Woodworking Reviews at LumberJocks.com

Trend Airsheild, My lungs thank you

Andrew — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 17:42:50 GMT

I have been on the fence about buying one of these for a year now. Christmas is on its way, and Andy has some work ahead of him to provide family and freinds with the gifts they deserve. There is a lot of wood dust that is going to be produced, and I don’t need to store it in my lungs this year.
Anyway, this is a positive air preasure filtrating system. Means it constantly blows filtered air over your face so dirty wood dusty air does not enter. It works well. The battery will last about 4 hours, I get sick of sanding in 2 hours.
It is comfotrable and fairly light about 2 1/2 pounds. It also cost $320 at woodcraft. It comes with 1 battery and 1 visor overlay. I plan on buying more visor overlays, $30 for 10 and another battery about $40. There is a small hole down by the chin to let air escape as the fan is constantly blowing in fresh air. I like this a lot, and recomend this to everyone,

We are always concerned about our fingers, but how about our lungs, we never know we have done a bad thing until it is too late.

It employs a slow charger, takes 13 hours ( 24 for the first charge) to fully charge, and only 4 to fully discharge.
I use this primarily for finish turning and sanding of bowls and other lathe projects. Seems the lathe does the best job at broadcasting wood dust. I use a regular mask for green or rough turning.

It is expensive but I beleive it to be well worth it.

A Very Mini Shoulder Plane

3fingerpat — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 15:46:02 GMT

This was a total impulse purchase, when I got the ad I couldn’t pass it up, if you are into hand planes, then you know what I mean ;o)

Last week at the WW Show in SoCal, the LV rep had one and let me try it out. I knew it was going to be small, but Wow, it is very mini. The Norris Style adjuster makes setting the blade quick and easy. In use, I found it somewhat difficult to use on tenon shoulders due to it’s very small size. It worked better when the tenon was shorter than the height of the plane. There just isn’t much metal to hold onto, could be my fat fingers? Once the blade was set, it did trim the shoulder nicely, just hard to hold onto, I think with more use and practice, this plane will grow on me.

I found it to be more useful at making a 1/4” dado; in fact it was quicker and almost easier to use than my router plane. I can see where this tool would be good at inlaying banding.
The tool is very well made, as are all my LV products and it comes with a very nice storage case that includes a rust inhibitor pad.

I only gave it 4 stars because I had a hard time using it for it’s intended purpose. I plan on using it more to see if it is just me and will provide an update later if I feel it is warranted.

Perfect Sized Marking Guage

3fingerpat — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 05:20:09 GMT

When I first saw this Marking Guage by LV, I did not hesitate to purchase it. This is exactly what I had been wanting. It never fails that when I am using my single sided Marking Guage, I always forget to mark all my boards before changing the marking guage setting. Trying to go back and get the exact setting from the previous setting is almost impossible. So when I saw this marking guage I had no doubt this would be just what the doctor ordered. I especially love the small pocket size, it fits my hand perfectly. The machining is very smooth and the fences move very smoothly and lock down quickly with just a twist of the thumbwheel.
I pushed down very hard and tried to make the fence move, but I couldn’t budge it, which is good for me since I usually use way more force than is necessary. Here is a picture of the cutting edge on a cutoff piece of pine:

The cutting wheel is protected by the fence when not in use, just slide the fence all the way to the end and the cutting wheel sits in a recessed space in the fence. The fence is much smaller than my standard marking guage so you need to take that into consideration when using it. I tried it on a number of different woods and had no problem seeing or cutting the line. It comes with a nice protective case as well.

I can see where this is going to be one of my favorite little tools.

Update on 07 Nov 09:
One thing I failed to mention was that I really appreciate the larger thumbscrew, it makes setting the fence much easier than on my older LV marking guage, who’s fence set screw is much flatter and harder to operate.
Also adding a picture of the case for the guage:

Paul Beebe #11 Carving Knife for Lee Valley

just_adam — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 04:16:14 GMT

Hello and this review carries my initial impressions of a fine carving knife made by Paul Beebe for Lee Valley Tools in Canada. At the time, it cost me about $33USD and presently it is in there on line catalog at this address:

http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx?c=2&p=31085&cat=1,130,43332,44073&ap=1

I’ve used all sorts of knives in my meandering about the wood. Opinels, Ken Onions, single edge razors, XActos…James Krenov wrote a great passage about using knives in one of his books and it resonates fully with me. Good stout carving knives are invaluable for woodworkers like me to assist in micro adjusting joints; trimming corners, general detail stuff. They can be so agile in deft hands.

Take trimming dovetail joints, case in point. My tool of choice so far had been a simple beveled edge carving knife that I got at Haida tool in Berkeley. It works great but I wanted something with a nice, sharp, stout blade whose edge is at least projected directly out from the hilt of the handle. Much of my detail work is minute cutting with the blade turned towards me, like so:

The #11 Paul Beebe blade (There are a small handful you can select from Lee Valley) projects a small bit towards you off the line of the handle, and when I saw this, I knew it’d be a great start for those small, inward turned cuts I make!

Well I got the tool this week in the mail. You know you have something well prepped when it cuts you without even knowing as you’re extracting the tool from it’s packaging, eek! Yes, this thing comes sharp!

I love the heft of the knife. The wood handle is dense and lends a good feel in my big clumsy paws. I measured the handle at about 6” long. It’s thick enough to feel good and secure in my hand without having to hang on tight. I hate handles that are small or narrow in cutting instruments. It forces my fingers to work too hard at wrapping around the handle. This handle feels great in my hands. I could carve for hours with it. I might consider rounding off the palm side edges of the handle at some point, but for now it seems OK.

And the blade itself is so great, too. The slight curve of the edge allows me to take very tight, minute curls of material off of my project, and it’s razor sharp all the way to the tip. When I was a kid, one of the greatest challenges for me was to carve propellers for model airplanes with my dad in the shop. So now whenever I want to run a carving instrument through it’s courses, I see how well it performs in and around the blades of a propeller:

I tried to show the generous tang of the blade as it reaches into the handle. It looks sturdy and I’ll only know over time how stable it is. So far, so good:

My Bottom Line is that this is a great tool for the money, but I’ll follow up later on after I’ve carved a few more miles of mahogany!!!

Easy router dadoes with DadoMax

Peter O — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 23:54:35 GMT

The DadoMax makes easy, accurate router dados. Setup is easy and it makes tight-fitting dados regardless of material thickness. The DadoMax is constructed of high-quality materials, and has a large enough surface that there is no worry of the router tipping. It comes in a metal case and includes replacements parts for items that might be easily lost. The DadoMax adjusts to a variety of straightedges, and you can buy the DadoMax without a straightedge if you already have one.

I only gave four stars because:

The DadoMax slid easily on some parts of the straightedge and tended to jam on other parts – probably a slight variation in the width of the straightedge. A little wax might take care of the problem.
The DadoMax didn’t come with any instructions. While not too difficult to figure out, an explination of setup and adjustment should be included.
You can get the same function with comparable accuracy with a simple shop-made jig. $139 seems like an expensive replacement for the shop jig.

————————————————————————————————————————————————
I was very surprised to find that there were no instructions for setup or use. I know a lot of guys don’t like to read instructions, but it seems like anything that needs setup or adjustment should come with instructions. Here’s a quick run-down for setting up and using the DadoMax:

First, adjust the DadoMax to the width of your straightedge. It should be tight enough that there is no “slop” but loose enough to slide easily. The two knobs on the left allow you to adjust the guide.

Next, adjust the spacer throat to match your router bit. Loosen the screw with the hex key that is provided, and make sure the throat is exactly the size of the diameter of your router bit when the DadoMax unit is fully closed.

Install the provided router bushing and make sure your baseplate is centered on your router.

Set the DadoMax to the thickness of the material using an actual piece of the material that will fit in the dado. The spacer throat is stepped so router bits of various sizes can be used. When using a ½” bit, the stock fits on the outer step as shown. For a 3/8” bit fit the stock on the middle step, and with a ¼” bit use the inner step. Set the DadoMax fairly tight using the adjustment screw, and lock it in place using the jam nut.

Mark the location of the dado on the workpiece. Place the DadoMax on the straightedge and align with the location marks. The DadoMax has three alignment marks, again depending on which router bit you are using. I’m using the longest alignment mark with the ½” bit.

Set the router on the DadoMax, and slide the router along the straightedge and back. The DadoMax will allow the router move slightly toward and away from the straightedge. On one pass press toward the straightedge and pull away from the straightedge on the return pass. The resulting dado will be a tight fit for your your material.

I didn’t have my straightedge clamped tight enough on my first dado, and it moved. The second attempt resulted in a tight dado. Be sure your clamp is tight so you don’t ruin actual parts!

Screw-Outs Don't Work

papadan — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 23:32:44 GMT

http://www.craftsman.com/shc/s/p_10155_12602_00952154000P?keyword=52154&sLevel=0 LOML saw Bob Vs commercial and bought me a set a couple years ago. Today, 1/2” wood screws holding cabinet door hinges that have stripped out phillips heads. Guess what, Bob V can kiss my A$$! These things are supposed to bite into the screw and back it out, all they do is spin in the stripped head. Even tried an impact driver and nothing! This system won’t let me give -5 stars or I would!

Low Cost, High quality chisels

Tony — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 19:21:55 GMT

Narex Chisels

These wonderful chisels (Model # 8101 & 8105) are manufactured by NAREX, the company is located within the European Union in the Czech Republic, here is the link to Narex website. This link will take you to the correct pages in English.

The chisels are made from Mn-Cr (magnesium-chrome) steel and are hardened to 59Hrc and manufactured in accordance with the European standard DIN5139 (Firmer chisels with tang). These chisels were reported by Fine Woodworking magazine, Sep/Oct 2008 and were given the Best Value chisel against a large number of better known competitors.

After reading this article, I was pleased to find that my local store, Plektra Trading Helsinki had the same chisels available – so I purchased a set of 6 in a nice box (6, 10, 12, 16, 20, 26 mm), in order to evaluate them.

Out of the box, I found that the back of the chisels were quite flat, the bevel was ground to 25° and the blades were coated in a light protective coating. the bevels along the left and right edges of the chisel were ground very precisely and were at a very good angle for dovetail work. The handles are made from European beach (traditional wood for tools) with metal ferules at the end, my preferred version had the dark stained handles.

Sharpening and performance: The backs flattened quite quickly starting with 1000 grit water stone, the bevels were just tuned up with some 4000 grit and a small micro bevel was introduced (about 28°). Chopping into Hard maple does damage the edge quickly (as with 99% of all chisels), but using the tools correctly and paring and slicing, the cutting edge is maintained for a significant amount of time, only requiring re-honing now and again. I found the handles to be quite large compared to some other chisels, but they are really comfortable hold and control.

I have been using this set of 6 chisels for a good 6-8 months with absolutely no problems or regrets. Since this time I have increased my collection of sizes, I have now added the 8, 18, 32 & 40 mm to my collection.

Today I received 3 more of these chisels for evaluation 3, 4 & 5 mm (Approx 1/8”, 5/32” &, 3/16”) these will be used mainly inlay and very fine work.

I have also purchased 3 mortise chisels (model # 8112) from there site; 6, 8 & 10 mm. These chisels were built to the same high standard as the bevel chisels. The cutting edge is 6, 8 & 10 mm wide, but the top edge of the chisel is slightly bevelled (about 0.5mm), which helps to stop the blade being wedged in the mortise. The ground bevel was at 25°, but this time I reground the micro bevel to 32° , these chisels really keep a sharp edge even when chopping into hard maple or even Jatoba.

These chisels will become my main set of chisels for daily use and my old set of expensive chisels (not so good a quality) will be re-ground to make speciality chisels as needed or plane irons.

A definite 5/5 and highly recommended for beginners or professionals alike

New toy for my shop

Termite — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 02:42:55 GMT

I just got my new Jet sander delivered a couple of days ago (Tuesday). It comes in three boxes, two are managable…the one containing the stand and the box containing the feed table/conveyor and feed motor. The third box contains the motor unit and drum…it weighs somewhere between 70,000 & 75,000 pounds (or so it felt like) when I had to unpack it and set it up by myself.
A friend said he would come help me set it up this weekend but I was way too impatient to watch the sander just sitting there in the box by it’s lonely self, and besides…I have a set of 4 panel doors and some panels I just built that have been waiting for the sander. Just then I saw my neighbor drive into his driveway…don’t have to wait until Saturday now!
The box with the conveyor table did not have the banding holding it together and the box was taped together. As I opened it I realized that the sandpaper that is supposed to come with was not in the box. The ad says it comes with 80 grit and 100 grit paper.
I tool the plastic off of the conveyor and first thing I noticed was a tear in the convetor belt about a inch and a half long. I called CPOjet where I ordered it and told them of these problems. Also asked them about the extensions for the conveyor. The salesperson I ordered it thru TOLD ME the PLUS model comes with the extensions. It does NOT. I told them I therefore wanted to buy the extensions and the customer service rep said he could not find the part # and price, so he would therefore call me back shortly when he knows the price. Well, two days later and I still have not heard back from him.

Another Screaming Bargain of a Saw Blade

knotscott — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 22:52:01 GMT

This review is as much a deal alert as it is a testimonial. This deal has been on Ebay for several weeks now from Cripe Distribution, and I’m amazed people haven’t scarfed these up like free champagne. If you’re not familiar with it, the Delta 35-7657 was originally the DeWalt DW7657 40T ATB general purpose blade….the same blade that Wood Mag rated favorably against the Forrest WWII a few years back when it was considered a good bargain at $50. It appears to be the same design, but is now made in the US, as opposed to the UK. It’s a fairly straight forward 40T ATB general purpose design that’s fairly similar to the venerable WWII’s design, with large C4 micrograin carbide, full kerf (0.118”), a hefty body made from high quality steel, and laser slots for $17 (plus $10 s/h).

My experience with the DW7657 was excellent, and my early trials with the 35-7657 are comparable so far. I’ll speculate that with a magnifying glass in hand, chalked edges, and numerous test cuts, the 35-7657 will probably fall just a tad shy of the WWII level (haven’t done that test with this one yet), but you’ll get glue ready cuts. It’s not necessarily the best choice for thick ripping with underpowered saws, but it’s hard to beat $27 to your door for a quality all purpose blade. It just so happens that this deal is very close in price and description to the Oshlun 40T I reviewed…while this deal is still available, I’d go with this one…I think it’s a little better blade, plus it’s made in the USA vs China….nuff said. 5 Stars anywhere near this price!

Well worth the money

Joe — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 01:39:55 GMT

I find this sander outstanding to use. I purchased this when I realized I would be sanding forever on all those little pieces that made up the two excavator I built. Very easy to use and changing belt to spindle is a snap. Just remember it has left handed threads. I have read on the internet that people had problems with the tracking on the belt. Sure, mine did not track straight right out of the box, but it took a total of 15 seconds for it to track dead straight. You set it once and that’s it. Of course of you change sand paper you may have to tweak it a bit.

It was a breeze to put together and it runs very quite. All the accessories have a place you store on the machine which is nice. I think Rigid did a bang up job on this one. I guess that’s why Fine Woodworking list it as a must have tool.

Yes, I would by this one again