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Wood Crafts
Questions dealing with wood, woodworking, tools, (power/hand) projects, glues, fasteners, finishes, etc. Some examples: How do I build a birdhouse?; What kind of wood do I use for a picnic table?; or What is a good weatherproof glue?
500 Questions
Best location for weights in pinewood derby cars?
Asked by Wiki User
The balance of the car should be about 1/4 to 1/2 in' in front of the rear axle.
This depends on the length and roughness of the track you are running on. Long tracks such as 50 feet or more should have the balance at around 1.5 inches in front of the rear axles. Shorter regulation tracks of 32 feet usually can get more aggressive down to 1/2". I find that anything below 1/2 inch runs the risk of the car's front wheels lifting off of the track (aka popping a wheelie). If this happens, your car will loose a large amount of potential energy and immediately begin to slow down. If your track is old and looks rough I recommend moving the balance point about another 0.25 inches forward of where you were going to place it. This helps make the car more stable so the front wheels will not lift off the track when the car hits a slight bump.
How do you cure wood for fine woodcrafts?
Asked by Wiki User
Find a cool, dry place, stack the wood with spacers between each board, and let it set for a couple of years, or build a box to house the wood. (Be sure to put spacers between your wood for air to circulate, usually 1" square pieces the width of your boards.) Apply some sort of "safe" heat source: warm air to circulate. In summertime, this can be done with a frame and black plastic and a fan to circulate the air. Much less time is needed to bring the moisture level down. For wood turners, once you rough-out your piece you can soak the roughed-out piece in denatured alcohol for 3 to 5 hours, pull the piece out, and cover the "outside" surface only with a grocery bag paper, using tape to secure the paper. If it is a bowl, set it on the lip or upside down on spacers to allow air to circulate for a week or two -- much faster than air drying. Once dry, turn to final shape.
The bottom line on wood drying, the moisture must be removed slowly in a controlled way to keep the wood from cracking, splitting, or checking. Remember, you must be careful, or you will ruin your prized piece of wood.
More ...I assumed you were trying to dry wood, my mistake. I make walking sticks and canes. I spend a lot of time (and I mean a lot) out in the woods searching for unique sticks, so when you work on them you don't want them to split, crack, or check. What works best for me is a place that's cool and dry in which to store all sticks, I label them with tags when they were cut, allow them to rest and cure for a year or longer in which time I can begin to create, I have taken a vine that you can touch both ends together when cut, but when cured it is sturdy enough for a walking stick. It also pays to plan ahead when making sticks & canes. I have 500 to 600 sticks curing at this time, in bundles with date of cut waiting for me to work on them. I hope this is what you meant buy curing.The same way, the key is to lower the moisture content of said wood to below 9%, get yourself a moisture meter and check your wood and only start your project when your wood moisture content is below 9%, higher then this your wood can crack or split after you did all work and ruin your fine project.
How do you keep wood from warping?
Asked by Wiki User
Purposefully warping, bending, or twisting wood is usually accomplished by softening it by the use of steam, then applying pressure in a jig that conforms to the desired shape. When the wood dries, it will have maintained the shape of the jig.
What is yew used for in medicine?
Asked by Wiki User
The wood of the yew, because of its toughness, has always been suited for abuse-prone posts and furniture. Yet, yew played a much more important role in history.
The formidable English military weapon of the Middle Ages -- the longbow -- was made of yew. In fact the law decreed only royal longbowman could have yew bows. Commoners had to settle for ash and elm. At times, yew became scarce, and the English had to import their bow wood from Spain and Italy. At the Battle of Crecy on August 26, 1346, the English devotion to yew longbows became well-justified. The rapid-firing longbowmen destroyed the French cavalry and carried the day.
Although the wood of Pacific yew has been used for furniture and handicrafts, for many years this species was considered an impediment to the harvest of larger timber trees. Therefore, many stands were indiscriminately cut down. More recently an extract of the bark of this species was found to yield a compound (taxol) that is a potent drug for the treatment of certain types of cancer. Unfortunately, the plants grow slowly and must be some 100 years old before the bark is harvest able. This has led to the destruction of more wild populations but also to a search for related species of the genus Taxus that might contain taxol.
One of the properties the tree is used for:
The chemotherapy drug paclitaxel, used in breast, ovarian and lung cancer treatment, is derived from Taxus brevifolia. As it was already becoming increasingly scarce when its chemotherapeutic potential was realized, the Pacific Yew was never commercially harvested from its habitat in the large scale; the widespread use of the paclitaxel was enabled when a semi-synthetic pathway was developed from extracts of cultivated yews of other species. Unlicensed pharmaceutical production use of closely-related wild yew species in India and China may be threatening some of those species.
What is the timber choice for constructional timbers?
Asked by Wiki User
Douglas fir is a straight grained and resilient timber with high strength to weight ratio. It is easily worked with machine or hand tools and possesses excellent nail holding, gluing and staining properties. Seasoning presents no difficulties under controlled conditions and the timber dries easily with negligible checking or distortion. Douglas fir is a premium building product specified by leading architects, engineers and builders for a wide range of construction projects.
* http://www.coxlumber.com/douglas.html
Conifers are the trees of choice for construction lumber.
* http://www.na.fs.fed.us/spfo/pubs/uf/lab_exercises/calc_board_footage.htm
How do you build a Victorian doll house?
Asked by Wiki User
Same as a regular house only with alot more ginger-bread trim on the outside. Get some Historical books on houses and check out the trim, find one you like and make the trim, (a scroll saw is perfect for cutting out the trim). Good-Luck
There are many Victorian Dollhouse kits available on the market and you can always build a Victorian Dollhouse from scratch. In the past, many Dollhouses and parts were cut with die-cut presses - or scroll saw. However, there are now laser dollhouse kits and products available online. The laser cut products provide precision cut replicas of original turn of the century Victorian era architecture.What is the difference between wood stain and a wood finish?
Asked by Wiki User
Woodstain is applied with a rag or brush and then varnished with clear varnish, or tinted varnish can be used, available in different timber colours.
What is the scientific name for wood?
Asked by Wiki User
The scientific name for pines is Pinus. For pines are members of the Pinaceae family. The specific epithet indicates what type of pine wood it is. For example, the wood of the Eastern white pine is called Pinus strobus.
What animal is made of glue?
Asked by Wiki User
There are no animals made of glue. -There are also very few glues made of animals. In general only a few specialised woodworking glues are made from animal parts and are mainly used in antique restoration.
Can you give me 2 types of hardwood and softwood?
Asked by Wiki User
Oak and Maple are hardwoods Pine And Fir are soft woods
Where does bianbai wood originate from?
Asked by Wiki User
Bianbai wood comes from the tree Platycladus Orientalis (generic Chinese arborvitae), a large evergreen shrub or small to medium-sized tree. The common name for this tree is Book-Leaf Pine. This tree is native to China, Japan, Taiwan, and parts of the Republic of Russia and the Ukraine. It can be successfully grown--although considered an exotic--in such diverse areas as Poland, Iran, France, New Zealand, and Hawaii, USA, as it is a hardy tree and tolerates a wide variety of soil types and climate conditions.
DESCRIPTION and BIOLOGY:
P. orientalis rarely exceeds the height of 20m in nature; cultivated, it often forms multiple stems with a dense habit, usually broadly conical with ascending branches from bare stems. Leaves are light green or yellow-green, becoming brown after 3 or 4 seasons, persistent, scale-like, in opposite-decussate pairs, and have no glands.
Pollen cones terminal, small (2-3 mm long), seed cones 20-25 mm long, 10-18mm wide when closed, glaucous green at first, turning reddish-brown, usually have 6-8 fleshy scales in an opposite-decussate arrangement, with a deeply recurved dorsal hook below the tip of each scale; this protuberance is the apical part of the bract, around which the fleshy scale develops after the ovules are fertilized, to nearly engulf the bract; scales glaucous when growing, maturing and ripening to bright brown; lower 4 scales fertile with 2-3 seeds occurring adaxially near the base of the lowest pair, only
one on the upper pair.
Seeds 5-7mm long, 3-4mm diameter, more or less ovate, wingless. Seed-bearing begins, on average, at 3 years.
This is a monotypic genus; the generic name comes from the Greek word platyclados (with a broad stem). The Greek word results in two English words plate and clad which conjures up the image of plates arranged in a rack as the tree's foliage appears when viewed from afar. The peculiar arrangement of upright branchlets and flattened lateral twigs gives this tree its unusual leafing habit and explains the origin of its common name (Book-Leaf Pine).
PRODUCTS:
Timber: Wood close-grained and knotty, heartwood dark brown, sapwood white or cream. The timber is used for gateposts and furniture.
Medicine: Parts of P. orientalis were previously used to treat scurvy. Leaf extracts have been shown to inhibit bacterial growth.
Essential Oils: Leaves, wood, bark, and seed shells of have been steam-distilled, and the resulting essential oils and their constituents analysed by GC/MS (mass spectrometry). Essential oils from leaves and seed shells have been found to contain more than 20 mono- and sesqui-terpenes, the most important being alpha-pinene (constituting 40% of the oil), DELTA3-carene, and cedrol.
Other: Seeds from P. orientalis contain terpenoids.
Uses:
Ornamental: The Chinese arbovitae is planted in many gardens, especially for its striking pale green foliage with odd-looking glaucous cones.
Boundary, Barrier, or Support: It tolerates pruning and is therefore used as a hedge plant.
Other: This tree is highly esteemed in mystical Chinese folklore, and was planted within tombs of ancient emperors. It's seeds were also placed within the caskets. More recently, P. orientalis has become popular as a hiking staff/walking stick.
What is redgum hard wood used for in the world?
Asked by Wiki User
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What is the best and most expensive wood in the world?
Asked by Hafezisaeid
That depends on what you consider 'high quality'. Do you value beauty, strength, suppleness, ability to last a long time, ability to produce best heat in a fire? Different woods for different purposes.
How do you hold wood when sawing?
Asked by Wiki User
Place in a vice or place on a sturdy bench/ground and rest your knee on it while you drill.
Why is oak wood used?
Asked by Wiki User
White oak is used for interior finish and furniture making.
It is heavy, strong, hard, tough, close grained and capable of taking a high polish.
Should you paint with oil based paint in humid weather?
Asked by Wiki User
No. Oil paint has organics in it that attract fungus and mildew. Use latex and add an additive that will help stop any growth.
What are the properties of chipboard wood?
Asked by Wiki User
A chipboard is built by wood pieces glued and compressed together. There are three types of chipboards - normal density, high density, medium density. Normal density chipboards are fairly soft, high density chipboards are solid and hard, and medium density chipboards are in between.
The advantages of a chipboard are that they are cheaper than other manufactured boards, as they have a smooth texture and do not require much tooling. Also, their wood fibers do not run uniformly down the length of wood, so chipboards don't splinter easily.
However, the disadvantage is that when waterlogged, the wood fibers of chipboards swell, giving the piece of wood a bloated, bumpy texture.
This is all I know about chipboard, I hope you understood what I said and thank you if you commented.
How much is Egyptian petrified wood worth?
Asked by Wiki User
The value of petrified wood is what someone will pay for it. Large segments of logs with bark included, and colorful interiors could be worth thousands; small pieces that are unattractive, worth next to nothing.
