YouTube crazies

[jack duren]

I’m on dialysis from 6-6 and I’m either watching TV or I'm sleeping.I watched some of a video on a YouTube called. “5 beginning woodworking tools”.First he talked about tye expense of Bessey K-body clamps and it was a very expensive purchase versus pipe clamps and to get started it was cheaper to buy the pipe clamps..I can go along with that.

Now he went into belt sanders and suggested you never buy one and use a ROS, which is cheaper. So if you never use a belt sander and he was showing a cheap Craftsman belt sander for a $100+ dollars, you never learn to use one. So at this point I turned+it off and went onto high end woodworkers.

Now in 1983 I was given a belt sander and told to sand frames, no experience but learned quickly or I’d be looking for another job. I have several 4x24 belt sanders and have no problem.,

This is a basic woodworking tool you need to be able to use…

There are too many DIYers making no so useful videos putting incorrect knowledge in new woodworkers

okay, I said it....

☝️

[Warren Lake]

ive used what I have from the start then every job added more. At first I only had a Rockwell 3 x 21 and it was my stroke sander. Bought used from a friend it works great to this day other than replace the switch with a heavy duty one. It did tons of work. Then had a Rockwell vibrator half sheet for after that

Then got an edge sander and then a stroke sander I had built for a company then bought a real one, then bought an italian one that put the canadian one to shame. Then a Natribom wide belt.

You can do lots with a hand belt sander. i sanded all my doors rails and style flush, Like any tool you develop a skill with it if you want to. I heard that some people used to hunt with spears even.

id never be without one. i refinished some really tough huge speakers and there was no way I could get them on the stroke sander cause of weight and size. The belt sander worked very well just slower.

[jack duren]

A lot of these Hobby shops are starting out with a lot of cash flow. It’s unreal how much money they can be put into a hobby shop.

[George Yetka]

Funny, I never had one and it just came up saturday that I could use one so Ive been researching them. I ended up borrowing a PC 3x21 for the time being.

[jack duren]

The problem with the 3x21, is it dips more than the 4x24 if your not familiar with it..

[Edward Weber]

A lot of these Hobby shops are starting out with a lot of cash flow. It’s unreal how much money they can be put into a hobby shop.

I have to say, I always scratch my head when one of these nit-wits shows us his shop with 100k in tools, thousands of square feet of room and zero common sense.

I just read a similar article about the "5 must have saws", they didn't mention the circular saw. They did mention track saw but not the circular saw, you know, the first saw many of use ever used.
Apparently I could sell all my tools, buy an angle grinder, a domino and a tracksaw and I could build anything

That's sarcasm, for those of you who require explanations

[Warren Lake]

nah on the 3 x 21 its the operator.

I once watched an old guy knocking in nails with a no framing hammer and the blew anyone away especially me with my stiletto. I worked a bit with a carpenter once and you could blind fold him, hang him upside down and hed still knock the nail in faster and never miss a strike.

I found the balance in that sander and especially doing rails and styles where they meet it was better than larger. No cross grain scratches in the rail like a wide belt when you get it down. Ive used the stroke sander enough times for that you can do do 10 times the damage in a second so has to be set up as best as possible.

[jack duren]

I started with a 4x24 and won’t go down. When I worked at Alco Cabinets, he gave me a 3x24 Bosch cause thought was going out. Might be as I have never used input almost 20 years later. When I taught guys in the shop , we used a 4x24 as it wouldn’t tip as easy.

[Warren Lake]

how wide were your rail and styles 3 x 21 is already wider than rails and styles, extra width was no use to me. Same time that was the sander my friend was selling so it presented itself and that is what i used and got used to. At some jobs they had 4 x 24 Makitas which were fine. Still took my tools to work just prefer what im used to.

[jack duren]

Railrs and stiles 3.5-1.25 Belts sanders are easy to me.. I can sand 5’+ tops all day.

Remember… As I changed shops over tye tpyears , I had to use what they provided . 3” or 4” . I didn’t care..

[Bruce Page]

I have to admit that I never mastered the belt sander technique. I have a cheap Craftsman that only gets used for very crude work.

[Mel Fulks]

Good info in this thread .
Learn to use 4 inch wide sander before trying 3 inch sander. Avoid breaking the belts , by putting them on in the right direction !
’cuz if you send back broken belts with a note about them “not lasting very long” …they will ask you to send a face photo . Then they
frame it and hang it on the wall , makes for a merry break room !, but does not help you get into stand -up comedy.

[Jim Koepke]

I watched some of a video on a YouTube called. “5 beginning woodworking tools”.

There are dozens of these "tools to get started" type YouTube videos.

If any of them knew what their audience was doing they might garner a little credence. Each of these video presenters have their own background and their own favorite tools or ways to do a project. It's like the difference between making a book shelf that is nailed together compared to a bookshelf held together by joinery with decorative molding. The both hold books but they take different tools and methods of work.

As one who just crawled out of the Neander (thal) Cave, it probably sounds strange to those who have posted before me to say that it is rare for me to put sandpaper to wood. My ROS, don't recall using it in the last two or three years. My tiny belt sander gets used almost exclusively for metal working.

Of course the woodworking done in my shop is likely very different than what is done in everyone else's shop.

Instead of sandpaper, my wood is smoothed with planes & scrapers.

Scrubbing the High Side.jpg

This piece came off of an Alaskan Chainsaw Mill. After getting enough area flat to bolt to a registration board it was then fed through my bandsaw.

That was fairly routine to bring it smooth and square with hand planes.

Checking Square.jpg

A little more work brought it into square.

What it comes down to is if it works for the individual, then the world will keep turning.

jtk

[jack duren]

I went through a problem with my sanding belts. I would but several boxes of 10 when I had the shop. I had maybe three boxes when I went to work at the furniture company and didn’t work in my shop for seven years. When I stopped working at the furniture company, I started back in my shop and every sanding belt I had broke at the seam, even the edge sander belts. Seven years I guess was too long between new and old stock..

[Warren Lake]

sad fact about those belts. Some blow up after a year some 3M think is three years. I have stroke sander belts 6 x 309 up to 30 years old some stored in a hot and cold attic. They are all fine and dont fail at the joint.