9 tips from professional carpenters

During the manufacture of various wood products by inexperienced craftsmen, unpleasant situations often arise. Professionals prevent the occurrence of most problems, and eliminate the rest quickly and without any additional effort. Here are some of their secrets.

What you will need

The good thing about these tips is that you don’t need any additional materials or tools. Problems are solved with the help of improvised means, which every carpenter always has.

1. Putty for lumber

Buying in a store is not only a waste of time; it is even theoretically impossible to choose putty exactly according to the color of the boards. Make it yourself.
When cutting lumber, collect sawdust.
Then, as necessary, add PVA glue to them, bring the consistency to the state of rich sour cream and immediately begin sealing the cracks.

After the glue has completely dried, smooth the surface with sandpaper.

2. How to prevent chips on plywood

This problem arises when sawing plywood with any tools, especially not very sharp ones or with a beating axis of rotation.
Draw a cutting line on the slab.
Place masking tape on it, press it firmly to the surface of the sheet, the quality of the cut depends on this.

Draw a new saw line on the tape and carry out the operation.
Remove the tape and make sure that the cut is of excellent quality - there are almost no chips on the edges.

3. How to remove a self-tapping screw with smoothed edges of the head

Situations arise if you use low-quality hardware, or the pressing force of the tool is insufficient and the nozzle cuts off the corners of the head.
It is much easier to unscrew the self-tapping screw if you install a rubber gasket between its head and the holder. It can be cut from an old bicycle inner tube.

4. Increasing the life of the roulette

The tape measure is often damaged when taking measurements. The old marks remain, and the millimeter markings become invisible.
Place thin tape on the tape; all unnecessary marks will remain on it, without damaging the metal strip. The lines on the tape can be easily removed; if this is not possible, then it must be removed and replaced with a new one.

5. A thin lath cracks when driving a nail.

The method should be used in cases where the nail needs to be driven in at the end, but it is not possible to drill a special hole.
The problem can be solved simply - blunt the tip of the nail with a few blows of a hammer. Now it will not push the fibers apart, but will break through them, the likelihood of cracking is much reduced.

6. How to smoothly sand a cut of plywood

It is necessary to make a basic device.
Wind sanding paper of the required size onto a piece of 20×30×100 mm strip.
Use a knife to cut off the excess length of the skin.
Using a self-tapping screw, screw the element to a flat wooden surface: a piece of plywood, planed board, etc.

The device is ready - rest the side surface against the plywood and precisely grind the cut edge.

7. How to drill a hole at right angles

Most products require a strictly vertical position of the holes; only experienced craftsmen can fulfill the conditions. Everyone else is recommended to make the simplest adaptation.
Prepare the parts; they can be made from a piece of lath, strip of OSB, laminated plywood or other suitable material approximately 3 cm wide and approximately 1 cm thick.
Cut a 20x30 mm rectangle, coat the terminals with PVA and screw it to the strip with a self-tapping screw. Make sure that the angle is 90 degrees; to prevent cracking of the parts, pre-drill holes of a smaller diameter in them.

After the glue has dried, you can use the device - place its edge on the board, align the drill at the junction at a right angle and drill a hole. The main thing is to go deeper by about 2–3 cm, then the device can be removed, centering is performed automatically.

Check the angle with a square, you can clearly verify the accuracy of the drilling.

8. How to ease the force of screwing in a self-tapping screw

If you don’t have time to drill a special hole, then just lubricate the screw with silicone. In its liquid state, it is an excellent lubricant, making it much easier to screw the hardware into hard wood.

9. How to carefully remove excess glue

When connecting individual parts with glue, its excess is squeezed out along the joint line. If you need to remove them very carefully, it is recommended to use a thin plastic tube.
Bend the end slightly so that it fits closely to the perpendicular surfaces.
Press the tube against the product and slowly move it along the joint, excess glue will fall inside. Surfaces will remain perfectly clean.

Conclusion

This is not a complete list of professional secrets of experienced carpenters. Each of them has its own algorithms for performing work, small devices and tricks. Don't be afraid to use their experience in your work. Try to come up with original ways out of difficult situations on your own.

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