Finding Lumber, Using Metric, Using a Shaper and MORE!!!

This Episodes Questions:

Brians Questions:

I am a hobbyist that wants to start making more polished pieces but am stuck making most of my furniture out of Douglas Fir or cedar. While these are fine options, I want to get into other species like walnut, ash, etc. but am usually priced out when buying one or two boards.
I feel like people buy in bulk or something to make the savings work. Could you offer some guidance on purchasing wood that isn’t the normal big box stuff at a fair price? Thx! Ian

Hi,I'm currently working on a cable railing for my stairs and have been laminating four 1-inch boards together to create 3⅝" x 3⅝" x 48" posts. However, I've encountered challenges achieving the final squared dimensions. My contractor's Bosch table saw is not capable to cut 3⅝" in one pass and doesn't provide a clean cut due to some broken teeth on the original carbide blade. Despite extensive searching, I haven't found a solution that doesn't require using a table saw. My current approach involves jointing and squaring two faces on the jointer, then flattening the remaining two faces on the planer. Initially uncertain about this method, I examined the posts and found all edges to be within an acceptable 90-degree tolerance, attributed to the accuracy of my approximately 70-year-old jointer fence.I'm curious why this method isn't more widely discussed. Could it be because most people don't typically work with this thickness, thus making the table saw seem unavoidable?
Keep up the great Vafa

Guys Questions:

I am really enjoying listening to your podcast and, although I have been woodworking for over 50 years, I invariably learn something new from you.  An example is your discussion about the proper way to allow for wood movement on an inside shelf.  I am currently working on just such a configuration and will now look at bread board ends for the shelf.
My question is about the advantages using metric in the wood shop.  Canada, where I live, is only partly metric and most of my friends use inches when laying out parts in their shops.  I took a course from Garrett Hack some years ago and said he likes to use metric as there are no fractions to deal with and in his view a millimetre (a 25th on an inch) is a good level  of accuracy.
Do you ever use metric measurement when building your projects? Bob

In the midst of reorganizing my shop. My question is about dust collection. I have about 500sqft of 1000sqft garage dedicated to my woodworking projects. Every time I cut something or sand, I coat the bikes, and all the other things stored there. Not focusing on the vacuums, what do you do about cleaning up the air? I am thinking about one of those Grizzly air filters but not sure it will do the trick. Thanks! Ian

Huys Questions:

Curious to hear your experiences with mentorship. Do you think it’s important to have mentors in the shop? (Someone who you can learn from who’s also invested in your progress) Grateful to have your podcast and love to hear the different perspectives from the 3 of you. Such a valuable resource for the woodworking community. Ari

Hi guys,
*Thanks for answering my past questions, I have another multi part one for you. I recently picked up a grizzly 5hp shaper, I know it's probably bigger than I need but I traded a few days work for it so the price was right. My first project I plan to do with it was patern cutting some 3.5 inch thick table legs. I ordered an amana 61295 spiral cutter and followed bearing but after setting it up it quite frankly scares the crap out of me. How would you guys go about holding the work piece? Would you cut from one side to the middle then reverse the machine and cut from the other side to prevent cutting against the grain? I'm new to shapers so any other advice would be helpful. 
**The other part is I'm looking at a job where I'll probably have to shape a few hundred lineal feet of trim so I'm looking at getting a power feeder as well. I see they range from 1/8 to several hp, how big should I be looking at? I'll mostly see myself using it with smaller shaper bits but that could change as well as possibly setting it up on my table saw when I have to do long miters or lots of rip cuts. I've never used one before and couldn't find much info online, any tips and tricks would be a big help. Thanks, Mike Arntz