• Is there much variation from board to board that some planed well, and now they weren’t?
• How is the grain running?
• Am I getting distracted, and in the process reversing the feed direction, and causing the tearout?
• Should I try a hand plane, and see how the boards behave vs. the planer?
• Have I looked at the planer itself? Blades, speeds, spider webs, gremlins, what else?
• Should I …

The following photo shows what I was dealing with – tearout like I had never, ever, experienced <gulp!…>:

On edge, many of the maple boards showed this kind of change in grain direction – but the DW735 had handled it beautifully, until now! Photo showing change in grain direction on the edge:

Down the checklist I went. A Stanley # 4-1/2 hand plane handled the grain beautifully. Now what? Blades!  Look at the blades on the planer, dummy! In almost 5 years, I had never (ever!) changed the blades. On this planer, the blades are double-edged, and can be rotated. It took exactly 15 minutes to rotate the three blades (each was secured with 8 machine screws). Indexing pins on the blade turret made the job a snap, as nothing more is required to set the blades properly.

Problem solved! The first board off the planer looked like this:

The moral of the story: If you are going along fine, and everything hits the proverbial fan, something has changed. Time to find the root cause!

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—— Al Navas

Please visit the Leigh Industries Specials page for all the details on this deal. And thanks for supporting Leigh – they are one the sponsors of my blog.

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Related posts: Leigh FMT posts on this blog.

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]]> http://sandal-woodsblog.com/2009/07/29/i-almost-missed-it-buy-a-leigh-fmt-by-july-31-and-get-27-fmt-guides-and-bits-free/feed/ 0 http://sandal-woodsblog.com/2009/04/05/time-to-replace-the-blade-on-the-table-saw/ http://sandal-woodsblog.com/2009/04/05/time-to-replace-the-blade-on-the-table-saw/#comments Sun, 05 Apr 2009 12:58:10 +0000 Al Navas http://sandal-woodsblog.com/?p=2378 The findings I report here are based on totally empirical, non-scientific “tests”. I am sure others would have conducted better tests to arrive at the same conclusions; I just could not afford to spend too much time troubleshooting the burning I saw on my cuts.

I have had the Woodworker II on the table saw for most of the last 4-1/2 years. Although the blade still cuts smoothly, recently it started burning the wood a little. This was especially evident when cutting 3-inch glued-up quarter-sawn white oak (QSWO) table legs:

I cleaned the blade regularly; but this time I had a hunch it needed to go beyond another cleaning. I checked alignment on the table saw, without finding anything out of the ordinary. The blade was parallel to the miter slot; and the blade was also parallel to the fence.

To keep from wasting too much time, I decided to install a brand-new blade. As luck would have it, I had received the Cabinetmaker blade from Sommerfeld Tools 24 hours earlier. I installed it, and proceeded to make some test cuts. The first thing I noticed was noticeably less effort in pushing the 3-inch leg stock through the blade. Second, the cut was perfectly smooth, with no burning anywhere:

To my amazement, it took much less effort to make the cut with the new blade. An Aha! moment.

I immediately realized that the Woodworker II needed its first sharpening. As a result, the Cabinetmaker will stay on the table saw, until it needs cleaning and/or sharpening. And, instead of wasting time on another cleaning, I resumed work immediately. Only about 15 minutes wasted, instead of an hour or two.

If, like me, you:

1. Have a clean blade, plus
2. Your blade has been in use on the saw for some time, and also
3. Everything is properly aligned on the table saw, but
4. Are experiencing either a little burning on your cuts, or
5. It “feels” as if you are having to push through the cut a little harder,

Then you probably need to have your blade sharpened. My Forrest Woodworker II is (finally!) being sharpened this weekend.

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A little background is in order. Today I was making a small crate, to ship this prayer bench to a client in the next few days:

I was using the crate-making technique I learned from Peter Galbert’s wonderful blog, Chair Notes. In his Aloha blog entry, Peter described how he uses pine 1X3s to make the Ls for the crate corners; he then uses 275-lb test double-sided cardboard to make the walls.

What convinced me about Pete’s crate-building was a second blog entry he made a few days later – read One for the Books. As his client in Hawaii was driving home, wind blew the crated chairs from the truck. The chairs survived the ordeal unharmed; great creates! Now I really was interested. I contacted him for further details; Peter was very patient with me as he walked through the details of the crate-making process – thanks, Pete!

Fast-forward to today.

I started the old-fashioned way, using pocket hole joinery on the 1 X 3s from the Home Center to make the first of the corner Ls as a test:

Some of the boards were a little warped; holding them properly became hard as I tried to keep the edges aligned. Light bulb in head: Use the Leigh hold-down clamps I described some time ago, in an earlier workholding made easy entry:

By the time I got around to making the second L for another corner, it became much faster to get the pocket hole jig on and off the workbench:

I normally would have used regular clamps to try to hold stuff on the bench. But having nice, easy workholding capability sure makes things much easier!

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One lucky winner in North America (sorry – cannot ship outside N. America at this time). From Page 18 of the Sommerfeld Catalog:

Before now you had to pay high, custom-tooling dollars to get this elegant look on a mitered raised panel. After you’ve made your first set of doors with your new mitered molding bit, your work will be the admiration of all your woodworking friends.

• We advise using Sommerfeld’s Tongue and Groove Cabinetmaking Set with this bit to make your mitered doors. For those of you that don’t have our tongue and groove set, we have the new pro set shown on page 17, which includes all 4 bits needed to create your mitered raised panel door.
• The center-point turning of all our bits ensures that this extra long bit (4“) is perfectly balanced with no run out to produce professional quality cuts.
• We advise cutting 3” wide stiles and rails for building your mitered raised panel doors.
• Detailed instructions for making mitered raised panel doors (are) included in the Cabinetmaking Made Easy DVD.

To register for the drawings, send me an e-mail to sandal_woods@bbwi.net with your name and full address; I cannot accept your entry if it does not have all the information. And please remember that if you have registered for the monthly drawings before, you do not have to register again.

Good luck to everyone!

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Today: 1) Time to apply the first coat of Target Coatings’ EM2000wvx alkyd varnish:

Also today: 2) I fine-tuned the mortise and tenon fit on a test leg made of scrap, glued-up quarter-sawn white oak (QSWO):

Now, some details.

Setting up the FMT to make the tenons – I don’t want to do this while perched 6 feet above the ground, so I do it with the FMT on the workbench:

As a first step, I record all dimensions for the test tenons; this simply makes it easier to tweak the fit:

Just for kicks, I make sure I won’t cut through into another mortise. For this I make a new test mortise, at 90° from the first one, on the face where the other tenon will be – I cut this one, to share with YOU:

Now, to cut a test mortise:

This is my view when I remove the router from the FMT:

I wanted a 1/4-inch reveal from the front edge of the leg – and got it:

Now that the mortise and tenon joinery fit has been tweaked, I turn my attention to spraying the table top.

Getting ready to spray took about 10 minutes. The steps:

1. Filter water into one Teflon®-coated aluminum spray cup, using a Fine paint filter – I will use this water to clean the internals of the HVLP system; I will do it after spraying each of the 2 or 3 coats:

2. Stir the top coat. Satin sheen coatings have a “flattening agent” that settles to the bottom of the can; it must be stirred prior to application:

3. After stirring, filter the topcoat using a Medium filter, directly into a Teflon®-coated aluminum spray cup:

4. Proper application of a finish using HVLP equipment requires careful adjustment of the air flow, and of the material being sprayed. I shoot into Kraft paper I tape to the back panel of the booth:

5. Once I am happy with my adjustments, I start spraying. I am especially careful to fully coat spray all edges, and about 3 inches into the top surface. This ensures proper coverage:

6. As soon as I finish spraying I inspect the surface, to ensure sufficient coverage. The applied spray must be “wet”, and applied at a wet film thickness of 2-3 mils (thousands of an inch); if not, the finish will have a somewhat rough feel. On inspection, this first application of the varnish went well (the final appearance will not be shiny, but rather a nice, sating finish):

Actual spraying took about 5 minutes, followed by about 5 minutes to clean up the spray gun.

Enough for today. After cleaning the spray equipment, I headed to the house, and a wonderful dinner – spinach salad and a few crackers!

Next: Continue spraying the table top, mill the QSWO boards for the aprons, finish milling the walnut blanks for the legs, glue up the legs. Use the Leigh FMT to cut mortises on the legs, and the tenons on the aprons.

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Take a look at the Leigh FMT:

Betsy has had trouble cutting to the line when hand-cutting dovetails. Therefore, she would like to improve the fit, by making sure to better cut to the line. I promised I would try to document how I do it.

I found that using either the index-finger fingernail, or the thumb fingernail, to create a “fence” for the saw, works best for me. Therefore, I first place the fingernail exactly on the line, and then I place the saw on the board (click on the images to enlarge):

Once the saw is on the board, I sight down the cheek of the saw to the extent I can – the back gets in the way, as it is considerably thicker than the saw blade. By sighting down the cheek I get the best feel for the angle at which to hold the saw, thus giving me a good chance at being able to get the angle correctly. Note that the saw appears to be quite a distance to the right of the mark in this photo – THIS is exactly what it should look like:

Keeping my finger nail “fence” in place, and using a very light touch, I start the cut on the push motion (if using a Japanese saw, you must start the cut using a pull motion). Some people refer to this light touch as de-weighting the saw (I think this is the most-used term). This “light touch” also means that you are exerting on the saw *only* the force required to push and pull the saw on the board – no more, and no less.

Once the kerf is established, I remove my finger “fence” and complete the cut while sighting down the cheek of the saw. If the saw is not following the line, I do not try to correct it by steering the saw. It is impossible to do so with a dovetail saw, and it is also not recommended. The best thing to do: Start over.

I am certain that when I first started my hand-cut dovetails practice sessions I was tense, and therefore it was difficult to start the cut on the push motion. And I was amazed at how easy it was once I used as light a touch as possible.

It took me a while to realize this *is* the proper way to be to best cut to the line. With very minor adjustments it is possible to even “split the line” – provided, of course, that the line is wide enough to be “split”.

Edit to add: Dan, at WoodNet, said: The thumb is most definitely the rough cut fence and the index finger for accuracy.

During the Dovetails session at Woodworking in America (Parts 1, 2, and 3), Frank Klausz recommended to “…split the line when cutting the pins; and cut on the waste side of the line – the pins side – when cutting the tails…” Of course, Klausz cuts pins first.

So, Betsy, keep up your practice. And please let us know when you can cut to the line precisely. That will be your AHA! moment.

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As I have mentioned in those previous posts, I have been hand-cutting dovetails every chance I get. I prepared sycamore stock so that it would be at the ready when I have a little (or a lot…) of time to practice. Today I cut dovetails in three little practice boxes, with minimal paring on the pins. Oh – I almost forgot. I made these pins first, a first for me. And it worked great! In addition, I did not mark angles; I learned from Frank Klausz that I can simply start cutting, and lay out the pin pattern by eye.

You can view the entire session given by Klausz right on this blog. Simply click on this link; I split the session into three episodes, for easier viewing, and for ease of downloading.

In the following photo you can see some of the boards, ready to go, on the left of the stack of little boxes I made:

My purpose in learning to hand-cut dovetails: I must make some tiny drawers for a Krenov cabinet waiting in the wings. The drawers in that cabinet will be quite small. These little boxes are close in size to the drawers that will go in the Krenov-inspired cabinet: 2-1/2 inches tall, 6 inches wide, and 4 inches deep.

Today I got a little adventuresome, and added walnut to the mix – and skinny pins on the sycamore boards. I was able to get this one done with a bare minimum of paring the pins. I have not planed nor glued these yet:

I have also been making even smaller boxes, such as the one below, with one large tail on the side boards:

As you may have noticed in the second photo above, I overshot the depth when cutting the tails. The walnut is dark, and I found it difficult stopping at the proper depth – a problem that continues to plague me. So I tried a little chalk on the line, and now the line pops out beautifully:

Here is how I went about making the line stand out we well. First, I mark the thickness of the pins boards on the tails boards with something suitable, preferably a marker with a nice, sharp cutting edge:

Next, I apply chalk to the line marked earlier:

I then wipe off the excess chalk with a shop towel:

NOW I can see the line much better – AND I was able to cut to depth much more reliably:

Maybe it is time to buy a powdered wig, and wear it in the shop during my sessions cutting dovetails by hand. Edit to add: You also will get a kick out of the technique used by Christopher Schwarz. He bought some pantyhose, and stuffed it with whiting and French chalk to mark the pins from the tails. You can read about it at this Woodworking Magazine blog post.

As a big bonus, today I also received my dovetail chisels from Blue Spruce Toolworks – they are terrific! I ordered them from David Jeske at the Woodworking in America conference in Berea a few weeks ago. These helped me pare the pins perfectly, in no time:

Thanks, David Jeske!

I have enjoyed this journey. I hope you get a sense that, no matter your age, you, too, can learn to hand-cut dovetails. I am sure you will be able to do it quicker, and better than I have learned. But I am glad I have learned how to do it. However, I know I must continue practicing, so I am ready for that little cabinet waiting in the wings. It is all about muscle memory.

How do you think I did?

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A group of related posts: Hand-cut dovetails, from my blog.

Why? The bench came with two metal dogs. As a result, I fear I might hit the cutting edge on a chisel, or the iron on a hand plane, on one of the dogs. This became obvious as I started complimenting my power tool work with hand tools. At least one of the hand planes has already kissed one of the dogs…

With time I noticed it got old pulling out one of the dogs when I changed to a longer (or shorter) workpiece, moving it to a new location, and resuming work. The bench is designed such that the dogs can be buried completely out of the way. As I needed (wanted, really) several in a hurry, I could not wait for the mail.

Solution: Make them.

An explanation is necessary at this point: I normally don’t like to make things so that I can then start making things. That is the reason I never built my own workbench. But, in this case, it represented a nice change from hours of editing and rendering video.

Here is the final product (click on the images to enlarge them):

And the reason I wanted to have more dogs on (or in???) the bench, being able to bury them out of the way – an instantaneous disappearing act. Also, note the slight face angle off the perpendicular, which helps hold down the workpiece on the surface of the bench:

How I made them:

1. I used red oak, milled to the same thickness as the stock bench dog, traced out the outline, and cut on the band saw close to the line.
2. Then I used the belt sander to sand all surfaces smooth, and to the outline.
3. Next I create a bevel near the bottom on the inside face – this can be done quickly with the belt sander. I varied this angle from about 4° to 7°, and all dogs worked fine. Your workbench may require other angles.
4. I finally glued up the body to a “spring” piece 1/8″ to 3/16″ thick – if much thicker than that, the dogs may not fit properly in the hole, or may be difficult to insert and remove in the dog hole. About 1-1/2″ to 2″ of long-grain to long-grain glued surface works great, without the need for any fasteners:

Cut the grooves on the face using the band saw – make sure to keep your fingers well out of the way. I used a large spring clamp and a 1/8-inch blade:

I also tried two different patterns on the faces – I have no idea if these differences will give me different results holding the work piece:

Refine the shape on the belt sander:

Now I was finally ready to use the new bench dogs – excuse me while I plane this board – with apologies to The Village Carpenter, as I did not have the roses, or the wine to do this little job:

THAT is all there is to it! I made three bench dogs in about 45 minutes – no ordering on the phone or on the Internet, and best of all, ready-to-use in a short time.

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Woodcraft.com – Over 10,000 Woodworking Products. Leigh hold-down clamps.

In this final episode I share the following tips:

1. Advantage of using router bits with perfectly-matched height.
2. For best results, align router bits with the fence using a straight edge.
3. Practice your router cuts doing “dry runs”.
4. When routing stopped grooves on the router table, use stop blocks when possible for best results.
5. When using a routing pin on the router table, always know which direction avoids climb cuts – this will save you a kickback!
6. Always do a dry fit prior to your final glue-up. It save you much cussing, and is likely to result in tight fit most of the time – unless you mess up something…
7. While on dry fit, measure distances if you need to fit something else within any space. Much better do do it now than to take things apart and having to do another dry fit.
8. Threaded metal inserts might work for you, if you don’t want machine screw heads showing on outer surfaces of a project.
9. Waterlox Sealer / Finish is a wonderful wipe-on finish on quarter-sawn sycamore. You will love it, too!
10. Always take photographs of your finished project, especially if you will publish the project somewhere.

Guess what?

Due to a tight deadline, I never took a photo of the prayer kneeler fully assembled, and with the beautiful cushion my wife made, in place – I had to meet the deadline to submit the kneeler to the church Silent Auction. But our daughter has promised to contact the person who submitted the highest bidder, to request permission to photograph it.

Thanks for following along this build, and for your wonderful comments and encouragement to keep producing this type of project on video.

I learned in late October that the kneeler had sold for close to the estimated retail price, which was most generous on the part of the winning bidder at the Silent Auction. This was truly for a great cause!