I’ve been making frames from moldings for years, but my usual methods failed to be up for the challenge of mitering three and a half inch wide moldings.
Somewhere in the past I had used this method and forgotten it.

I just use bits from the scrap bin, a couple of straight pieces and a couple of 45º triangles to make up the blocks clamped onto the moldings. That gives me a place to clamp directly across the miter.
This method doesn’t require clamping the moldings to the bench or in any kind of fixture.

I found that wood screw clamps work best for me to fasten the blocks to the moldings and a Bessey Duoclamp across the miter to pull it together. I think this allows me the greatest clamp pressure.

Don

The method, however, requires that both ends of the piece be in contact with the rip fence all the way through the cut.
With most tablesaws and fences this won’t work. I needed an extra long fence. Of course, a good straight 2×4 would do, but what I had on hand wasn’t perfectly straight. What I did have, though, was a steel stud (2×4), the kind used in framing buildings.

I clamped the stud to the ripfence and, voila’, I now had an adequate length to do my taper method.
By the way, the steel stud can be clamped to the ripfence from it’s side lip, so there’s no problem with the clamp getting in the way.

I also use the metal framing stud as a long straight edge when breaking down sheet goods.

Don

I’ll have to partially disassemble the chair to deal with loose joinery. But nothing is broken.
The client wants it refinished and to have the upholstery restored.
I think it will be a spectacular item if we get all that done, but first I want to identify it and authenticate it.

I’d be grateful if any of you are familiar with the kind of chair. A rocker with the animal paws on the front legs is a new thing to me.

Don

I got the idea when I saw another woodworker show how he sets his adjustable miter guage. I use a Wixey Digital Angle Guage to do it.

Here;s the link to my YouTube video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldqCQTVP-a8

Next time I want to make a short video that shows my method for checking the table saw fo accuracy.

ddwwb

What to do?

I needed something strong and stable, good and flat, but something I could get out of the way after a day’s work. It also needed to be light enough for me to handle. 50 years ago I wouldn’t have much trouble with heavy parts, but now, its definitely an issue.

After quite a lot of modeling in SketchUp, I settled for a design that uses light parts, most of which are fabricated with .5” plywood. The top is a torsion box.

Here’s a link to the video I made to show how it works.

http://www.youtube.com/user/TheDonbutler?feature=mhee

ddwwb

The other day, though, I was disappointed and a little ticked off with Dremel.

I needed to cut some holes in our ceiling for pendant lamps and after trying with other tools that raised a storm of plaster dust I decided that the multimax tool woul be less messy.
So I bought one of their fourteen buck straight cutting blades for drywall and wood.

While cutting the second hole I noticed a serious slow down in cutting and shut down to have a look at the blade.

The teeth were gone.

No, I mean REALLY GONE!
There was no sign of teeth ever being present on the blade.

Now, if it had cost a buck or even two it might have gotten up less of my ire. I have 10” table saw blades that cost about the same price and I’m still getting good service from them.

Unfortunately, Dremel doesn’t show a feedback link on their site. If they had this might have remained a private matter between Dremel and me.

I still like the Multimax and will use it as before, but I don’t think I want to spend any more of my Social Security check on those DRMM422 blades.

ddwwb

I did this image in SketchUp to be certain it was as clear as I can make it.

The jig straddles the ripfence and has a replacable push finger, shown in red, that shoves the work into the saw blade. The image shows the main parts of the jig in green and a finished cut piece on the other side of the blade.

This configuration also keeps the cut pieces well away from the fence so no kickbacks can occur.

Rather than continuously moving the ripfence after each cut, the jig keeps the work spaced perfectly and produces exactly the same thicknesses time after time as long as the workpiece is held against the side of the jig.

I recommend the use of a ‘push stick’ as a way to hold the work piece when it starts to get smaller, just to make sure your fingers stay out of trouble. I use this jig to make strips for anything that requires a number of pieces the same width.

ddwwb

ddwwb

dhb

Well, as I was reinstalling my programs, Word Perfect, SketchUp, CorelDraw Graphics Suite, and such, I came across a little problem I had never seen before.
I inserted the installation disc for CorelDraw and closed the tray. In normal fashion, it autoran and displayed the opening screen where there were buttons to let me choose which action I wanted to perform.
Naturally, I clicked on the Install button.
The computer did a full shut down and restart.
“Huh!”, I thought, “I must have absent-mindedly pushed the power button instead of the tray close button”, I thought. They are only three inches apart on the tower.
So I did it again, making sure I didn’t press the computer’s power button.
Bang! It did it again.
Stupidly, I tried again, thinking it had to work. But it didn’t work.

And then Corel tech service taught me a trick I didn’t know and I thought it might be a good tip to pass along.
They told me to insert the CD and then close the opening screen.
They said, go back to the desktop and make a New Folder on the desktop.
Using Explorer, I was to find the CD and copy the entire disc to the New Folder.
!!!
That took about a half hour. It’s a lot of data.
But then, when all that was finally done, I was told to open the New Folder, which opens a little version of explorer, and find the install.exe file and run it.
Huzzah!
Master! It lives!
I renamed the folder CorelDraw Install and moved it to another place on the drive so it wouldn’t take up space on my desktop.
So that’s the story of just one small part of the work I had to do to get my computer back in operation.
I’m sure some of the things I did were kludgey. I never had this experience before in about 25 years of working on and with computers.
My Commodore VIC20 never had a problem like that!

dhb

Right up front, let it be said, I have never managed a lumberyard.
But I’m certainly no stranger in management, having managed business all my long life and continue to do so.
The main subject is plywood quality with lumberyard management as a subtext.

Plywood Quality

Yesterday I called a lumberyard that’s only a mile or so away. It’s an old family concern and they’re my neighbors, since we live in a community with only one traffic light. I needed some plywood for a set of cabinets I’ll be building for our library.
The library isn’t as grand as the mere word implies. It only a set of floor to ceiling cabinets along one wall, around the corner and along the short wall with a door in it. The room is actually our living room, so things are getting tight.

But I digress.

I wanted plywood grade A/C which would give me at least one side of fairly good surface and it’s the best grade carried in this yard. I’d like to get something better, but that would involve shipping with the addition of truck charges.
I had ordered three sheets of A/C from this company a year ago and had to send them back because they were severely cupped and had unacceptable flaws in the A side. Since then I had been assured by the manager and an employee who lives right across the street that it was a fluke and they would have nice, flat plywood from now on.
Well, they have free delivery and I’d rather buy from my neighbors, so I gave it another try. I only needed two sheets. “Surely”, he thought to himself, “they could find two flat sheets!”.
On the phone I cautioned the owner’s wife that I was building cabinets and they’d have to be flat. She assured me in confident tones that it was not a problem.

Huhhhhhhhnnnnn.

The poor driver, arriving at my shop was apologetic and asked me to look at them before he unloaded them. They looked like they had been left out in the rain. They were buckled and cupped and the edges only touched the truck bed in one or two corners. I said it wouldn’t do and since I was painting these cabinets, I wouldn’t worry about the ten or fifteen plugs in the A face, even though that just didn’t measure up to the grade. Could he find flatter stock with more repair plugs?
The guy said he’d go back and see what he could find.
He came back with two more and I didn’t even have to go to the truck to see how badly they were distorted. I told him I was sorry to cause so much trouble and asked him to take them back and have them adjust my bill.
Later last evening I went to the big box store ten miles up the road and found a stack of plywood with the A side so pretty it needed no repair plugs at all and the C side was almost as nice, except it wasn’t sanded as all “A” face plywood should be.
It was ten dollars a sheet cheaper than the unacceptable wood my neighbor was selling!
I guess I should have let my fingers do the walking!

And Now, the Subtext

Selling anything to the public requires management skills. Having the right goods at the best possible competitive price is paramount to keep a good reputation in your community and in your industry. In the past, I worked for quite a few retail businesses and a few industrial firms in the capacity of management and purchasing. I know how hard it can be to do those jobs. But I also know that one must do the job well or the business will suffer.
Disappointing one customer can lead to the loss of other business. The worst part is that a manager never knows how much is lost because the customers who go elsewhere usually don’t announce their departure. They just go.
I wish I could buy more from my neighborhood lumberyard. They have nice #2 lumber and the quarter inch Luan is good enough, but when building paint grade cabinets I need good plywood.
They also don’t carry MDF (medium density fiberboard). They suggest particle board.
I wouldn’t build a chicken house with particle board!

One day, soon, I’ll write about Left Brain versus Right Brain management.

Don

http://zuzutop.com/2010/08/amazing-pencil-carving-art-by-getty-dalton/

Another thing that popped up was this Japanese site with pencils carved, just in the wood, leaving the lead inside untouched.

http://www.infofreako.com/jad/pencil/2kikko-e.html

I’m blown away by this work, but I don’t think it’s a useful skill.
It is, however, ART.

Don

by Don Butler
7-29-2010
The current project in the woodworking shop is for a street rod (no, really) which was originally a ‘37 or ‘38 Chevy pickup truck. Now what would a woodowrker do for this street rod?

The owner/builder wants a black walnut floor in the bed of the truck.

And it’s a fussy and odd thing because of the way the rear axle and wheels fit into the body. The tires are humongously wide and they’re entirely under the truck and fenders. So, there is a big wheel well right across the truck bed, dividing the floor in two parts. the front is shorter than the back by about 4 inches. The boards, six across, are tongue and grooved and the end boards are under cut on the edge so the boards will fit in without scraping the bed sides.

Aluminum strips fit over the joints between the boards and the bolts that fasten the boards, through the strips goright through the joint between the boards. Thin, shallow grooves accomodate the downturned edges of the aluminum strips. They not only cover the joints, but the act as slide strips to keep cargo off the wood. There are also trim angles that will go along the sides, fastened only to the bed sides.

OK, I think that describes the job, but there are other considerations, which some of you no doubt, have already thought about.

Metal and wood are not especially ideal marriage partners. They are so dissimilar by nature that you have to think ahead so the marriage doesn’t get into trouble at some future point in time.

This job, about 45 inches wide, will expand/contract almost a half inch between August and January!

So, I’m really glad we’re doing this in August, not January.

I still want to watch it next winter to see that nothing crazy happens when the humidity drops.

It’s a good thing this client lives and works right across the street from me!

Best regards,
Don Butler
Aug 14, 2010

Hunhhh.

Sorry, I couldn’t help myself.

Don

It is in the nature of we humans to be curious, and I flatter myself by including myself in the group.
So, I’m wondering about we LumberJocks, as to the number of us who consider themselves serious photographers and how many would like to become serious.

The question is a good one because we show one another what we do and how we do it with photographs. If we have good photographic skills and a smattering of ability in editing and at least a basic knowledge of how the pictures are shared on the Internet the sharing becomes a nice experience.

Of course that leads me to wonder other things.

What kind of equipment do we use to take the pictures?
Digital cameras, of course are the way to go, but are some of us using cell phones? How about basic, shirt pocket sized aim and shoot cameras? Perhaps some of us use some advanced technology. What size digital files do our cameras produce? 8 megs? 10? 12? Bigger?

And then I wonder about what some pros call “post production” manipulation. That means the programs that we use to crop, size and adjust in various ways our digital images.
Microsoft Paint? Paintshop Pro? Photoshop? Gimp?

Wondering can sometimes get me in trouble, starting quarrels over the details, and I sure hope this wondering doesn’t do that, but the subject is important. The quality of our photographs can be of help in selling our woodworking.
You wouldn’t mind selling some of your work, would you?

What this is all about is this. I’m trying to start a dialog in which we can help each other become better photographers.

So, how do you do it?
Take pictures, I mean.

Let’s talk and grow.

db

It was a strange experience, finding myself in what I used to think of as the Older Generation. In my childhood and youth I was taught to respect older people. These days, it’s getting harder and harder to find them.
My point, though, has to do with my surprise at finding myself defending and promoting new technology to younger people. I thought the Younger Generation would be ‘up’ on new ways to do things. Much to my surprise, I’m finding that resistance to new technology isn’t the sole property of the Older Generation.
I appear to be guilty of faulty judgement.

Contest Between Old and New Technology

I was employed in a technology firm where I had my work station next to an electrical engineer. We were working on a joint project in which he was Team Leader. He proposed the project and I worked on details like hardware layout and wiring. The details were hashed over in a meeting and then I went to work on my computer to produce drawings for his approval. After a while he looked over and saw the CAD drawing on my monitor and snorted. “Huh? What’s wrong?” “You’re wasting a lot of time on that computer. I can do that job with paper and drafting tools in half the time!”
Of course, I was tempted to defend my work by pointing out the great detail and precision in the drawing, but I decided to challenge him to a race, instead. “OK, lets test that theory! Get out your board and Tsquare. I’ll clear the screen and start a new page. When you’re ready we’ll start to draw a simple box of given dimensions and a few holes in certain places. You set the sizes and start the clock. Are you up to the test?” He readily agreed to the race and gave the particulars which I noted on scratch paper. When he had his pencil, triangle, compass and whatever on the desk and taped the paper to the board and said, “I’m ready when you are”. After about four or five minutes I asked, “How are you doing?” “Good! How are you doing?” “Done.” “What?! Lemee see!” I was done. All the dimensions were there, all the necessary views and the bores where he specified. Moreover I had the full border and title box drawn and filled in with details. He had barely blocked in the three views on his drawing. “Now,” I said, “Let’s go to revisions. Finish your drawing and I’ll wait for you. Then change some dimensions and we’ll see who gets done first.” My point was made without going further. The next day he asked me to set his computer up with a CAD program.

Not Everybody Can Be Convinced

In the past months I’ve been learning how to use a new three dimensional drawing program. It’s a completely new experience, but unbelievably capable of drawing 3D objects, rotating around, in, out, over and above. The most minute details are easily modeled and dimensioned. In short, for me, it almost entirely replaces 2D CAD unless we’re talking about flat objects like maps.
I use it for my woodworking projects almost every time. It’s like building a model first and then doing the real thing. Going out to the shop without doing this first just doesn’t happen anymore.
On a woodworker’s Internet forum I frequent, whenever the subject of this program comes up there’s an obvious wide split between those who like it and those who hate it. I think the ones who hate it haven’t given it enough practice and time. One doesn’t learn to drive a car in one day, so why would they think that learning a highly technical 3D drawing program would be a snap? Every one of those who love it have given it much time, realizing that the learning curve is steep and long. They use it often and keep learning. It’s how you learn new things, isn’t it?
Rarely is anyone in the ‘nay’ camp swung over to the other side. I think some are intimidated by the difficulties and are disappointed when the program fails to produce the expected results the first time. I don’t think there are very many who did well on their first technical drawing on paper!
I’m finding people my age who don’t like computers, cell phones, GPSs and anything technical. But I’m also finding lots of young people who have the same dislike for new things. They may be good at texting their friends and playing video games, but seem strangely unable to learn a serious technology like building a website or using 3D drawing programs.

Where do you fall in this divided subject? I’d be very interested to hear more from you about whether new technologies help you or not. Email me at don33butler@gmail.com or you could PM me if you’re not into doing email.
I wonder if I’ll get a fair sampling, though. The very act of blogging is part of a technicality and those who are on the other side won’t even see this.

But it would be good to expand my thinking. If you know a “techniphobe”, would you read this to him or her and send me a note on what happened? lolfotf

Thanks.
Best regards,

Don

Sigh.

The trouble is this: I have too many things going on at once and I rarely have time to stop at the end of a project and make it look like a workshop instead of a dumpsite.

The sign job is done but its tracks are still visible.

The job for the streetrod builder across the street, truck bed panels in black walnut for his latest marvel, has walnut pieces stacked and strewn where they aught not to be. I keep telling myself I’ll take care of them, but it seems like the end of the day arrives while there are still things glued up and in clamps or finish curing on something – and some other matter demands my attention, so I move the work to the most convenient, if not the most ideal, place in the shop.
So at night the stacks of walnut slabs are stacked on the tablesaw.

I’ve been making use of the walnut material to make small items like rings and buttons from the walnut cutoffs because I can’t bring myself to put them in the box where I put things for my neighbor to burn in his campfires. I know I shouldn’t be so anxious about the fate of these things, but I always feel like I’m dropping money down a bottomless well when I discard beautiful little pieces of good hardwood.

And then there’s my pet, non-paying project. I want to have a large, wooden camera that looks like the studio cameras from the early film camera days. Only I want it to be built so my little digital camera can be its beating heart. A turning resembling a short but large diameter lens barrel has on opening deep inside, behind a plain glass front where the lens barrel of the digital camera sits.
Of course, that requires special mounting arrangements so the digital camera can be secured squarely and enough room to operate it.
The fake lens barrel is painted bright gold and the inside, between the glass cover and the real camera lens is matte black.
With that nearly complete the main body parts are taking shape. A lens board of oak with walnut surround, big enough to give me room to stick my head under the black cloth and see the digital screen and enough room left over for at least one hand to operate camera controls. Then a larger main camera body of oak and walnut will complete the illusion. I’m also tinkering with the idea of an authentic looking studio tripod with ess shaped legs and big wheels.
Perhaps some way and depressing the shutter button from the outside of the camera, too.

So the picture, to advance the photo theme, emerges, an old man with too many projects and ideas and not enough time and space to deal with them neatly.

I’m going to do something about it soon, I swear!

I just don’t know how.

Another deep sigh.

What’s that, honey? I haven’t finished the project in the living room?
There’s something you want me to do for your website? OK, sweetheart, I’ll be right in.

There may be a treatment for my condition, but I don’t have time to look for it.

Maybe it’s under that stack of drops by the mitersaw.

But, about Chop Saws.

I’m pretty sure it got this misnomer in the building trade. Some guys use it just like that. To chop 2×4s and rafters.
CHOP!
Job done.

But I have one, too.
But I never call it a Chop Saw and I NEVER use it like that.

Slashing a twelve inch blade, running at full speed, through a workpiece can absolutely ruin the piece.
It can also be dangerous.
The off-cut can be picked up by the blade and thrown out to who knows where. Hopefully not back in the operators face or fingers.
Even if it doesn’t result in some disaster, it leaves a nasty, ragged cut that needs more time to clean up.
The time spent in lowering the blade into the work slowly, instead of a hurried CHOP, is well spent.
So is the time spent waiting for the blade to come to a complete stop.

So, that’s my rant for the day.

Oh, drat!
I think I just broke my soapbox!

Tootles.

Don

Believe me, I’m one of the worst offenders!
At first I hung tools on the walls on nails and screws.
Easy, quick, yes, but as the tool inventory grew, as it must, that ceased to be useful

Drawers always seemed to be a good way to store things, and I have many drawers, but what’s in them? Clutter and dust.
How can a closed drawer accumulate sawdust?
I thought my central DC would eliminate most of the dust.
But then I forgot, not putting a lot of forethought into the problem, that there are some operations for which the DC didn’t work as well. Breaking down sheet goods with a circular saw, for just one example.
So, somehow, some of that dust gets over to the drawers and when I pull one open, ahh, dust.
And the clutter, of course.
I might have designed each drawer with special fitted compartments so each tool would have a specific place.
But then, I ‘d have to have even many more drawers, huh?

Another mistake I made in designing tools storage was my router bit tray. I didn’t want to put them AWAY away (not handy to the work), so I built the tray as a slanted shelf on the nearby wall.
So what was wrong with the design? It seemed to be a good arrangement.
Until I started loading bits into it. The I discovered that a half inch bit with a half inch shank would fall right through a half inch hole. Argghh. Start over dummy, and this time make sure the straight bit holes would have bottoms.

Having the accessory tools for the table saw near the table saw sounded like a good idea, too.
But, once again, the inventory grew and it was increasingly difficult to have everything close at hand.
You see, I like sleds and jigs and I make quite a few, each having a specific purpose. But they aren’t like Allen wrenches or screwdrivers. They’re clunky and oddly shaped. They need a special means of storage.
The only thing left to do, short of storing them in another room on shelves, seemed to be UP. Hang them overhead, said I, high enough to be out of the way and low enough to be accessible.

How’s that going, you may ask?
Well, it’s a work in progress.
I had a problem with the roof last winter and some of the ceiling had to be taken down, so all that arrangement is being redesigned.

We’ll see what we shall see.

And then there are the clamps.

Let’s talk about that another time, shall we?

As a designer of tool storage, I’m still on the first, steepest part of the learning curve.

Best regards,

Don