Food Safe Finishes for Wood.
Now this subject seems to invite a lot of opinions. If you ask me, Mineral Oil is the ONLY acceptable finish to treat food surfaces with. Others claim any finish is safe after it's dried but it seems to me that slamming a knife into a chopping block must release small particles of these other substances. I also offer three other possibilities:
1. The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Forest Products Laboratory suggests melted paraffin wax.
2. According to Wood Magazine, any commercial finish is safe, once it has dried and cured.
The last one leaves me wondering the most...... |
Sharp tools make the job much easier.
You must take the time to keep all your tools sharp and discard any you can not resharpen.
Dull saw blades burn the wood and do not cut straight and true.
Dull lathe tools 'chew' the wood while the wood will curl right off like peeling an apple when using sharp tools. Also, the wood is far less likely to chatter with a sharp lathe tool.
Dull drill bits are deflected much more easily by the grain in the wood and they burn the wood much faster.
It's often hard enough to prevent burning wood with your router/shaper but dull bits are a sure way to burn the cuts.
Now that all your tools are sharp as a razor, be extremely careful to avoid cuts to you. |
Print drawings to scale.
Download the drawing from a Woodcrafter Page project by right clicking on the picture(s). You will get a ‘drop-down’ box where you need to choose ‘Save Link As’ or ‘Save Target As’ (depends on your browser program). Now you can save the file anywhere you wish and you can rename it here too. Just make sure you remember where you save it and what you name the file
Open MS Word and clear all the margins as follows:
1. Hold the control key (Ctrl) and press the Home key.
2. Click on File (on the menu bar at the top) and select Page Setup.
3. Press 0 (zero) then Tab seven (7) times.
4. Click on OK then select FIX.
5. Click on OK again.
Set the view to page width by clicking on the list arrow (the arrow pointing down) in the Zoom Control box (the one showing what % zoom you are presently using) on your Standard Toolbar at the top of the screen and by selecting Page Width.
If you do not see the rulers to the top and left of the page, turn the rulers on by clicking on View (on the menu bar at the top) and selecting Rulers.
Click on Insert (on the menu bar at the top) and select Picture.
Locate the folder where you saved the picture and the file in that folder.
Select the file by clicking on it then click on OK.
Click on the picture to select it. You will see the sizing handles (small dark squares) on the corners and on each side of the picture.
Use the corner handles to stretch or shrink the picture, while watching the rulers, to get the picture to the proper size. Do not use the handles on the sides as they do not change the height and width at the same time and will leave you with a distorted picture. The corner handles perform a ‘proportional resize'.
Print the picture and check the sizes with a good ruler. You may find your printer does not print true to size. If your printer does not print correctly, you will need to ‘play around and experiment’ to find the right proportions for your printer. Write them down for future reference. |
Print drawings on multiple sheets (too large for one).
1. Insert the drawing into MS Word (see Print drawings to scale, above).
2. Select the picture and CROP it down until you have a small enough piece to print on one sheet of paper.
. . . ***** Check Word help to learn how to crop pictures in your version. *****
3. Print the section then unstretch it (shrink it) back to the original size.
4. 'UnCrop' the picture to show the entire picture.
. . . ***** (When you CROP a picture, Word saves the whole picture and simply displays only the part you have cropped for.) *****
5. Select the picture and CROP it down until you have another piece small enough to print on one sheet of paper.
Repeat this process until all sections are printed. |
Dull Your nail points to minimize splitting.
Simply turn the nail over (point up) and place it on a hard surface then tap the point with your hammer to remove the sharp point. The very sharp point on nails greatly increase the likelihood you will split the wood. OK.... I know this does not seem logical but it's the absolute truth. Try it and you'll see. So... why do nail manufacturers go to so much trouble to make their nails so sharp???? Who knows. |
Viewing Graphics.
All the graphics on my page are protected from sites trying to use them improperly. This was necessary to prevent other WEB sites from slowing down access to The Woodcrafter Page. The graphics displayed on the pages are all in one of three standard graphics formats: JPEG (*.jpg), BITMAP (*.bmp), or GIF (*.gif). Larger versions are often available by clicking on the picture. A larger file is available if your cursor changes from an arrowhead to a pointing hand when you point at the picture. You can view the larger version if the correct software is installed properly on your PC. Adobe Acrobat documents (*.pdf) often do not show because the Adobe program is not installed to work with your Internet browser (such as Internet Explorer).
How to view the larger version:
1. Point at the picture.
2. If your cursor doesn’t change from an arrowhead to a pointing hand, a larger version is NOT available.
3. Check the filename in the status bar at the bottom of your browser window. If it ends with .pdf, it’s an Acrobat file and you might have to download it.
4. Click on the picture to open it in full-size view.
5. If it opens a blank page and it’s a *.pdf file, you must download it.
6. Click the BACK button to return to the page.
7. If the BACK button is disabled (faded out) simply close the page. The project page is open ‘behind’ it.
***** If it is a (.pdf) file, you must have Adobe Acrobat reader properly installed to view it. ***** |
Downloading Graphics.
The graphics displayed on the pages are all in one of three standard graphics formats: JPEG (*.jpg), BITMAP (*.bmp), or GIF (*.gif). Larger versions are often available for downloading. The larger version may be in Adobe Acrobat format. A larger file is available if your cursor changes from an arrowhead to a pointing hand when you point at the picture. You can always download the larger version to your PC but you might need to (a free program) to view the file(s).
How to download the larger version:
1. Point at the picture.
2. If your cursor doesn’t change from an arrowhead to a pointing hand, a larger version is NOT available.
3. If you see the pointing hand, you will also see the filename on the status bar at the bottom of your browser window.
4. Right-Click (click the RIGHT mouse button) on the picture.
5. If it ends in .pdf, select "SAVE TARGET AS" or "SAVE LINK AS".
6. For all others, select "SAVE PICTURE AS" or "SAVE IMAGE AS".
7. Save the file in any location you wish and rename it if you want.
8. Use your graphics program to view and print the picture or see Print drawings to scale using MS Word.
***** If it is a (.pdf) file, you must have Adobe Acrobat reader properly installed to view it. ***** |
Setting Your Screen Resolution.
This site is best viewed with your display set to: 1024 X 768 and (16 Bit) HighColor.
Follow these steps to set your screen:
- Close all program windows you have open.
- Point at a blank spot on the desktop (on the screen).
- Right-click (click the right mouse button).
- Select PROPERTIES from the drop-down menu.
- Select the SETTINGS tab.
- Click on the ADVANCED button.
- Select the Apply the new color settings without restarting circle in the Compatibility window. (If you have this option.)
- Click on the OK button.
- Select a 1024 X 768 Screen AREA.
- Select High Color (16 bit) or true color (24 bit).
- Click on the OK button.
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Can't See Graphics.
The only reason I have discovered for problems with seeing the graphics on The Woodcrafter Page is personal firewall protection on individual PCs. I have had to add programming to my site to prevent other sites form stealing from it or abusing it. This sometimes does not work with individual firewall protection setups. You may have to disable your firewalls to view the site properly. Also, at times, the servers the site is hosted on may experience temporary problems. Be sure to try again later if you encounter problems. |
Can't Download Graphics.
There are a few reasons I have found for problems with downloading graphics from The Woodcrafter Page. First, the servers the site is hosted on may experience temporary problems. Be sure to try again later if you encounter errors.
Next, you might be trying to download a picture or it might be a .pdf file. See downloading pictures from The Woodcrafter page for help here. |
Graphics Too Big.
Many graphics must be saved in high resolutions to provide good detail for the user. To resize the pictures, you should use a good graphics program if you have one and know how to use it. However, you can use MS Word to view and print the pictures. Print drawings to scale using MS Word. |
