If you have questions you’d like us to answer on the show, send them in to [email protected]. You can also use the voice memo app on your phone and email us a 30 second audio recording, or if you’re old-school you can leave a voicemail by calling 203-304-3456. 

Question 1:

When I set a clamp on a jig or on glued faces it causes them to twist or slip out of position. Sometimes it is easy to mitigate the problem with additional clamps or stops, but on small parts I find that it is difficult to place the stops. For instance, when I made Matt’s grooving planes, gluing the skate to the fence side, I found it difficult to locate the skate where I wanted because it would rotate as I applied clamping pressure. When loosening a little I could get it back in position but it would spin right back out when retightened. I got around the issue by letting the glue set up a bit with light clamping and then tap it into place before tightening down fully. Is there a better way? -Derrick

• Tool Rant: Is that really a clamp? by Bob Van Dyke
• How To Cut Dovetails on the Tablesaw by Gregory Paolini #231–Jan/Feb 2013 Issue
• How to Tame Tricky Glue-Ups by Michael Fortune #243–Nov/Dec 2014 Issue

Question 2:

Whenever I cut dovetails the wood fibers inside of the baseline always crush or tearout. I believe it is because wood not supported as I pare towards the center. Does it affect the strength of the joint? -Barry

Segment 1: All-Time Favorite Tool Of All Time… for this week

Matt – Waterstones

Mike – A student’s Veritas PMV-11 chisels

Ben – Gränsfors Large Carving Axe

Question 3:

I’ve been hand planing a douglas fir laminated top, and i’m finding that i have to manually remove shavings that are stuck between the blade and the mouth every two or three passes. Most of the time, that requires removing the lever cap. This happens both with my #5 jack and the low angle #7 jointer. Is my blade too close to the mouth – it’s currently at about 1/16″? Should i move the frog to the back of the plane? -Frederik

Question 4:

I recently purchased two planes–a Bedrock 603 and a Bedrock 605. If I bought some rough-milled wood, can I get it “smooth & level” using only the handplanes, or is a planer still necessary? If a planer is necessary, is a jointer a co-necessity? Financially, I can only shell out for one indulgence per year. -Martin

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From Gordie on FineWoodworking.com:

Today I started a special project for my Granddaughter’s wedding gift. I had purchased Black Walnut, 8/4 to dimension to 3/4 width bookended for correct height. I resewed the 8/4 and was not surprised but not pleased when the pieces cupped and I didn’t have a lot off thickness to play with to plane it out and maintain 3/4 in. But I remembered Mike sharing to go to the convex side, as it turns out, instead of what would be the more obvious the concave side. I ran the boards through the planer addressing the convex side and the tension relieved allowing the bored to flatten within specs on one pass. Thanks and I will keep listening and hopefully learning.

On YouTube:

Re STL 165:

Liam Rickerby – I would always recommend keeping a push stick at the bandsaw too. Especially for small parts, I had the misfortune to be stupid cutting through a small piece of oak, the last part of the oak cut through a LOT quicker than the first, resulting in my thumb diving a half inch into the blade!

• Tim Rousseau – Simple push stick for safe bandsaw cuts

Brian Skudney – After 5 stitches in my index finger, I learned my lesson with a chisel. (I could get another clamp but I’m almost done.)

On iTunes:

From Damon: Great podcast! I binged all of the episodes over the course of a few months, and then started the whole thing over again! The information is great and the guys are fun to listen to.

Recommendations:

From listener Barry Crenmer – Wrap the jar threads with plumbers’ teflon tape applied in a clockwise direction. It works!

Ben – Go to a woodworking event

Mike – Carry a pocket knife

Matt – Trim flux/glue brushes to 5/16-in

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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.