Spring is a good time to paint fences and the exterior of your home, especially wood surfaces. This way, they will be protected from summer heat and sun. Wood decks should also be sealed once a year.
Spring Painting
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Tips
Bucket Uses
Accessories available can turn your plastic 5-gallon buckets into handy tool carriers. Another way to put them to use is for storing extension cords. Cut a hole near the bottom. Feed the female end just through the hole from the inside. Then coil the cord into the bucket for easy carrying. You can also put small project parts inside of recycled plastic peanut butter jars and store them in a bucket. The jars are easy to carry around, won’t break, and let you easily see inside.
Crane Rentals
When undertaking an attic or third floor renovation, consider using a crane for the heavy materials. For about $500 a day you can rent a small crane or lift. It can easily handle heavy materials like lumber and drywall, not to mention hot tubs. They can boom out about 42 feet, enough to get to the top floor of most homes.
Hand Filing
When using hand files, it is best to hold the stock firmly in a vise or clamp. For better results, try to keep the stock being filed at about elbow height. For heavier filing work, the stock should be lower; if the work is finer, try to keep it up closer to eye level.
Removing Stains
Removing the dark stains that can get onto your hands from working with walnut and other dark woods can be easy. Just pour a little lemon juice in your palm and rub your hands together. The slightly acidic lemon juice will remove the stains from your hands without damaging your skin.
Let it Breathe
Be sure to frequently check the air filters on your tools. Clogged filters can choke an engine and many filters can be cleaned and reused.
New Tree Maintenance
Water new trees once a week, regularly, during the first season, with 10 gallons of water. More for large trees. Pour the water down the trunks so it goes into the root ball, not along the top of the ground. In addition, whenever the leaves droop down or it is very hot, water again and mist the tops with the hose. Do not fertilize the first year except for shrubs.
Plane Technique
Using a hand plane on the ends of boards can be tricky. One way to keep from splitting a board at the edges is to push the hand plane so the blade goes only to the middle of the board. Then repeat the process from the other direction. To avoid dipping, try to put slightly more pressure on the front of the plane at the beginning of each stroke, and keep slightly more pressure on the back of the plane at the end of the stroke.
Remove the Grade Stamp
When removing the grade stamp from lumber, apply paint thinner before using your sander. This will help take out the ink from the wood.
Selecting Wood
If your smaller projects call for clear pine without any knots, you can save money by buying a lesser grade, then cutting out what you need from the clear areas between the knots. Also, when buying wood, remember that face grain is not critical for structural parts which won’t show. You can likewise save on lumber costs if you can use shorter or narrower boards, or if you only need one good side of lumber for your project.
