This is a full set of 52 printable woodworking tips cards. You can download the entire deck in a link further down in the post, and then you will have the entire set. This is a fun way to learn about woodworking, and get new woodworkers into woodworking.
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Printable Woodworking Tips Cards
It has been a pleasure creating and sharing these woodworking tips cards. The woodworking hobby has been a lifelong passion of mine, and seeing new woodworkers get into the craft is very exciting.
There is a large void of people that are capable of doing things themselves, and woodworking is just one more way of teaching people to be self-reliant. When you can use tools well, you can make or repair nearly anything made from wood.
This ability will also trickle into other tasks that you may not have thought of. It can give you confidence. That can-do spirit will spread to other things, and before you know it the skills you gained from woodworking are helping you tackle completely unrelated projects.
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Printable Woodworking Tips Cards Download Link
Please use this link: Printable Woodworking Tips Cards to download the free PDF that you can use to print out my woodworking tips cards. I encourage you to use them yourself, and share them with others who want to learn about woodworking.
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I also recommend that when you print them out, buy a little nicer paper than standard printer paper. The normal inexpensive paper that you print on is really thin and it’s almost see through. There is a lot of color on these cards, so you will want to get nicer paper.
You can also pay to have them printed at a copy place, and they can do it on photo paper for the thickest and highest quality you can get. It’s going to cost more than printing them yourself, but they will last a very long time.
What the Set Includes
The 52 card woodworking tips deck has one of each of my woodworking tips cards, formatted to print out about the same size as a regular playing card. Each one has an important woodworking tip, in a fun to read format.
Below are some of the cards from the set. Each one is unique, and each one teaches you a little more about woodworking. You can read them a few of them right here, but don’t forget to download them to your device as well.
Whether you are making a simple sanding block, a complex project, or some other fine woodworking item, these tips will teach you how to work faster, better, safer, and make awesome woodworking projects.
Measure Twice
This tips card is about an old adage that says to measure twice and cut once, which nearly everyone is familiar with. The obvious meaning is right there and easy to understand, but the hidden meaning takes an extra second to get to.
It’s not just about measuring twice and cutting once. It’s about patience. When you have patience, you make better decisions.
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When you make better decisions, you make less mistakes, and your woodworking project moves along at a better pace.
There are many areas where you can slow down, try a little harder, and get more done in less time. Slowing down in a case like that will actually speed up your project. It sounds crazy, but it works.
Continue Reading the Tip: Woodworking Tips Cards – Measure Twice
Clamp and Sand
This tips card is all about conserving energy and motion when sanding. The process of sanding can be a chore. When you do it poorly, it can be an even bigger chore. One way to make it easier is to conserve your energy.
As you sand, especially when you hold your piece in the other hand, you lose a little motion in the act of holding down the piece. The piece slides a little, and you also have to hold it with your off hand.
Both of these processes burn energy, and when the piece moved during a sanding stroke, you also lose a little of that stroke. It may not be a lot on each stroke, but over time you can lose a lot.
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Thankfully the solution is easy, and you have what you need in the shop to do it.
Continue Reading the Tip: Woodworking Tips Cards – Clamp and Sand
Test With Cheap Wood
As a beginning woodworker, you will be presented with many opportunities to test things out, and try new things. It’s important that you give yourself a safe place to do that, and for the woodworker, that safe place is cheap wood.
There is no reason to try a new technique out on a piece of hundred year old barn wood that cost $250 a board foot. If you are practicing, and learning, learn on something that is free or inexpensive.
When you learn like this, not only do you not waste the money, but you also practice better. The reason? You will feel less stress about a cheap piece of wood than an expensive piece. You will also feel less stress because your practice is not on a real project either.
When you are new, or when you are trying something new, make it a point to use wood that is not expensive. You will have much better results, and if you make a mistake or two, who cares. It’s just Pine.
Continue Reading the Tip: Woodworking Tips Cards – Test With Cheap Wood
Take a Class
There is nothing like taking a class from someone that has been through all the same things that you are about go to through. It’s like standing on the shoulders of giants, and you can compress weeks or months of trial and error into a few hours of detailed instruction.
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The other nice thing about taking a class is that you can ask questions. When you are learning on your own, you rarely have that opportunity. Try as you might, but a book is wonderful resource, but it’s pretty awful at responding to your questions.
A class can be the jump start that your woodworking needs. You can schedule a class or two, and skip a lot of the initial mistakes. This means you can be more confident that you are practicing correctly too.
That means a lot, especially if it seems like your progress is going slowly. Just knowing you are on the right path, even a slow path, makes you feel better.
Continue Reading the Tip: Woodworking Tips Cards – Take a Class
Mass Produce Your Work
After a little while into your woodworking career, you will suddenly discover that you can make things quite rapidly. The way you make them, and the steps you use to make them matter, and all you have to do is manipulate that aspect a bit, and you can make more.
It doesn’t take much longer to make three of something that it does to make one. In the case of projects that are cut, assembled, and finished, the build time is not much more, because you don’t have to set everything up three times.
When you cut one back panel, and then use the same setup to cut two more, the last two take far less time than the first. Again, this is because the setup is already done. You can leverage this as you work, and produce more in fractionally less time.
This might be as simple as making a jig for your belt sander to make a sanding process more uniform. It might also involve a jig to make perfect mitered corners instead of doing it by hand. These little additions help you produce more of the same piece with uniformity and accuracy.
Continue Reading the Tip: Woodworking Tips Cards – Mass Produce Your Work
Woodworking Safety
Woodworking safety is a super important topic. It’s sad because so many woodworkers thing about it after something bad happens. This is the worst time to think about safety, because now, it’s too late.
As you learn about woodworking, learn about safety. Read your manuals, read tips and tricks online, and watch videos. When you do, you will increase your overall woodworking knowledge, and be safer in the shop too.
It only takes a fraction of a second to lose a finger, or do some real damage that can be hard to recover from.
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The event will happen so fast you won’t be able to do anything about it either. Instead of becoming a living cautionary tale, start learning safety from the start.
Continue Reading the Tip: Woodworking Tips Cards – Woodworking Safety
More Tips Cards are On The Way
The Tips Cards series was a real pleasure to create. So much that I am working on another series for Wood Finishing Tips. These are going to be similar in look, but centered around finishing.
As woodworkers we get caught up in making something and then at the end we sometimes rush through the finishing process. This is can be because it’s confusing, or sometimes because it’s perceived to be difficult.
Finishing is not difficult, and with some great tips it doesn’t have to be confusing. Hopefully they help you learn about wood finishing like the woodworking tips cards teach about woodworking.
Check back, as I will be posting these a couple a week until the full 52 card deck is completed. At that point, another PDF will come out so you can print them too.
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- More than 20 Years Woodworking Experience
- 7 Woodworking Books Available on Amazon
- Over 1 Million Words Published About Woodworking
- Bachelor of Arts Degree from Arizona State University
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