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Entrance Table

lilmidgey — Thu, 20 Jun 2013 00:45:24 +0000

My first genuine piece of functional furniture for the house after concentrating on getting the workshop up to standard has finally been finished! Very rewarding to get it completely finished and in place in the entrance to the house. It’s made out of a couple of 40mm thick Kauri slabs and the top is one full piece with the natural edge.

This was my first time doing mortise and tenons and it generally went well. I decided to round over the tenons instead of squaring the mortises. I think in hindsight I will do it the other way for my next try. I definitely didn’t enjoy the finishing process as it’s long and tedious (I’m sure I’m not alone there). I much prefer the quick fast pace of making shop projects that are super functional and require no finish!

That being said the grey stain and clear varnish on this piece really makes it look great and the misses is very happy.

My first turned pen

Gatorjim — Thu, 20 Jun 2013 00:23:54 +0000

Just a simple pen but I know there will be more.

in anticipation of leaning towards hand tool'ing one day...

Holbs — Thu, 20 Jun 2013 00:12:53 +0000

i bought these for $100, knowing that somedays i will prefer to hand joint & plane. debating on a stanley #8 coming up this weekend. i do see doing a door or two in time.

Wine Crate Top Chess/Checker Board

DonGriffith — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 23:28:04 +0000

I cut down to size and stained an old wine crate top, then cut cork chess pieces and birch branch checkers pieces for a more rustic look.

Toy truck

Rotceh — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 23:20:22 +0000

This truck is a birthday gift for my son. It was been made with plywood and pine wood of a pallet .I think is important to use recicling woods when you make a proyect . It´s easy and funny to make and I hope it make him smile and he can playing a lot with his other cars and toys.

Es un regalo de cumpleaños para mi hijo. Se ha hecho con aglomerado y pino de una palet. Creo que es importante la utilización de maderas reciclage cuando haces un proyecto. Es fácil y divertido y espero que le haga sonreír y pueda jugar con los otros coches y los juguetes.

woodworking club

DonEC — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 23:17:16 +0000

hello, I recently moved to S.San Jose, CA and am trying to find woodworking
clubs in the area. I googled, but didn’t find anything. Any help is appreciated.
Thanks.

Miniture felix the cat guitar

trucking36 — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 22:33:45 +0000

This is a miniture hollow body felix the cat guitar…made out of walnut with gold thread for the strings..used pin heads for the string pegs on the bridge..bent over nail heads for the tuners..for the fret board I used guitar strings…even has the original serial number from the real guitar in the sound hole…

Drawer guide height?

lateralus819 — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 21:49:37 +0000

So I’m making my mortises in my front/back aprons for my runners. I happened to router my groove 1/16 OVER flush with the bottom part of my front apron, I was thinking this might be okay as it’d give me an even gap around the face of the drawer. Should i leave it or should i plane them flat?

Heres the plan for reference. http://www.woodsmithshop.com/download/104/104-shakerhalltable.pdf

Rabbit Hutch

BasHolland — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 21:31:14 +0000

It’s a while ago when I posted a project here on LJ’s.
So, I recently finished this new rabbit hutch, I made it for my wife.

Most of the joints are half lap joints. All hand cut.
Almost all of the wood is reclaimed wood.

The finish is 2 layers of stain and one layer of outdoor-laquer.

Questions and comments are welcome.
Thanx for watching.

Bas

Lost soul came home?

bandit571 — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 21:19:57 +0000

Box came in the mail today, from Paris…. ( wait for it) Ohio. Looked like a #4 plane, in need of a little TLC??

It even had a few hitch-hikers

Cleaned out the spider nests (three of them!) without getting bit. Took the thing apart, to begin the refurb

Hmmm, ugly? Rusty! Crusty!

looks like the handles were painted RED at one time, too. And, when the adjuster wheel is rusty…

Got the parts down to the Dungeon Shop. Set up a few wire wheels for the drill press. Dusty, too!. Got rid of all that was rusty, wiped it down to find…about 45% of the paint was left. Paint job!. While the paint was drying, worked over the iron.

Seemed a little off. Turned out that the chipbreaker was bending the iron. Finally got the back flat, at least down by the edge. Got all the parts cleaned up, and back on the plane.

Lever cap is a spare I had. The iron/chipbreaker may get replaced as well. Will see after a trip over the oil stones.

Wheel had rusted because it is steel. As for the frog, got some of it flat.

The lateral lever needed to be straightened out, too. Almost thought about crimping that “whaletail” into a more Stanley like closed one. Not sure who made this plane. casting is thick and heavy, too bad the rest wasn’t.

Walnut display case #2: All done, time for a nap... and to clean the shop

JeremyPringle — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 21:00:37 +0000

The past 3 weeks have been crazy. Aside from my full time day job, kids baseball 5 nights a week, I actually had very little time to work on this case, BUT it had to be done. Because I was in such a scramble to get it done, I forgot to take pictures of most of the process.

Without pictures there really is not much to write about. But there were some really interesting things that I did take pictures of. One… I had a really cool idea and contacted Paul ‘Shipwright’ and asked him if he was interested. Time was tight, but he was willing, and it turned out awesome. I asked Paul to use his Chevy and make me the logo of the company that the case is for.

After making the void in the drawer, and heating up the glue, I installed the logo and clamped it down overnight. The next morning I scraped it flush.

I painted the main base cabinet with pitch black milk paint, and of course while I was painting it on, I knocked over my jar. I yelled of my wife to come downstairs to help before it thickened too much. But now I have a huge spot on the floor in my basement. After a few coats the base was pitch black, I gave it a light sanding and put on a few coats of water based semi gloss poly. I had some checked plate cut to size and bolted on the front.

The case itself I used figured walnut. I wanted a really dark rich walnut, I did about 10 different combinations of coloured waxes, oils, shellacs top get the colour I liked the best. I settled on black walnut tung oil, then 3 thin coats of amber shellac (just for some colour, not enough to fill the pours) and then conservators wax as the final top coat.
Here is the finished project.

Logo made by Paul ‘Shipwright’ inset into the curly walnut drawer front.

And here it is in its new home with the glass installed.

Now, upon completion of most of my projects I like to look back and reflect on what I have learned from the process.
1. I am seriously under power tooled for ‘production’ kinds of jobs that have tight deadlines. I could have saved huge amounts of time if I had a power jointer….. I mean huge. Not to mention that I filled 4 garbage bags full of shavings, and strained my arms from the hours of hand planning that I did.
2. I cannot compete with production style shops that make this kind of thing day in and day out.
3. You have to order glass with about a weeks lead time. I did not know this, in fact I only cut the rabbet in the frame for the glass 4 days before my delivery date… thusly… I was in fact late in delivering this.

Thanks for reading, now its time for that nap…. after I clean up my mess.

carving or marking knife

cdbridge39 — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 20:34:43 +0000

Here are some knives that I made from some reciprocating and jig saw blades. I drilled out the handles and put epoxy in the holes then put a pin though just to be safe. These are just general purpose knives that I use in my shop not to pretty, but get the job done.

My version of Paulk's ultimate mobile workbench

mummykicks — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 20:32:59 +0000

This started out with me wanting to build some speakers and a couple sub-woofers and pretty much snowballed out of control to me picking up a woodworking hobby along the way :-)
So I basically took the mobile part out of it, well it has casters on it, but I wouldn’t want to try to get it in a truck. I’ve also optimized it for a track saw. It’s a full 4’ x 8’ x 39” high.
Bottom is 1/2” ply for the top & bottom, vertical members are 3/4”. Top sides (with the rectangular holes) are 1/2” ply, the inner ribs are 3/4”. Top is 3/4” Oak plywood, with T-tracks and sacrificial 3/4” MDF pieces on top of that. Casters in the 4 corners, leveling feet under the verticals (8 legs total).
Tracks are positioned so I can break up sheets and they’ll be fully supported (always able to have less than 1/2 the cut-off hanging off the bench) or clamped if desired.
I don’t own a table saw, and don’t plan to (shocking I know). Built with tracksaw, dowelmax jig, drill press and 3” holesaw, router, and my miter saw.
All the pieces that could be were stacked and cut at once with the tracksaw/miter saw. Anything that wasn’t I picked the smallest piece and flush trimmed the others to match with the router.
It’s doweled (one about every 5” with a screw inbetween dowels), screwed, and glued together. Doweling it really helped to pull everything square during assembly, and I stacked tops & bottoms and sides together and doweled them all at once to ensure everything came out square. It’s dead flat excecpt for a .02” dip in the middle at one end, so all in all the method worked well, even if it took some 400 holes lol.
If I had to do it again I would just punt and make everything out of 3/4” oak plywood (from big box, not cabinet grade). I’ve included a couple pics of it being used. Having a large worksurface and the storage under the top to put things you need but not right now is fantastic. As you can see the holes work great to store clamps, and there is plenty of room underneath to store all my other tools without even trying to organize it. I’m sure it will fill up eventually.
The T-tracks work well enough, and it’s very easy to pull the truck up, slide the sheet from the truck to the bench, cut it up and not have to handle large awkward heavy sheets and try to support them. The mdf inserts let me cut sheets without having to look for scrap pieces to get it up off the table.
Anyway, so far I’m very happy with it, and glad Ron made the plans available.

Family Sign

ArmyMrFixit — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 20:01:03 +0000

Family sign I made for a client

Custom Bolt Action Pens

Todd Adair — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 19:56:32 +0000

These are a few of the bolt action pens I have turned recently. These are my biggest seller. I sold 9 to one client. Crazy. These are just so unique. They sell themselves.

Custom Pens

Todd Adair — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 19:51:01 +0000

I just recently got into woodturning, more specifically, pen turning and I am hooked. I made my first pen back in December as a gift and got a lot of positive response from family and clients. I started making them as gifts but then people wanted to buy them, so I started selling them. These three are called Majestic Jrs. I used three different burls. Bimble box, maple, and black cherry. These 3 were Fathers Day gifts for one of my best clients. I was shocked when she told me she wanted three. I have been selling anywhere from 2 to 10 pens a week. The demand is crazy. I do about 6 different types and this particular model is my #2 best seller.

Farmhouse storage bed components

Wolfdrool — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 19:50:32 +0000

I posted a farmhouse storage bed earlier today. I have had a few questions on what the bed components look like in more detail. The purpose of this post is to show the individual components better and what the cabinet assemblies look like.

Picture 1 shows two of the box feet prior to finishing. Made from 1×4 stock. About 4 inches by about 15 inches. Finger jointed corners.

Picture 2 shows one of the assembled boxes upside down. The box feet are secured in place with 1-1/4 Kreg screws all around. Drill the pocket holes before assembling the box feet or you won’t have enough room to put your jig in place and drill them later after assembly. Also shown are the cleat support rails with the dowel pin holes drilled. These rails need to be attached to the cabinets so that you have a left side and a right side for the holes to match up. For example, after drilling the holes, you may find that your holes start 3 inches from one end of each rail and stop about 5 inches from the other end. You have to attach the rails to the cabinets so that the 3 inch ends are both at the headboard or both at the footboard so the holes align for placing the cleats.

Picture 3 shows one assembled cabinet with the cleat support rail attached to the cabinet. The rail is attached so that the cross cleats will be flush with the top of the cabinet when supported on the rails.

Picture 4 shows one cabinet right side up sitting on its two box feet. Note how the feet are directly under the interior partitions to transfer loads directly to the floor.

First Frame

paulcanbuildthat — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 19:47:37 +0000

This is one of the first frames I built. For this particular one, I found a nice “ivy” motif trim piece at the local home improvement store.

The second photo is a close-up of the actual trim piece already attached to the underlying poplar board. In order to increase the strength of the frame, I added biscuits to the mitered corners. The third picture shows the biscuits already cut into the end of the frame pieces.

The fourth and fifth photos show the frame details after staining. I used a nice walnut stain and applied polyurethane to the result for a fairly shiny finish.

I was very happy with the results…

Thanks for looking!

Plane find from a friend

mds2 — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 19:47:07 +0000

A co-worker of mine is cleaning out his grandfather’s wood shop and came across a bunch of hand planes. A couple old woodies, with no markings that I saw at first glance. A Stanley 45, but missing all the blades and probably a few other parts. Stanley two-tone no 3 in good shape. I have a two tone no.4 at home that I use more than any other plane. Then there are two Stanley Bailey no.5’s, one corrugated, one not. The non-corrugated one has a broken handle. The corrugated one is missing the blade, chip breaker and cap, so I think I will combine the parts on them and make one plane. Then there is a Stanley no.5 1/4 but I have no idea how old it is. It is also missing the iron and chip breaker. Lastly other than a couple unmarked no.4’s is a Bedrock no.605, but it has a Sergent cap and a replacement handle. I dont know why I’m posting this other than I like talking about planes and dont know anyone in the real world that does. I’m wondering are there any gems in this bunch?

Stanley Bailey 5 1/4
Stanley Bailey 5
Stanley Bailey 5
Bedrock 605

5 1/4 Adjustment lever.

Big Green Egg Table #3

Todd Adair — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 19:38:04 +0000

This is my latest Big Green Egg table. I have actually done a couple more like the first few that I posted, but this one is a little different. My customer liked the original design but I felt liked they needed something more unique. I decided to do a solid top out of 2 inch thick western red cedar. I kregged and glued together 6-2×6 boards and then cut the top out with a jigsaw. I eased all the curves with a belt sander and my trusty 5 inch orbital. I hand cut two custom corbels to act as supports for the overhang on the backside of the table. They may be hard to see in the pictures but they turned out real nice. The base is cypress and I finished the whole thing with 2 coats of Cabots timber oil. The two granite inserts are Uba-tuba black granite that compliments the color of the cypress quite nicely. This is the first table that I actually had to set up so I finally got a few finished shots with the egg in place. Happy customer.

Ridgid Bandsaw Motor Upgrade

Hermando — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 19:12:13 +0000

Hello Jocks,
I am looking for some advice on upgrading the the 3/4hp induction motor on my 14” Ridgid band saw. The current motor is 3/4 hp and was wondering if there is an advantage to using a 1 1/2 induction belt drive motor. Is it possible that this would be a clean swap or is this overkill.

Thanks, H.

Mirror / picture frames for our son's nannies

Antti — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 18:57:38 +0000

Our autistic son is leaving his kindergarten for five years. His nannies have been the best; we couldn’t have been luckier! In an effort to show our appreciation I made each of them a mirror. The two smaller ones can be used as picture frames as well, when you reverse the order of the mirror and the “passepartout”. The biggest one is “only” a mirror, and it is for his most loved nanny who has been there from the very beginning. Two darker ones are walnut, and the third one is cherry.

end grain cutting board

cj246 — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 18:57:37 +0000

Present for fathers day

Cherry Stool

gpeau — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 18:55:21 +0000

This cherry stool was my first turning project. The legs have a bamboo look to them with a notch added at the widest points. The through tenons in the seat are wedged and it was finished with Deft Oil.

Workbench build 2013 #5: Cutting Beveled Mortises

A Slice of Wood Workshop — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 18:54:41 +0000

I am one step closer to the finish of my workbench. I show steps to cut a beveled mortise.

Amana Router Bits for Trade (or sale)

ChipByrd — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 18:53:14 +0000

Hello,

I am relatively new to woodworking and have been hitting the garage sales and checking Craigslist for local deals. A couple weeks ago I found a guy selling a bunch of Amana router bits. I ended up buying all that he had and now have several duplicates and things I won’t use. Consequently, I would like to get rid of the extras.

I would rather trade them than sell them, but am willing to sell. For trade, I am looking for planes, measuring and layout tools (Incra, Woodpecker), jigs, or other router bits. If you have something I really want I will add cash to the trade.

They are all in the original packaging and still have the protecting coats on them. I will list the retail from TOOLSTODAY and will accept 45% of that plus actual shipping. Again, I am more interested in trades and will be more flexible there.

Here they are:

Amana Ogee Bowl Bit #57127
Retail $51.99 Sell for $23.00

Amana 12% Bevel #57129 (I have two of these)
Retail $62.29 Sell for $28.00

Amana Counter Top Bit #57148
Retail $42.75 Sell for $19.00 (I have two of these)

Amama ¾ Rounding Over #57141
Retail $42.29 Sell for $19.00

Amanda ½ Under Cut #57138
Retail $82.99 Sell for $37.00

Thanks,
Chip

Test Boxes

gpeau — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 18:36:56 +0000

I was working on a serving tray project that had kerf cut and steam bent corners. Each of these test bands, plus a dozen or so more failures, were to help determine the number and depth of kerf cuts, shoulder and band thickness and spacing of the kerfs to get a tight steam bent corner that was pleasing to the eye and tight on the inside. I made two of each and decided to finish the project by making small open boxes out of the test bands. If you look at the last detailed shot you’ll see the different kerf cut variations.

I steam bent each of the bands after kerfing them and glued the mating parts of the band.

I built dividers with lap joints and added cherry and walnut dowels to secure the bottoms. Unfortunately I didn’t take any pictures of the finished walnut box before selling it. Finished with Deft Oil.

Lawn mower blade as tool steel?

jtriggs — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 18:28:39 +0000

I’ve heard of using old reciprocating saw blades as a source of thin tool steel. What would be the result if you used an old lawn mowing blade for a thicker profile? It would seem to be a cheap alternative to going and buying tool steel somewhere.

Thanks for any advice.
Jon

Oak Cafe Tables - dyed with India Ink

gpeau — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 18:20:18 +0000

I built 11 table tops for a friend’s Cafe in San Francisco last year. The bases are metal ordered by the designer and the tops are all red oak, dyed with India Ink. This was a difficult project since the two large table tops were 2 1/2 ft wide and the longest was 9’, the other 7’8”. The drink rail, pictured with the cut out for the steel base where it butts up to a steel beam, was 2 1/2 ft wide by 7” long. The 8 small tables were all 2 1/2 ft square.

I added a plywood base under the table to add height to meet the specifications with oversized holes to allow for movement. The screws attached to the table were fitted with washers. I was really happy with the india ink. Easy to apply and close to a true jet black. I brushed several coats of Minwax poly.

burl and penny

hifijohn — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 17:47:35 +0000

burl and penny

shop tools #2: A craigs list bargain..hurry up, this is a steal.

woodklutz — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 17:42:14 +0000

zjcrr-3848291142@sale.craigslist.org

This is Chicago listed under wood lathes. You are not going to believe it.

Worth $400? (Grizzly 16" BS)

Buckethead — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 17:28:57 +0000

Seems like quite a deal on CL. (Which seem rare these days)

I don’t really have room, and am saving my pennies for a more fundamental shop beginning (SawStop) but I might be convinced that this (seemingly older) Grizzly Band Saw is too good a deal to pass on.

Maybe this saw is intended for a machine shop rather than wood shop?

$400

gel stain experience?

LarryB — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 17:19:18 +0000

I’m finishing a cherry chest that I’ll post later. This is my first time to use a gel stain. The General Finishes instructions say to apply the stain, wipe, then buff with 320 – 400 paper. Use additional coats for deeper, more durable surface.

All my other projects have been finished with regular stain, then three coats of polyurethane.

I’m inclined to go ahead with 2 to 3 coats of the poly on top of this product.

Should I trust the ‘durability of just the gel coats? Anyone have experience with this? Please advise. Thanks!

ARRRRRRGGG!! Stupid Hand Planes!

Bsmith — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 17:16:46 +0000

Am I doing something wrong? Purchased some old Stanley Planes. Flattened bottom, scary sharp on the irons, skew the plan a little when using, cuts good on the board edges, but when I try it on face of a panel… %#@#!!!! Digs in, chatter and over all leaves it looking worse that when I started. I’ve glued up a cherry table top. Trying to smooth out the glue joint a little and causing more harm than good. Am I destined to joint the edges and rely on sanding to level it out? How many of you are actually using your planes to flatten boards?

Wish I had built this

cajunpen — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 16:52:16 +0000

Not mine, but I thought that I would share this beautiful Loveseat with my fellow (and fellowette) LumberJocks. A lot of people would not appreciate the talent this took to create – I know you guys and gals will.

Resawing and Bandsaw Speeds

HorizontalMike — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 16:36:46 +0000

The last 2-3yr I have been resawing Ash and Maple for my WW projects, often 8-9in wide. Today I began a new project using Ponderosa Pine. I began by resawing 10in wide 12/4 lumber and quickly learned just how resinous this pine really is. In less than 10ft of resawing, my BS blade and wheels were loaded with resin. I have been running my 14in Rikon #10-325 at 2950fpm with a 3/4in 3TPI blade.

That said,... Would there be any advantage to switch to the lower 1,445fpm speed, in hopes of lowering the resinous buildup when resawing pine?

Just for Fun... #76: If at first you don't Succeed...

littlecope — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 16:29:02 +0000

So when the last project was finished, I had a tough time with the picture taking! Ideally, the best pictures are taken in Sunshine (or at least outside), but that’s not always possible without waiting a few days…
I’ve seen quite a few different Light Tents here on LJ’s, and thought the time had come to build one for myself…
The idea is simple, to make a box with no sides, over which can be draped a white bed sheet or similar cloth…
Lights are added to either side of the structure and the object to be photographed is placed inside.
On mine, I also wanted for it to be collapsible, so it wouldn’t take up valuable space!
As usual, I did no research and went ahead and cut a bunch of particle board, drawing joints and connections for the construction…

I cut half-laps to fashion the top and bottom frames… kinda like Lincoln Logs…

And then made through mortise and tenon joints, pegged with pins for the uprights…

This was a really rickety structure!!
None the less, I draped a sheet roughly over it and tried it out real quick…

Well this looks promising as far as it goes, but I think I need brighter bulbs, 100 Watt instead of 60’s… And this thing being so shaky, I’m not happy about that…
The real kicker was when I took it apart and re-assembled it… When I took it apart the second time, my elbow just barely grazed one of the corners of the junk particle board, with this result…

Okay, back to the drawing board, or rather to a Real Board! I cut 4 strips out of a piece of Rock Maple that was kicking around…

The Lincoln Log idea had been tried, with poor results, so it was time to switch to the ever-popular Tinker Toys! LOL
I drilled some offset holes, so they wouldn’t interfere with each other…

Then some 3/8” dowel were cut to length, inserted and Voila!... the Latest Box…

Though I wouldn’t put any serious weight on it, this one is surprisingly sturdy, and should be more than adequate for the task… :)
19 June 2013

Poolside Lounge chairs

RussellAP — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 16:20:50 +0000

I got a commission from a friend of my next door neighbor to build 6 of these loungers. He is going to paint and buy the cushions. Seeing he is buying 6, I quoted him 150$ a chair. This is the first one out of the shop. I’m waiting for him to take a look at it to be sure it’s what he wants before I go on. The back has 6 positions.

The frame is hickory, I have around 350bf of in my driveway and the surface slats are cedar.

Everything they say about how hard hickory is to work is true.

"Barn Style" Garage Door?

JCMeyersIV — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 16:11:24 +0000

Hey guys. Busy as hell again and I have a request for a replacement for her existing garage door. It’s the old school style one piece door that just swings up, assuming i CAN redo it, would painted pine be ok? Or should I use something rot resistant? She wants it to match the garage/barn so it’ll need to be painted.

stanley 4 1/2

planeBill — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 15:13:23 +0000

Are 4 1/2 bodies and side wings usually thicker than even a number 7? I have a 4 1/2 with an unusually heavy body casting. It is in wonderful condition and performs like a champ. Sitting here looking at it and my 7 it is very noticeably heavier than any other plane I have.

I need help in fine tuning my Craftsman 113 TS

tool_junkie — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 14:55:54 +0000

I have been wanting to post this a long time ago, but didn’t get around to it.

I installed the PALS kit on my 113.29943 table saw sometime ago and using the left miter slot and the A-Line-it kit with a dial indicator, performed the blade alignment, but I am not able to reduce the error between the front and the back of the blade below 0.004”. Looking from the front (the operator end), the back trunion needs to be moved further to the right by at least 0.002” but it is at its end stop and can’t be moved any further.

Should I take the saw apart, re-align the front and back trunions so that they are in the middle and then start the alignment process from there? I am cringing just at the thought of doing this. Is there anything else that can be done?

Thanks!

Board and Batten - Corner boards - best method?

Charlie — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 14:34:52 +0000

I’m building the shed for my wife and using 1” rough sawn fresh hemlock board and batten. Going up wet and drying on the shed. The 10 inch boards have been up a couple weeks and the spaces opened up as they’re shrinking so the battens went up. So now I could put up the corner boards, but wondered what’s the best method for this.

The 10” boards are still shrinking I would think. If I attach the corner boards to each other the remaining shrinkage of the 10” boards could just take them apart or split them all to hell and back. The corner boards have to get nailed to the 10” boards.

Should I just nail each “half” of the corner board to its respective wall and wait and see how much separation I actually get in the corner? And then either caulk a small space or pop one of the halves of the corner board off and reposition to close a large gap?

I have 10 inch boards with 3 inch battens. For the corners I was planning to rip a 4 inch and a 3 inch to make it look visually equal.

Thanks for any input. Meanwhile I have tons of other trim to do :)

How-To Make Log Furniture #9: Cut Pefect Circles How-To

ScottShaeffer — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 14:27:49 +0000

Kris Williams of Rocky Blue Woodworks shows us how to cut perfect circles on a band saw including how to make the sled need to do it!

How-To Make Log Furniture #8: Make Your Own Dowel How-To

ScottShaeffer — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 14:25:10 +0000

My buddy, Kris Williams has to make his own Beetle Kill Pine dowels for various projects. See how he does it using a router table and a few feather boards!

How-To Make Log Furniture #7: Make a Chuppah How-To

ScottShaeffer — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 14:21:42 +0000

I was asked to build a Chuppah for a wedding using small diameter, nearly green aspen logs. It was a challenge finding the logs but building it sure was fun!

How do you incorporate logs into a wedding? It seems to be a growing trend – this is the third wedding project I’ve worked on. Please share things you’ve made for weddings by posting pictures below! If it’s a log item, I’ll share it on my FaceBook page with a back link to your page!

Video: SketchUp - Pocket Hole Sofa Table

JSB — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 14:18:27 +0000

Here’s this week’s project designed in SketchUp.

Wood Beetle

john111 — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 12:53:13 +0000

Hey Al!l I know that this topic has been addressed before and have read some of the posts. All great info about how to get rid of them. Seems to be some difference of opinion though ( gee imagine that- LOL). So I guess that to me heat seems to be the thing that would assure there demise. I like the Bora-care because that seems easier and can be done myself,today. The Bora-care scares me though because I feel it could just be a temporary fix. I have a pretty good amount of board feet that I picked up from this guy. Here is where i would like some of your thoughts! The scenario is that I purchased some tools from this guy and while I was doing that I saw all the wood that he had. He was liquidating all of his tools and moving out of state and could not take most of his stuff. Well I bought some tools from him and then could not stop thinking about the small pick-up truck bed full of cherry. This was outside during last winter. Well I went back, of course, a couple days later to get some more of his tools and we got to talking. We ended up with a deal for all of his lumber for a hundo. This also included a fair amount of oak and maple and some other misc. He did tell me about the the bugs and said he was going to have the lumber separated between no bugs and bugged. I didn’t think to much about it being that I am new to woodworking and just figured that you could spray it and it would not be a big issue. In his defense he did try to let me know the gravity of the situation. Now all that said what I am wondering is if these buggers are still alive and living the high life at my expense. I see some remnants from them. Nothing really remarkable. i haven’t seen any bugs per say. What I can see is the tunnels and exit holes. I have poked around and cannot find any larvae. (I think) This stuff has been outside for a couple winters in Chicago. What you all think?

My Journey As A Scroll Saw Pattern Designer #1063: The Half-Way Mark

Sheila Landry (scrollgirl) — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 10:35:12 +0000

What a beautiful morning it is! One would think that starting the day with a mundane chore like putting the garbage on the curb would be poopie, but I think with the right point of view, even something like that could be pleasant.

Yes – I know I am crazy!

Shortly after it got light out, I was making my morning coffee and saw my Google reminder that today was garbage day. While I waited for the water to boil I thought I may as well get it to the curb early. There was a foggy mist over the river and all was quiet (which was good because I had on my jammie pants and a t-shirt!) Our trash bin is located across the road nestled in the trees on the riverbank. As I approached it, I could hear the rushing water of the river and it was all so quiet and peaceful and pretty. Mornings are certainly wonderful.

I almost would have liked to taken a walk just then, before the rest of the world awoke, but I didn’t think walking around in my jammies would be that impressive. I may think of keeping some clothes handy so that in the future if the morning calls to me, I can walk.

We took a nice walk around the river yesterday afternoon. After sitting and painting all morning, my back was stiff and I needed to stretch. It was a beautiful day with sunshine and a calm breeze and it just seemed like the thing to do. It is a shame that I always feel guilty about the time spent walking, as there is just so much that I need to accomplish, but I do need to take these breaks and enjoy things around me. I know very well that they will soon be gone and I need to enjoy them every chance I can. Before I know it, they will disappear and I will find myself looking back with regret because I didn’t take advantage of these opportunities as they arose. I don’t want that.

I also have yet to visit the beach. Here it is mid-June and summer is nearly upon us and I haven’t been to the beach all spring. Perhaps I should plan a couple of hours in the next few days if the weather cooperates and it is dry. I would love to bring my painting there and have a different atmosphere to work on this ornament set. Well see . . .

Besides the break for the walk, I worked the entire day on the ornaments. I was able to progress by nearly finishing two more ‘days’ of the 12 days of Christmas. However, I am still working on the second piece of day 6 and have about an hour left to go on it. I am at the half way point in painting these and it feels good to progress. As usual, I am painting two sets – one to send to be published and one for myself to keep here. That way I don’t feel badly about sending them away and I have a set with me while I write the final instructions. It doesn’t hurt to have another set here too in case I want to give it away as a gift or donation. I wish I were that organize as to do that!

I wanted to show the picture of the sixth piece:

I am really proud of how it is coming out. While I liked the key shapes that I had created a month or so back, I do think that putting these same designs on a larger surface allows me to relax a bit more and add in better detail. They are simply just more fun to paint like this.

Again, I wish you could see them in person. The colors are amazing and my scanner just doesn’t do them justice. The blue frame is coated with the Glamour Dust paint and it looks rich and shimmers beautifully. I am still thinking that I will be adding some rhinestones too on the frame. Not many, but I think a couple of them that are strategically placed will really make the ornaments look finished and polished. I have to think about it though.

I hope you all have a good day today. I am still hoping that if I work hard I will be able to complete the painting part of these ornaments by the weekend, and get the packets done too. I realize I am redundant in my complaining, but they just take time.

Wednesday already. The weeks just fly by, don’t they? I hope you all have a good day today and spend time doing something you love. Remember to take time out – even if you are busy – to take in the good things around you. Sometimes we have to look for them, but they are always there.

Have a great day!

Is there need for an expensive tail vice

bluekingfisher — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 08:22:50 +0000

For those of you interested in traditional bench work this little jig may be of use to some.

I hope you can understand the accent?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNrof3cd1cA

twin wood screw vises

bbbmin — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 08:17:00 +0000

Hi, I have two old vises made of wood. I can no longer use these and being on SS I could use some extra money. Can someone give me an idea what a vise like this might be worth? They’ve been around a while and are dirty. The jaws are 12” x 6” and open to about 7 1/2”. The screws are 1” diameter and are 15” long 11” of which is threaded. There is also a threaded center stop rod. The action still feels smooth and strong. Thanks in advance for any help.

Ultimate Sawhorse/Workbench Base Product

CentipedeSawhorse — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 08:15:44 +0000

I recently semi-retired from my position as the VP of R&D at a small hardware company where I designed power tool attachments and accessories. Having the time to pursue projects that delight me instead of the owner of this company, I have decided to try to bring one of my best ideas yet to market. I would love to have your feedback on both the product and my approach to funding the project.

Here is a video of the product. It explains the product far better than my words can.

Though you might expect that someone who retires from a VP position would have oodles of cash lying around, but I did mention it was a small hardware company I worked for. In order to help bring this product to market, I’ve decided I’d start a crowd funding campaign where people can pre-order products from the first production run. With these funds, I’ll get the tooling and first production run done.

Here is a link to the campaign:
http://igg.me/at/centipede-sawhorse/x/3621241

With all that being said, what do you guys think? Do I have a cool tool going for me? Do you think my campaign will be successful? I’m open to any and all advice as I’ve never really paid much attention to the Internet before and am really making this up as I go along…

Thanks in advance for your time and advice. If this comes across as a pitch and I have offended, I will certainly remove this blog post immediately.

Sincerely,
Ed Adkins

Buffalo Band Saw Manual #1: Bandsaw needs a tune up

ken33 — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 08:14:14 +0000

Help Needed…..I just bought a Buffalo 14” bandsaw and I am in need of a manual if anyone knows where to get one or has one. If you have one, PLEASE email me at kradler33@hotmail.com

Also, I need a 92” blade for it…any suggestions as to where I can find one???

NWGR In and Out trays #7: Filling and sanding

robscastle — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 06:36:01 +0000

The trays are now ready for initial sanding inspecting and filling where required.

First up its onto the Disk Sander to do the backs and sides of the dovetails

The Disk Sander has an 80Grit disk fitted, and it did a good job, although I had to take it very lightly on the end grain to avoid burning the timber.

Then it was onto the bench and using my 1/2 sheet sander I set to work

Starting off with 180 grit

I worked up to 320 grit

Finishing with 400 grit

I did the cove recess by hand using the sheets left over as I progressed.
The end with the natural defect I left as is because I liked the way it looked, natural and it suited the finish.
Thoughts?

There was a few spots requiring filling, one large one being where I ripped some bark out on the tray base where it was on the edge.

Note: This is the end of the Blog, I posted the finished trays as a project

A simple project I spent the time documenting in the hope those with less experience who read it may have learned something from my endeavours and to pass on some of my limited skills.
And importantly for members to see a project progress from raw stock to a finished useful product.

Credits:
LLWW for the supply of the New Guinea Rose wood timber. Not forgetting all the Mentoring as well!
The Paint Place Cannon Hill Elaine and Crew for the supply of the sanding sealer.
Col Housie for the Dovetail Jig used.
My wife for putting up with me hogging the PC every afternoon to do the blog and finally
Lumberjocks Woodworking Showcase for providing the medium to be able to see this Blog.

Regards

Robert Brennan

My Garage/Work Shop Makeover #2: Cabinets for the Alcove

MT_Stringer — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 05:35:23 +0000

Finally, I am making some progress. The first two cabinets are being made from A/B Sanded pine plywood. Since I am painting them, they should look OK when I get through.

I forgot to mention in the first entry that I am using pocket hole construction to build the cabinets. No glue is used except where I attach the French cleat to the back of the cabinet. I glued and screwed it. I used this series of Kreg videos as my inspiration and I sorta followed the guys path of construction.

I have a pocket hole jig that I bought last year. It works pretty good for me. I attached the dust collector shroud and usually connect it to a Bucket Max from Lowe’s. It provides good suction and generally helps keep the board sucked to the jig when I am moving it around and setting up to drill the next hole.

It hangs on the wall when not in use.

As stated previously, I built two cabinets and mounted them on the wall using French cleats. One cabinet would have been hard for me to mount by myself. So I built two of them.

I painted the pieces before assembly. Much easier on my tired old aching arms. A coat of primer and two coats of Battleship Gray! :-)

And here are the cabinets hung and stocked with all of my paints and stains that I normally use. I am a pretty happy camper.

I may add another shelf later but for now, that is all I am going to do until it is time to build the face frames.

Note: To drill the shelf pin holes, I bought the Kreg Shelf Pin Jig. That thing works great. I wish it was longer, but I made it. I even helped a friend that needed shelf pins for her entertainment center. I was able to set up a spacer and drill the holes for her. Perfect!

Stay tuned. Don’t touch that dial. The next entry will be the construction of the cabinets that will be mounted on the wall above the rolling tool box.

Southwest Cocktail table #2: Simplify ..... sort of....

MarkTheFiddler — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 04:41:44 +0000

My first take was too busy, muddy and lacked contrast.

I decided to take what was working and go from there. I definately wanted to keep the Navajo mountain pattern in the Bubinga. Here is where the project is at the moment because – that’s all I have. ;)

I’m not going to use Oak. All of the lighter colored wood will be cherry. I’ll be adding a paduak border a bit later. I may be addidng in some peruvian Walnut (Never heard of such a thing until today.

Next step? Cut the Fill the gaps and add a 2 inch frame from stock of Cherry.

I’m a lot happier now that I decided to work on the piece a little at a time. Instead of conserving every square inch of wood, I’ll have a few more off-cuts in favor of a neater finished product. It will be something I can live with and enjoy.

Wine Crate Checkmate

DonGriffith — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 03:57:34 +0000

One rainy day a couple of weeks back I was scrounging around for a quick project when my wife. near her wits end dealing with the three screaming, growling creatures with gnashing teeth we call children, told me that unless I found something for them to do over the weekend, she was leaving me for the David Hasselhoff look-alike UPS delivery man.

Never being sure if she’s serious, I decided to not take any chances and figured I’d kill two birds and quiet three kids with one stone. My scrounging soon came across an empty wine crate (when you have kids you tend to drink a lot) and I pondered the top panel with the nice embossed name of the wine maker. Soon, my mind turned to simpler days before the era of video games, X-Boxes, and iPods. What kept me and my siblings busy on a rainy day other than cleaning the toilets? Checkers. Later, I learned chess. So off I went to make a quick checkerboard.

The pine wood is quite light and fragile and subject to tear out, but I figured I’d take it slow and just use a flush cut saw to cut the top from its rectangular original size down to a square. Of course, that really messed the edges up and I probably should have used the jig saw with a very fine blade, but we live and never learn.

I had a quarter can of red mahogany stain sitting around gathering dust, so I decided to use it to make the board’s dark squares. Not having a checkerboard template, I turned to that trusty miracle tool, painter’s tape. I covered the entire board with it, then marked out my grid over it. I then scored the grid with my box cutter and cut deep enough to make a narrow groove in the wood. My hope was that the groove might prevent the stain from bleeding into the light-colored squares. I had marginal success. Here’s the board cut and taped up.

After that it was simple enough to let it dry and peel off the tape. There was some bleeding into adjacent squares, and, of course, a couple of knife cut mishaps, but it gives it a sort of rustic look (at least that’s what I tell myself).

I first thought it might be fun to cut wine corks into checkers, which would keep with the theme and I even cut out a bunch that I can use as a second set.

I also experimented with cutting corks into the shapes of chess pieces, which I think gives it a fun look.

For the checkers, though, I ended up not using the corks. I had a small birch branch I had collected after a storm, so I cut it into circles and painted the tops and bottoms red and black. Here’s the result. I think it goes with my “rustic” theme.

After finishing it I emerged from the basement with my newly-made child distractor and said “Hey, kids, look what I made for you.” Soon, the heckles and taunts grew deafening, with questions like “Where’s the screen?” and “How do you turn it on?” After the teasing ended though, they took a chance at it. Two hours later I checked in on them—the silence was blissful as two contemplated moves while the third watched intently. Of course, it didn’t last, but the David Hasselhoff look-alike UPS man doesn’t stand a chance now.

Router

whitegoodman — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 03:04:42 +0000

If I have a RT with a porter cable 690 can I buy a variable speed control for it

serving tray #3 cosmos cup holder

hobby1 — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 23:26:41 +0000

Theres a tourist attraction in South Dakota, called the “Cosmos” (mystery spot).
This serving tray I just built I’ll call it the “cosmos cup holder”
The pictures that follow show the build process, after the frame is built and the frst layer of planking has been applied.

A board is placed underneath to hold the cups.

and a quick look at the progress at this point.

In order to use the largest holesaw I have, 2-1/2” to cut the cup holder holes, I needed to reinforce the planking deck, to make sure it all stays together, so I resawed some pine boards, and thickness planed it to as thin as possible, and applied it in the opposite direction of the first layer of planking, but before that, I wanted a continuous membrane over this first layer, to make a solid surface, so I glued on paper as this membrane.

When the paper is glued on, I applied the pine strip planks.

And finally the finish planking strips to give a plywood strength to this deck, so I could holesaw out the cup holes.

kerfed in the last plank

Now the plank deck is strong enough to be holesawed.

And finally the handles were freeformed shaped, and placed on the tray at there respective angles to follow the side piece angles.
The doweling process using my favorite doweling jig, the “dowel centers”.

And applied the finish, which is a “colonial maple stain”

Have fun in the shop…

Larger Shop Planning and Move #2: Storage wall planning

saminmn — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 14:38:48 +0000

First, I did add pictures to my earlier, background blog.

Well, I did not master sketch-up, but I did get it to show the way I plan to start my storage wall.

So, the plan is to attach the OSB to a 2×4, back-up the OSB with a sheet of vapor barrier foam with some type of construction adhesive, and then attach the 2×4 to the floor joists. The block wall this will be against is bowed and I am not sure how best to locate the placement of the 2×4s on the underside of the joists. I think if I temporally put a 2×4 vertically in each corner, I can find the worst spot of the bow by stretching a string between them at various heights. Then measure from the string to wall. The difference between 2×4 offset and the measurement is what I need to work with to be vertical at most bowed point. When I have determined how much bow there is, I will decide how the much shim support I will need to put behind the foam to have vertical and straight setup. This wall is 28’ long, so I will stagger the seams between panels so the there is a foot of overlap between the foam and OSB layers. I will use French cleats as suggested by readers in first Blog.

Thanks for reading and comments.

Custom Hand Plane by Mike Shea

Todd A. Clippinger — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 13:27:39 +0000

I “grew up” woodworking with power tools since my background is in remodeling. Hand planes and other hand tools of the like are not where I come from, however, it does not mean that I cannot or do not like using them.

One of my favorite hand tools is a hand plane made by woodworker Mike Shea from California. It is uncomplicated in both it’s function and design. It has a black walnut sole that glides on wood surfaces like it is on wet ice.

I have purchased manufactured hand planes, but this was the first one that actually wowed me. I can grasp and wield it easily in one hand, I love it’s simplicity and light weight. It just WORKS!

I am a bit of a rebel when I sharpen. I only use a worn out 180 grit belt on my belt sander and follow it with the Butz strop board to hone it to a razor’s edge. After sharpening, I replace the blade in the body and lightly rap it on the table to set the blade reveal forward or back as necessary.

I have read so much on how to sharpen and use a plane that, in the end, I just pretty much ignored all of it and did what comes naturally and casually. After all, everything you read about woodworking (no matter the source) is all theory until you get out in the shop and put it to use.

I want to publicly give a big thanks to Mike Shea for such a great, functional piece of woodworking that helps me work wood. It really is a pure joy to use. Check out the short video below as I use the hand plane by Mike.

Your friend in the shop,

Todd A. Clippinger

Share the Love – Share the Knowledge

It Sucks...And That's a Good Thing

Matthew Parker — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 05:41:24 +0000

I’ve had this DC for 9 months now and have emptied the barrel 4 times which should give you an idea how much I use the thing. Another key point about my usage is that I don’t have any ductwork. I connect the DC directly to the tool I am using at the time. I have it hooked up to a 110v 30A outlet which has not tripped during my use.

Another reviewer said that this DC could suck the chrome off of a trailer hitch. While that is clearly hyperbole they made the point well. I have no problem sucking the dust out of the air while using any tool I have hooked it up to including; RAS, Planer, Jointer, Band Saw, Router Table.

I recently compared the suction to my Dad’s 2HP Grizz with the fabric bag and there is a wide gap in performance. My DC collects so much more dust than his it’s almost unbelievable. I have no regrets with this grizz and would highly recommend it as long as you are not planning on an extensive ducting system.

Why not five stars, well there’s a couple of gripes.

1. The instructions left a bit to be desired. Grizz included the component shown below which I did not find in the instructions and which I cannot for the life of me figure out how to use. Everything works well without it so it must not be required…

2. They include a 6” to 5” adapter but not a 6” to 4” which is probably the most common size of hose that will be hooked up to this DC.

I don't usually care much for Chris Schwartz videos...

jusfine — Sun, 16 Jun 2013 19:44:29 +0000

This DVD impressed me, where some of his others have not. I learned that I have been wasting time by failing to follow these methods, and I am eager to try them out to see what difference it will make.

The 65 minutes covers hand planing, mortise and tenons, rabbets and fillisters, joinery and curved work, all employing the Coarse, Medium and Fine methods.

From the DVD back cover:

”Most woodworking projects involve roughing, refining and finishing operations.

In this DVD, Chris exlores the right hand tool to use for each stage. He groups tools by which operations they perform.

By choosing the right tool for each step, woodworking can be very precise and fast, and the hand tool will often be the most effective choice.”

Additionally, the DVD contains the 2006 article Coarse, Medium & Fine from Popular Woodworking and the plans for the Enfield Shaker Cabinet featured, easily accessed on the computer.

I have collected a number of VHS tapes and DVDs over the years, and watch them in the mornings while I spend quality time with my treadmill or eliptical trainer. Since my job has changed to more of a management role, I find I feel better by starting my day learning a woodworking tip or watching a project build along with some exercise.

As I mention earlier, I have some of the previous Schwarz videos, and to be honest, they have not piqued my interest at all. I find better tips and tricks, enjoy watching the project builds, etc from Rob Cosman, the Woodwhisperer, Paul Sellers, Richard Raffin, etc, and I even bring back the New Yankee Workshop once in awhile, although I know most of the programs by heart (you can absorb an amazing amount of video in 45 minutes when it is viewed each day).

When making a purchase at a recent Lie Nielson event, I found I could pick a free DVD but had all the titles they made available for me to choose from except this one, so I reluctantly took Coarse, Medium & Fine.

I am glad I did as this video showed me the error of my ways…

I have worked with handplanes for years under the mistaken impression that what I was doing was correct (who knows where I got that info?), and now I am trying out a different time-saving path.

I don’t feel I should give away the methods and secrets of the DVD, but leave you to explore them on your own, but I would recommend this one so you can see which planes to use where, the correct curvature for your irons, setting chipbreakers correctly, as well as using scrapers and spokeshaves and more.

A pleasant surprise from the Home Depot

whodee — Sun, 16 Jun 2013 08:10:58 +0000

It all started when my father in law gave his Craftsman radial arm saw. I am am his favorite son in law after all (my wife is an only child.) Well I soon found out that life is too short to mess with with a Craftsman radial arm saw. When I finally got the thing aligned and running the blade would slow down and jam in the wood and it would be out of alignment all over again. Not wishing to inflict this pain on another human being I took the dang thing to the dump. The man working there seemed happy to get it. Good luck with that! Anyway, cheapskate that I am, I checked out the HF 10” Sliding Compound Miter Saw. I had a coupon for 79.99. Not a bad price at all. However, this unit seemed to be built very cheaply and I thought it would not hold up even in home workshop use.I had some gift cards saved up from Home Depot so I went there to see their saws. I ended up buying the Ryobi 10” Sliding Compound Miter Saw for 199.99 and 25.00 for the replacement warranty. Since the saw has a 2 Year warranty this covers the saw for 4 years. Well worth it I thought. The box says it has a 3 year warranty so maybe its 5 years? Anyway, the Ryobi is well built for its price and has nice fit and finish. It is not heavy at all so it wuold be very portable. This was not an issue for me as mine is used in my woodshop. It was not aligned perfectly out of the box but took only about 30 mins to square up. The saw comes with a 40 tooth blade that would be OK for construction projects. Luckily I had a 60 tooth negative hook blade I had purchased for radial arm saw. With that blade installed the saw cuts very well . It has plenty of power and the slides are very smooth. The included dust bag only catches a small amount of the dust that flies everywhere but I knew it would not. Also the laser does not work well for long as it becomes covered up with sawdust and pitch very quickly. However, that is also not a problem for me. I have noticed that the detents for the angles while accurate, do not lock in very solidly so one must be careful about that when changing angles. Overall, I think this saw is a great value for the price and I would recomend highly to a woodworker on a budget or just a tightwad like me! I gave it 4 stars because of the issues with the bag, laser, and soft miter detents but dont let that stop you. This is my first post and i thrilled to be a part of Lumberjocks Thanks Chris Hudak

When It's Working... It's Great

Matthew Parker — Sun, 16 Jun 2013 05:43:06 +0000

I bought this saw in September 2012 and have used it extensively since then and feel that it’s time for a review, especially after the most recent incident.

First of all when the saw is working correctly it is great. I get great looking resaws with both 1/2” and 3/4” blades. I have not used it for many curves such as you would do for a bandsaw box so I won’t evaluate it there.

I setup the saw based on the instructions in this video why Grizzly does not outline this method in their instructions I’ll never know but they definitely should. when calibrated the saw cuts straight rips and mostly wobble free resaws. The saw has plenty of power for the 7” resaw capability and probably would be acceptable for larger resaw if you were patient.

Now the troubles.
1. The first time I turned the saw on after building per instructions there was a terrible clanging coming from the lower housing area. I fiddled around but could not determine the problem myself(In retrospect I should have found the problem). A call to tech support revealed that the guy doing the assembly must have taken a nab as he forgot to tighten the bolts that hold the lower pulley to the lower wheel. We got those tightened up and the saw was up and running. The tech support was helpful at least but I did have to take time off work to work through the issue with the tech.
2.I dont know when it was but very early on the blade tensioning dial stopped working. I found a workaround using a wrench but I really should not have to use a workaround. I deal with it since I don’t really want to have to take time off work to come home and run through the issue with tech spport.
3. This latest issue is what finally drove me to write this article. A couple weeks ago the saw got loud and the blade started moving in and out. I went through the various adjustments but did not find anything. Then I removed the upper wheel and found that one of the two upper bearings was completely shot and would sieze and un-sieze randomly. Since the saw is under warranty I could file a claim and wait for them to ship out new parts but they would be the same crappy bearings that were in there in the first place. I went ahead and bought some nice replacements from mcmaster which will be here a day after I order them.

In summary. If you are looking for an inexpensive saw that cuts great get the G0555LX as long as you go into it knowing that you may have to deal with a few hiccups along the way.

Massive Mortise Chisels - Excellent Quality!

jusfine — Sun, 16 Jun 2013 03:04:05 +0000

The first photo and description of the set of chisels from Lee Valley website is as follows, which gives some of the technical details.

These are massive chisels for quickly wasting material from deep mortises. The 1/2” thick, high-carbon steel blades (Rc61) taper in width from tip to shoulder for sidewall clearance when cutting deep mortises. The 6-1/2” hooped hornbeam handles are oversize for grip and have leather shock washers.

About 13” to 14” long overall, these are hefty tools.

Made in Germany.

The handles are huge, takes a bit of getting used to, but once you spend some time with them, they are very enjoyable to work with. If you have small hands, you may want to pass on them.

Comparison to the same size in a Narex mortise chisel.

I do like the flat spot on the Narex handles, I found the large round handles of the Hirsch tended to want to roll when I laid the chisels down (especially the smallest one – 1/4”).

Also liked the addition of the leather shock washers, seems to absorb a good amount of the impact in the handle.

The only negative thing is the tiny plastic / silicone covers for the chisel ends – I already lost or vacuumed up one of them. Would have appreciated more substantial end protection, perhaps a heavy plastic cap.

Of course, this could be resolved with a dedicated drawer for them…

Overall, I would highly recommend them. I used the chisels to complete the mortises required on my new workbench built this past winter.

Very nice to use, easy to work with, and hard to misplace with the bright yellow handles!

I did buy mine one at a time over a period of a few months from Lee Valley, they ranged in price from $45.00 to $55.00.
They are available in sizes from 1/4” to 5/8” (actually sized and labeled in mm).

If I have not covered something you wish to know, please let me know and I would be happy to add my thoughts!

Good design, inconsistent quality

JayT — Sat, 15 Jun 2013 22:19:28 +0000

Needing a decent set of chisels, instead of my plastic handled beaters, I decided to try the Stanley Bailey 5pc set. Now that I have been using them for about six months, it was time to do a review. The set retails for around $70 for five chisels and a leather tool roll.

Initial impressions

The chisels look good with brass ferrules and hoops contrasting nicely with the stained hardwood handles. I’m not a big fan of stained handles, but they do look nice out of the box. The included suede leather roll is well designed, with deep chisel pockets, a protective flap for the handles and ties sewn on the back for roll up storage.

The blades looked decent, but the machining on pretty much all of them was a bit rough. For the price point, though, I felt it was acceptable. The blades are marked with both inch and metric sizes, but are actually metric widths. Not a deal breaker to me, as you don’t really need a chisel to be an exact width, but a little deceiving on Stanley’s part, as they advertise these with the imperial sizes on their own website

Preparation for use

I decided to flatten and hone the chisels as I needed them, rather than doing all at once. The first one used was the 1/2inch (12mm). Flattening the back took quite a bit of time and effort, it was not well machined at the factory. Now I know manufacturers intentionally make the back a bit concave, but this was ridiculous, taking at least 10 minutes just on a coarse diamond stone to get a flat, consistent scratch pattern on the cutting edge, plus more time on the finer stones to get a mirror finish. (For comparison, I recently purchased a couple of Two Cherries firmer chisels and they took about 2-3 minutes each to flatten and hone to a razor’s edge)

After finally getting the back flat, it was time to work on the bevel. These come from the factory with a 25 degree bevel, but I prefer about a 30 degree. It was a simple matter to hone the steeper angle and this went much quicker than the back. The chisel took a good edge, easily paring end grain pine. The others all took really good edges, as well.

As I worked over the other four chisels in the following days and weeks, there was no consistency in the production quality. Most of the backs needed quite a bit of work, though the 1inch was nearly flat out of the box. The biggest gripe was that the 3/4inch (19mm) wasn’t square—it had to be completely reground before there was any chance of being used. It’s not like this was even close, it was readily apparent to the naked eye. Where was quality control?

Use

I have used the chisels for both paring and chopping operations and there are good and bad points.

The good. The handles are extremely comfortable to use. They are large enough to fill the hand, yet not so large you can’t get a good grip. There are flats front and back with a slight swell on each side that both fits nicely in the palm and helps keep the chisel oriented correctly. The 1/4 (6mm) and 1-1/4 (32mm) have done well, holding their edges and doing everything I could ask. The handles on all have stood up well to mallet work, other than . . . .

The annoying. The finish on the tops of the handles doesn’t hold up when using a mallet—of course the lacquer will come off, but so does some of the brown stain so my handles are now two-tone.

The bad. While the smallest and largest chisels have performed admirably, the other three that will likely get the most use have been disappointing. The edges of both the 1/2 and 1inch chipped while chopping mortises in SPF construction lumber, while a small section of the 3/4 folded over at some time, indicating that the hardening and tempering process was not well controlled. Since the mortises were first drilled out with a Forstner bit and all I was doing was removing the corners and small areas of waste, it shouldn’t have been overly stressful use. The 3/4 seems to have stabilized out after sharpening past that one area and will probably be OK, but I’m leery about the other two.

The conclusion

The designers of these chisels did a good job, especially with the handles, but whoever is in charge of manufacturing and quality control of the blades should be ashamed. I’m generously giving the set 3 stars (2-1/2 would be more appropriate if we could do halves) as two chisels of the set I purchased deserve 5 stars, while the others would rate at 1 and 2 stars. I would not recommend them to another woodworker, unless you just like to gamble. Based on this set, you might get some good ones or might get some lemons. For the money, I think there are probably better options.

Baileigh WBS-14

NH_bigben — Thu, 13 Jun 2013 07:01:01 +0000

I’m new to LumberJocks but recently won the Baileigh sponsored contest at woodworkingtalk. I’ve read many reviews on this site and thought I would contribute my thoughts on the Baileigh WBS-14 that I selected as the grand prize. I made a video review to go along with this written review.

Packaging: The band saw was well packed and arrived without damage. The crating is sturdy and there’s plenty of filler foam to keep the saw from moving in the crate. The WBS-14 includes: Fence, miter gauge, nuts/bolts/tools for assembly, and a ¾” 4 TPI blade.

Assembly & Set-up: Assembling the saw was straight forward, and the manual is well written and easy to follow. Before I installed the table I made sure the blade was centered on the wheels, adjusted tension and set the guides. It’s much easier to do these things, especially adjusting the lower guides, without the table on the saw.

The door to the upper cabinet basically splits it down the middle, and when open it allows a complete view of the upper wheel when you’re adjusting blade alignment. This is a really nice design element, other saws have the wheel set back in the cabinet and a little window to check and adjust alignment – the wide open view of the upper wheel the WBS 14 is a welcome improvement over other band saws I’ve used.

The large guide bearings are mounted on a cam that held in place by a set screw, the cam is adjusted with a flat screwdriver – this makes for very fast and precise adjustment of the guides – very nice.

From there the table is quick to install. The bolt that holds zero for the table needed some adjustment, but it’s readily accessible and easy to adjust. The fence is easy to install and calibrate, squaring it to the table is based on a ball bearing mounted to a cam, loosen a set screw and adjust the cam to square up the fence – again very easy.

The most difficult part of the assembly was taking the protective film off the switch plate, no joke, I had just cut my finger nails and that was a pain, I gave up and returned to it later as you can see it half removed in the picture…

Between assembly and set-up/calibration it was up and running in a about an hour

Fit and Finish: The fit and finish on the WBS-14 is excellent. The paint job is very good, I’ve had new tool from other makers that arrived with suspect paint jobs that were rushed – not the case with the WBS-14 – excellent attention to detail.

Every piece of the band saw is heavy duty construction. The doors are heavy plate steel. A friend has a comparable 14” 1.5HP band saw (from a well-respected maker that will remain unnamed) and the doors feel like tin cans compared to the WBS-14. Even the Baileigh logo plate is milled from aluminum and bolted to the upper door – no stickers here! The column is massive, adding significant beam strength to the saw – I would have no reservations cranking up the tension on a carbide blade. Even the power switch comes straight from an industrial shop – including a power light – which is a nice touch.

I’m a ‘home hobbiest’ woodworker but this saw was clearly built for, and would hold its own, in a production shop.

The Saw:
Size: The saw footprint is roughly 2’x3’. The table surface is 36.5” inches off the floor. This falls within the range of standard heights for band saw tables, but I will likely build a stand to get it up to about 42”. Just a matter of personal preference, I’m 6’3” so I like a higher table. Baileigh’s website lists the overall height of the saw at 60”, which sounded short on reading. It’s actually 66” to the top of the cabinet and another 6” for the blade tension lever with tension released. The saw may look smallish in the video, but bear in mind I’m 6’3” and many many pounds – a lot of things look small next to me. It’s formidable in person.

The saw is powered by a 1.5 HP Kai Shen motor that is prewired to 110V, but can be rewired to 220V. The motor is quiet and powerful – there isn’t any noticeable spool-up when you switch on the saw – hit the button and it’s running full speed, again quite a contrast to similar 14” saws I’ve used which have a noticeable acceleration time between startup and full running speed (the saw I’m referring to has a 1.5 HP motor as well). The WBS-14 is very quiet, topping out at about 75 dB in my shop, which is quiet enough to carry on normal conversation, obviously this noise increases when you actually start cutting material.

The motor drives the 14” cast iron wheels via a belt that can be configured to run 2 different speeds: 588 rpm (2300 lin fpm blade speed) and 840 rpm (3250 lin fpm). The changeover between different wheel speeds is quick, easy and doesn’t require tools.

Two 14” cast iron flywheels are mounted to the frame on large sealed bearings. The wheels have rubber tires. The adjustment of the upper wheel alignment is handled via 2 knobs on the rear of the saw. The stock blade was positioned perfectly from the factory with the bottom of the blade gullet centered on the upper wheel. The single lever on top of the saw handles blade tensioning and tension release – I like having both of these tasks handled at the same point, a lot of saws have separate tensioning and tensioning release mechanisms but the WBS-14 keeps it simple and works effectively, most importantly it’s accessible from the operator’s position at the front of the saw. There is a tension gauge behind the upper wheel, these are fine for ball-park but tension is highly blade dependent and there are other effective ways to gauge tension – but I won’t get into that here.

The position of the upper guides is adjusted with a substantial rack and pinion gearing which is smooth and fast to operate. The guide bearings are large and, as mentioned previously, very easy to adjust. The upper guide has 2 bearings on each side and the thrust bearing. The lower guide has single bearings on the sides along with the thrust bearing.

The fence on the WBS-14 is really excellent. I feel that on a lot of band saws, even on the higher end brands/models, the fence almost seems to be an afterthought – not the case here. The fence is a substantial piece of extruded aluminum with track on 3 sides to easily mount auxiliary items, such as taller fences for resawing. The fence is supported on both sides of the table with substantial rails that are easy to adjust if you need to compensate for blade drift. The front of the fence is heavy steel and rides on two large bearings. This results in extremely smooth and effortless adjustment. In fact this fence is probably the smoothest I’ve ever used including the excellent Beismeyer style fence I have on my table saw. The saw also includes a hook on the back of the column to hang the fence out of the way when it’s not being used – a great idea to keep the workspace clutter free.

Dust collection is excellent, there are two 4” ports in the lower cabinet, one directly behind the blade before dust hits the wheel and the other in the bottom right corner. The lower cabinet is fairly well sealed and I was able to get good airflow with my 1300 cfm collector hooked up. A brush mounted to the lower door keeps sawdust off the wheel.

The WBS14 comes equipped with a foot brake, a nice safety feature. The brake stops the blade quickly and a micro-switch disables power to the saw immediately upon depressing the break. This is especially useful if you aren’t operating the saw from the front and need to kill power and stop the saw.

Performance: In the short time I’ve had the saw I’ve been able to test out the performance and I’m really pleased with how the saw cuts. There is ample power for resawing , and with proper adjustment the blade tracks straight as an arrow. The stock blade handled resawing of shorter stock (up to about 6” depth of cut) fine, but taller boards benefited from a blade with fewer teeth, something in the 2-3 TPI range. I installed a ¾” woodslicer blade (which has variable 2-3 TPI) and had excellent results resawing 10-12” hard maple. Cross cutting and ripping was handled no problem. The stock ¾ blade yielded straight cuts and a narrower 3/8” blade ate up the curves.

In use the saw just feels industrial. Not only is it extremely heavy construction, there’s a high level of precision as well. Thus far I haven’t managed to bog it down. Cuts are smooth and effortless. The saw is truly a pleasure to operate.

I’m sure I’ll enjoy this saw for a lifetime!

Pretty good for the price!

Sodabowski — Wed, 12 Jun 2013 20:45:58 +0000

So I was tired of my crappy U-frame saw, made of steel tubing, having hacked it as much as I could to improve – that’s a lesser word – the blade locking mechanism. It kept twisting blades on me and they snapped too easily. So I litterally tossed it out and settled to raid eBay, in search for a better saw frame.

I had already purchased several times from the Proops Bros, and had noticed they carried a wide array of hardware, all made by themselves in the UK. And so I shelled out the £6.95 plus £3 postage for France, and a few other things (which didn’t graduate to my standards, but that’s another story). A week later the parcel comes in, bubblewrap and all.

Let me tell you straight: I love this little saw! It’s sturdy, once locked it doesn’t move (unlike the U-shaped ones), it adjusts to any blade length you have up to 6 1/2” (16,5 cm) down to as small as 1 1/4” (3,5 cm) if you’re really on a budget and you can’t buy new blades after the last one broke on you. Sure would be quite a thing to saw with something so small but you get the point: adjustability, which I didn’t have before.

The handle is a standard round handsaw one: plain boring white wood, but it’s decent enough for the calling price (could be a chisel handle). If you really pull hard enough (I didn’t try but it’s sturdily attached) you can certainly take it out and replace it with your own fancy pants handle turned out of solid mahogany from a parasol stick (Mads, are you reading me? ;p)

The blade is firlmy held between two rather large square nuts (11×11mm, 7/16” by), knurled on the inside for a nice grip on the blade, along with large flat thumbscrews: very comfortable to use, not like the wing nuts of the old (25€!) crap that I had before.

Frame length is adjusted by a 9/16” (16 mm) deeply knurled thumb screw, again really easy to adjust and once it’s locked in, nothing moves at all.

So if you’re shopping around for a nice little frame saw for small-scale veneer cutting (or if like me you plan on building a small tabletop chevalet to go around it), you can check this one out.

Masterforce 12" Drill Press Review

03roadking — Wed, 12 Jun 2013 07:48:08 +0000

I had bought some windows through menards while they were having an 11% rebate promo going on. When the rebate arrived I decided I was going to buy a drill press with it. Out of all the drill presses that Menards carries this one seemed like the best one to me. The only other options were Performax and Tool Shop.

So far it has done everything I need it to do. I especially like how you do not have to change belts to change the speed. The light is a nice feature and the laser helps get you close. Fit and finish is not amazing but that is not a big deal to me. Havent noticed any slop or Runout.

Product Description
12” Masterforce® Drill Press With Laser Guide

4.8 Amp motor
Laser guide and integrated LED light
Digital display of speed
Cast iron table with roller extension
Mechanical Variable Speed 530-3100 RPM
CSA certified
3 1/8” quill stroke
5/8” chuck
3 year warranty

Dimensions:
Ship Dim: 29.0×19.5×11.0
Shipping Weight: 103.0 lbs

Brand Name: MASTERFORCE®
Vendor: MasterForce

For a small lathe, or starter lathe, not bad at all.

Tennessee — Tue, 11 Jun 2013 19:28:48 +0000

I have owned a Powermatic 3520B for quite a few years, with a Stronghold chuck and a fair amount of extra tools. One thing I kept noticing, it just wasn’t that good for small things. Hard to move around those big tool rests, and I just could not get myself to pay somebody $78 for a six inch tool rest. Plus, I hated to take off the Stronghold every time I wanted to do something smaller.

Since I had an empty small bench right next to it, I started looking into a small lathe, one I could do things like small chime strikers, guitar knobs, etc. After looking at a number of models, I decided to pop for the HF 65345. It was $194, and with a 20% coupon, $155 before tax. Not bad.

The lathe setup was very easy. Simply put in the tailstock live center, clean off a little grease, set the speed and go. One thing I did check right off the bat – as soon as I got it home, I put in the spur center and the tailstock live center and moved them together to see if they were true – they were – point on.

As usual, I think the motor will be slightly undersized, but I didn’t buy this to do 8” bowls on. I bought it for smaller projects, along with the middle of the road HF lathe tools so I could leave a set under it. All in all, a pretty good setup for about $200 with tax, lathe and tools together.

What I like about it:
1. Fairly quiet, and passed the nickel test, no problems.
2. Easy to move tailstock and tool rest.
3. Nice headstock hand wheel.
4. Didn’t even have to bolt it down. (At least not yet)
5. Motor seems to be a little stronger than I initially thought.
6. Enough room underneath it to store a few tools on the same bench while working.
7. Nice speed belt, looks to be a urethane multi-ribbed belt.

What I don’t like about it:
1. For sure, the biggest thing is the speed change. What a PITA. With the upper door on the backside, it makes it almost impossible to change without climbing over the thing. Thinking about leaving off the doors completely, if I thought the belt could take the dust and chips. And the lower one is kind of buried up in the casting. Small hands here!
2. Two inch tailstock movement. Almost a waste. And the tightening of the tailstock shaft is awkward, at least with the lever again on the backside.
3. No chuck that I know of currently sold by Harbor Freight fits the 1X8TPI threads on the headstock. I recently purchased a Grizzly H7605 1X8TPI four jaw reversible I am waiting on, $70 shipped. You need a chuck if you want to do anything serious. Spur chucks have their place, but nothing like a real chuck.

Overall, this lathe is a great addition to anyone who wants to get into smaller lathed items for not a lot of money. I know it is slightly cheaper made than the Rockler, Jet, etc., but it runs smooth, has five speeds from 750 up to 3200, and when you remember you can add on a set of those medium sized HF lathe tools, (with another 20% coupon), for around $36, that package is a great starter package, under $200. Add a decent face shield and you are ready to go!

The only reason I knocked it down a star is due to the speed change. I thought about a speed controller, but short of a VSD, you usually lose too much torque with those cheapo controllers, and torque is a biggee on lathe motors.

If you are in the market for a lathe, you could do worse for a small, beginner unit.

O1 vs A2

DouginVa — Tue, 11 Jun 2013 01:34:46 +0000

This past Christmas I put the Lie Nielsen bevel edge socket chisels on my Santa Please Get Me List. Between my wife and mom I got 5….....of the O1 chisels. My bad, I should have been more specific. I already had a set of decent chisels from long ago and although I didn’t know for sure what type of tool steel they were made from I was disappointed in how long, or briefly in this case, they held a sharp edge. After reading many reivews on the A2 chisels I decided that was what I really wanted.

But I got the O1s and thought they were from Lie Nielsen so they’d have to be better than what I had. WRONG….O1 tool steel is O1 tool steel no matter who’s name is on it. I blogged and asked around if they should be holding their edge longer, etc. Most of the replies were to give them several sharpenings till you wear away the weaker steel at the outer edges and got to the harder stuff buried beneath. Well after a good 10 sharpenings, micro bevels, re-shaping the bevel nothing changed.

I went to a Lie Nielsen hand tool event and ran my dilema by the LN folks at the event. They said send em back. But it had been over 4 months at this point. They said it didn’t matter. So I e-mailed LN and the guys at the hand tool event were right. Took em back, no questions asked. Thanks to Deneb Pulchaski!

So I got my new A2 set just a few days before I was set to head off to Roy Underhill’s Woodwright’s School for the Compound Dovetail class to break em in. And the difference was very noticeable.

Some people prefer O1 becaus of they’re supposed to be easier to sharpen. As opposed to the A2 which are supposed to be more difficult. While that may be true I didn’t find the A2s difficult to hone, polish or put a micro bevel on.

I am most pleased with these chisels and Lie Nielsen’s customer service. They’ve made a future customer in me for many years to come now. Now I just need to save up some $$$s to increase my LN hand tool collection.

I can't believe these are 8 bucks

lumberjoe — Mon, 10 Jun 2013 20:57:00 +0000

I didn’t feel like making my own bench dogs, I also didn’t feel like paying tons of money for them. In one of my many recent trips to woodcraft, I saw these and decided to try them out

The Good They work. They fit snugly in the 3/4” holes I drilled and laid flat on the bench top. They are nylon, but appear to be very strong. I clamped down on my vise way more than I needed to a few times to see if they would crack or give. They didn’t. The flat faces are just the right size to hold effectively when planing. There are also small points on the top of each one that are used similarly to painters pyramids and allow tiny contact points when finishing.

The Awesome The rubber “bench brakes” that are included. They turn your bench dogs into “bench cookies” which is nice for freehand routing and sanding. They are removable if you need the extra space for planing thinner stock. My favorite feature is you can stick them directly in a 3/4” dog hole without using the dog. This is great for using something like a router plane where you don’t want to raise the work piece too much.

The bad Well, they aren’t brass and fancy looking, and you can’t brag about how much they cost.

Overall I can’t believe I even considered anything else. Kreg put a lot of functionality into a little package that costs less than most fast food value meals for a set of 4. If you need some bench dogs or are looking to upgrade the set you have, check these out.

Cheap Second Stage Separator

Kahr — Mon, 10 Jun 2013 13:33:42 +0000

I am starting in woodworking and wanted a second stage filter to hopefully extend the life of my Dust Collector. I did a lot of internet research and found this unit. The Fulton 4” Dust Separator Kit sells for around $20. I was able to install it on a 30GAL plastic drum with a locking lid in about 20 minutes.

The unit does the job! I dumped the dust from my collectors bag and sucked it back up and very little finding its way back to the collector. In the drum you can see the cyclone working and I have not noticed the loss of suction from adding the second stage. (I have no way to gauge it other than performance.)

I would recommend this unit to anyone like my without the current knowledge to build a Thien Baffle and wanting a cheap alternative. I do plan in the future to add a Wynn or other cartridge filter to my collector and building a 6” Thien top hat for the drum but for now all the large particles and most the finer dust are in the drum.

Dust Collector: Craftsman Professional 1-1/2 hp Dust Collector
Separator: Fulton 4” Dust Separator Kit
Drum: Uline 30 Gallon Natural Open Top Plastic Drum with Lid
Hose: POWERTEC 70111 4-Inch x 10-Feet Flexible PVC Dust Collection Hose

2 Great Glue Brushes - Rockler and Betty Crocker

Denco — Mon, 10 Jun 2013 02:45:55 +0000

I bought a Rockler glue brush and it works great, just as advertised. When the glue dries, you can peel it off. Easy to clean, spreads well.

However….I was in the dollar store one day and they had Betty Crocker basting brushes….for a buck each. My curiosity got the best of me (you know where I’m going with this). I decided to do a comparison….head to head….for the title of “Best Glue Brush”. I trimmed the Betty Crocker brush so the bristles (?) are about the same length.

Rockler: Spreads great, spatula works great. Narrow, smaller bristles, easier to get into tighter places. Peeling dried glue off over the last 6 mos has caused one or two bristles to break off, but nothing drastic. Current cost at time of this review: $5.

Betty Crocker: Spreads great, no spatula. Wider brush, easier to spread on larger areas. Peeling dried glue off over the last 6 mos has not resulted in any bristles breaking off. Current cost at the dollar store: $1.

Overall, I like both brushes, so it’s a tie. Both have their strong points. I guess the moral of the story is that there are great low cost options to some woodworking accessories out there when we keep our eyes open…....just don’t brush the bar-b-que sauce on the steaks with the Betty Crocker brush after using it for glue….....unless you peel the dried glue off first. (I know, I know, but I couldn’t resist saying it). —Den

Very Happy with this Dust Collector

Denco — Sun, 09 Jun 2013 11:48:04 +0000

Between sale price and coupon, the price was low enough that I took the plunge and bought the HF 2HP DC.

—Starting with assembly:—

You end up doing quite of bit of assembly with this unit, not just 2 or 3 connections.

The very first thing I did when unpacking the unit was to plug the motor in to make sure it ran. I didn’t want to assemble the whole thing and then discover the motor didn’t work. It fired right up, no problems. I’ve seen talk on the internet that the motor can be wired for 220v, but it’s a 115v motor, not 220v.

The casters were solid, the base plate is painted metal (black). The main bag for the hardware (screws/nuts/bolts, etc) was ripped, so I spent a few minutes digging it all out of the crevices of the box. It was all there barring a couple of screws and bolts. Fortunately, I had what was missing. The overall paint job on the unit was pretty good.

I could make a bunch of jokes, but I’ll state that the instructions aren’t written well at all and will leave it at that. But between the instructions and looking at the exploded diagram at the end of the manual, it was all logical enough. The assembly is involved, but wasn’t really difficult. I went slow (mostly because it was Saturday and I was still tired from a week of overtime at work).

The manual speaks of bolting the collector supports (item #14 in the expl diagram) and then tightening the nuts underneath. However, the holes in the black base plate are threaded and no nuts were supplied. This isn’t reflected in the manual. The bolt protrudes through the plate enough that nuts could be added. I’m thinking I will do this as the supports, while reasonably secured, still have a little sway. This makes one want to be careful when pulling the DC around by the supplied handle.

One thing I would suggest that when mounting the fan housing (item #38 on the exploded diagram), loosely bolt the “motor base” (item #5 on the exploded diagram) to the fan housing THEN bolt down the fan housing to the black base. Bolt the “motor base” to the black base, then tighten up the bolts that you loosely bolted the “motor base” to fan housing. Keeps everything lined up. Makes it easier. Manual isn’t that clear about this. Again, the manual speaks of tightening the nuts when mounting the fan housing and motor base to the black base plate, but the holes are threaded in the black base and no nuts were supplied.

When connecting the bottom collection bag, there are 3 little black tabs riveted to the separator that are supposed to hold the bottom collection bag while you install the clamp. The tabs don’t do a good job of holding the bag, but 3 or 4 small pieces of masking tape held the bag just fine until the clamp was on. I would suggest doing this. It made clamping the bag easy.

Unit comes with a 5 micron bag. Many have suggested replacing with a 1 micron bag (available on Amazon.com for ~ $25 at the time of this review). I’ve ordered it and it’s on it’s way
—-Operation—-

The Inlet is 4” and I hooked it up to my BT3100 table saw using a 2-1/2” hose. (I have 4” hose on order).

I fired up the unit. It’s not that loud, considering. I ran some cuts on MDF and cedar. I must admit that I was really impressed. There wasn’t any dust on the saw table and I could see it circulating around in the collection bag. It definitely out performed my shop vac/cyclone can combo. My shop vac was one of the bigger units and did a good job in the past. The DC was a definite step up.

I’ve been using the DC for about a week now and it’s really performed well. It exceeded my expectations. If the DC continues to function w/o incident, I can definitely recommend it.

Good jointer for a small workshop

MoshupTrail — Sat, 08 Jun 2013 17:47:37 +0000

Got this after waiting quite a while for one to come in.
I have a 2-car garage and not enough room for a floor-standing jointer. So I had been looking for a good quality jointer that I could use in a small space.

Out of the box. Not bad. An awful lot of plastic bags with parts, but once I got started it only took about 1/2 hour to assemble. The directions were pitiful. Perhaps from an older model? I gave up on them quickly. It’s not difficult to figure everything out.

The one thing a jointer needs to do well is get the fence absolutely perpendicular to the bed. This took a lot of jiggering and fiddling. There’s a single set screw to adjust the angle, but it only works when the fence is loosened slightly. So when you tighten it back up, of course the angle shifts a bit.

Eventually I got it.

The dust port fits my Ridgid Shop Vac hose perfectly.

So I tried it out.

Sweet! The cut is just as smooth as a knife-blade jointer and its quieter.

Summary: This is a very nice little machine. Will work well in my small shop. They could have done a better job on the fence adjustments. But hopefully I don’t have to repeat that often.

I love this router so much, I bought another for under the table!

JCMeyersIV — Tue, 04 Jun 2013 05:50:31 +0000

Hey guys! Figured I would do my first ever review. Now this is going to be my impressions of this tool, as well as my rating of the accessories for it. I havent used many routers other that DeWalt so theres no point in comparing. So here we go!

I bought the DW618B3 kit over a year ago. I had a 1-3/4hp Craftsman router that just wasnt cutting it for some of the bigger projects i was getting into once I went pro. So upon review and after using a friends DW616 i decided i was going to go with the next model up. The next decision was whether to get the two bas or three base. That decision took maybe 30 seconds. The three bases are all solid and work great. I later purchased the edge guide, and the track saw guide, as well as a second DW618 motor dedicated to my router table.

So right off the bat so those who dont want to read this whole thing heres my pros and cons, then i’ll snap on my rubber glove and go elbow deep on the rest of it.

Pros:
-Great power: I havent had this thing bog down on me yet. Granted i know the proper procedures and take gradual cuts but this seems to handle a good amount of wood.
-Variable speed: It is what it is, not too much to say. Has a fairly wide range I would say. I realize all routers these days have this, but its still nice.
-Good collets: They hold super tight, havent had one slip in a year and a half of use.
-Well weighted: To me, the weight of this tool is just right. I’m a fairly strong person but still, it feels like it wouldnt be a wrestling match for a new comer. Its heavy enough to not get away from you too easily, but light enough to maneuver easily.
-The power cable: I LOVE the fact that the cable is detachable. Makes storage really easy.

Cons:
-Adjustment: While i’ll admit i do like the adjustment of these routers, i dont feel its really geared for precision. This of course only pertains to the D-handle and fixed base, and while usually with those bases youre only doing edge work or flushing, i bring it up because my old router table required the fixed base to be used and when dust gets in the grooves it kind of seizes up.
-Depth “gauge” ring: This thing i dont think I’ve ever used. It falls off with the slightest bump and it will move if you sneeze near it. I can see the point but you have to be so cautious turning the ring to adjust the motor because you can move this accidentally and have no clue how far youve moved it.
-Collet lock: I think it should activate a little outside the housing. It may just be me but sometimes when im trying to change bits with or without the base on its way too difficult to press it down through the base (tool unplugged obviously), with it mounted in a router table, or when im cranking the collet off. That extra 1/16” you have to push it in past the housing can be a little annoying, just me tho.
-No lights: this one isnt really that big of a deal for me, although i have a hand router with a light and its awesome. I can see where this would be a dealbreaker for some, so i put it in here for you guys.

So as you can see, i love this router. But whats the best part of any tool or really anything ever at all? Accessories, duh. Who doesnt love some nice accessories. Like if someone threw a cup holder on your table saw, tell me you wouldnt love it! So heres my quick rundown on the accessories i have, as well as some more pros/cons of them.

Case: This may seem silly to put in, but I really like how easily and how well it holds EVERYTHING even the edge guide has a home in it.
Pros: Holds everything, solid, durable.
Cons: Wont hold lunch or beer.

Fixed base: ‘Tis a fixed base. Good visibility.
-Pros: it holds your router
-Cons: You cant use it as a kick ass coffee mug, regardless of the shape.

Plunge base: I like this fixed base a lot, and use it very often. It has built in dust collection that seems to work pretty well with my dust extractor. It’s pretty much your standard plunge base. Has the turret with the stops with the tallest being adjustable. Operates very smoothly too. The lock down has come up on me a couple times but i cant rule out that i may not have depressed it fully. Visibility is decent.
-Pros: Smooth action, good dust collection, easy to see your bit, flat edge
-Cons: Plunging function cant be used to unclog your toilet… Oh and the possible depth lock slippage.

D-base: This has to be the handiest thing for the router since they started using them to carry internet signals… Wait wrong router… But seriously its like a gift from the woodworking gods. Angels sing when i put my router in it, which can be distracting. Its superior for edge work and gives you unprecedented balance and control. I also like it for the fact that when im working on some pieces with just sawhorses or out of my truck, i can use it one handed to hold the work piece. Although i recommend using extreme caution with this method. One word of caution with this base is if you chose to use the trigger option (you can bypass it and plug right into the router and not plug into the base although then the small cord kind of dangles around) the router HAS to be switched on. Forget to turn it off and the next time you plug in the router to the other bases or the table, it will be trying to take off your digits. I did this ONCE, it was in the plunge base so nothing happened. But thats not really a con to me, seems unavoidable.
-Pros: Much, much better than a standard fixed base.
-Cons: Has potential to be dangerous if motor isnt switched to “off” after use, angels singing while in use can be distracting.

Centering cone: ... Ok lets get real.
-Pros: It’s a centering cone.
-Cons: It’s not a centering ice cream cone.

Edge guide: I think this edge guide is pretty awesome personally. It does just what its suppose to, has long rails/posts, the surface area of the edge can be increased and decreased to reduce the chances of wander. And the dust collection port on it works incredibly well. I use it a lot with round overs just becuase of this feature. It also has a micro adjust knob thats handy for when youre centering fluting.
-Pros: very well thought out, solid, good dust collection, potential to rout fairly far from the edge (sorry, didnt get an exact measurement)
-Cons: None really except it is a tad bulky.

TrackSaw rail guide… thing: I really like this. I’m not a fan of setting up edge guides and a measuring this and that and how far this is from that and there and here to there and the center of this in relation to that divided but the square route of the speed of sound… I like to just draw a couple lines, set up the tool and go. Thats why i sprung the cash for the track saw (But mostly with my shop set up and size, cutting full sheets on a table saw is not only hard, its a tad dangerous.) I have my router guide set up so when the plunge base is on the track, the center of the bit is 3 1/2” from the inside edge of the track. Pretty cool if you ask me. Just a time saver. This is easily accomplished too. The piece that holds the router has a plate where the pegs for the base are and you just place your base against the plate and you have it in the exact same spot every time! It also features a micro adjust function. Only thing i dont like, and i REALLY REALLY dont like it, is that i cant seem to get the slop out of it. It has the same adjustment on it the track saw does to hold it snug to the track but for whatever reason on this they slip. One slips a little and the other slips a lot. This is a big issue to me because im all about detail. If that thing wavers back and fort on a 6’ detail, even if its only 1/16” ill go nuts. Im currently trying to figure out a way to fix this, or just see if it will resolve itself. Other than that its not enough to make me have issues with this.
-Pros: Amazing accessory to add to your track saw, or to your router (it will work with other routers i believe and the track itself isnt too bad of an invetment.)
-Cons: The play in the guide on the track, again, may be resolvable.

And that pretty much wraps up my review of this tool and the accessories i have for it, DeWalt accessories at least. I Just love this router. Like i said, as well as seen in photos, I have two. And I dont plan on buying another router for a long time, if ever again. When i need a more powerful table router, ill buy a shaper. For now I think I’m all set.

Hopefully you guys enjoyed this and are more informed of this tool. Ill be doing some more reviews soon, i enjoyed writing this one a lot!

Check for some new blog entries too! Including my feature on how NOT to use a biscuit jointer, but save yourself an insurance co-pay.

-JC

Knew Concepts 5" Birdcage Titanium Fret Saw - What a great saw!!!

Sam_Rogers — Sun, 02 Jun 2013 16:27:34 +0000

Cutting dovetails by hand has its moments of tedium. Getting rid of the bulk of the waste from the pins and tails is one of them. So, I always try to find a way to speed that up. Enter the small saws…

First, I tried a coping saw. It was a hand-me-down, and I’ll never discard it because of whom, not what, it represented. But, the simple truth is that it was horrible at removing bulk waste from dovetails. After the coping saw, I stepped up to an Olson adjustable frame saw. It wasn’t much better. The frame flexed in two different directions, I could never tension the blades tight enough, and the handle slipped off more than once. Oh yeah, the handle was tiny and always made my hand cramp up when using it also. Those two saws are shown in the pics. They are destined to become yard sale items.

Finally, I broke down and ordered the Knew Concepts 5" Birdcage Titanium Fret Saw. This is an OUTSTANDING saw!!! Rigid, light, comfortable, and you can get the blade tight… Really tight! This is a great little tool.

The first thing one notices when it arrives (besides the no name pizza box) is how light it is. After reducing it to just the saw, it seemed as if the currency to buy it outweighed the saw. That, by the way, is only a very slight exaggeration.

Anyway, I don’t know what the resellers do, but I ordered mine straight from Knew Concepts. It came with the blade in, set and adjusted, the tension lever released, and ready to go. All I had to do was flip the tension lever and use it.

All that was left was to try it out. I grabbed a piece of scrap and laid out some pins and tails, grabbed a saw and cut to the base lines. Then, I got the new fret saw and got the waste out of the way. First time I’ve ever been able to do that without the saw causing me some kind of grief. I would say this saw is worth its weight in gold, but it’s worth a lot more than that… it really weighs almost nothing.

Bottom line, if you do a lot of traditional work with dovetails, or if you do marquetry, this is a great saw. It’s a little expensive, but in my mind, it has already paid for itself.

DeWalt Sander Review

bear2 — Sat, 01 Jun 2013 18:59:14 +0000

I have recently replaced my Porter Cable 333VS random orbital sander with a DeWalt D26453 random orbital sander. If I could have stayed with the Porter Cable 333VS I would have. I have found three problems with the DeWalt.
1. The dust bag is useless. It stops little dust and requires dragging a hose. The Porter Cable’s bag was superior and for most operations the supplied bag was fine. Seldom had to use a hose.
2. The top of the DeWalt is domed and is hard to balance during sand paper installation. The Porter Cable had little if any dome.
3. The DeWalt, at least to me, is touchier than the Porter Cable. The least little off center pressure and it skids across the work. I found the Porter Cable to be more stable, easier to control.
All things considered, I wish that I could have stayed with the Porter Cable 333VS .

Scheppach Deco-Flex - a decent starter scrollsaw for an OK price

Skiedra — Fri, 31 May 2013 05:57:39 +0000

+ nice working capabilities
+ normal operating noise
+ large “throat” depth
+ takes both pin and pinless blades
+ the addons and the rotary tool is a perfect addition to a beginner scrollsawer. So you do not need to buy a dremel or any similar rotary tool

- bit painful process to change the blades. You have to rotate 3 screws, 2 on top, 1 at the bottom of the saw.
- you seriously need to bold it down, otherwise it moves
- attached rotating bit are a bit too “toyish”, but does some light sanding/drilling easily
- to change the blades, you have to tilt the table, and it takes effort to re-adjust the correct 90 degree angle
- throat depth is not big enough for larger templates.

For this price and as a starting scrollsaw, it fits me OK.