Thanks for the video, Caleb! When you started talking about the dust collection/masks and leading to COPD, I actually paused the video and ordered some new 3M particulate filters for my respirator (I find it more comfortable than my regular dust mask)! My mom died from COPD (albeit from smoking) when I was 12, so that really hit close to home. A lot of great tips in the video! - Joe
Good deal, glad I could be a reminder for ya. Gotta keep those filters fresh. Definitely something to stay on top of. Very sorry to hear about your Mom.
Your comments on hand tools ties into your comments on sandpaper. The reason most people don't use hand tools today I think primarily is due to sharpening. Sharpening is a skill that takes time to learn how to do adequately (and much longer to do well). Yes, if you buy a tormek you can get good repeatable results and sharpen things quickly, but lets be honest, most won't have a tormek because...yikes they are expensive. If they are lucky they will have a cheap $10 sharpening jig that creates a whole bunch of problems on its own. That's why sanding became so popular over using a smoothing plane. Even though a smoothing plane arguably makes a much better (or at least equivalent) surface (and probably much quicker than going through multiple grits of sandpaper), it's super easy to just slap on a new piece of sandpaper and go to town. Not that there isn't skill involved in a sanding, and to be honest, the skill levels between sanding and using a tuned up and sharp smoothing plane are probably comparable. But, using a smoothing plane requires knowing how to sharpen the blade. It's the same reason nearly all hand saws today have hardened edges. Why waste the time sharpening when you can just throw it away when it gets dull and get a new one. The lack of sharpening skills has necessitated using machines and complex jigs, when many times using a hand tool could accomplish many woodworking tasks in reality much quicker (and safer). Need to slim down a small piece, much easier and safer to just take a few swipes with a hand plane than trying to send it through a thickness planer or use your table saw, or a belt sander.
I've actually got a video coming out soon about Tersa's RALI planes that use a replaceable blade for just this reason. There's a lot more skill sets that go into using hand tools and few people have the expertise, which means there's also very few to learn from.. and videos can't make up for just having someone beside you with the experience to diagnose the problem. It's incredibly frustrating when you think you've done everything right but the results aren't there and you don't know if you did something wrong with your sharpening, your set up, or your use.. so many possible points of error.
How about testing that statement, “End grain doesn’t glue well?” Another vlogger did and found it as strong as any other glue joint. What are the results of your testing? Great work, keep it up. Thanks!
This is close to the question I have. Is today's wood glue better than what it used to be? I've seen old furniture where the glue joints failed, particularly chair stringers.
If those were good straight milled flat glue joints I guarantee you the wood would have failed first. EDIT: EVEN end grain. End grain glue joints are a lot stronger than most folks think
The "at face level" thing doesn't make any sense. Sure it's worse but that doesn't mean that it's safe if you're not blowing them out at face level. At these particle sizes they'll be suspended in the air column for a long time and will be easily moved by air currents from the tool, movement, and body heat. Even after the particulate settles (and the stuff too light to settle is maybe evacuated by building air leakage) once you go walking through the space you'll be kicking it up off the floor quickly contaminating the air again. The solution is to have a properly sized and installed system or wear a P100 mask. If you you go the mask route you should be aware that you'll probably track it through your living spaces on your clothes as well so change them accordingly. Also note that air leakage into the living space can draw it in depending on the building and HVAC construction. Those with basement shops in their homes should really reconsider their use of such a space.
As I said, I'm not sure I buy it either. But I've never heard it presented in an "okay v not okay" conversation, it's more of "making a bad situation even worse" kind of theory. Definitely with you on the nothing beats a properly fitted mask approach though.
Yes you presented it well I just wanted to add to the discussion. I haven't heard it explicitly stated that way either. However, when I hear "this is bad because xyz" I'll sometimes think "ok just don't do xyz." I'd hate for people to be lulled into a false sense of safety.
