Woodworking Tip of the Day - Materials List Making a good materials list can save you a lot of heartache on a project. For each part, list the number of similar pieces that you will make, their thickness, width, and length, and the joints or other operations you will perform on them. You can use this list to figure out how much wood to buy, allowing for waste, and to help you do all your stock preparation. Then use it to plan an efficient order of joinery.

Duplex Nails Duplex, or double-headed, nails can be extremely handy for temporary carpentry type projects. These nails have a second head, about 1/4-inch below the normal one. When you drive it, the outer head remains above the surface, making it easy to remove. For example, if you were making a box to use as a fuming cabinet for oak, you could put it together out of two-by-fours and duplex nails, and then quickly take it apart when you are finished.

To the above suggestion my house male said it was a lousy one. Put the temporary structure together using Grabber screws

Sawing At An Angle If you are planning to handsaw a piece at an angle, it is generally best to clamp it diagonally, so that the direction you need to cut is either straight vertical or horizontal. That way you will be able to stick with your familiar cutting motion, and get a straighter result. If possible, try to clamp the work so that when you finish the cut, your saw blade won't end up near the bench. But do keep your cut as near to the jaws as possible, to reduce vibration.