ruler: ‘ – is for the feet markings ” – is for the inches

We are going to be dealing with the standard US ruler here. This means that the ruler is going to be divided into inches and feet. In some other Countries, you will be dealing with the metric system. In those cases when your pattern is in US measurements then you have to do conversions. If you are not adept at this there are many conversion charts that you can take advantage of online.

Getting back to the basic ruler it is divided into twelve inches, which equals one foot. Where the confusion can set in is when you are trying to break down the inches. Unfortunately, many patterns don?t call for even numbers such as 5 inches or 7 inches. The pattern may be for 5 ? inches or 7 ? inches.

If you look at the ruler between the longest line starting at number one going over to the next longest line is marked number two. The distance between 1 and 2 is one inch. In between these two numbers, you are going to see several small lines. A quick way to help you remember the markings is to know that the longer the mark the bigger the measurement as you see where the one and two are and so forth? Now if you look in between these two numbers you will see the longest line which is at the half way mark, so this is a half inch. The next longest line after the half inch one is the quarter inch. Then after the quarter inch follows the one eighth inch then the last or the very shortest is the one sixteenth. Some rulers will go beyond this breaking it down even further but that?s not the standard.

Now if you were to count all of the lines between the one and two you will find there are 16 lines. So if you have a pattern that called 8/16 inches then you could simply count over 8 lines. However, another way of saying the same thing is ? inch, which is the same as the 8/16. Now you simply have to look at the half-inch mark rather than doing all that counting.

Those are the basics of using a simple 12-inch ruler.

Any individual that owns any type of tools knows the importance of keeping them maintained and in good working order. Most of the wood working tools for example are not cheap to buy. In addition, they will not do the best job they are designed for if the applicable ones are not kept sharp.

Keeping the woodworking tools sharp does not only make for precision work it reduces the possibility of accidents as well. This means that you are going to have to invest in some tools just to do the job of keeping the others sharpened. The problem is how do you know which ones to buy for what tool. What you are going to need will also be determined as to the type of woodworking you do. Each specialized area has its own tool requirements. For example, if you do woodcarving or construct wood furniture then your needs will be different.

There are some tools that you can hand sharpen but there are others that will require power sharpeners. You will need to learn about each one of your tools then determine what will be needed to sharpen them.

One thing you are going to learn is that power equipment designed for sharpening tools do not necessarily do a better job they are just able to do the same job much faster. For tools that have been neglected the power sharpening tools work great at removing any build up debris on the cutting components. Most often, these cutting edges are gouged and this really is where you will need the power sharpening equipment to do an effective job.

One of the most popular pieces of equipment for sharpening is the grinders. It must be noted that the shop grinders are not for using on woodworking tools in their original state. They need some modifications done to them first. You will need to remove the original wheel that comes on the shop grinder and replace it with one of the wheels that is designed specifically for sharpening wood working tools. The original blade that came on your grinder is designed for sharpening items such as the blades of your lawnmower or for grinding in general.

Another part that also needs to be changed is the tool rest. You will find the tool rest that comes on the grinder difficult to adjust because it?s so small. This makes it most difficult for any type of control of your grinding. Doing your grinding up grades won?t be difficult to do because they are readily available on the market.

Once you have purchased your grinder and completed the necessary changes to it then you will be ready to start getting your woodworking tools back in shape where they can do a great job just like they were designed to do. Often novices to woodworking tools will blame the inferior job they are doing on the quality of the tool not realizing it?s because of a dull blade. Then there are some that will attempt to just change the blade instead of sharpening the one they have.

Over the years, there have been many changes in the types of paints that we use as well as paint strippers. They have certainly become a lot safer when we compare them to the old lead paints that were used.

One of the most important things to remember is always read the instructions on any of the products. Don?t assume because you have used one manufacturers product that they are all the same. Also always use good ventilation as most often the fumes can be very harmful.

As we said, misuse of these products can be very detrimental to ones health. The most common ingredient is Methylene Chloride and is most often found in paint and varnish strippers. It is toxic and may be a carcinogen. It should not be used by people with heart problems because it makes the heart work hard. It forms carbon monoxide in the blood through metabolism. Products containing this ingredient should not be used by people with heart ailments. It comes in various strengths and may be a liquid or a paste.

Acetone, Toluene and Methanol or ATM are usually found in Lacquer thinner. As a combination, they are very aggressive. These types of strippers work well on old paints and finishes. Although they are in a sense safer to use, as they don?t have the health concern that MC has caution is still important. They are a source of air pollution and they are flammable. If the particular brand you are using contains alkali then it will stain some hardwoods.

N-Methyl Pyrrolidone works slower and not as effective on epoxy, polyester or baked coatings. Di-basic esters are the least effective of them all that we have mentioned so far.

NMP/DBE Combo strippers are now becoming popular as the DBE reduces the cost compared to the NMP.

NMP and DBE for finish removal. NMP/DBE combination strippers are generally less toxic although some manufacturers will add solvents such as xylene, which makes them toxic, air polluting, and flammable.

Lye is Sodium Hydroxide works well but is dangerous to work with.

Ammonia Hydroxide is used to fortify and strength the solvents.

There are new products coming out on the market all the time. The best solution is to ask the supplier where you are purchasing your products, which is the best to use for the particular task you are facing. Once he has made his recommendations read the label before buying. Now that you have an understanding of some of the ingredients, you will understand the safety issues that are involved. If there are, ingredients that we have not mentioned here then take the time to list them and review them before purchasing the product. Although these are wonderful products, your health and safety are the major concern. They have been allowed on the open market provided they are labeled with explicit instructions as to their use. It is the responsibility of the purchaser to follow all instructions to ensure your safety. If you are not sure about an ingredient then research it well. There should be ample information on the internet concerning it.

Many individual woodworkers even seasoned ones don’t really understand the term reaction wood. This is where a piece of wood has a flaw or imperfection in it but one cannot see it easily. Then what happens is when a thin strip is removed from this type of wood it warps or twist. Then it could also pinch the blade and you end up with burns in the wood caused by friction or the blade stalls.

The culprit of this is that the piece of wood you are working with as been cut from a tree that had a lean in it. If it happened to be one of the softwood trees that it came from than the reaction wood will be called compression wood because it comes from the lower side of the lean. You may notice that this type of wood is very dense. Additionally it will be hard and brittle.

With hardwood trees, the compression wood comes from the opposite of the softwood types. In this case, now the reaction wood takes place on the upper side on the lean. It is now called tension wood. You may notice with tension wood that you get a lot of shrinkage in the length and it will have that wooly surface appearance to it.

If at all possible you want to avoid buying the reaction woods. To begin with if it?s the hardwood then the density it going to give you a problem when you go to stain it. The stain will not take evenly. This will be noticeable when you put it with the other parts of your project.

Another problem with reaction wood is its weakness. It won?t accept a heavy load. Then also, when you go to put your nails or screws into it the wood is liable to crack or split easier. If you are using this type of wood for carving or getting it to take any type of shape you are going to find its not very cooperative. It will react adversely to moisture changes as well.

The difficult issue about this whole problem is how to be able to identify what is a piece of reaction wood. For the untrained eye, it?s almost impossible but there are a few common place things that you can look for that may be of some help.

If you take a close look at the piece of wood you are thinking of buying and you notice there is a sweep to it or it seems crooked then don?t buy it. Most likely it is reaction wood. If you are familiar with the type of wood, you are looking at and it seems out of character then use caution. If you find that the piece seems harder than usual or dense, it?s most likely reaction wood.

If you see that, the wood looks fuzzy or there are cracks that are pulling away from the board that?s another sign of the reaction wood.

Hopefully by knowing a little about reaction wood your tools aren?t going to get all the blame that comes with the mishaps of this type of inferior wood.

It is important to keep dust levels low in workshops. This helps in your physical health and to avoid accidents.

You may take a look around your shop and be thinking this isn?t applicable to me it?s not all that bad. If you want some proof that it is or some assurance that its not then you can conduct a test to determine this.

At the end of your workshop day turn off all the lights then shine a flashlight into the air. Everything that you see there you have been breathing in all day. If this isn?t enough to convince you to wear a respirator then you are risking developing some serious health problems. If the test serves no other purpose it will at least tell, you if the air is clean enough for you to put the finish on your project which of course should be dust free.

As if one type of dust wasn?t enough to deal with there are actually three types that you must contend with. If you plane by hand then you are going to compile shavings. These wouldn?t get into your lungs but they will sure clog up your hoses. The bi products of your routers and shapers for example will be wood chips. Here you will want a shop vac to gather these up.

You must design a dust control regime and it really isn?t difficult. The first and most simple method is ventilation. Just keeping a window or door open helps immensely. It would be even more effective if you blew the dust out by fan.

Another valuable piece of equipment is air cleaners. These automatically filter the air then recycle it. There are very effective for small particles. There is a variety of other equipment on the market to help you keep your shop a safe place to work in. There are shop vacuums designed for heavy-duty removal then various types of dust collectors such as single and duel stage collectors. Then there are separators that will segregate the various sizes of debris. Then if you want to get really elaborate, there are whole shop systems.

The whole point is that you want to use whatever method you can to keep the various types of sawdust under control. Aside from your health and safety, it?s most frustrating when your projects work out great then the finish is full of dust particles.

Ideally the best thing to do is incorporate the simple measures that we have talked about here and if they are not doing a good enough job then research some of the more larger aggressive ways that we have supplied as options to you as well. Where ever you buy your tools and equipment from should have various options for you to consider. They are well worth the time and money to invest in.

Owning a log cabin is often a dream of many. On the other hand when it comes to having to do some restoration to some of its contents then it may not be such a great dream. It is a task that can be done quite successfully if you are somewhat handy with some woodworking tools. If you aren?t then there?s no better time to learn. Unless of course you want to contract the work out and pay big bucks for labor.

Most often with a genuine log cabin, you want to preserve its character. The room that is probably in most need of repair will be the kitchen. In this case, consider giving it a face-lift as opposed to ripping everything out. The biggest area to work on or will be in need of work is the cupboards and counters.

On an average, you will find that they were probably constructed from 1-inch pine. The counter top should probably be replaced especially if the surface of it has begun to crack. This can be a health hazard because food builds up in the cracks and lays the perfect breeding ground for bacteria.

So getting down to work the best thing is to remove the cupboards and drawers and take them to the workshop or outdoors to work on. Begin with a 120-grit sandpaper and sand each one of the pieces. If the paint is, solid it should act as an undercoating for you and you won?t need to sand down to the bare wood. All you are doing with this sanding is removing the surface dirt and debris that has build up over the years. Once you have done this then you are able to choose the colors you want to work with. You want it to compliment and blend in with the rest of the kitchen. Perhaps deciding on your counter top first will help you to determine a complimentary color for the cabinets. Don?t just toss the hardware away. Most often, it can be cleaned with some silver cleaner or brass cleaner depending on what they are made of. Even paint thinner may do the job. If you find the hardware doesn?t fit in with your new d?cor then you may be forced to buy new ones. Just put the old cleaned up ones away for another project.

Depending on the shape of the interior of the cabinets, you may only need to line them with fresh shelf paper. If there are a fair number of cabinets, then buying a roll of vinyl wallpaper may be cheaper than buying those small rolls of shelf paper.

You will probably find installing the counter top a bit more of a challenge. You may want to consider buying one of the new tops. There are many on the market that would no doubt blend in with the d?cor of the cabin.

If the wood of the counter top is still in good condition, then just remove the decorative surface and consider buying one of the easy to install laminates. If this isn?t to your choosing, you may want to consider some rustic ceramics. There are many options available when it comes to new tops. You may want to consider one of the butcher-block type styles.

There are all kinds of pen making kits out there and they all have different metal platings, such as gold plating, as well as 24K upgrade titanium gold plating, Swiss Rose 18K gold plating, then there are chrome, platinum and black titanium platings . There is a lot of information available on the different kinds of plating options open to you when you decide to get a pen kit.

Gold plating is the usual finish for a pen however; silver has become more and more popular lately. Gold plating looks good, but it isn?t durable when it gets a lot of abrasion, but it can be made stronger with the plating method used or through additives to the gold and/or other techniques that can be found on the net.

24k gold upgrade plating means that the rack method is used and a little bit of cobalt or palladium are mixed in with the chemicals used for plating. . With the rack method, there is literally a rack that looks like a tree with parts that are separated then individually plated. This is done to enhance the strength of the gold plating. In what we have listed here, the softest is Gold plating and it is very susceptible to the effects of abrasion. With titanium gold plating, you get a more durable gold plating.

The process is called PVD, for particle vapor deposition. Here the titanium nitride is color matched TO the gold and is molecularly bonded, or splattered on the piece to get a more exact color match. After this, the parts are re-plated, resulting in parts that seem to show any evidence of wearing. A pen plating kit of this type is not something the bulk commodity kit suppliers would use.

18Karat Swiss Rose gold plating is very rare. It consists of copper and gold that will result in a plating as a result of equally mixed atoms. This plating is done on a solid layer that is very thick. with the parts being specially treated before the process begins. This produces an incredibly lustrous, but very durable finish, and, used carefully, it should last for many years.

One of the most popular platings is, of course, chromium plating.One finish that is very durable and long lasting is Chrome when used normally. It is extremely popular because the look of chromium is dazzling while, at the same time very affordable, which is why these are used. There is no doubt the popularity of Pen plating kits has grown over the years. When using a platinum plating kit, be warned that the cheaper kits use rhodium.

The ones that use real platinum produce rugged and hard finish, and, under normal usage, it should endure for many years. The next finish is black titanium, this process uses PVD, which is oxide molecularly bonded, making incredibly durable and hard plating. This unique finish adds an elegance that is matched only by its toughness that will be of value in the coming years

Years ago, garden decor used to consist of putting in some exquisite flower gardens then setting up a small umbrella tables and few chairs to sit and relax in. This is far from the case now with most people no matter how small their back yard is. Many people have adopted to the fashion of extending your indoors to outdoors. So now, many living rooms for illustration flow out onto the patio with the couches, loveseats and most any other furniture you would find in the living room. This has called for more broad grooming to the common architecture of the backyard itself. There are many things you can do to enhance the ambience that you have made here in your backyard.

Making little flower rooms in your garden is a wonder touch. It just means having pathways or walkways leading to various segments of your backyard that are little stand-alone areas. You can create these walkways with cobblestones or bricks. You can even use wood chips or stone. Build your walkway in accordance with the size of your workspace. If it?s small then go with smaller paths.

One of the newer additions to the garden is mirrors. These work extremely well if you have a very small backyard or one that has a lot of shade. You can position the mirror so it reflects sun to the shadowed areas. It also makes your flower gardens look twice as big. Be careful where you situate the mirrors though because they are breakable and you don?t want something hitting them during a storm perhaps.

A pond and or fountain add tranquility to your outdoors. There is nothing more soothing than the sound of water slowly running over some rocks. Then if you have a pond, you can consider having some gold fish in it to enjoy watching. In any event, you must keep the water treated so it doesn?t become stagnant and a breeding ground for mosquitoes. If maintained properly it?s no different than your swimming pool. You must keep the water clean. Once you have decided that a pond or fountain is a good idea you will find many simple plans for installing or building one.

Pergola?s trellis?s and garden gates all add to the d?cor of the yard and are added extras or final changes. They are magnificent when climbing roses are allowed to grow over them. You can once again build these yourself or buy kits that you just need to assemble.

In all likeliness, you are going to have to have a storage shed especially when you have a lot of garden tools. This is one area you do not what to skimp on the cost. You not only want one that is durable but you need one that is going to fit in with the ambience of your outdoor space. Be sure to choose something that is going to stay within the d?cor of the area where you will be placing it. Choose this place wisely. You want it easily accessible but not so, it stands out more than the rest of the garden d?cor.

Working on a woodworking project is always fun even though it may have its frustrating moments. After all, in most cases it is a hobby and one that is suppose to be enjoyable. The greatest anticipation and driving force is the anticipation of the finished product. There is something gratifying in having that almost finished project in front of you ready for the finishing touches. It has been a great project, everything turned out perfect now comes the final decision which is how do you finish it off?

There are so many choices of finishes and tints how do you know which one is going to be the best for this particular piece. It is somewhat stressful at this point because you have done a lot of hard work and the piece is perfect it would be most disappointing if you ruined it at this stage. So take a deep breath and tackle the job head-on.

The object itself is partly going to help you determine what type of finish you are going to use. If it?s a usable object that perhaps could get market up then you need to think a little differently regarding your finish. For example, a table or countertop is going to have things set on it all the time. Hot and cold items as well as items that could stain the wood. In this case, you need a durable protective finish. At this point, we have not even considered the esthetics part of it. That comes next. You need to decide if you are going to use a stain or leave the wood natural. Finally it comes down to what?s easiest for you and what do you feel most comfortable doing. If you are a novice to woodworking then you need to find the easiest products to work with in the simplest fashion and application.

Again, when it comes to the durability and protective coating that you are going to use you will find many of them on the market but again it?s going to depend on your project. We talked about what tables and countertops are exposed to so you will need a protective coating that is going to withstand this. Then if it?s outdoor furniture or d?cor that you have done then it?s got different requirements for a protective finishing. The same applies for food items such as salad bowls and steak plates. The finishes that you use on these must be food safe. Whatever one you decide on don?t cut corners and be absolutely sure that you have followed the manufacturers directions and have applied as many coats as required.

Naturally, you know that the stains are going to change the color but also keep in mind that the protective coatings will also alter the color somewhat. If you are using the water base protective coatings then it won?t be as much of an issue as with the other types.

It is always a good idea to check with your home improvement center where you buy your products. They have good feedback as well as product knowledge and will be able to give you some good first hand knowledge about the products you are thinking of buying.