Woodworking thread

[beelzerob]

It probably won't affect the resale as long as you do a neat job. You are going to do a neat job, right? ;-)

Hahah. :lol: Only if there is a fence I can run that dremel wheel along. I wouldn't consider anything I've ever cut with a dremel to have looked "neat" once I was done with it. Hopefully a steady hand will end up with a straight enough line that I can then sand the remaining edges down. Like I said, I'll post a pic when I get the nerve to do it and you guys can see if maybe there's a better way to do that.

None of the trees here have sentimental value (VALUE, yes...just not sentimental), so that removes that reason for doing it. I guess the entire thrust of the idea was "Hey, that's neat". Heh. And at this point, I think I've been wisely talked out of bothering with it. AT THIS POINT. If I were to get serious with it, I'd probably have to think about getting the riser section for the grizzly too so I can saw larger logs. And the "years down the road" thing doesn't bother me so much. It'd just be nice to have onhand for some kind of gift project. I guess I'll hold off on my ideas until we get to falling some more trees, and then I'll give it a shot just to see what I think. My wife is already pronounced a death sentence on a couple ones so her garden can flourish.

Ya, I had heard about acclimating the wood first (mainly in regards to wood flooring), and I seem a natural at that. It's not unusual to buy the wood (and tools and parts and etc) and then let it sit for MONTHS before I actually do anything.

 

[mdesmarais]

It probably won't affect the resale as long as you do a neat job. You are going to do a neat job, right? ;-)

Hahah. :lol: Only if there is a fence I can run that dremel wheel along. I wouldn't consider anything I've ever cut with a dremel to have looked "neat" once I was done with it. Hopefully a steady hand will end up with a straight enough line that I can then sand the remaining edges down. Like I said, I'll post a pic when I get the nerve to do it and you guys can see if maybe there's a better way to do that.

Sure, use the tablesaw fence. Just add a block of wood to attach the dremel to, and slide it along.

On lumbering, the real problem is that any log with a respectable size board in it weighs in the low hundreds of pounds. Which is why many of the small mills move along the log rather than vice-versa.

Ya, I had heard about acclimating the wood first (mainly in regards to wood flooring), and I seem a natural at that. It's not unusual to buy the wood (and tools and parts and etc) and then let it sit for MONTHS before I actually do anything.

Pssht, I have projects WAY older than that. ;-)

 

[beelzerob]

Well, I wasn't looking to get any "respectable" sized boards out of it. I think the most ambitious idea was to make picture frames out of our wood. So we're probably talking 2 ft long, maybe 4" wide and 1" thick, max. I like the idea of having a stack of small boards all dried out and ready to use for some project that comes to mind.

 

[apostolakisl]

Cutting wood from your own trees is so Robinson Crusoe! I think you will find that you will make one thing that way and never do it again. But you will feature it and tell everyone about it and be all super proud and your wife will think it is cute.

Maybe you can take the wood to a local mill and have them kiln it for you so it doesn't all warp on you when you start cutting it.

I do know that here in Austin someone had a gigantic 6 foot diameter 100+ year old tree get blown over in a storm. I think it might have been Pecan. Anyway, he was able to get that tree processed into good lumber. Probably it was worth a lot of money.

 

[oberkc]

So, for all the reasons mentioned, perhaps the thing to do would be to locate a mill near where you live and have them generate the boards from your logs. It won't be as cheap as trying to do it yourself, but cheaper than buying rough-cut wood from someone else's tree. Plus, you could have it cut in any way and in any dimensions that you would like. I understand quarter sawn produces nice results.

 

[beelzerob]

Hmmm...I think my skill level at this point barely makes good use of a standard Lowes 2 X 4, so I'm not even approaching the point yet where I even *know* what good wood is. We definitely don't have any 100 year old trees here, or really anything other than hickory. I don't know if that makes a good crafting wood or not...I just know it smells like BBQ when I cut it with the chainsaw.

My skill could probably handle the boards I'd end up mangling out of the band saw from a log, but I'm not at the point yet where it'd be worth going to a saw mill. BUT...that is a great suggestion, should I ever come across a tree of some value, as I am sure there are lumber mills around here. Definitely something to keep in mind.

 

[beelzerob]

Here's the mitre slot on the table saw.

There's a total of 6 places where those tabs overhang the mitre slot. The mitre gauge is shown so you can see how it fits in the T. The mitre slot is otherwise U shaped.

So, still think dremelling them away is the best approach? Should I remove the table saw top from the rest of the saw before doing that?

 

[brotsten]

You can also build the sled to use the side edge of the table as a guide.

Brian

 

[mdesmarais]

If you want to remove them, grinding would be the fastest. I would not take the top off the saw to do it unless you know someone with a machine shop that can do it for you.

With that layout, I'd be tempted to make make my sled rails have a little section missing- then you could drop it in and still take advantage of the locking.

 

[beelzerob]

Ya, but I figured then I'd only be having the bottom of the mitre slot as my stability for the sled, not the entire slot. I'd have to mount the sled on the top of an inverted T....that just didn't seem as stable.

I'm about to order some featherboards too, and I was wondering how often I would find those tabs interferring with where I'd want to put the tabs.

I don't have a grinder, except for the cute little grinder wheel on my dremel. so it's that or the cutting wheel.

 

[judge_l]

I've got a router attachment for my Dremel.... something like that would help keep it square.

 

[mdesmarais]

Ya, but I figured then I'd only be having the bottom of the mitre slot as my stability for the sled, not the entire slot. I'd have to mount the sled on the top of an inverted T....that just didn't seem as stable.

Not following. . I would make the rails look just like the ones on your miter gauge, then remove a little piece that is as long as the tab- line up the removed section with the tab, and the rail will drop into the slot.

I don't have a grinder, except for the cute little grinder wheel on my dremel. so it's that or the cutting wheel.

You really don't get this do you. . .

I just need a little angle grinder- what? Of course I'll use it for other projects!

Every project that nets you out a new tool is a GOOD project. ;-)

 

[beelzerob]

Not following. . I would make the rails look just like the ones on your miter gauge, then remove a little piece that is as long as the tab- line up the removed section with the tab, and the rail will drop into the slot.

Ok, I see what you're saying. That would make it a lot easier to use the sled with the slots. I guess overall though I'm just not seeing the value of keeping the sled from lifting up. It's not like that's ever an issue for a crosscut sled..it just seems more likely that the tabs will get in the way. I notice that none of the table saws I see the "pros" use in their crafting videos have tabs in the mitre slots.

I just need a little angle grinder- what? Of course I'll use it for other projects!

Every project that nets you out a new tool is a GOOD project. ;-)

Hehe...ya, I actually *did* think of that. I could probably make a good case for it as I had to use my saws-all to remove some metal off a trailer and I mentioned back then that a grinder would have worked just as good. Hmmmm.... I have to weigh this against a possible future request. You have to space these out good or she catches on.

 

[beelzerob]

Man, I'm so bummed. I was getting all eager to spend my $50 certificate I got from work at Amazon and get a pair of featherboards, and probably a nice dial caliper too (could have used that to measure the mitre slots!). Amazing how hard it is to find a simple dial caliper anymore, they're all those dumb LCD displays now...

Then I find out my certificate can't be used at amazon. Rats! The closest thing that I could use it with is Northern Tool and Equipment. They have the featherboards there, but they're $5 more than on amazon, and without free shipping! So I'd be wasting $10 just to use the $50 certificate!

Grumble. man, that's the last time I do good at work!

 

[beelzerob]

So, a weekend was spent liberating room in the basement. It had been primarily storage and kids tricycle/bicycle arena up to now. But I had come to the conclusion that the garage was not going to be sufficient for having the kind of room I wanted to play with my woodworking toys. *grumble* And this was the garage I built out of frustration because our *last* garage was too small. Oh well.

We're now debating the space we're going to allocate for this workshop. Among the questions I have to answer is....what is the likely longest piece of wood I'm going to want to work with? Is it *likely* I'll be working with whole 4 X 8 pieces of plywood? I will still always have the garage for cutting pieces down to a manageble size with the circular saw. I just can't imaging putting a 4 X 8 piece across the table saw....with that much material I'd just think the precision of the saw would be wasted.

I have to know if it's important how I orient the table saw, drill press and band saw so that I can get a really long piece in there.