Nick Offerman Answers Woodworking Questions From Twitter | Tech Support | WIRED

hello I'm Nick Offerman and welcome to woods support at mark plays games asks please help settle an argument our what working aprons really necessary hashtag woodworking yes they are any protective garment is is necessary it may it depends on what you're doing but we wear aprons because they protect our civilian clothing from finishing products and just dust in general and they have handy pockets in which you can store things like pencils rulers and your one header at Evan e Richards asks if I'm staining a big piece of red oak do I need to use a pre-stain conditioner or will oak take the stain well as it is don't ever stain the red oak if you're gonna stain it get something cheaper than red oak use poplar I hate stain and Beast thing asks what books would you recommend for someone who wants to learn about woodworking there's a lot of really good books there's one that I happen to write called good clean fun that's great for beginners woodworking in general has a lot of different specializations but the ones that I would generally recommend would be anything by George Nakashima a fellow named TAFE read ta GE Fri D at mod Jam five one five asks good sir wrapping up my first wood project to house guitar amp added second and final coat of poly do ice and again after dry it depends on how good of a brush worker you are if you get a perfectly smooth finish then you don't need to sand it again personally I don't like the glossy shine that comes from most finishes so after the final coat I will at least scuff it with a for aught for zero steel wool or a super fine steel wool just to knock down the shine it all depends on how nice your finishes ass the Jimmy Chicago asks what's your favorite shape of dovetail that's an ignorant question because there's only one shape of dovetail it is the dovetail shape but if you're asking maybe what's my favorite size of dovetail I do like tiny pins in a dovetail layout I think that's handsome and it belies a mastery of the form at ATAR underscore s asks need advice on oil / varnish that helps maintain the look and feel of antique table over a hundred year old but isn't prone to watermarking there's a great set of books by a fellow named Bob Flexner on finishing that would be a much better resource than me I dislike any finish but some sort of oil varnish mix that's applied by hand I would basically just up up your varnish in your proportion so that it has a higher protection but if you can create a sample board and experiment with different mixes and then hold them up to the existing finish to see which one looks the most right and use coasters woodworking guys asks new question what angle should I cut a miter joint at I would first address your grammar next time try at what angle should I cut a miter joint traditionally you're going for a 90-degree corner so you always bisect your angle so that would be a 45-degree angle all your corners should add up to 360 degrees so if you're making a picture frame that's four times ninety degrees that's 360 for making a hexagon that's six corners that means 60 degrees per corner bisected would be 30 degrees but generally a miter joint refers to 45 degrees at grant Rothberg asks true or false most adorable woodworking assistant ever looks like a clean diaper she's preferring a two by two of some soft wood I'm guessing pine which loses a couple of adorability points but pretty cute and one might ask is that apron necessary I'll give her a seven pretty cute also I can't really approve her Footwear but she is cute at photo dude 24 asks master crafter of wood period I assume you're referring to me I'm a student of the forum but I appreciate your optimism I beseech thee what kind of joint is this it blows my mind funky form and function in an antique I've seen this joinery in in some antique drawers and it's very cool-looking and probably pretty effective but I don't think it's that impressive because it's pretty clearly made by a machine you can imagine a sequence of Forstner bits that have a hole in the middle to create this I'm dubious that it's done by hand and so dovetails are actually much more impressive than this but it is very handsome at Martyn w17 asks what's the best way to dry a fresh oak slab with minimum warp I seem to have no success and cups a lot and with spacers and wait again consider your grammar give your tweets a reread before you hit Send just you know it helps us all comprehend our communications better drawing wood is always a conundrum it depends on the climate where you are I do my best to seal the end grain - to slow down the evaporation of the water through the ends of the end grain you use a lot of spacers and wait that's all I know how to do if it's still cupping maybe create a kiln of your own or find a friend with a kiln in the neighborhood and try to speed up the drying time a little bit that usually can help it cure before the cupping can kick in otherwise you can cut them a little fat and then plane them down to level once they've cupped a bit but that potato chip effect is definitely a tough row to hoe good luck this has been woods support with Nick Offerman I'm not a master of the craft but I have read some books I hope it's been of some assistance measure twice cut once

Channel: WIRED

Views: 5,332,781

Rating: 4.9453597 out of 5

Keywords: how to, nick offerman, tutorial, wood, woodworking, tech support, twitter tech support, wood support, twitter support, nick offerman interview, nick offerman wood, nick offerman woodworking, woodworking video, woodworking tutorial, nick offerman tech support, woodworking tips, dovetail, cute kid, woodworking assistant, wood working tip, twitter, tweets, helpful, woodworking advice, ron swanson wood, parks and rec, answers questions, wired, wired.com

Id: pP4acHxygqk

Length: 6min 49sec (409 seconds)

Published: Tue Jun 13 2017

Reddit Comments

[u/meandudedflw]

His take on red oak is spot on! #donteverstainredoak

[u/whogivesashirtdotca]

That laugh after the dovetail answer. One little splurt is contagious enough to get me laughing.

[u/shockzone]

This needs to be a weekly/monthly series.

[u/Fisch2481]

TIL - Nick Offerman stores a one hitter in his apron and really appreciates proper grammar.

[u/Generic_Us3r]

measure twice cut once...ah yes...it wouldn't be a video about crafting if you didn't hear this at least once. I often end up saying it after I've already fucked up my cuts. I make sure to say it to myself before I cut something, and like clockwork, my cuts are still fucked up :)

[u/Popocuffs]

I also like the look of small dovetail pins, and plan on giving them a try in a project similar to this. What kind of effect does it have on the strength of the joint?

[u/c_birbs]

Love this guys banter. Not much of a woodworker myself beyond simple housework, but I found this to be very entertaining. Reminds me of my carpenter buddies with the dry condescending humor. Just excellent.

[u/944tim]

Knapp joint Also This from the internets. First time I saw this joint was in FWW one of the first 4-5 years of publication

[u/pipenho]

One thing, internal angles don't always add up to 360. A hexagon has an internal angle sum of 720.