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The Woodworking Thread

Discussion in 'Permanent Threads' started by $100T2, Jan 15, 2012.

  1. suapyg

    suapyg
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    Yeah. The back post, the front leg, and the diagonal stretcher between them are three separate pieces of wood. All the parts are cut from one slab, but they're all separate parts - eight per chair, including the seat and the rail beneath it.
     
  2. $100T2

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    I'm assuming you do a lot of that with a spoke shave?
     
  3. suapyg

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    Almost entirely. Here, I'll try to describe the process for a back leg. Keep in mind that it's the joinery that's really the bitch (at least for me) and has to be super-tight, the shaping is (at least for me) the part that feels all free and easy-like. Then again, I'll draw full scale on the damned floor if it'll save me from having to do math.

    Using a side-view template, lay out the part on the board, bandsaw it out rough. Joint and plane it to what final thickness will be at the bottom of the foot. Screw template down and use shaper or router to clean front and back faces - at this point the leg is still square in section, but it's a defined shape. I made a jig to hold the leg onto the drill press at the proper angle for the mortises, so this is the point where I do that. I also drill the holes for the leather now, while the leg is still square. Then lay out lines to mark the thickness at the top, and connect them to the bottom corners to mark out the taper from bottom to top. That also gets cut on the bandsaw - it's a little hairy, because the leg is laying on its back and it's pretty freaking curvy. You have to kind of keep the workpiece moving such that the place where the blade is, is in contact with the table or the piece will get thrown. Honestly, this is the cowboy-est part of it, is cutting the tapers. You could also just make a little sled or something for it to lay flat, but I'm too lazy.

    Anyway, now you have a curvy tapered leg that is still square in section. From here I use drawknives and spokeshaves to bring it to final shape. The trick is to just keep faceting the corners as evenly as possible, until you have a million tiny facets, and then I have a traditional concave-bottomed spokeshave that does the final super smoothing.

    Did that make any sense at all?
     
  4. $100T2

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    I just tried my band saw for the first time.

    A) It seems to be burning the wood rather than cutting it, so I'm assuming the blade is dull and

    B) The band seems to bend a LOT during cutting. I thought I would be able to make some decent round cuts on it, but just doing slight bends in some small pine, it was bending all over the place. I had the adjustment all the way down to try to minimize the bending, but it didn't seem to help.

    Advice? I know I need to RTFM, but what else can I do?
     
  5. suapyg

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    Post a picture of the saw, and try to focus in on the spot where the actual cutting takes place. Lemme see what you're working with.
     
  6. $100T2

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    Here ya go:





     

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  7. suapyg

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    A few quick questions: Is that a cast iron top with a layer of rust, or is that some kind of MDF insert? Is the blade 3/8" or is it 1/2"? And how many teeth per inch?

    And while I've got you - do you have either on hand or easily attainable:

    Butcher's wax or some kind of paste wax
    0000 steel wool
    Mineral spirits or paint thinner
    A relatively fine-toothed file
    clean rags
     
  8. $100T2

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    It's a bit rusty. It's a metal top. No to the wax. Yes to the steel wool and mineral spirits/paint thinner. No to the file. Yes to the rags.

    And to answer other, unasked questions, I have at least 8 more blades of varying thicknesses/teeth.
     
  9. suapyg

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    Okay. The first thing we have to do is fix that fucking table, man. That rust is making you (and the saw) work 50x harder. Go buy the wax, they sell it at Home Depot and at Lowes, and likely any local hardware store you've got.
    Lubing with the min spirits, steel wool the fuck out of the top, stopping periodically to wipe off the rust with the rags. Use some muscle, and don't stop until that thing feels as smooth as a freshly shaven ...um, baby's bottom. It'll still look old and patina'ed, but it should feel really smooth. Using a bit more steel wool, rub in a bunch of the wax, rubbing it in circles over the whole surface. Then take a rag and buff it all out.

    It'll feel fantastic and it will offer no resistance to your ability to slide and steer your workpiece over the table. And it really shouldn't take more than an hour total, the rust isn't that bad.

    As for the blade, a good general purpose blade would be a 3/8", 4 tooth per inch (tpi) - if one of the ones you have is close to that, try it.

    And when you're cutting curves, try not to "steer," so much as "rotate." Every curve is a radius, or a series of radii - think about where the center of that circle would be, and try to rotate from that point, shifting as/if the center of the circle changes. And as you think about it, rotate not against the teeth, but against the side of the blade, as though you're pivoting from center and just gently spinning off the side of the blade. To practice getting a feel for that, try taking some scrap and cut a few really consistent arcs - don't draw them out and try to cut to the line, just try to cut a freehand curve, and make the curve as fair as possible. A few of those and you should get a sense of the pivoting I'm talking about. Then you can try drawing some curves and cutting to the line.

    Don't underestimate the difference a sharp blade and a clean table will make. It's going to feel like a totally different tool, even if your blade guides aren't set up well.

    But speaking of the blade guides, they're the little blocks and/or wheels on the sides of the blade and behind it. They should exist above the table and again below. If you can, take some pictures showing me how they're set up and I can talk you through tweaking them to work better.

    EDIT: IMPORTANT - ANY RAG THAT HAS BEEN USED WITH AN OIL BASED FINISH (YES, EVEN BUTCHER'S WAX) SHOULD BE PLACED IN A BUCKET OF WATER AND DISPOSED OF OUTSIDE OF THE HOUSE. As the oil dries, it will heat up if it's not given sufficient air to evaporate. I've seen many many garbage pail fires, and heard of many shops burned to the ground. Don't fuck around with this rule. It's really easy and if followed, it's not dangerous at all.
     
  10. $100T2

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    You realize half the board would try that if you posted it in the WDT.
     
  11. suapyg

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    It's pretty impressive, really. I could see Dixie Bandit having a grand ol' time doing a little, "watch this, y'all..."

    Anything linseed-oil-based will do it. A rag, wet with the oil needs to breathe as it dries because it heats up. If you toss it in the garbage and it gets covered, it will literally combust within a few hours. Fires caused by oil-soaked rags are really common. I keep a bucket with water in it in the shop - I toss the rags in it when I'm done with them, and when it gets full I put the whole thing out with the garbage on collection day.


    Now go clean off that table, man - that thing is unusable.
     
  12. $100T2

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    I'll post pics of the cover off the side later so you can show me any other adjustments if you don't mind.
     
  13. katokoch

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    Suapyg... what should one look for when inspecting a used bandsaw? I'm looking to buy one this spring. Any red flags?
     
  14. $100T2

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  15. suapyg

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    Nope - this stuff:

    <a class="postlink" href="http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1v/R-100154748/h_d2/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1v/R ... ogId=10053</a>

    kakotoch, I'll post later with bandsaw buying advice - gotta run now!
     
  16. katokoch

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    Awesome, thanks.

    I'll second Johnson's Paste Wax as a metal/wood protectant (tools & guns), and it smells good too.
     
  17. xrayvision

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    How do you use it on a gun? You mean the wood stock of a rifle?
     
  18. katokoch

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    I take the barreled action out of the stock, buff down the exterior metal surfaces, put it back in the stock, and then I use a lil bit on the wood*. It's mainly for the sake of the metal and I do it after cleaning the bore or if I know I'll be hunting in shitty weather the next day.

    *Wax on gloss spar urethane = super slick.

    Howard's Feed and Wax is another product I've used on stocks and it works well too (makes good finishes look ridiculously good).
     
  19. $100T2

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    Home Depot didn't have that Johnson stuff. I bought this instead:

    Minwax

    Is that ok?
     
  20. suapyg

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    Yeah, totally fine. Any paste wax will do, for the most part.

    Katokoch, I swear I'll write something up sometime this weekend. I'm tired and plenty buzzed and going to bed. If you have a saw you're thinking about, post it and I can comment directly, otherwise I'll just put up some basic stuff. I will say this - if I could only keep one machine, it would be my bandsaw. Everything else I can do by hand. The bandsaw is the most important power tool in my shop.
     

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