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With the wood
resting on a roller stand, setup for help at the infeed, Beth places a featherboard so
that it applies slight pressure on the board just before the blade.
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Before you jot an email off to
me, I will apologize for the Exaktor Overarm Guard not being in use. We have swung it out
of the way so that you can see what is happening.
Do note that the splitter is in place and that Beth is standing to the side and is
wearing eye and hearing protection.
A CMT 24-tooth, anti-kickback design, rip blade is installed. It makes smooth
cutting of this heavy plank.
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A few minutes later and Beth has the 5
strips we need for the clock cases. Keep in mind, that she moved the fence after each cut,
using the blue 5/8" marks on the Incra TS-III template.
The alternative would have been to set the fence at 1/2" — not a
rip cut that I would recommend for a beginner, or anyone. This is clearly the better way,
and the results are extremely uniform. You can't ask for more than that.
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I cannot tell a lie — I had
to retouch the background — the adjoining room was such a mess.
This picture motivated Sal and me to clean the room. We also needed it clean
so we could finish the bar.
Beth runs the cherry strips through the thickness sander with 150 grit paper
installed. It takes about 15 consecutive passes to bring the boards down to the 7/16"
we were looking for.
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Just a few more passes. The CMT blade
left very few saw marks. When I first said that "now we get to sand them all",
Beth thought is was sandpaper and manual sanding time. She really liked running the
pieces through the thickness sander.
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With the saw unplugged, Beth changes to
the CMT 40-tooth, "General" blade. It is not thin kerf. While I enjoy using some
of the thin kerf blades, I think the standard blade allows less flexing during cross
cutting. I do use a single stabilizer on all blades.
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I have to admit that for many
years, I did not unplug the table saw when changing blades . Then it dawned on me that it
was important to do so, and that if I hung the cord over the hook that holds the wrench, I
could unplug and re-plug in the same bending operation. It is the safer way of doing
things.
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Beth is now marking the approximate
lengths for each box. Each ripped piece will give two boxes and about 6 inches of waste.
She now is looking for the best grain pattern and for defects that she wants to avoid.
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Since we want the grain to
"wrap" around the box, Beth marks slant lines, or witness marks, so that the
pieces can be re-oriented correctly after they are shaped.
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This close-up may give a better
view. The four blocks are those cut for the prototype and are used here to aid in the
positioning of the white orientation lines.
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A reader asked a few days ago, "are
you ever going to use the Incra Miter Gauge, now that you have the sliding table?" I
said, check the site this coming week.
It is the ideal tool for cross cutting small parts.
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