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There are a few terms used incorrectly like old growth instead of late growth and probably a couple of misprounciations but you should get the main idea of the video. But then again I probably do that in all my videos.

Outstanding, all of these... very timely, as this is what I am working on at this very moment. To clarify, when you split the billet, does the chisel or whatever run parallel to the QS grain lines, or perpendicular? I am sure you mentioned, but just for the sake of anyone else with the same question, and to not need to flip back thru 3 videos

Thanks again for the time and effort you put into these and other videos, I am learning alot from them.

adam

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When splitting to "Check For Runout " you split " Perpendicular " to the grain. Spliting it in halves.
Also I to state that there isn't anything the matter with buying wood from venders as that's where you can aquire different types of spruce and the Lumber suppliers is an option for someone a bit frugal. I do both.

Hi Chris

When do you find time to build, it seems you are always video taping. Keep up the good work, it is great to see other people's techniques and ideas. What kind of spruce is in the 2x4's you get from the lumber yards?

Fred

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Beats me? I'm guessing it might be Sitka if that's what is the most common on the east coast. I'm just guessing that it comes from eastern Canada or the eastern US.
As far as the time, If I'm doing something that I think might be of some interest and I'm not in a hurry or feeling tired then I'll shoot it. It doesn't really take that much extra time to set the camera on the tripod and start shooting. It's not like I'm setting up lights and micing sound. My camera is a pretty cool little camera and I'm happy that I bought it. It does a pretty good job of automaticly adjusting to light, sound, whitebalance and focus. Although when getting really at it's min.closeup level it will shift around a bit as you can see in some of the shots but it makes it a breeze to do. I think they look pretty good for on the fly. I really don't see why some pay all that cash and say they have all these hours into a shoot. It's just like building guitars and everything else. The more you do it the faster and hopefully the better you get at it. This one took a bit more time because I had to think a bit about it and dig up some props. The editing is basic and my videos pretty much follow my style and format that I have the opening then it's cut to closeups and different angles some time as I go. I try and keep it a little interesting visually at times if I can. It might seem like I show too much sometime or get windy when explaining or trying to explain things, I don't know? But I'm trying to explain it in as much as I can and show about how long it takes to actually do some things as I think this is helpfull to someone who's never done it. It's just my style of teaching I guess. When I teach an apprentice in the Electrical trade and when I'm a foreman from time to time I have a tendency to teach by showing and explaining and try to make it clear to journeymen what I want done. You probably know how it is to tell some guys what you want done and They say OK. and then walk away and not be clear on what you told them and for some reason are affraid or something to say they don't understand. I'm getting long winded now.

The saw mills probably don't care as long as it is spruce they cut it up.

Fred

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Most of the lumber on the east coast of canada used in construction is graded SPF or spruce,pine or fir. Eastern white pine is sold as a wood on it's own.This is the only one of the three that I know that is sold that way.In this grade the spruce could be Red ,Black,OR White.Another thing we should be looking for in braces is strength or amount of deflection with a known weight across a given distance.It is amazing how much the deflection will vary in a group of braces that are all cut to the same size. As an aside ,the provincial tree of Nova Scotia is the Red spruce.

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A person who has never made a mistake has never made anything!!!

Can you give us the weight and specs. to checking the braces for deflection?

Chris: When making a bunch of "X" braces,I make them all to the same cross section.The size is .285 by .625. These are placed on a jig with two pins about 18 inches apart,a dial indicator is zeroed out in the center,a weight is hung from the brace to cause deflection.The deflection noted on the indicator and marked on the brace. The braces are later matched in pairs with similar deflections.Braces below a certain amount are discarded.The weight is a pipe wrench and I don't even know the weight.My main concern is stiffness,but don't weigh the braces and am not sure if that would be very relevent. Not very scientific but that's how I do it.

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A person who has never made a mistake has never made anything!!!

Great videos, Chris! Rather timely too as I've been doings some research on brace wood.

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-Marcus
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Chris you've probably said what make/model camera your using but I haven't seen it.
Would you mind telling us what camera your using. Does a great job. Thanks for sharing.

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It's a Canon Power Shot S51S. I have a chip that allows for 1hr. of video.
http://www.amazon.com/Canon-PowerShot-S ... 679&sr=8-1
It has things on it that I don't even know how to use yet. They sure came a long way from my old Nikon FTN.

Chris:

I always enjoy your vids...I search'em out, and sometimes refer back to them. I appreciate the time it takes, and the information you give. Really...thanks.

Bill

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Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines.

Thank you for the videos. I am learning a lot at this site.
Chuck

Chris -
Another great tutorial! Thanks!

Hi - thanks for the videos !

Now once you split that larger piece of wood, do you split it again ? Do you split it till you get the approx size piece and then shape the wood to what you want ?


Thanks

John

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It's this new idea from recent decades that everyone gets a participation award. - MUX

I plane the edge and cut from that edge.

So it appears in the video that you split (let's say) a 2x6 piece of wood. So theoretically in a perfect world you now have 2 - 3 inch pieces of wood. Isn't it possible that if you split again you may find another run out that you missed in the first split ? Should you split till you get a close as possible to the final dimension ?

thanks again - I have learned a lot from your videos !

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It's this new idea from recent decades that everyone gets a participation award. - MUX

If you want to you can but if the board is clear of knots the runout usually doesn't change in that little of distance.

Does anyone have any tips on how to tell whether a board is spruce, pine , or fir ? Our stores here sell SPF (Spruce, Pine, or Fir) stock. I think I can identify pine pretty easily. I went looking for spruce the other day and left the store with a dumb look on my face.

thanks!
john

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It's this new idea from recent decades that everyone gets a participation award. - MUX

Great question.
I'm wondering if we get anything other than pine here in the west.
HD sell small planks of Poplar and Oak. Are either of these suitable for braces?

Here in Southern California the most common building material by far is fir.

Poplar and oak are too heavy for braces.

The only way to tell the species of wood for me is experience.Kind of like comparing a Sruce top to a Cedar top.Everyone can tell the difference.With SPF lumber there are definately a different looking grain on each species.For me it`s harder to tell the exact type of spruce,but it`s definately distinguishable from yellow or your white pines.I would say go to your local lumber yard and take a good look at each species and you`ll be able to see the difference.
James

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James W Bolan
Nashville Tennessee

I picked up some nice 8 foot long (!) spruce SPF pieces today at Menards and am going to see if I can make some braces out of 'em. are there any steps I should take before using this wood? should I be concerned about air dried versus kiln dried lumber? should I let it age?

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"...you have to get over your strict adherence to your largely imagined notion of absolute perfection..."

Thank you, so much great lumber in the yards if you know what to look for. I have a great splitting tool in my bucket from my glazier days. It is called a hack knife, we used them to get the putty out of the old wood windows. They are cheap little knives with about a 5" long blade with a nice leather handle and made to be hammered on the back. Any local glass shop will know what you are talking about.
Rob

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