Dave called to tell me that he made a Shop-Built Mallet we featured in ShopNotes 95. He said he really enjoyed the article and was especially tickled and surprised when I told him I wrote it. He said he had a little trouble planing the resawn stock to thickness. Here’s what Dave said about the project:

“The mallet was fun to make and was a challenging project. One problem that I encountered was that the double faced tape did not work out very well because it continually got saw dust in it. So, what I did was put a ¾” board on the planer table and ran the thin pieces through on top of this board. That seemed to work out well.”

Dave also commented that he really thought the simple resaw pivot block for the band saw was a great idea. He built one and used it for this project.

Thanks for sharing, Dave.

I ran across this column by Burt Prelutsky on Townhall.com. In it, he gives a rather humorous account of his fear of changing tires, heights, and “tools with moving parts.” He recalls:

“In the seventh grade, I was required to take woodshop at John Burroughs Junior High. In order to make a bookend, it was necessary to employ a band saw. This, in case your life has been one long strawberry festival and you’ve been spared being introduced to this Satanic device, is an electric blade around which you manipulate the piece of wood you’re sawing. In case you still don’t get the picture, your hands are in extremely close proximity to this totally malevolent moving blade.

“If you’re still wondering why I have this terrible dread of electrical tools, it’s probably because I neglected to mention that our instructor, Mr. Bailey, was nicknamed ‘Fingers Bailey,’ and it wasn’t because he had more digits than your average Homo sapien, but because, all told, he only had four, maybe four-and-a-half of them left.”

He goes on to talk about how he has learned to avoid his fears and the fact that he hasn’t touched a band saw in fifty years. 

That’s too bad.  What contribution might such a creative talent made to the world of woodworking?  One can only imagine…

When I first saw the steel gray and black paint scheme I was reminded of another manufacturer of woodworking machinery. That may have been done on purpose, but I doubt it. They made no secret that quite a few of the people working for Steel City formerly worked for the competition, including Delta, Powermatic and Jet. But they’re not out to copy anyone. Their goal is to offer quality machinery without all the gimmicks.

When asked what it is that they hope will set them apart from the competition, the answer was — service. All of the tools are backed by a full, 5-year warranty and they promise to deliver the best customer and technical service and support possible.

From what I could see, they’ve made a good start. Look for more on Steel City Tool Works in future editions of Workbench magazine.

THE TABLE TOP

With the legs completed, I switched to working on the top. I started by gluing up three pieces of 4/4 (13/16”) stock so it was big enough to get a 24” diameter circle out of it, see Fig. 33.

Fig. 33

Note to you “Eagle Eyes:” Yes that is another leg being glued up in the background of this photo (Fig. 33). I figured as long as I had everything all set up I would build an end table for the family room as well.

Once the glue dried on the top, I used a belt sander, hand plane, and random orbit sander to get both sides flat.

Next, I mounted my circle cutting jig (from Woodsmith No. 51) onto my band saw, see Fig. 34. (Yes, I know, that’s an old-school band saw! Once again it is an original. It was the first band saw owned by Woodsmith magazine. I bought it from the company at an auction. So it has some historical value, but I love it! I can switch blades on and off this saw and readjust it about ten times faster than most of the modern band saws.)

Fig. 34

Then I drilled a small hole in the bottom of the top blank to fit over the pivot point on the jig and cut the circle about 1/8” oversize, see Fig. 35. I cut it oversize knowing that the band saw would leave a rough cut. Then I trimmed it up with a router and router trammel, see Fig. 36.

Fig. 35

Fig. 36

Then I rounded over the top and bottom edges with a 1/8” roundover bit in the router, see Fig. 37.

Fig. 37

After final sanding, I signed and dated the bottom of the table top, and applied four coats of General Finishes Arm-R-Seal Oil & Urethane Topcoat to both sides of the top, see Fig. 38. (Note: I always sign, date, and write down the location where I built all of my projects. Hopefully, my great-grandchildren will appreciate it some day. Okay, that’s assuming I have great-grandchildren!)

Fig. 38

I topped the finish off with a coat of Briwax paste wax, rubbing with #0000 steel wool, see Fig. 39. After it dried, I buffed it with a soft cloth.

Fig. 39

The last step was to locate and screw the leg assembly onto the bottom of the table top. I positioned the leg assembly and measured it until each leg was equidistant from the edge and then marked the hole positions with an awl. Finally, I drilled small pilot holes and then screwed each leg down with a flathead woodscrew, see Fig. 40.

Fig. 40

COMPLETED!

Fig. 41 below shows the end table in place in our house. It’s remarkably close in appearance to the original photo of the cardboard prototype! About the only thing I might change is the thickness of the table top. Since I used 4/4 stock, it ended up just about ¾” thick. It might look a little better if I had used 5/4 or even 6/4 stock.

Fig. 41

Cathy decided to display some of her glass collection on the table, see Fig. 42. (Hmmm, it leaves less room for my lemonade!) There is one problem though. If we don’t move the glass collection occasionally, it will leave marks on the cherry that haven’t started to darken. You can see a square light spot in Fig. 43. (This would be really prominent if it was a doily!) But I’m not too worried. With the glass removed, this square will “catch-up” in darkness to the rest of the table before too long.

Fig. 42

Fig. 43

One final thought. If you’re wondering whether I have drawings with measurements available for this project, the answer is “not at this time.” Terry Strohman, the editor of Woodsmith magazine has shown some interest in maybe using it sometime in the future. But until that time, get out some cardboard and make your own prototype to fit your needs.

MAKING THE BENDING JIG

In building the table, I figured I would start with the most difficult part – the legs. And since the legs were to be relatively thin (1”) I decided that the strongest way to make them would be using a bent lamination technique. This involves gluing together a number of very thin, flexible strips and placing them in a bending jig to dry.

So the first step was to build the jig. I found some old exterior 3/4″ plywood left in the attic by the previous homeowner and decided to use that. Something like MDF (medium-density fiberboard) probably would have been better, but hey, “ya use what ya got,” right? Anyway the plywood worked fine.

I started by laying out the full size dimensions right onto the plywood. For a smooth arc I drove in three nails and then bent my aluminum yardstick around the nails. Next, I drew along the yardstick with a pencil. Then I opened up my compass to 1” (the thickness of the legs) and ran it along the yardstick to draw another line exactly 1” from the first, see Fig. 6.

Figure 6

Finally, I measured and drew lines on the jig perpendicular from the edge of the jig to indicate the top and bottom of the legs.

Once I had the leg drawn, I glued and screwed another piece of 3/4″ plywood under the first so that the finished jig would be 1-1/2” thick. Now I cut along the lines with my band saw, see Fig. 7. Of course I didn’t cut right on the line. I left room to sand up to the line.

Figure 7

Note of caution: You might assume that you can just cut one line and you would have a perfectly matched mold. That won’t work. The two arcs are different and you have to allow room for the leg to fit between them. So the waste (between the arcs) is actually the final shape and size of the leg. You might want to save the waste piece as a reference later.

While sanding I noticed that there were some voids along the edges of the plywood pieces. I filled these with wood putty and sanded them smooth. (This is not a problem if you’re using MDF.) When building a jig like this, the surfaces don’t have to be perfectly smooth and the arc perfectly consistent. The thin pieces of wood in the legs will bridge over small gaps, but try to get them close.

One other thing I did at this point that saved me a lot of hassle later: You’ll note on Fig. 7 above that I labeled the “BOTTOM” and the “TOP” as well as drew some reference arrows to show how the jig should fit together. Since I didn’t want a perfect arc (the center point is closer at the top of the table than the bottom), these reference lines and words proved valuable later during assembly of the laminated legs.

Next, I cut a third arc roughly 3” parallel from the outside one. This would allow a place to fit smaller clamps directly in line with where the pressure should go.

With all of the cutting done on the band saw I switched to the drill press. I drilled a series of 1”-dia. holes, about 3/4″ inside the inner form, see Fig. 8. These holes will accept clamp heads during glue-up.

Figure 8

The last step in building the jig was to screw the inside piece down to a 3/4″ plywood base, see Fig. 9. (Note: I did NOT glue this piece down. Later I wanted to be able to remove it and use it for cutting the legs to length.)

Figure 9

The only thing left to do was to wax up all of the jig parts so that glue wouldn’t stick to them. Now I usually use a little block of paraffin wax to do this, but this time I decided to try using some Pam cooking spray instead, see Fig. 10. It wasn’t such a good idea. The cooking spray came off the jig and soaked into the outside pieces of the leg. I had to use mineral spirits and do some sanding to get it all off. My advice: just coat the jig really good with paraffin before every use. (Note: Paraffin wax is available at most local craft supply stores.)

Figure 10

Continued on Wednesday, July 26th.

Yesterday, while researching the “…Best Woodnet Forum” post I found a link to Steve Cooley’s blog. A quick scroll down to the categories section on the blog led me to his posts on Woodworking. It turns out he’s a big fan of ShopNotes and recently built the lathe from Issue No. 73.

But, because of my interest in green woodworking, I was really drawn to this link on Steve’s blog to Gary Katz Online. Gary’s web page had some great pictures he took at the Hull-Oakes Sawmill. Gary goes On the Road and finds great places for virtual visits, like the Lummis Home and others.

You won’t believe the size of the logs they can mill at Hull-Oakes. Here’s a look at the huge band saw blade used to rip the logs to size. And the crosscut blade used to cut them to length. Pretty amazing.

Doug’s answer was a band saw and he gave his reasons why in a seminar later that spring. Here are his reasons:

Doug: I’m often asked by new woodworkers, “What woodworking machine should I buy first?” Of course, I usually recommend to start with a table saw for the first stationary tool, and a router for the first handheld tool. They are truly the heart and soul of a home woodworking shop.

But, if I was told I could only have ONE machine tool what would it be? For me, that’s an easy one. I’d pick the band saw. Here’s why:

1. Resaw. The band saw is the only common machine tool you can use for resawing wide pieces of wood in one pass. (Resawing is cutting thicker wood into thinner pieces.) The maximum width you can resaw on most table saws is about 3-1/2”. A typical 14” band saw will allow you to resaw at least 6”-wide pieces. This is perfect for cutting book matched pieces. I’ve even resawn pieces as thin as 1/64” to use for veneer.

2. Curves. Ever try to cut a curve with a table saw? You can cut a curve with a scroll saw, as long as the wood isn’t more than about 1” thick. And I’ve had some bad experiences with handheld jig saws. The blade tends to wander and bend. The band saw is the perfect tool for cutting curves in all kinds and thicknesses of wood. And by changing the blade to a narrower width, you can make very tight turns. I can cut a radius the size of a pencil eraser with a 1/8” blade, and can actually make a 90° turn with a 1/16” blade on my band saw.

3. Stretches the Imagination. I consider the lathe and the band saw the two tools in my shop that allow me to be creative. Most other tools (table saw, jointer, drill press, etc.) are designed to cut or drill only straight lines. You are limited to working with designs that are built around straight, angled, or beveled lines. Or building some kind of a mold (such as when bent laminating) to produce curves. The band saw is much more free flowing. Lines can be straight, angled, curved, or any combination of those. I recently visited a gift store and saw a wide variety of band-sawn boxes. They were all made by the same craftsman – and all were very different. The famous woodworker James Krenov once wrote: “Of all my machines, the band saw has done the most to help me use wood the way I really want to.”

4. A Precision Tool. Most people consider a band saw a rough-cutting tool. They would say it’s a “get-it-close-enough” tool that must be followed with a lot of sanding, filing, or planing. But most of these people probably haven’t spent the time to tune up their band saw. Using the right blade is the first trick and making sure it’s very sharp is the second. If it’s tracking straight and positioned correctly in relation to the side guides and thrust bearing, a band saw can be a very accurate, fine-cutting tool. Creeping the fence over a hair will trim just the tiniest bit off the thickness of a tenon. Or sneaking up on the final fit of a dovetail cut on the band saw is pure pleasure. For me, it’s a much more controlled cut than I could get with a hand saw or chisel. In some ways, it’s a “motorized hand tool” that allows you to be intimate with your work.

5. Does It All. Probably the main reason I would take my band saw with me on the deserted island is quite simple: It does it all. There isn’t another machine tool in the shop that crosscuts, rips, resaws, cuts curves, bevels, miters, joints, cabriole legs, cones, collapsible baskets, marquetry, and with the addition of a jig will cut a perfect circle, a duplicate to a pattern, and a whole lot more. You can’t do all that on a table!

So, if my shop ever catches on fire, my band saw on its mobile base is the first thing you’ll see me grab on the way out the door!