01:07 – Question 1: 

I am planning to try to build an electric guitar body out of a piece of tree trunk I was given as a gift.  The slice of trunk has a very nice spalting throughout it, but it also has some cracks where it was not stored properly after being cut.  At least one of these cracks goes all the way through the slice.  I have never worked with spalted wood before.  Is there something, like epoxy, I can use to fill the cracks or should I just try to work around them?  Is there anything I should know before working with spalted wood?  For example does it crack easily along the spalting or will it be less stable than regular wood?  This guitar will be a solid body so do not need thin pieces for a top or bottom. -Sam

Sara Robinson – Spalted Wood

09:18 – Question 2:

In Shop Talk 145, you discuss planer sleds. I want to cut some cherry to approximately 1/8” and thickness down to about 3/16th for veneer. Should I use a fixed sled (melamine) attached to the thicknesser or fix the veneer to a sled and use the machine in the normal manner?  -James

Workshop Tip: Plane shopsawn veneers perfectly smooth

Michael Fortune – Tapered Laminations Made Easy

18:57 – All Time Favorite Shop Storage of All Time

33:20 – Question 3:

I had a number of pieces to flatten on my long bed 8-inch jointer.  How thick a cut is optimal for flattening? Should one take one heavy, cut or successive light cuts to flatten a board?  With the later if a board longer than the infeed table has a high spot near the end it will lift the board out of plane and create an arch.  Another observation.  Since we are taught to reference a piece off the outfeed table to flatten, why in the infeed table longer? -Dean

Bob Van Dyke – Flattening an extremely warped board on the jointer

42:30 – Question 4

I am building a chair with several curved connections. Should I try and make angled tenons so I have easier mortises to make or should I make angled mortises and make straight tenons for better strength? -Tom

46:06 – Philosophical Woodworking Question

Would you rather do all of your milling by hand, or all of your resawing by hand?

56:29 – Question 5

I use an Eclipse-style side clamping honing guide. The narrow wheel of the guide wreaks havoc on my waterstone by creating a dish in the middle. I flatten the stone on a granite block with 220 grit sandpaper, and even rotate the stone end for end as I sharpen, but the ‘damage’ from the wheel is unavoidable. Is this just a case of needing to flatten all the time, after every use, to offset the honing guide wheel’s wear and tear? The extra steps flattening each grit of the stone every time adds a significant amount of time to sharpening breaks. -Jared

 

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Ben Strano Web Producer	Mike Pekovich Creative Director	Matt Kenney Special Projects Editor

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Every two weeks, a team of Fine Woodworking staffers answers questions from readers on Shop Talk Live, Fine Woodworking‘s biweekly podcast. Send your woodworking questions to [email protected] for consideration in the regular broadcast! Our continued existence relies upon listener support. So if you enjoy the show, be sure to leave us a five-star rating and maybe even a nice comment on our iTunes page.