When you use a hole saw, it is often very difficult to get the plug out of the saw cup when you are done. More and more manufacturers have provided slots on the side of the hole saw to allow you to jam a screwdriver in and pry the plug out. But this is often not so easy. (By the way, the larger t...
Over the years I have had the occasion to teach working with tools to kids as young as 3 years old. At whatever age the secret is to know the individual kids attention span and prepair the work to give them a feeling of completion and success within those limits. Regular sessions of success and...
Commercial cleaners
There are a lot of tile cleaners, even some grout cleaners on the market such as those shown above or the newer cleaner specifically for grout, Oxy-Grout. They work pretty well if you have a stain on grout that had been sealed before the stain, because the stain will be somew...
Any cutting board can become dangerous to your health if you let it collect bacteria.
Rule number one is to use a different cutting board for food that will not be cooked than the one you use for raw meat and fish. If raw vegetables are contaminated, there is no heat process to kill bacteria aft...
Butcher blocks are either not finished at all, or are finished with oil.
There exist special 'Salad Bowl' oils that work well for butcher blocks, in that they are totally non-toxic, but they can be difficult to locate.
Probably the easiest finish is mineral oil from the drug store. The key is t...
It may surprise you to find out, but for an optimum cut in wood, you should have fewer teeth on your saw blade when the wood is thicker. We know that you want fewer, even different types of teeth, for ripping than for cross cutting. But both when ripping or cross cutting, as the material gets thi...
Cutting crown moldings can be simple and it can be difficult.
First you want to check if the corner you are putting the molding into is in fact 90 degrees. If you don't check that you can get real frustrated with your mitre saw. 88 or 92 degree walls require different mitre cuts.
Over the years...