Thread: The Adirondack Trio

Diana,

1. The bevel ripping guide can cut at 30 degrees.

2. I would try cutting the timber curves with a jigsaw first before rushing out to buy a bandsaw. Cut outside your saw line and finish of with your orbital sander. A bit slow but gives great accurate results. Careful of the dust that it creates and regular cleaning of the sandpaper with a crepe stick is needed.

3. I don't think you need the planer attachment. With a good saw blade (what number of teeth does your sawblade have, if it is less than 40 for a 9 1/4" blade get a better one) and rounding over the edges with your router is all you need. In any case you can set up your router table to clean the edges of cut timber as well.

Finally good luck with your project, I have recently built 3 of them and will be making a few more at the Men's shed where I work. They seem complicated but are really easy to make. If you have any problems let me know and maybe I can help you.


Peter.

If you have a few of the same curves to cut you could make a template. use the jigsaw to cut close to the line, then using the template and router to trim to the line.

Hope this hasn't given you more questions. Good luck and welcome

bpj1968:
The template idea is a good one if you have many curves to cut.

Sturdee:
Number of teeth isn't an indicator of saw quality. I know you may not have meant that but your post implies it.

Diana:

Very good post. My you've spent some money haven't you ? I'm not sure what style of furniture your trying to build, and be aware fancy furniture isn't my thing. The only arty bone in my body is totally occupied with music, so I'm not into decoration

With that in mind hopefully the following will be of some use.

A circular saw either hand held or in the table is a very good way to make straight cuts, either perpendicular or bevels. You probably already know it doesn't do curved cuts well Generally fewer teeth are for ripping as the large amounts of timber removed fill the big gaps between the teeth. Higher tooth counts come with smaller gaps so these can clog when ripping. Conversely higher tooth counts give smoother finish, often quite smooth enough to joint right off the blade with no planing or sanding. When doing this along the grain the cut is less than the blade width, so teh blade is running exposed on one side, not buried both sides in teh timber. This ensures the waste can get away and not clog, and it lowers the load on the saw. I've done quite a bit of jointing with the circular saw fitted with a 60 tooth blade. You'll get about 60 mm cutting height on the triton (maybe more on yours), but if you flip the work end to end and run it through again you essentially double the cut depth to 120 mm or so. As I said before get everything square, set up some featherboards, think through the cut and set up so you stay well away from the blade. Practise before switching the saw on. Be careful, the table saw can really hurt you. Don't get wound up about it. As I said any felxible thing clamped somehow to push sideways ahead of the blade, plus some other flexible thing to push down. Once you'd got it right you can make your timber square flat and smooth up to 120 mm square all on just your saw.

Second problem is curved cuts. With the right blade a jigsaw can do very good work. Sometimes it's a bit slow. Don't force the saw through the work, just guide it with a little pressure, be patient. If it gets hot stop, let it cool, and consider trying to clean the mechanism at the front of the saw. Dust gets in there. Just be patient, consider buying a blade that suits the job at hand, jigsaw blades aren't very expensive.

The router does many jobs well. There is some overlap with the other tools you have, for example a router makes a great jointer and you can buy bits up to 3" high. The high speed makes a smooth surface, but because it's supported at only one end you have to make light cuts. Again the cutting depth can be doubled by flipping the work. The idea of roughing out with the jigsaw, making a template from 3 mm mdf, and finall cutting via a bearing guided flush trim bit or straight bit plus template guide is a very good one. You will be surprised how quick, clean, smooth and accurate it is. Obviously the router also profiles.

You should have more than enough equipment to make your furniture. I'm afraid I can't be much more help than that for now at least. Hopefully there will be more responses. Good luck!

Originally Posted by damian

Sturdee:
Number of teeth isn't an indicator of saw quality. I know you may not have meant that but your post implies it.

I'm sure we both agree on what is a good saw blade.

Recently I was helping a newbie set up a Triton workcentre who had a generic (cheaper than GMC ) saw with a 24 teeth blade and he wondered why it wasn't cutting cleanly. Hence my question.


Peter.

HI,
Thank you so much for your information guys on my blades and router. My first day with my new timber was indeed eventfull. As you recommended I went to bunnings and bought some new blades for my jig saw. Cutting 5" spotted gum on a curve was indeed a slow process and the sawdust was covering my lines, the triton dust set up on my jigsaw table did nothing, so I had to keep taking off my mask to blow the dust away. Then I got a paint brush and stopped cutting to brush the dust away.
When I got my first piece cut, I took it over to my brand new sherwood oscillating sander, it did not oscillate. I called WA and they informed me to disassemble it repack it and send it back, to repairs or replacement.
Today I will disassemble my sander and call the courier and then go back to cutting my timber.
Not happy Jan.....LOL

Welcome Jan. I'm a new chum too (despite my age!) but I've learnt more on these forums in a few weeks than I ever imagined possible. I'm sure you will too.

Funny! Get your yellow pages ad in!

Did you try a fast wood blade ? 5" spotted gum curve cuts aren't going to be fast on anything, but if the curves aren't too tight the really coarse "fast wood" blades from bosh are ok. SG is actually one of the harder eucalypts so it's even harder to cut than some other gum trees

Regarding the dust, run a vacuum cleaner hose up to the blade. You can either use a rigid piece of vacuum stem ? hose ? duct ? and sticky tape it to a support some distance away so it hangs out in space over the cut but not in your way, or make an arm to support a floppy bit. If you have something to point it down, like a small brush head, all the better, other wise cardboard and sticky tape. It's can be inches away from the cut and still suck up nearly all the dust. The other option if your vacuum cleaner can also blow is to rig it that way, that will certainly keep the dust off the lines

Bugger about the sander, must be very disappointing.

Diana

I have read some of your post from other threads and know that you are new to wood working. I too am new to wood working of sorts. I have built some items and these turned out ok but these were done using simple tools. Not until recently have I been able to purchase machinery that will square up my wood prior to starting a project.

Any how what I am trying to say is that I have always wanted to do wood working and now I am doing more. I am doing this for fun and have always enjoyed making things. If I make a mistake and cut something wrong example too short. I start again.

I think again of what I did not allow for and fix that of what I did wrong. Thinkness of the blade is a good example.

What I am trying to say is that you will make mistakes. That is fine and expected. What you do not want to do is make a mistake that will cause a physical problem to ones own body. So be careful when doing something with machinery. That goes for everybody that includes beginners and experiences wood workers.

I love the suggestion of roughing out with the jigsaw, making a template from 3 mm mdf, and finall cutting via a bearing guided flush trim bit or straight bit plus template guide is a very good one. I spent hours yesterday sanding out my cuts, then when I went back and read your advice the router sounds fantastic. I will go and buy some guided flush trim bits plus template guide. sounds at lot more accurate that when I am doing. I did get a great finish on my piece yesterday but it took me 7 hours for one piece. This way I will get my chair for Christmas..lol
I have come up with a real problem, the back rest needs to be cut at 30degree curved cut. My jig saw does not cut on an angle it is only the 650 bosch, so really need a band saw I have read the threads and it reads that Jet 17inch is a good buy, Carbatec have some on the website with a large table 18inch blade and 5 year warranty, what are your thoughts? I intend to make 6 of these chairs so I will indeed use the band saw. Where would you go to buy the router bits that I need? and what brand? Thank you again guys for this wonderful help, without it I dont think I would be in my garage finally making my first chair. this is sooo exciting.
Have a wonderful day
Diana

A template guide is a ring that attaches to the base of your router and presses against the template, guiding the cut as the name suggests.You use a normal straight bit in the router. A flush trim bit with bearing has the bearing against the template, doing the same job. So you don't need both. The kit for the triton routers are about $40-50 depending on which triton router you have and which kit you buy. A flush trim bit with bearing often comes in router bit kits. Ebay has cheap ones. More expensive router bits usually leave a better finish and have better balance, but as with anything in life you don't necessarily get what you pay for. No doubt in the router section bit quality has been discussed so you might get some pointers there if you search the threads.

Bandsaws are pretty expensive. I can't remember if the triton jigsaw table accomodates tilting, if it does there are plenty of cheap tilting jigsaws for $20 or whatever. Get one that usues the same blades as your bosch. Otherwise you could make a jig to present the work at the required angle. A piece of board cut to a 30 degree wedge under the job might work.

It is generally assumed that most of the consumer tools we buy come out of the same factories. Jet claim they have QC inspectors at the factory, carbatec generally give better service than hare and forbes, although you'll always get opinions on that. Anyway for the equivalent machine jet are usually most expensive followed by Carbatec, Timbecon H&F. There has been a lot of debate about the relative merits of the machines offered by different suppliers. I don't think you'll get a conclusive answer on the value for money front nor which one to buy. If you definitely want to get a bandsaw read back through the bandsaw forum section for opinions on different models. It has been discussed a lot there.

Hope that helps.

Dear Damian
Thanks for this information. I have decided to just upgrade my jigsaw which will give me the bevel edge and a little more grunt. The band saw is too expensive so I will stay with your advice . I have picked up the router guide that you suggested it was 42.00 and I have a straight bit that you said to buy with the bearing at the bottom to follow the template.I bought a carba bit. With the piece of timber that is 30 degrees I cannot use the router on the template can I? with the bevel edge it wont work will it?
I am thinking of clamping the piece of wood to my workbench then free hand sawing with the jig saw set at 30 degrees do you think I will get into trouble?
Again Damian thank you for your help

An alternative to the 30 degree is to use a hand plane. Mark a line 1/2 the width of the timber from the edge. (this allows for 30 degrees, using Sine of 30 - Trigonometry at school wasn't a complete waste of time)

Then using your hand plane remove the timber between the line and the other corner.

Similar could be done with a jigsaw to rough then sand etc.

With the router on the round bits, make sure that you cut in the direction of the grain, or you will cause tear out - pic 2

Originally Posted by diana

I have come up with a real problem, the back rest needs to be cut at 30degree curved cut.

Seeing that it is to be a curved cut (I presume this is for the back rests) I would rough cut it with a jigsaw and then sand to the line with your ossilating sander, when it is repaired.

The ossilating sander is an ideal tool for this as you can set the sanding table at the required angle for this. I use it a lot and is one of my favourite sanders.

The base of most jigsaws can be adjusted, maybe not to your angle but close enough or a cheap extra jigsaw can be purchased before getting an expansive bandsaw.


Peter.

Well I actually said buy one or the other but never mind. You'll probably use both for different jobs.

Now, just to be clear you don't cut with a router. It is possible but I advise against it. Cut close to your line with your jigsaw then clean up. As mentioned above the oscillating sander is a good solution for this problem but given yours in in for repairs you need another solution.

The hand plane presents 2 problems. If the curve is concave (the inside of a circle) you can't get a normal plane into it. You can plane a convex (outside of the circle) curve with a flat sole plane but doing so brings us to the second problem, you'd need a bit of experience and skill to do it successfully. As I mentioned before I'm hopeless at woodwork and avoid anything that requires skill as far as I can. I don't mean to criticize you but assuming your new to this you probably don't have those skills either.

It would be possible to set up the router and work at a 30 degree angle and do it that way but it would be fiddly at best and dangerous at worst.

So if you don't want to wait for your sander I'm going to suggest another way. You may not like it.

One of my favorite woodwork tools is the cabinet scraper. This is simply a rectangle of spring steel with a hook rolled on the end of it. If you look online there are plenty of nice websites explaining what it is, how to sharpen and use it. There is some learning involved, but the cabinet scraper is a good substitute for a plane and sandpaper in a dazzling array of situations, so good in fact you can just about do without planes and sand paper altogether.

One of the cheapest sources of scrapers and the burnishers to hook them is Mcjing's

http://www.mcjing.com.au/

click on new arrivals, their website can be a bit hard to navigate.

It's more money, and you will rarely see me recommend people spend money.

6" straight 0.8 mm $8
burnisher $18
and if you want to splurge the wooden holder $22.

It's one option, but if I were you I'd consider working on your other parts until your sander comes back.

2c.