#fail. This, my friends, is why I need my Glowforge

Oh I bet those must be amazing! I’m trying to make a coffee table out of my pine plank, but I’m running into the exact problems you mentioned- only the old, hardy tools back at school can cut it well enough and I wouldn’t want to use them alone. I’ll finish it one of these days!

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DO IT! Don’t be scared of tools. One of my goals in life is to get more women using power tools! I own 9 saws and the only tool I have that is still my nemesis is my router… which looks so sweet and easy. lol It has kicked back on me (scared the &^^%% out of me that is) a handfull of times where none of my saws have. lol

There are sooooo many light weight and more compact options out there that would do the job beautifully and like a boss. You only live once… do it! :slight_smile:

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I’ve often thought about working with reclaimed lumber, but I’ve found that it is usually even more expensive than new lumber! There are a few collapsed barns near my parents in upstate NY, I often want to drive over to them and “reclaim” some wood for myself for free. however, that is usually seen as trespassing and stealing if I’m caught…

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That stuff is ‘old growth’ as opposed to farmed. Dense tight grain.

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I find that people that have had that kind of thing laying around forever are GRATEFUL for someone to take something they see as garbage off of their property. (Ask, obviously though. Oh and tell them you make pretty things with it haha) People also ALWAYS post on Craigslist and other free sites for free fence wood so they don’t have to haul it off. lol I did rent a uhaul once to get a whole fence, but it was a sound investment. lol

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Cute picture and wow…what a stash behind you!

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Nice haul! Cute help too :+1:

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Yes!! Me? Scared? No way! :grinning: Though the guy who got me the materials had lots of experience working with old growth wood and heavy power tools so it was nice to have someone knowledgeable on-hand (plus he had the keys to the workshop, so. Haha)

Super jealous of all your tools, and that fence haul is amazing!! I’m going back to school this fall for advanced fabrication and architectural design, so you bet I’ll be making the most out of their woodshop!

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I love this place!! Beautiful, All Of The Things!

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I was running a board through the table saw once and hit a nail and it kicked it back into my hip so hard I couldn’t stand properly for a month or two. I still don’t like table saws and my girlfriend who is half my size has to come help me when I run it. Even boys can be scared of tools :sweat_smile:

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so says my mother :wink:

Melissa

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@rubbersoul79 where have you been on the forum? I have been reading for a few months, but if you posted much before, I don’t seem to remember. Anyway you seem to be experienced and be able to offer it in a good humored and encouraging fashion. Keep up the good posts here. - Rich

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Aw Rich… thanks I appreciate that. I am a single mom making a valiant attempt to juggle that, a home, a crazy dog and my own business (I am going to be bringing someone in once I get my store launched)… the laser is something I just started on in the fall, so I am just to the point of having some advice to offer… but the real reason was HONESTLY…I lost my faith in the Glowforge for a while so I didn’t want to put in the time. Everyone kept telling me to get my money back, but my gut told me not to. While Christmas was a disappointment, I felt @dan handled and worded it beautifully (coming from a marketing/pr person who is prone to picking everything like that apart. lol) and I felt like things were coming more to the front than slipping to the back. So, I am going to start coming in more and adding to the community as I learn and do new things. I dabble in everything from sewing to woodworking to resin to making my own paints… I wish I didn’t have that innate curiosity about everything… but I do. I have a ton of laser stuff I will post for you guys that might spark something … if I had my own here I would go crazy trying everything. Now I have to drive pretty far to use the one I do so the projects drip in. I’ll cross my fingers for being a beta tester one day. lol

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It is woodworking PTSD… truly. I get it. It scares the crap out of you. PS Just take the nails out next time LOL

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I thought I had! Haha but I’m much more thorough with my examinations before I cut things now. Once burned twice shy.

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There are even small metal detectors that you can run over your pieces just to make sure there is nothing hiding in there.

This is just one option:

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I’ve been using a big neodidium magnet I got for a project to sweep for nails with great success. This seems like it might work better but since I’m not doing a ton of wood work the magnet method works for now

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interested. how does that work? You just sweep it over and it gets pulled toward the wood when it finds something?

Yup. It doesn’t always work for staples but I haven’t missed a screw or nail that I couldn’t see in a while. I don’t work in anything big this is mostly for scrap/found 2x4- 2x8 type stuff. Put the magnet in a ziplock to avoid picking up all the little filings found around the shop

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I’m in the middle of shopping for a metal detector but I don’t think I’m ready to full the trigger on the full wand. I’ve been looking at either the Zircon or the Little Wizard II. Anyone have any experience with either of those, or want to push me into the full wand style?.