Woodworking

Kickback on the Tablesaw and the Riving Knife

Well after years it finally happened I got to feel the full force of kickback on my table saw. The reason is my riving knife. Rather the absence of a riving knife I took it off while preparing turning blanks.  The result was a lump of red gum (Eucalyptus camaldulensis) about 300mm long and 75mm square. It hit me straight in the sternum and it hurt! Luckily I didnt break anything and only had a small reddened area with a minor cut to show for the indignation. I have never given riving knives much thought. I took it off as the cuts were less than the height of the blade. In order to make a full cut the timber had to be flipped over. I had this idea fixed in my head that the riving knife should sit higher than the top of the blade which makes bling cuts impossible. What I mean by a blind cut is that the timber is thicker than the full height of the blade. I have watched many YouTube (and I have forgotten who made the video) videos where a blind cut has been made and not thought about how this was achieved. This was until I watched a video where someone was talking about setting up a table saw, I nearly didn't watch this as it seemed too basic. There is was set the height of the riving knife just below the height of the blade. Now I can blind cut to my heart's content and reduce the risk of another piece of timber flying off the table.

By |June 6th, 2017|Categories: Woodturning, Woodworking|Tags: , |0 Comments
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Stanley Bailey and Record Planes

I bought these three planes from an online site the sale included three planes at $30 so that's $10 each. I really wanted the No 7 so the two No4 planes  were a bonus.  The No4 planes are a Stanley /Bailey made  in Australia and an English made Record. All are rusty and dirty but otherwise seem to be in basically good condition. The No4 Stanley has a crack in the tote or handle. The No7 has a plastic tote but the forward handle is timber so I will make another. I have bought these to use rather restore and stick them in a cupboard.   I found some websites that were helpful and interesting Hans Brunner Tools has lots of information about the Bailey / Stanley handplanes. I also came across a site dedicated to Record Hand Tools which is full of useful information about theses tools. Additionally there is this video from Jay Bates  shows how he tackles a hand plane restoration.  Finally if you want to make your own tote there is a template available from Lee Valley tools  which includes  a diagram and instructions.  

By |January 3rd, 2017|Categories: Tools and Jigs, Woodworking|0 Comments
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An Organiser for Sandpaper

This was my last woodworking project for 2016 completed on New Years eve a storage box for sheets of sandpaper. It only took about 2 hours from start to finish. It all made from offcuts left over from recently completed projects.  The carcass is constructed from 12mm construction grade plywood and the shelves are made from 3mm mdf. I used the sheet size of the sandpaper to lay out the internal dimensions an added about 10mm width to accommodate placement in the grooves. I cut all the groves on the table saw spaced 25mm apart. I cut both sides in one piece to make sure that everything would line up. Top, bottom and back are also from the same material. I glued and nailed the carcass together. The shelves for the sandpaper were a little tricky because the kerf on my saw is 2.8mm and the self material is 3mm. I dealt with this by planing a low angle bevel on each side and sanding. So thats all for 2016 and my sandpaper has a home for 2017.  

By |January 1st, 2017|Categories: Tools and Jigs, Woodworking|0 Comments
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More Storage for the Walk in Robe

An out of the blue request from SWMBO to tidy up the walk in robe. The storage unit is approximately 1800 mm high and 900 mm wide with a shelf depth of 295 mm. In order to save time I decided to build the storage unit out of precut material all the sheets are 295mm wide. I bought melamine covered particle board 3 pieces at 1800 mm and 7 pieces at 1200mm. A sheet of 3mm MDF serves as the back of the storage unit. Cutting was straight forward 2 of the 1200mm boards were docked at 900 for the top and bottom. One 1800mm board was cut to 1768 as the centre divider. The carcass was assembled on  floor with the bottom top and sides assembled first. The storage unit was screwed together with 32mm 8 gauge chipboard screws. The divider was put in next and followed by the shelves. I measured the width of the shelves after the carcass was constructed to ensure accuracy. Two offcuts of melamine was used to space the shelves at 295mm. This saved time as I did not have to measure and mark for each shelf.    On one side I had to use pocket holes to attach the shelves to the central divider. This was not so successful because some of the pocket hole screws pushed through the adjoining shelf. I did this because I wanted a single piece in the middle. I did try an model the unit in Sketchup prior to construction but a pencil and paper was a much quicker way to draw up plans. The unit is now installed and awaiting the arrival of clothes.

By |December 29th, 2016|Categories: Around the home, Furniture, Woodworking|0 Comments
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Baby Chair Repair – Part 3

This is the final part of the baby chair repair. Part 1 focussed on dismantling and stripping the paint off the baby chair. Part 2  was concerned with repairing the dismantled parts. This last part is about sanding finishing and assembly. Sanding is a boring but necessary part of any project. Many YouTube woodworking videos skip over sanding in fear of boring their audience. The baby chair had lots of sanding. I completed the finishing process using cabinet scrapers which always yields great results. I brushed on a water based varnish allowing a day between coats. A light sand between coats knocked the bumps off. I waited for a week to before final assembly so that the finish would harden. I recall reading about this in a Woodsmith magazine a long time ago. The metal parts including the wheels were also caked with years of paint. Paint stripper and a wire brush cleaned up these parts. I finished the metal parts with a two part rust inhibiting paint. A black satin finish sets the metal work off nicely. As with the previous parts there is a compilation courtesy of Animoto.

By |December 1st, 2015|Categories: Furniture, Woodworking|Tags: , |0 Comments
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