Ep 1: Danish Modern Desk with Tim Rousseau – Intro Tim Rousseau’s modern desk might look simple, but a lot goes into making such an elegant piece

Question 1:

From Dave:
I recently built my niece a cherry nightstand for her 16th birthday (picture attached).  I finished it with a clear coat of shellac sanding sealer followed by water based polyurethane.  I like the finish but after a few months it has not held up well to the sun – it looks a bit dried and faded.  Other than moving it do you have an indoor finish suggestion that you can recommend that will tolerate the direct light? 

Question 2:

From Dave:
I have the european-style 14-in. bandsaw with 1/2” 4 tpi blade and was resawing a 10” square by 2’ long piece of pine. The resulting cut left me with a hollow in the resawn piece and bulge in the slab about 2/3 of the way through the cut. I flattened the slab, double checked side and rear guides and tension, squareness of fence to blade, table to fence, increased then decreased tension, etc, super slow feed rate, etc, and kept having the same issue. I’ve resawn hardwood before nearly this thick and haven’t had a problem with the same blade. Thoughts?

Learn to Resaw Expert tips on setting up a bandsaw to cut perfect veneers and custom parts

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Question 3:

From Andy:
I have heard that you always need to put the same veneer on both sides of the board in order to prevent uneven movement down the road. However, some veneer is extremely expensive, so I was wondering if there is some kind of alternative veneer that could be used on the faces that will be hidden? Is there such thing as secondary veneer? Poplar, maybe?

Also, if the project is extremely small like a tea box or something, is it still important to veneer both sides with the same wood species?

Question 4:

From Kevin:
Looking at my finishing cabinet, I see about seven or eight cans of half-used finish. I’ve since decided to really try to limit myself to two or three go-to finishes in an attempt to “Keep It Simple, Stupid.”

If you had to limit yourself to just a couple of finishes to handle most of your finishing needs, which would you choose?