How to Select Table Saw Blades: Beginners #2
- Read Time: 2 mins
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THE most important part of a table saw is the blade. You can get great saw cuts on a mediocre table saw that has an excellent blade, on the other hand, a really good table saw with a crappy blade will give you just that ... crappy cuts. If you are going to spend some good money on something in the workshop table saw blades is the place to do it. There is a place for poor blades, they can be used if you are cutting up wood for the wood stove, or maybe even making a fence, or hacking up shipping pallets, but if you are a woodworker, and you want good cuts you need to have good blades.
In this video we show 4 of the most popular saw blades for woodworkers and describe their uses and what makes them unique. With the information presented in this video you will be able to make wise choices in selecting table saw blades that will do the job you need.
You can't always rely on price to purchase good quality blades, but in most cases you can. There are some anxious retailers who either don't know how to price table saw blades, or they are perhaps a bit aggressive in their profit margins when pricing their wares. It is up to you, the woodworker to know what you need, and how to select better quality blades.
Presentation Box for St Patrick's Day
- Read Time: 5 mins
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I was asked to make a "quick and easy" presentation box. I'm not exactly sure what that means, so I simple set about, with the objects that I had, and made something suitable. I was give a bottle of spirits and a couple of Irish Coffee wine type glasses. Rather than simply make a box that these would be hidden in, I wanted to make something that would make them stand out, after all, it is a presentation of some sort so the box or case would should have some kind of a wow factor. After measuring the glasses, I knew the approximate size and I had an idea in my head that I wanted to try out. I wanted to make a small mini 2-door display box and lucky for me I had just received a box of veneers from Oak Wood Veneers.
This is the first time I have seen their veneers and the quality is simply outstanding. More on this later ... for now I needed to make a carcass or box that fit the spirit and glasses, and that when transported would not crash around and break.
Because this is a smaller box, I opted to us 1/2" maple material that I had on hand. The box would be approximately 14 inches square and 4 inches deep, and because there is a fair bit of weight I decided to use box joint corners to make sure the structure was good and solid.
How to Use a Table Saw: Woodworking For Beginners #1
- Read Time: 2 mins
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In this video we begin our series on videos for beginners, with basic instructions on how to use a table saw safely. With the help of a little bit of trick photography for the title page, we go on to show proper table saw setup and usage.
To start of with, you need to make sure the saw is set up properly. ALWAYS, unplug the saw to disable power to the motor before doing any of the fine tuning and adjustments that might need to be done. Table saws can come out of alignment with all the use and vibration, so they need to be checked from time to time, and if you have never done this, now is a good time to start. First, check to make sure the blades is running parallel to the mitre slot, next the fence also needs to be exactly parallel to the mitre slot.
If you have a Riving Knife or Splitter with blade guard, you need to make sure that these are in perfect alignment with the saw blade. If they are not, you may need to purchase or manufacture shims to adjust the positioning. I use brass sheets from the metal store, they are not expensive and last for ever, but any thin metal will work, you may need a few of different thicknesses to accommodate different blades.
Easy Build Wooden Quilt Rack
- Read Time: 3 mins
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Most woodworkers, even causal ones, are often looking for projects that they can make a little bit of money on, if only to help pay for wood and other supplies. This great little quilt rack is one of those items that could be turned into a small part-time cottage industry.
There are thousands of quilters all over the world who need to have a place to store and display their works. This quilt rack is easy to make, looks great would be a perfect addition to any bedroom's decor. Especially attractive in guest room, where quilts or even spare blankets, towels and such could be stored.
The rack that we built was 12 inches wide by 32 inches high and 32 inches wide. There are no firm sizes for quit racks so you can build what ever works for you. The only thing we really want to do is to make sure that it is sturdy and that it won't in any way mar the quilts. In our case ...
Ridgid Oscillating Edge Belt/Spindle Sander
- Read Time: 3 mins
- Hits: 15441
Sanding is not my favorite job, but I learned a long time ago that if you want a good finished product your have to put the time in on sanding ... sad but true. Like any true woodworker, in order to lessen the amount of time I need to invest in a chore I hate, I went out and purchased a power tool to make the job quicker, easier, faster and even less dusty (I think). To be honest, I have been looking at this tool for a few years and for one reason or another have always found an excuse to pass it up. I know when I first started looking at them the price was much higher that the price I finally paid so that will have had some bearing on it. I finally saw this sander on a sale for a price I could not pass up, now I am sad I didn't purchase this years ago when I first stated looking at them.
I haven't used a spindle sander in many years and had forgotten how handy they can be, and I happen to have a couple of belt sanders and hand unit and another that is permanently attached to a board that works ok, but with the Ridgid, I now have the added affect of oscillating, which speeds up sanding creates less wear on the belt in on specific area.
The sander is very well designed with the front even able to drop down to various angles which means sanding at critical degrees is not only possible, but easy. I liked the dust port in the back too, anything that will help pull the dust away is useful, and the port is out of the way. By coincidence, ....
Making Mini Computer Speaker Boxes
- Read Time: 6 mins
- Hits: 15506
Making speaker boxes isn't anything new, many woodworkers have been doing this for years but in most cases they have been making BIG speaker boxes for LARGE stereo systems. In out case we are going to make small speaker boxes for ... oh, a computer, MP3 Player, an iPod or iPad, a Tablet or even an iPhone if you have the correct adapter. The ones that we made sound at least as good as the the ones that we used as donator speaker boxes, and they look good enough that you can put them out in public and now have to apologize for plastic speakers.
So! the first thing we had to do was to find a suitable set or donator speaker boxes. We wanted something small and of course they needed to "powered speaker", that is, they either needed batteries or a small transformer wall plug to power the speakers.
Of course your BIG speakers for you larger stereo systems do not need to be powered, there is more than enough juice in a full blow stereo system to power the big speakers. We found our donator speakers at a yard sale for, I think about $3.00 There are TONS of these little speakers around some with and some without the transformer plugs, but even if you get one without, you can still get a transformer plug to drive the speakers rather than using batteries all the time. The advantage with the ones that take either batteries OR use the transformer is that you can use these, with batteries, at the beach, at the cabin, hiking, canoeing or whatever.
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