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I
have ripped the sides, front and back to 3 1/2". The final measurement will be
3", but I wanted to allow for possible tearout when cutting the dovetail rabbets, and
I want some extra width for cutting the front — more about this in a minute.
Here, I am marking the backs of each board. You can see at the right, there
is one small knot which barely shows on the other side, so I will place it on the inside
of the back. For the most part, this is very high quality wood with no bad spots to
consider.
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I purposely left the
dovetail bit at the height that it was when I cut the dovetail grooves in the legs. Now, I
am using a scrap of wood to adjust the fence to zero (the bit just brushes the block.)
Once set, I move the fence exactly 1/8" on the scale. I will make the first rabbet on
both sides with that setting. From my test run last week, the rabbet was a bit over
3/16" on each side. Making this rabbet in two passes will make the cut easier and
will reduce the chance of tearout.
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I use my shop made
jig to hold the piece securely against the fence. I was hoping to do two pieces at a time,
but the jig was narrow by about 1/2".
Fact is, doing all four pieces, both ends and both sides, took only about 5
minutes.
Then I adjusted the fence 1/16" and made the final cut. As in the test
last week, it took a bit of nudging with the micro-adjust knob to get an exact fit. Once
perfect, It took another 5 minutes to make all the cuts again
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To make the rabbet cuts at
the haunches, I was able to clamp all four pieces together. A couple of passes, and I was
done.
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Time to get back to
the table saw and cut the pieces down to final widths. I do like the way the Incra TS III
is easy to switch between stations — and the stops are very accurate. I have not had
to recalibrate the fence to the blade since I first set up the system — that is good.
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Before I go further, I
will say that I did remove the blade guard so that you can see these cuts.
Earlier, I said that I would explain the cutting of the front. I want to have
two side-by-side drawers in the front, so I will rip the bottom rail (1/2"), the
2" drawer section, and then the top rail (1/2"). Ripping and keeping the pieces
in order allows the front piece to keep the original grain orientation. Remember, I cut
the piece wider (3 1/2") to allow for the kerfs and a bit more.
Here I am cutting the bottom rail. I am using the pushstick that I made. It
is exactly 1/2" wide and rides the T-tracks in the Incra TS III fence. I don't like
narrow cuts, but this setup allows me to keep control over the stock all the way pass the
blade.
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Having set the fence to
2", I start the ripping of the center drawer section. I will cross cut
this piece a little later when it's drawer making time.
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My last cut is the rip of
the top 1/2" piece. Part of what makes ripping safe, is to have a sharp and clean rip
blade, a perfectly aligned fence, a polished table top and firm control of the stock all
the way through the cut.
(Note: I will admit that what I am missing is a good splitter with
anti-kickback palls. I will remedy that soon.)
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Thanks to the accuracy
of the Incra fence system, I end up with a front that is a total of 3" wide. The
pyramid markings allow me to keep the pieces in the right order. By the way, you are right
that you can barely see the cuts — that is a sign of a good ripping setup.
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I reset the fence to
3" and cut the sides and back. Note that the dovetail haunch is against the fence. I
don't want to cut that off by mistake.
Well, that is where I will stop with this project for this week. But we did
start another project - the Standing Bar — a fun project that uses the SuperStation
and more.
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