If you’ve seen a lovely carved statue or chair, you might wonder if you could handle woodworking. There is a lot of information out there about woodworking, so you need a place like this article to get started. Use these tips to start you on your journey.

Safety is important when working with wood. Use the right safety gear and operate tools according to their manual. Never take the guards off the power tools that you use. The guards are there to keep you safe. These simple things can help protect you from accidents.

Condition your wood with a pre-stain product. A pre-stain conditioner helps keep away any irregularities or blotches in the wood. These applications even out the stain on the wood.

Never use your own fingers as guidance when cutting narrow chunks of wood. Use a piece of thin wood instead to help push along the piece. It will help you to maintain the use of all ten fingers on your hands.

All woodworking shops need stair gauges. Commonly used to scribe stair jacks, it can also be used to attach to your carpenter’s square. You can then use the square as a handy guide for your circular saw. The square will get you wonderfully straight cuts all the time.

TIP! Use stair gauges to guide your crosscuts. Match them to the rise and run of your stair jack, then attach them to the carpenter’s square.

Keep a ruler inside your pocket, and make sure it stays put. To reduce this problem, you could get a metal ruler and put the ruler in the same place as where you store your magnet. This will hold the two together, making them bulking enough to stay put.

Protect your feet by wearing sturdy footwear while woodworking. There will be nails, pieces of wood and tools around. This will shield your feet from nails, heavy objects and miscellaneous debris. Your shoes need to be great for walking around as you work.

Keep an eye out for recycled wood. There are many places that work with wood that often discard scraps which can be useful. Flooring stores and home improvement shops are always tossing away unused wood. Use this to your advantage and keep an eye out for pieces you can use. You will save money doing this too.

TIP! Use the right wood for your project. Some woods cannot handle the same stress that other woods are able to.

You may enjoy drinking a beer while you are doing woodworking. Just remember, drinking while you work with a saw can have disastrous consequences. Never drink any alcohol while you are working a project. This is also true for prescription medications or illicit drugs.

Listen up for anyone you know personally that is wanting to sell a home. You may be able to increase the value of your house with your skills. Your potential projects could range from simple mailbox posts to entire kitchen renovations.

Look for furniture on the side of the road. Many free wooden pieces of furniture can be had free, or dirt cheap. Think about the possibilities rather than dismissing things. You could use the wood from an old dresser to make something.

TIP! As you work through your budget, make note of any tools that will be necessary for the tasks you have in mind. It is easy to miss the extra expense when you are too busy thinking about the cost of the wood.

Wet the lumber before you sand. Getting a surface wet will raise up the grain. This helps to get rid of small scratches in your finished piece. It also gives your finished product a sleek look. You could also save yourself some time and energy later on.

Create a comprehensive budget for your project. Sit down once you’ve got a project in mind, and determine the realistic costs. Know what you will need and the cost. It’s never good to misjudge costs to the point where you need to drop a project.

Now that you know more about woodworking, you should be confident enough to get started. The more you learn, the better creations you will have with your wood. Put the tips found in this piece to good use.