WoodworkingONLINE.com

You can sharpen your woodworking skills with helpful tips and techniques from the editors of Woodsmith and ShopNotes magazines. Get a FREE tips sent to your email address each week! Got to Woodworking Tips.com and sign up today.

Here’s last week’s tip from Woodsmith online editor Ted Raife:

The easiest way to make a lidded box is to build the box and lid as one piece and then cut them apart on the table saw. This guarantees that the lid will be a perfect fit to the box. With a little modification, this same technique can be used to make a box and lid that mate with interlocking lips, as shown in the photo at right.

This technique for making a box lid is a little different in that you do part of the job before the box is assembled. A look at the two drawings will explain. To create the lip, you’ll need to cut halfway through the sides from both the inside and the outside. As shown in Figure 1, the inside cuts are made while the box is still in pieces. Remember that this first cut will form the “high” side of the lip.

Once the box is assembled, you complete the job with a second series “halfway” cuts that are offset a blade’s width (¹/₈″) from the first (Figure 2). These cuts are positioned below the first cuts. If you hit it right, the lid will separate cleanly and after a little sanding, you’ll have a snug-fitting, lipped lid.

For more helpful table saw tips and techniques, visit Plansnow.com.

Good Woodworking,

Ted Raife
Online Editor, Woodsmith

Send for a preview issue of Woodsmith magazine

You can sharpen your woodworking skills with helpful tips and techniques from the editors of Woodsmith and ShopNotes magazines. Get a FREE tip sent to your email address each week! Go to WoodworkingTips.com and sign up today.

Here’s last week’s tip from Woodsmith online editor Ted Raife:

When cross-cutting short pieces to the same length, I like to clamp a stop block to the rip fence of my table saw. This block provides clearance between the rip fence and the saw blade so the cut-off pieces don’t get trapped (and kick back). But recently, I came up with an idea that avoids the hassle of fiddling around with clamps. Instead I use a magnetic stop block. It’s just a hardwood block with a pair of small magnetic catches inserted into one edge, see drawing. Note: If the face of your rip fence is wood or aluminum, simply put the magnetic catches in the bottom face of the stop block.

The magnets hold the stop block securely against the fence. And when I’m done, I simply store the block out of the way on the side of the saw cabinet.

Good Woodworking,

Ted Raife
Online Editor, Woodsmith

Send for a preview issue of Woodsmith magazine

At least a half dozen times, I’ve experienced serious kickback while using my table saw. Not once during any of those times though did I feel that I was doing something that was inherently dangerous. I almost always use my guards and push blocks. I take my time to set up my saw for safe, accurate cuts. I’ve even been known to step back and question whether there is a better way to complete an operation that I’m not 100% comfortable with.

And still, I’ve experienced situations that could have resulted in bodily injury.

Once I was knocked on my keester when a workpiece I was ripping pinched the blade and got kicked back into my stomach. (I broke two cardinal woodworking safety rules during that particular procedure.) I don’t remember now what caused the kickback. But I’ll never forget how lucky I was not to have been injured more seriously. (Or the pain to my gut!) But none of us are perfect. Accidents happen and all you can do is hope they don’t happen to you. Right?

That’s why I was surprised while watching a recent segment of TOH, as a trim carpenter made a free-hand cut on the table saw. Frankly, I watched in disbelief as he made the cut and thought to myself, “Man, that just looks dangerous!” Norm Abram was standing there watching and I thought maybe he would say something, but he didn’t. I figured there would be a lot of people commenting about the segment on our woodworking forums. And there is a debate raging over at WoodNet. But, you may be surprised to learn that there are a lot of people defending the practice.

Several people have commented that the practice of pushing a piece freehand past a spinning table saw blade is an acceptable practice by professional trim carpenters. It may be. And the guy managed to make the cut during the show without any problem. But I can tell you one thing….I’m never going to try it.

What’s your response?

There are guys that “trick out” their cars…or motorcycles…with fancy paint jobs and chrome. Why not do the same with the tools in your shop? Wood Werks Supply in Columbus, Ohio is giving you the opportunity to order a customized Powermatic table saw.

To quote Wood Werks Supply:

“This won’t be just any saw. We start with the award winning Powermatic PM2000 10″ table Saw. We’ll Blanchard Grind the top, add the reliablility of an American Made Baldor® motor, then install your favorite accessories. You’ll decide exactly what color it will be, and we’ll finish it off by prominently displaying your name on the front of your perfect saw.”

Create and order your customized Powermatic PM2000 here. I created the one you see in the photo here with just a few clicks. It’s got a 3hp, single-phase motor; paint colors to honor the OSU Buckeyes; and a cast iron extension wing with cast iron legs.

If you’d like to find out more and join in on the long-running discussion over on WoodNet, click here.

It’s been a rough week. Sunday night, I was in my shop working on a small project. It was nearing dinner time and my wife stepped into the shop to inquire about my plans for dinner. I was in the middle of resawing a small workpiece. I knew she was standing there, so it didn’t startle me. But something happened to the workpiece and in a split second it kicked back with a loud bang. I instinctively shut the saw off and reached for the workpiece.

Then I saw it. The workpiece was not the only thing I was cutting. The end of my right thumb had somehow come down directly on the spinning blade. I hadn’t even felt it.  Yet. My wife saw the whole thing happen.

The end result after some microsurgery is a shorter thumb without a thumbnail. I’ll spare you all the gory details. The prognosis for a full recovery is good after some physical therapy.

But what I have left to deal with now are all the questions. And anger and blaming myself for letting it happen. I haven’t been back to the “scene of the crime” since it happened. I suppose I’ll have to face up to it here in the next day or so.

I lay awake at night second-guessing myself. Not believing that I’ve been woodworking for over 30 years without serious injury.  The full range of emotions and “what-if” scenarios.

I’ve already wrestled with the 100 different ways I could have accomplished my goal that night. And what I should have done differently. The constant blame game you play in your mind.

But that’s behind me and life must go on. My point of telling my story is that you should always listen to that voice in your head that says, “Perhaps I should do this another way.” For that’s exactly what I was thinking precisely one-half second before I permanently injured my thumb.

A sure sign that your table saw blade needs attention is when it becomes difficult to push the workpiece through the cut. Or when the shop fills full of smoke as you try to cut that piece of maple.  That’s what happened to me in my continuing saga of saw blades.  I mentioned in this post that I had a couple of blades that needed sharpened. Now I’m not so sure.  I spent some time the other evening working on them with an old tooth brush and Boeshield Blade and Bit Resin, Pitch, and Gum Remover.

In ShopNotes No. 96, we had an article about Choosing and Using Bit and Blade Cleaners, including home-made cleaners.  A number of folks wrote in to tell us that some of our ideas were crazy or that their solution worked better.  We’ve had suggestions from oven cleaner to Formula 409. I say, use whatever works for you.  For me, I tend toward the commercial cleaners.  Our guys here in the shop seem to like CMT’s Formula 2050 Blade and Bit Cleaner.

Whatever chemical you use, chance are you’re going to need to use a little elbow grease, too.  As a matter of fact, it took a couple of applications of cleaner while I was busy scrubbing the residue off of the teeth.  I had the blade on several thicknesses of old newspaper and sprayed on the cleaner.  After scrubbing one side clean, I flipped the blade over and worked on it.  That left all the crud in between the teeth and on the face of each tooth.  Here, I stood the blade up, sprayed on some more cleaner, and worked my way around the blade with the toothbrush.  A little wiping with a rag removed the last of the residue and cleaner.

You’ll be amazed at how your blades look after a good cleaning. I inspected mine closely and couldn’t find any chipped or dull teeth. But it’s hard to make that judgement on looks alone.  I’m anxious to make a few test cuts and see if I need to take the next step and actually have them sharpened.

When I packed my shop to move from Columbus, Ohio to Des Moines, I just wrapped all my table saw blades in newspaper and stacked them in a box.  I didn’t take time to sort out the ones that needed sharpened and the ones that probably should have been discarded (I hate throwing out saw blades).

So when I finally set up shop in my two-car garage, I was using the same saw blade in my table saw that I was using in Ohio. It was a Signature Series blade made by Oldham. I’ve been very happy with it. But lately, I’ve noticed it was pretty dull.  So rather than send it out for sharpening just yet, I thought maybe it was time to step up to a premium blade.  Of course, the Forrest Woodworker II has ruled the roost in saw blades for many years.  I’m just old enough to hate having to spend $120 on a saw blade.  I’m used to the good old days when you could get a decent blade for less than $40.  But I’ve also been reading a lot of good things about the Freud Premier Fusion blade.  Now, it’s not inexpensive either (around $100), but I needed (er…wanted) a new blade. 

So I went to the Woodsmith Store to buy one.  I met up with Dave Larson, the store manager.  He proceeded to tell me an interesting story about the Freud Premier Fusion blade.  He said that blade has been around for about ten years and was just called the “F410″ and was a nominal seller.  Then one of the woodworking magazines did a review of it a few years ago.  Sales started to climb.  Freud realized they had a winner on their hands, put into motion a massive marketing campaign, and named the blade the “Premier Fusion.”  Their web site now lists it as the P410 (for the 10″ blade).

So I bought the Freud Premier Fusion and brought it home.  I put it on my 10-year old Craftsman table saw.  I was favorably impressed.  Crosscutting red oak left an extremely smooth surface.  I grabbed a piece of melamine particleboard for the ultimate test.  Again, the cut was nice and smooth and the top edge of the cut line was nice and crisp with no chipout.  There was just the smallest amount of chipout on the bottom edge, but hardly noticable.  But I did notice something curious.  I compared the tooth geometry on the Freud Premier Fusion with the Oldham Signature Series blade.  They looked strikingly similar.

Well, I’m in the middle of trying to clean up and reorganize my shop.  So I grabbed the stack of saw blades I had moved from Ohio.  In it, I found a barely used Freud Diablo blade with the gold coating.  Still sharp.  And I found a CMT fine cut-off blade.  Hmm…I forgot about that one.  But it needs sharpened.  So I’ve got the two blades that need sharpened plus the one that’s like new.  I guess I really didn’t need to buy that Freud Premier Fusion.  But I’m not going to return it, either.

My 7-year old, Alex, was really proud of the picture he drew for Mom. It had little animals made from a rubber stamp. It had an ocean made with blue crayon. You could tell he put a lot of effort into it. After Mom gushed all over it, he turns to me and says, “Dad, can we make a frame for my picture?”

That was about a month ago. We were getting ready for a vacation trip at the time and my time in the shop was pretty limited. I kept putting him off, knowing in my heart of hearts that I’d better work with him on this as soon as possible or it would be another “lost opportunity.”

Read the rest of this article »

Well, I finally got a solid weekend to “piddle” in the shop. It felt good after several weeks away.

Restore an Old Grinder. The first thing I did was restore a hand-cranked grinder similar to this one pictured here. It was made in the early 1900’s by Luther Grinder Manufacturing Company out of Milwaukee. It’s a “Best Maide No. 1551″ with a “Dimo-Grit” wheel. (You can view a 1920 catalog here.) I had to disassemble everything, clean off the rust and old paint, repaint each part, reassemble, and add oil to the “crankcase.” I’m not sure if I’ll actually use it to sharpen anything, but it looks great and works like a charm! I was actually quite surprised at how well it worked. Read the rest of this article »

Get ready to spend some time in your shop this winter building these great projects. 

The Mobile Planer Stand is just the ticket for giving your portable planer a permanent home. It provides plenty of extra storage space and its outfeed support makes working with long stock a breeze.  And while we’re at it, we’ll give you a step-by-step approach for tuning up your planer to create perfect boards in a short time. Read the rest of this article »