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Picture frame trainwreck

2K views 17 replies 10 participants last post by  ArtMann 
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
Hi Everyone,

So for context, this is the first thing I've ever made. New saw, new everything. Bought a 2×4x4' of S4S red oak from Menards and am attempting to make this frame. As you can see I managed to burn the wood pretty thoroughly (new Freud Fusion TK combo blade on Dewalt DWE7491RS saw). Could have been my feed rate (being my first-ever cuts I wasn't trying to break any speed records), or something else. I did spend 2 days setting up the saw before I ever turned it on. I used a Mitutoyo dial caliper that reads ten thousands of an inch, calibrated miter slot to be .0002" from front to back. Also used a Starrett double square to set the blade and Incra 1000HD miter gauge up. Without rambling on any more, I really, really tried to nail the setup so that hopefully things would line up nicely when assembled. And to be honest, the 4 mitered corners turned out pretty nice. Only issue was the 2×4 seemed to warp a bit when I ripped it to the 2×2 pieces. And since I don't have a planer or jointer I was a bit stuck dealing with it.

Anyway, first question is what would you guys recommend to get rid of these burns? I was going to pick up a card scraper today to see how that worked. Sanding knocked it down a bit, but seemed like it would be a long haul to get it all and might leave a wavy surface in the end.

Secondly, I really screwed up when trying to quickly trim my corner spline pieces to make for less chiseling (perhaps it was the 2 hours it took me to sharpen a single new chisel that had me a bit impatient!). I was using a miter saw for that and managed to cut into the main wood. Ugh! What's my best bet for a newb-skill-level recovery on this? Sanding? Planing (bearing in mind I don't have a nice plane, just a cheap home depot on about 4" long)? Running it back over the table saw? I also have a Bosch router and table that aren't even out of the box yet. But was trying to limit the number of tools I don't know how to use for this first project lol.

Definitely having fun with all this stuff but I'm trying to salvage this as a usable frame given all the time I have put in so far, and if I don't get some advice on how to wrap it up I'm afraid that might not happen ;)

Thanks for reading!
Jeff

Rectangle Wood Flooring Table Floor

Wood Rectangle Flooring Composite material Plank
 

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#2 ·
Jeff, I think the first problem is that your tablesaw blade is pinching the work against the fence when you're resawing the pieces. That's where the majority of your burnt faces are coming from. If it's not that, then you're simply feeding the wood through way too slow.

For the clean-up, any of the methods you mentioned will work. If it were me, I'd go with the handplane. The 4" size you have is perfect for the job. Just make sure you're iron is sharp and you're not trying to take too much of a cut. It will only take you a few swipes with the plane to remove the burn marks most likely. My second choice would be a card scraper but the edge will likely need to be re-hooked during the process and rolling a hook on a scraper isn't a simple task.

Best of luck!
 
#3 ·
Thanks for the reply!

It may not be obvious from the picture, but there is a bevel on the frame of 13 degrees (outer perimeter is thicker than inner perimeter). Because it isn't flat I wasn't sure how I could get a plane all the way into the corners, which is what got me thinking about the scraper in the first place. I keep reading about how people think their card scraper is the most useful tool in the shop so I figure I need to go spend $10 at Grizzly tonight and see what all the fuss is about haha.
 
#6 ·
A card scraper, while a very useful tool, must be sharpened correctly or it will be frustrating for you. I'd suggest sanding out the burn marks working from 80 → 120 → 220 grit using a sanding block the keep things flat. Simply make a block from some of your scrap wood and you,are good to go. You can speed things up a bit with a random orbit sander, but honestly it will take you longer to drive to the store and back to buy it than it will take to sand it out with a block.
 
#7 ·
The set I got at Grizzly tonight (I just moved to Springfield so I've been dying to check the place out anyway) seems to have some kind of usable edge on it out of the box. I know I need to get a burnisher to do them up right, but I have also read an HSS steel drill bit can be used in the interim. Might at least reproduce as good of an edge as what they came with. But bottom line, I was able to remove 98% of the burn and also make the miters nice and flush so it was worth $12!

On a side note, man, a guy could definitely get carried away with day dreams walking around that Grizzly showroom. I had no idea they carried Festool and half a dozen other brands too. Kind of a fantasy land for wannabe woodworkers like me!
 
#9 ·
If you have a bevel on the frame from the rip cut on the table saw that might explain the burning. Maybe you didn t get a clean feed thru the saw.
The burned faces shown in the pic above are from that 13 degree bevel cut. That said, I have even gotten burning cutting a 45 degree corner with the miter gauge. I may just be feeding way too slowly. I'm trying not to lose any fingers during my first week of this hobby, but perhaps I'm just being too slow in my approach. On those long rips the saw definitely audibly bogged down a bit so I took that to mean I needed to back off on the feed. But is that wrong? Is it ok to keep pushing and let the saw slow a bit or should you always try to keep the blade going at full speed?
 
#12 · (Edited by Moderator)
Hey, I saw the outcome in your thread about finishing. Great work! My fist project was an open lidded box. It… kind of held stuff if it wasn't too heavy lol. Yours looks fantastic.

I find bevel cuts to be difficult. I have a contractor saw that is aligned to within a few thousandths of an inch as well, at 90 degrees. As I tilt the blade down, it slowly moves out of alignment until it's off by almost a 16th at 45 degrees. Every bevel cut I make past about 22.5 degrees gets scorched. It's borderline unsafe so I just don't do it anymore. I have plans to rebuild my saw this summer to take care of it. Perhaps you have an alignment issue when the blade is tilted that isn't present at 90.

Also, as you tilt the blade, you are increasing the volume of the cut and the saw needs to work harder for a through cut on the same material. If the saw gets bogged down your cut quality degrades too. If the wood has any tension in it at all it can put pressure on the blade and burn (e.g. you rip a straight board that yields two crooked halves) - that would be the wood's fault. If you cut too slow it can burn, but if you're borderline bogging down the saw on a slowish cut there's not much you can do with feed rate. Don't ram it through but dont dawdle either. A nice smooth cut letting the saw do its job is best. Takes a little practice but by project #2 you'll get it :)

But, it appears you are already learning the most important trait in woodworking - fixing and hiding your mistakes :). Your finished piece looks great. Doesn't matter how you got there.
 
#16 ·
Hey, I saw the outcome in your thread about finishing. Great work! My fist project was an open lidded box. It… kind of held stuff if it wasn t too heavy lol. Yours looks fantastic.

I find bevel cuts to be difficult. I have a contractor saw that is aligned to within a few thousandths of an inch as well, at 90 degrees. As I tilt the blade down, it slowly moves out of alignment until it s off by almost a 16th at 45 degrees. Every bevel cut I make past about 22.5 degrees gets scorched. It s borderline unsafe so I just don t do it anymore. I have plans to rebuild my saw this summer to take care of it. Perhaps you have an alignment issue when the blade is tilted that isn t present at 90.

Also, as you tilt the blade, you are increasing the volume of the cut and the saw needs to work harder for a through cut on the same material. If the saw gets bogged down your cut quality degrades too. If the wood has any tension in it at all it can put pressure on the blade and burn (e.g. you rip a straight board that yields two crooked halves) - that would be the wood s fault. If you cut too slow it can burn, but if you re borderline bogging down the saw on a slowish cut there s not much you can do with feed rate. Don t ram it through but dont dawdle either. A nice smooth cut letting the saw do its job is best. Takes a little practice but by project #2 you ll get it :)

But, it appears you are already learning the most important trait in woodworking - fixing and hiding your mistakes :). Your finished piece looks great. Doesn t matter how you got there.

- jamsomito
Thanks for the kind words and also the great input about the blade going out of true at a bevel. I'm embarrassed to say I didn't even think to check that. I also noticed when looking at the blade specs that 1.5" is the max cut on rips, so I was definitely at the full capacity when ripping the 2×4 and then also cutting the bevel. Perhaps it would have been better to swap to a 24T ripping blade and just have to deal with a touch of sanding after if it wasn't as clean a cut? I know Freud makes some 24T rip-only blades that are supposed to produce great finishes ("glue ready" they claim) but currently the only 24T blade I have is the Dewalt one that came with the saw. I don't know how rough of a cut that would make, but I'll have to try it out.
 
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