# My Tools



## gfixler (Feb 21, 2009)

*A very Robert Sorby birthday*

Everyone's going to hate me for this, but I just fell - not literally - into a lot of new Robert Sorby turning tools. The 18th (3 days ago) was my 32 birthday (for you programmers, that's 100000 in binary - I no longer fit in 5 bits!). Mom sent me a box of Rockler goodies from my wishlist. In typical (for my mom) fashion, she overdid the gift-giving. She's always been very supportive of my endeavors. Thanks, mom! I'll have to make her several nice things now to try to repay her a bit. I've got a lot of new stuff to try out! Hopefully I have a lot of new, or enhanced abilities now, as well.

The exciting moment:



The even more exciting moment:



One of the things I was most excited about was the Sorby Sandmaster, a circular foam sponge on a bearing to which you attach velcro sanding discs of varying grits:



This should make bowl sanding, and exterior vase and hollow-form sanding much more enjoyable, and less burny. She also got me 10-packs of 4 replaceable grit pad levels (60, 180, 240, 400):



She also got me 3 of the Sorby Spindlemasters. Here's where I made a mistake. I put the 1/2" on my list, but I have, and have been continuously using the 1/2" already. I kept thinking I had the 1/4". If I'd thought a bit more about it, I'd have realized. I'll be returning that one to the store, and picking up another tool. There are 3 left on my wishlist (she really cleaned that list out!)...

1/2" (which I have and will exchange):



3/4" (excited to have a broader, stronger surface to use here):



1" (very excited - this is essentially a nice, big, solid, scraper, with extra powers):



I also got 2 Sorby micro, modular handle tool sets, including this micro Sandmaster:



And this Sorby hollowing kit with 3 different replaceable heads, great for small cups, vases, and hollow-forms:



The [unexpectedly] largest of the tools was the Sorby Hollowmaster. This will finally let me try getting up under the lip of my turnings, which opens the doors to hollow-form turnings, something I've been a bit eager to try! This thing must be over 2' long. It has a replaceable tip, and comes with a pointy one installed, and a circular smoothing disc:



And just for a little color, she got me a pack of the new Rockler Bench Cookies, which steadily hold projects up off the table such that they may be finished, or even chiseled and routed without clamping:



I've got my wor… play cut out for me! Mom just propelled me so much farther forward in my woodworking goals than I imagined for myself by this point. It's strange to look at the remaining wishlist items and see the pile so diminished. I mean, it's still ridiculous - large battery charger, cabinet belt/disc sander, new miter saw, bigger, gas-powered chainsaw, replacement ROS, alaskan mill, hollow-chisel mortiser, bigger lathe, better 18" band saw (hoping for cast iron one day, instead of thin steel), and on and on, but still, this was like she took a shotgun to one big chunk of the list, especially in the turning category.

Thanks, mom!


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## lew (Feb 13, 2008)

gfixler said:


> *A very Robert Sorby birthday*
> 
> Everyone's going to hate me for this, but I just fell - not literally - into a lot of new Robert Sorby turning tools. The 18th (3 days ago) was my 32 birthday (for you programmers, that's 100000 in binary - I no longer fit in 5 bits!). Mom sent me a box of Rockler goodies from my wishlist. In typical (for my mom) fashion, she overdid the gift-giving. She's always been very supportive of my endeavors. Thanks, mom! I'll have to make her several nice things now to try to repay her a bit. I've got a lot of new stuff to try out! Hopefully I have a lot of new, or enhanced abilities now, as well.
> 
> ...


Gary,

Do you think your Mom would adopt me? Our birthdays are the same day!!- No foolin!! Except I am 10000000 in binary!

Nice Presents!!

Lew


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## gfixler (Feb 21, 2009)

gfixler said:


> *A very Robert Sorby birthday*
> 
> Everyone's going to hate me for this, but I just fell - not literally - into a lot of new Robert Sorby turning tools. The 18th (3 days ago) was my 32 birthday (for you programmers, that's 100000 in binary - I no longer fit in 5 bits!). Mom sent me a box of Rockler goodies from my wishlist. In typical (for my mom) fashion, she overdid the gift-giving. She's always been very supportive of my endeavors. Thanks, mom! I'll have to make her several nice things now to try to repay her a bit. I've got a lot of new stuff to try out! Hopefully I have a lot of new, or enhanced abilities now, as well.
> 
> ...


You're 128, Lew!?

Mom would probably adopt you, but prepare yourself for a lot of log-splitting and dish washing duties. Probably worth it for this box of tools, though!


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## lew (Feb 13, 2008)

gfixler said:


> *A very Robert Sorby birthday*
> 
> Everyone's going to hate me for this, but I just fell - not literally - into a lot of new Robert Sorby turning tools. The 18th (3 days ago) was my 32 birthday (for you programmers, that's 100000 in binary - I no longer fit in 5 bits!). Mom sent me a box of Rockler goodies from my wishlist. In typical (for my mom) fashion, she overdid the gift-giving. She's always been very supportive of my endeavors. Thanks, mom! I'll have to make her several nice things now to try to repay her a bit. I've got a lot of new stuff to try out! Hopefully I have a lot of new, or enhanced abilities now, as well.
> 
> ...


One too many zeros. But after I returned from exercising it felt like 128!


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## grizzman (May 10, 2009)

gfixler said:


> *A very Robert Sorby birthday*
> 
> Everyone's going to hate me for this, but I just fell - not literally - into a lot of new Robert Sorby turning tools. The 18th (3 days ago) was my 32 birthday (for you programmers, that's 100000 in binary - I no longer fit in 5 bits!). Mom sent me a box of Rockler goodies from my wishlist. In typical (for my mom) fashion, she overdid the gift-giving. She's always been very supportive of my endeavors. Thanks, mom! I'll have to make her several nice things now to try to repay her a bit. I've got a lot of new stuff to try out! Hopefully I have a lot of new, or enhanced abilities now, as well.
> 
> ...


what a great mom you have…..my birthday gifts from my mom stopped around when i was 20…....so if your mom wants to help me feel loved again and make up the 32 years ive missed…..ill chop some wood…...ill even cook for her…...let me know when to send my mailing address….grizman


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## Broda (Oct 7, 2008)

gfixler said:


> *A very Robert Sorby birthday*
> 
> Everyone's going to hate me for this, but I just fell - not literally - into a lot of new Robert Sorby turning tools. The 18th (3 days ago) was my 32 birthday (for you programmers, that's 100000 in binary - I no longer fit in 5 bits!). Mom sent me a box of Rockler goodies from my wishlist. In typical (for my mom) fashion, she overdid the gift-giving. She's always been very supportive of my endeavors. Thanks, mom! I'll have to make her several nice things now to try to repay her a bit. I've got a lot of new stuff to try out! Hopefully I have a lot of new, or enhanced abilities now, as well.
> 
> ...


NO FAIR!....*sob*

looking forward to seeing lots of hollow forms now


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## patron (Apr 2, 2009)

gfixler said:


> *A very Robert Sorby birthday*
> 
> Everyone's going to hate me for this, but I just fell - not literally - into a lot of new Robert Sorby turning tools. The 18th (3 days ago) was my 32 birthday (for you programmers, that's 100000 in binary - I no longer fit in 5 bits!). Mom sent me a box of Rockler goodies from my wishlist. In typical (for my mom) fashion, she overdid the gift-giving. She's always been very supportive of my endeavors. Thanks, mom! I'll have to make her several nice things now to try to repay her a bit. I've got a lot of new stuff to try out! Hopefully I have a lot of new, or enhanced abilities now, as well.
> 
> ...


happy b'day gary ,
tell mom i've been house broken .
nice presents!


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## damianpenney (Jun 22, 2007)

gfixler said:


> *A very Robert Sorby birthday*
> 
> Everyone's going to hate me for this, but I just fell - not literally - into a lot of new Robert Sorby turning tools. The 18th (3 days ago) was my 32 birthday (for you programmers, that's 100000 in binary - I no longer fit in 5 bits!). Mom sent me a box of Rockler goodies from my wishlist. In typical (for my mom) fashion, she overdid the gift-giving. She's always been very supportive of my endeavors. Thanks, mom! I'll have to make her several nice things now to try to repay her a bit. I've got a lot of new stuff to try out! Hopefully I have a lot of new, or enhanced abilities now, as well.
> 
> ...


Sweet


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## ropedog (Mar 26, 2008)

gfixler said:


> *A very Robert Sorby birthday*
> 
> Everyone's going to hate me for this, but I just fell - not literally - into a lot of new Robert Sorby turning tools. The 18th (3 days ago) was my 32 birthday (for you programmers, that's 100000 in binary - I no longer fit in 5 bits!). Mom sent me a box of Rockler goodies from my wishlist. In typical (for my mom) fashion, she overdid the gift-giving. She's always been very supportive of my endeavors. Thanks, mom! I'll have to make her several nice things now to try to repay her a bit. I've got a lot of new stuff to try out! Hopefully I have a lot of new, or enhanced abilities now, as well.
> 
> ...


nice haul, happy birthday have fun, keepem sharp.


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## Mely5862 (May 31, 2009)

gfixler said:


> *A very Robert Sorby birthday*
> 
> Everyone's going to hate me for this, but I just fell - not literally - into a lot of new Robert Sorby turning tools. The 18th (3 days ago) was my 32 birthday (for you programmers, that's 100000 in binary - I no longer fit in 5 bits!). Mom sent me a box of Rockler goodies from my wishlist. In typical (for my mom) fashion, she overdid the gift-giving. She's always been very supportive of my endeavors. Thanks, mom! I'll have to make her several nice things now to try to repay her a bit. I've got a lot of new stuff to try out! Hopefully I have a lot of new, or enhanced abilities now, as well.
> 
> ...


Happy Birthday! Moms are wonderful


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## a1Jim (Aug 9, 2008)

gfixler said:


> *A very Robert Sorby birthday*
> 
> Everyone's going to hate me for this, but I just fell - not literally - into a lot of new Robert Sorby turning tools. The 18th (3 days ago) was my 32 birthday (for you programmers, that's 100000 in binary - I no longer fit in 5 bits!). Mom sent me a box of Rockler goodies from my wishlist. In typical (for my mom) fashion, she overdid the gift-giving. She's always been very supportive of my endeavors. Thanks, mom! I'll have to make her several nice things now to try to repay her a bit. I've got a lot of new stuff to try out! Hopefully I have a lot of new, or enhanced abilities now, as well.
> 
> ...


great gifts and a late happy B day Gary


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## sbryan55 (Dec 8, 2007)

gfixler said:


> *A very Robert Sorby birthday*
> 
> Everyone's going to hate me for this, but I just fell - not literally - into a lot of new Robert Sorby turning tools. The 18th (3 days ago) was my 32 birthday (for you programmers, that's 100000 in binary - I no longer fit in 5 bits!). Mom sent me a box of Rockler goodies from my wishlist. In typical (for my mom) fashion, she overdid the gift-giving. She's always been very supportive of my endeavors. Thanks, mom! I'll have to make her several nice things now to try to repay her a bit. I've got a lot of new stuff to try out! Hopefully I have a lot of new, or enhanced abilities now, as well.
> 
> ...


What a wonderful birthday, Gary. I am sure you know it already, but your Mom is a special person. And, yes, you will have to make her several nice things in return.

Congratulations.


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## PurpLev (May 30, 2008)

gfixler said:


> *A very Robert Sorby birthday*
> 
> Everyone's going to hate me for this, but I just fell - not literally - into a lot of new Robert Sorby turning tools. The 18th (3 days ago) was my 32 birthday (for you programmers, that's 100000 in binary - I no longer fit in 5 bits!). Mom sent me a box of Rockler goodies from my wishlist. In typical (for my mom) fashion, she overdid the gift-giving. She's always been very supportive of my endeavors. Thanks, mom! I'll have to make her several nice things now to try to repay her a bit. I've got a lot of new stuff to try out! Hopefully I have a lot of new, or enhanced abilities now, as well.
> 
> ...


Nice, Happy Birthday, my 33rd was last week

Thanks Mom!


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## cabinetmaster (Aug 28, 2008)

gfixler said:


> *A very Robert Sorby birthday*
> 
> Everyone's going to hate me for this, but I just fell - not literally - into a lot of new Robert Sorby turning tools. The 18th (3 days ago) was my 32 birthday (for you programmers, that's 100000 in binary - I no longer fit in 5 bits!). Mom sent me a box of Rockler goodies from my wishlist. In typical (for my mom) fashion, she overdid the gift-giving. She's always been very supportive of my endeavors. Thanks, mom! I'll have to make her several nice things now to try to repay her a bit. I've got a lot of new stuff to try out! Hopefully I have a lot of new, or enhanced abilities now, as well.
> 
> ...


Wow. I want to be adopted too. Please Gary…....................LOL Nice haul. You better make something special for that lady.


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## Loucarb (Dec 19, 2008)

gfixler said:


> *A very Robert Sorby birthday*
> 
> Everyone's going to hate me for this, but I just fell - not literally - into a lot of new Robert Sorby turning tools. The 18th (3 days ago) was my 32 birthday (for you programmers, that's 100000 in binary - I no longer fit in 5 bits!). Mom sent me a box of Rockler goodies from my wishlist. In typical (for my mom) fashion, she overdid the gift-giving. She's always been very supportive of my endeavors. Thanks, mom! I'll have to make her several nice things now to try to repay her a bit. I've got a lot of new stuff to try out! Hopefully I have a lot of new, or enhanced abilities now, as well.
> 
> ...


Ditto on the adoption. WOW that is a birthday gift.


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## scrappy (Jan 3, 2009)

gfixler said:


> *A very Robert Sorby birthday*
> 
> Everyone's going to hate me for this, but I just fell - not literally - into a lot of new Robert Sorby turning tools. The 18th (3 days ago) was my 32 birthday (for you programmers, that's 100000 in binary - I no longer fit in 5 bits!). Mom sent me a box of Rockler goodies from my wishlist. In typical (for my mom) fashion, she overdid the gift-giving. She's always been very supportive of my endeavors. Thanks, mom! I'll have to make her several nice things now to try to repay her a bit. I've got a lot of new stuff to try out! Hopefully I have a lot of new, or enhanced abilities now, as well.
> 
> ...


What a fantastic mom! Congrats on the birthday and the presents. Can't wait to see what you turn for her in return.


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## clieb91 (Aug 17, 2007)

gfixler said:


> *A very Robert Sorby birthday*
> 
> Everyone's going to hate me for this, but I just fell - not literally - into a lot of new Robert Sorby turning tools. The 18th (3 days ago) was my 32 birthday (for you programmers, that's 100000 in binary - I no longer fit in 5 bits!). Mom sent me a box of Rockler goodies from my wishlist. In typical (for my mom) fashion, she overdid the gift-giving. She's always been very supportive of my endeavors. Thanks, mom! I'll have to make her several nice things now to try to repay her a bit. I've got a lot of new stuff to try out! Hopefully I have a lot of new, or enhanced abilities now, as well.
> 
> ...


What a gift and a great mom. 
Happy belated man!

Look forward to seeing those projects rolling out.

CtL


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## gfixler (Feb 21, 2009)

gfixler said:


> *A very Robert Sorby birthday*
> 
> Everyone's going to hate me for this, but I just fell - not literally - into a lot of new Robert Sorby turning tools. The 18th (3 days ago) was my 32 birthday (for you programmers, that's 100000 in binary - I no longer fit in 5 bits!). Mom sent me a box of Rockler goodies from my wishlist. In typical (for my mom) fashion, she overdid the gift-giving. She's always been very supportive of my endeavors. Thanks, mom! I'll have to make her several nice things now to try to repay her a bit. I've got a lot of new stuff to try out! Hopefully I have a lot of new, or enhanced abilities now, as well.
> 
> ...


Thanks for all the well-wishes, everybody.

I've alerted mom that she might need to make some room, as she has a lot of good woodworkers to adopt soon


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## gfixler (Feb 21, 2009)

*My Christmas present from mom finally arrived!*

It's the JET - JSG-96CS: 6'' x 48'' Belt / 9'' Disc Sander w/ Closed Stand, 3/4HP 1Ph, 115V.

It arrived by pallet in two boxes:



Right away the 3/4HP motor and belt seemed bigger than I'd imagined this past year or two (this has been on my wishlist for awhile now). I had even scaled up my mental image, but it was still bigger than I thought:



The closed stand is a very thick sheet metal, and heavier than I expected. It was a fight to get it out of the box, and I even dropped it with a loud bang on its wheels in the garage from a height of about 18", as I just couldn't hold on anymore carrying it in there (and I stumbled), but it held up just fine:



And now, my gift to the world of woodworkers. In all of the past year, I've been unable to track down a single image of the inside of the cabinet. What was in there? Could you see the floor? Was it closed up? Were there shelves? No one and nothing would tell me. I even searched flickr, review sites, and other search engines beyond my usual Google. I always got this comical result. I'm always amazed I can find 32 angles of a pocket screwdriver, but never more than a 100×200 pixel, grainy image of a $10k unit. It doesn't make sense. Anyway, here's the inside:



It's funny that opening the cabinet was like opening Tut's tomb for me. The only way to see inside it was to order one, wait 2 months while it was backordered, break open the pallet wrapping, wrest it free of its box, and open it up myself. It has a single shelf a little below the door, and well above the wheels underneath. The shelf is a single, flat sheet of the same thick steel the walls and door are made from, and it is spot-welded in many places around its edges to the side walls. That's it! Well, it also came with that bent wire inside. That hooks into two holes on the back, about 1' up from the shelf, and is locked to the back wall with a bolt and washer. This gives you a place to hang the 48" belts, I suppose. Not sure how well they fit in there yet, as I just have the one, which is on the wheels still.

A fun note about the door - there's a red button below a silver metal panel. Push the button and that metal latch springs open with the force of a mousetrap, unlocking the door, which then swings very smoothly and freely. It shuts quietly against a rubber seal on the left edge, and pushing the metal latch back flush with the door locks it with a click.

Another thing I could not find anywhere was a shot of the wheel system. In fact, I forgot if it even had one. it does:



The wheels are all fixed, rolling forward and backward on mini bolt axles. There's a rod in front of the back wheels connected to a pedal out the right side (visible in the photo above). Stepping on the pedal turns that rod and presses cams into the rear wheels to lock them in place. Of note, the wheels are hard plastic, so a good shove will still cause the locked wheels to slide on concrete, but this isn't a machine that receives much in the way of side loads, so I anticipate no problems. That said, because none of the wheels turn, and they all face the same way, there is no turning without some of the wheels sliding a bit. It's not the end of the world, but it does feel a little clunky. It's a very strong system, though. There's nothing flimsy under there.

You can also see in the above photo the bottom of the shelf welded to the walls in spots, and a kind of bulkhead rim inches below that, and above the wheels, helping to shore up and stabilize the walls even further. Again, this is a little tank of a cabinet. I'll add that the bolts that mount the sander to the top don't need nuts. There's an extra plate welded onto the top, thickening it up, and it has about 3/16" of threads in the holes, so the bolts go through the sander straight into threads to lock it down very tightly with no tearout of the threads, even torquing them in with my big Craftsman ratchet.

I got some free pallet wood out of the deal:



I've added it to the collection, which I'll need to process one of these days:



Less than an hour later, It was all assembled in my rapidly shrinking garage:



And here I am, inviting every LumberJock over for a manicure, *SIMULTANEOUSLY!*



It's funny, I'm a lot taller next to this thing, or it's a lot shorter than I expected. It's still comfortable to use, but I thought it would be about 1' or more taller. It's probably for the best, as wherever I shove it, I'm bound to hang things above it on the wall, and from rafters. This garage is getting so small…

Lastly, I'll mention dust collection. So far it is horrendous. I had my 4" Delta DC hooked up and running as usual, but sawdust was just blowing out of everywhere as I tested it out on little pieces of scrap wood. Here's the result only about 10 minutes later:



Note how it seemed to go everywhere but into the dust hose:



I actually fled the garage at this point, as the air was thick with dust, and my camera and I were coated in it. I'll have to see what's going on. Maybe I didn't open some port, or close up some hole, or remove some plastic sticker or something. I can't imagine the dust collection is this bad.

I tried to film me using it, but as happens too often since I found the time-lapse setting on this thing last year, I had it in time-lapse mode, and recorded a Benny Hill movie instead. There are two things to notice, though, which I'll mention after the video:

http://www.flickr.com/apps/video/stewart.swf?v=71377

1. Note the dust blowing out of everywhere as I sand. Tsk tsk…

2. Note the tracking of the belt on the top wheel. As I sand, it moves one way, when I stop sanding, it moves the other. The tracking is *very* finicky. Locking down the tracking stuff causes it to track differently, so you really have to fight with it for awhile, loosening, adjusting, tightening, running, panicking as it moves how you didn't expect, and repeating. I did seem to find a good spot, though. Even though the belt moves left and right here, it did stop in each direction after about 1/8" or so. I'd like to see it not move at all ever, but if that's all it ever does, it's fine with me.

I figure this is all a bit like a review, but I'm uncomfortable writing up a real review until I've had some time with it, and actually peeled the backing from the one included 9" abrasive disk and used the disk sanding portion of the machine. Maybe I'll have figured out the dust control by then as well. I will say this without hesitation right now, though: it sure does remove material fast! I pushed the ends of 1×2s and 1.5" dry branches straight into it, and it looked like they were disappearing into a portal. It would eat these at a rate of about 1/8"-3/16" per second! If I need to make *a lot* of dust quickly, I'm turning to this tool for sure. Well, this tool and a full-face gas mask, until I solve the dust problem.

Until next time, thanks again, mom!


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## longgone (May 5, 2009)

gfixler said:


> *My Christmas present from mom finally arrived!*
> 
> It's the JET - JSG-96CS: 6'' x 48'' Belt / 9'' Disc Sander w/ Closed Stand, 3/4HP 1Ph, 115V.
> 
> ...


Great review Gary. It definitely is a massive machine. While I was in the tool store buying my drum sander I had a chance to see the model sander you purchased.I bought the Jet 22" drum sander back in December and was also surprised at the massive weight of the cabinet. It is built the same as your cabinet except larger to accomodate the drum unit.
Have fun making sawdust !


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## davidmicraig (Nov 21, 2009)

gfixler said:


> *My Christmas present from mom finally arrived!*
> 
> It's the JET - JSG-96CS: 6'' x 48'' Belt / 9'' Disc Sander w/ Closed Stand, 3/4HP 1Ph, 115V.
> 
> ...


Very cool gift Gary. Please let your mom know that I am sending the adoption papers out tomorrow. I have no unreasonable immediate gift requests, she can wait until it is my birthday 

Merry Christmas Bro!

David


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## GaryC (Dec 31, 2008)

gfixler said:


> *My Christmas present from mom finally arrived!*
> 
> It's the JET - JSG-96CS: 6'' x 48'' Belt / 9'' Disc Sander w/ Closed Stand, 3/4HP 1Ph, 115V.
> 
> ...


That thing is big. Like to give it a try. Of course you know that "inside the cabinet" thing was a top secret, kinda like the old Mason handshake. You'll be blackballed for sure now! lol


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## lew (Feb 13, 2008)

gfixler said:


> *My Christmas present from mom finally arrived!*
> 
> It's the JET - JSG-96CS: 6'' x 48'' Belt / 9'' Disc Sander w/ Closed Stand, 3/4HP 1Ph, 115V.
> 
> ...


Mom always did like you best!


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## TopamaxSurvivor (May 2, 2008)

gfixler said:


> *My Christmas present from mom finally arrived!*
> 
> It's the JET - JSG-96CS: 6'' x 48'' Belt / 9'' Disc Sander w/ Closed Stand, 3/4HP 1Ph, 115V.
> 
> ...


Great blog Gary. You won't ever need a chipper now, just sand the branches away!! ) If mom wants to adopt another son before next Christmas, I can be up for grabs in no timie at all…............


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## Eagle1 (Jan 4, 2010)

gfixler said:


> *My Christmas present from mom finally arrived!*
> 
> It's the JET - JSG-96CS: 6'' x 48'' Belt / 9'' Disc Sander w/ Closed Stand, 3/4HP 1Ph, 115V.
> 
> ...


I'm with Topamax.. Hey there my long lost brother lol..


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## KMJohnsonow (Feb 16, 2010)

gfixler said:


> *My Christmas present from mom finally arrived!*
> 
> It's the JET - JSG-96CS: 6'' x 48'' Belt / 9'' Disc Sander w/ Closed Stand, 3/4HP 1Ph, 115V.
> 
> ...


Nice tool.


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## sbryan55 (Dec 8, 2007)

gfixler said:


> *My Christmas present from mom finally arrived!*
> 
> It's the JET - JSG-96CS: 6'' x 48'' Belt / 9'' Disc Sander w/ Closed Stand, 3/4HP 1Ph, 115V.
> 
> ...


Gary, this is a nice tool. I just set up the open stand version and have not really gotten into using mine either. One thing I will add is that stocking up on different grits of sandpaper costs almost as much as the tool itself. But this is pretty much the norm with any tool we buy.


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## clieb91 (Aug 17, 2007)

gfixler said:


> *My Christmas present from mom finally arrived!*
> 
> It's the JET - JSG-96CS: 6'' x 48'' Belt / 9'' Disc Sander w/ Closed Stand, 3/4HP 1Ph, 115V.
> 
> ...


Gary, Merry Belated Christmas are alway sthe best I still have two that need to be unpacked and assembled. Good review looks like on sturdy machine. Have fun with it as I am sure you will They are great for rounding corners. Look forward to hearing if the dust collection gets any better.

CtL


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## JJohnston (May 22, 2009)

gfixler said:


> *My Christmas present from mom finally arrived!*
> 
> It's the JET - JSG-96CS: 6'' x 48'' Belt / 9'' Disc Sander w/ Closed Stand, 3/4HP 1Ph, 115V.
> 
> ...


I can vouch for finicky tracking on belt sanders in general. I have the slower-speed Grizzly 6×48/12 belt/disc combo, and it's a pain. It seems to get worse as the belt stretches, so I keep it detensioned.


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## REK (Aug 30, 2009)

gfixler said:


> *My Christmas present from mom finally arrived!*
> 
> It's the JET - JSG-96CS: 6'' x 48'' Belt / 9'' Disc Sander w/ Closed Stand, 3/4HP 1Ph, 115V.
> 
> ...


Great sander….WISH MY MOM WAS RICH LIKE YOUR MOM IS!!!!!!!


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## gfixler (Feb 21, 2009)

*More of my new JET JSG-96CS 6"x48" belt/9" disk sander*

First, some good news. The dust blowing all over last time was not indicative of poor dust collection in this machine. After closing up shop for the day, it bugged me all night, and I figured there must have been something I missed. There was. Under the belt on the back of the machine is a blast gate. D'oh. Opening that, the dust collection becomes *quite* good. No more dust spewing in all directions, but this thing sands very aggressively, so hard sanding does result in a little bit kicked down and past the table. This is the stuff that never makes it near the bottom of the belt and into the metal shroud that surrounds the dust collection area. That said, it's minimal. I still want a rafter mount air filtration unit one of these days, though.

Here's an example of some aggressive shortening of a fern pine (Podocarpus gracilior) root with the belt sander:

http://www.flickr.com/apps/video/stewart.swf?v=71377

The sanding belt and disc fill up with dust, so I broke out one of the two blocks of latex rubber I got on sale from Rockler a long time ago. I've used this one a little on my random orbital sander, but this new machine really chews through it! The rubber, being so spongy and tacky digs in around the grit, adhering to the dust and pulling it right out, and ending up as hot, sticky crumbles on the table:

http://www.flickr.com/apps/video/stewart.swf?v=71377



One thing I'll be doing now that I have this is using up small cutoffs, things most woodworkers would probably throw away. Here's an example cutoff from the end of a 1×3 of alder. The boards were on my log rack outside and the ends got rained on, and then molded over. The mold doesn't go very deep, though, so it can be planed, sawn, or sanded away. It's too hard to run such small pieces through saws, jointers, or planers, but this belt sander handles them with ease. An example of what I can do with these is glue up blocks for things like segmented cups and bowls. Watch the mold disappear as I create 90° angles:






I figure I'll create jigs eventually that ride in the miter slots and let me sand blocks all to exactly the same size and angles. This would make whipping out bowl segments pretty fast.

Another nice thing is that I can sand wood to concave curves so easily now. Here I just took a scrap of ply with some examples of my poor long division skills scrawled across it and used another piece of wood with a simple curve on it as a French curve to scribble out a curvy quadrilateral. You can see how nearly effortless it is to sand right to the shape. This was the first time I'd ever done it, so clearly it's pretty easy! For an encore, I slapped it on an identically sized scrap and used it as a pattern to sand a second, identical piece. This will certainly come in handy:






Finally, I'll show off the disc sander for the first time now. My only critique of this thing is that the table is held on by a rod under the right side, and therefore any pressure on the table pushes the left side of the table down, because there's no support whatsoever underneath it. This won't work so well for heavy pieces. I don't think I could put a big log on this thing. I even accidentally pushed the left corner of the table into the sanding pad at some point and sent a few sparks flying.

That said, the sander came with a little accessory for the T slots, seen in this video. It's just a slider that sits fully inside the slot with a sharp metal spike sticking up. You can slam a piece of wood down on it and use it as a pivot to sand circular things, all the way up to 18" diameter, and perhaps just slightly beyond. I decided to use it to create a circle from scratch. I couldn't believe how well it worked. I used a piece that's been floating around my shop for 2 years. It was an old attempt to see how much I could recycle. When I made a small TV stand for my mom, I ended up with a little pile of birch 1×8 cutoffs that were only about 5/8" long, cut right off the ends of the boards to true them up. I set up my drill press as a spindle sander jointer to make the sides very straight and edge glued them to create a little end grain platter. Not having thought of anything to do with it in all this time, I figured I'd use it as the test piece and create a little end-grain coaster out of it. Here's that process:






It sands so fast! I think this is going to be my new goto method for creating circles. Setup time is so fast it's ridiculous. It leaves just a little spike hole in the bottom, too. I'm going to create a little spacer, maybe with a strip of aluminum on my mini mill with holes spaced every 1/4" and labeled so I can loosen the spike, push the bar end up against the sander, and align the spike with the appropriate hole to rapidly set up my radius.

Here are some final shots of the 'coaster.' I'm probably going to use my router table and a bearing bit to create a decorative edge around it, then maybe use it as a stand for something. If I end up with a pile of similar cutoffs, I can glue them all up and create a coaster set out of them. I love to keep reusing scrap until there's nothing but powder left. I just wish I had a hammer mill and pelletizer so I could then turn the powder and chips into useful, burnable material, too! I'm like a native American 









Thanks for reading!


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## TopamaxSurvivor (May 2, 2008)

gfixler said:


> *More of my new JET JSG-96CS 6"x48" belt/9" disk sander*
> 
> First, some good news. The dust blowing all over last time was not indicative of poor dust collection in this machine. After closing up shop for the day, it bugged me all night, and I figured there must have been something I missed. There was. Under the belt on the back of the machine is a blast gate. D'oh. Opening that, the dust collection becomes *quite* good. No more dust spewing in all directions, but this thing sands very aggressively, so hard sanding does result in a little bit kicked down and past the table. This is the stuff that never makes it near the bottom of the belt and into the metal shroud that surrounds the dust collection area. That said, it's minimal. I still want a rafter mount air filtration unit one of these days, though.
> 
> ...


Looks like you can make a lot of dust in nothing flat !! That cross on the sander should allow you to do ellipses.


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## longgone (May 5, 2009)

gfixler said:


> *More of my new JET JSG-96CS 6"x48" belt/9" disk sander*
> 
> First, some good news. The dust blowing all over last time was not indicative of poor dust collection in this machine. After closing up shop for the day, it bugged me all night, and I figured there must have been something I missed. There was. Under the belt on the back of the machine is a blast gate. D'oh. Opening that, the dust collection becomes *quite* good. No more dust spewing in all directions, but this thing sands very aggressively, so hard sanding does result in a little bit kicked down and past the table. This is the stuff that never makes it near the bottom of the belt and into the metal shroud that surrounds the dust collection area. That said, it's minimal. I still want a rafter mount air filtration unit one of these days, though.
> 
> ...


Be careful sanding those small pieces..Its a goos way to unwillingly trim your fingernails also.


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## RvK (Nov 22, 2009)

gfixler said:


> *More of my new JET JSG-96CS 6"x48" belt/9" disk sander*
> 
> First, some good news. The dust blowing all over last time was not indicative of poor dust collection in this machine. After closing up shop for the day, it bugged me all night, and I figured there must have been something I missed. There was. Under the belt on the back of the machine is a blast gate. D'oh. Opening that, the dust collection becomes *quite* good. No more dust spewing in all directions, but this thing sands very aggressively, so hard sanding does result in a little bit kicked down and past the table. This is the stuff that never makes it near the bottom of the belt and into the metal shroud that surrounds the dust collection area. That said, it's minimal. I still want a rafter mount air filtration unit one of these days, though.
> 
> ...


Wow that thing really hogs away the material. Bench sanders were never really high on my list before but now…do want….must has….


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## sbryan55 (Dec 8, 2007)

gfixler said:


> *More of my new JET JSG-96CS 6"x48" belt/9" disk sander*
> 
> First, some good news. The dust blowing all over last time was not indicative of poor dust collection in this machine. After closing up shop for the day, it bugged me all night, and I figured there must have been something I missed. There was. Under the belt on the back of the machine is a blast gate. D'oh. Opening that, the dust collection becomes *quite* good. No more dust spewing in all directions, but this thing sands very aggressively, so hard sanding does result in a little bit kicked down and past the table. This is the stuff that never makes it near the bottom of the belt and into the metal shroud that surrounds the dust collection area. That said, it's minimal. I still want a rafter mount air filtration unit one of these days, though.
> 
> ...


Gary, this looks like you are having fun with the new toy.


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## gfixler (Feb 21, 2009)

gfixler said:


> *More of my new JET JSG-96CS 6"x48" belt/9" disk sander*
> 
> First, some good news. The dust blowing all over last time was not indicative of poor dust collection in this machine. After closing up shop for the day, it bugged me all night, and I figured there must have been something I missed. There was. Under the belt on the back of the machine is a blast gate. D'oh. Opening that, the dust collection becomes *quite* good. No more dust spewing in all directions, but this thing sands very aggressively, so hard sanding does result in a little bit kicked down and past the table. This is the stuff that never makes it near the bottom of the belt and into the metal shroud that surrounds the dust collection area. That said, it's minimal. I still want a rafter mount air filtration unit one of these days, though.
> 
> ...


Topamax - Hadn't thought about that, but maybe! I'd need another slider and something to connect them…

Greg - Definitely going to be careful. My biggest fear is getting pinched between the belt/disc and the table edge. That wouldn't pinch like crazy.


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## gfixler (Feb 21, 2009)

*A new handle for my 3' crosscut saw*

When my chainsaw broke the other day, halfway through a log, I reached for a secret weapon I've not really brought out into the light in the exactly 6 months (as of today) since it arrived: my 36", German, hand-hammered, regular-tooth, one-man crosscut saw from Traditional Woodworking. Here are pics from early October that I've had squirreled away. The saw was so much bigger than I'd even imagined, and I had imagined it even bigger than I would ever have imagined it to be just to prepare myself:



Look at the teeth on this thing:



It's a serious saw, and I had a serious beard at the time:



This is how it arrived:



I wanted a rip saw, because the idea here was not so much to final-slab huge logs, but to rip them down to turning-blank thickness slabs so I could then with a smaller, crosscut saw trim out pieces to use as turning blanks. Unfortunately, nobody I could find anywhere, including this company sells a rip saw of serious proportions like the handful of crosscuts saws on display. I got this 8" triangular saw file with the saw to reshape the teeth myself to a rip profile - my growing feelings being that if the world won't sell me something, I'll just have to go ahead and make it myself:



To file a rip tooth profile, you flip the saw so the teeth point up, clamp the back in a long vise (a saw vise) with the teeth protruding above it, and take a triangular file and sharpen straight back and forth, with the file held level. This creates flat, simple, triangular teeth that cut like chisels as they scrape over the wood. This is good in rip cuts, as the fibers stack up like straws packed tightly together, and this runs across their tops, shearing each free.

A crosscut profile is filed in similar fashion, only the file is turned so it passes diagonally between the teeth on either side - either the tip or the base of the file will be closer to the tip of the saw. Alternating this angle every tooth creates 2 beveled edges on one side of each tooth, which alternate from tooth to tooth, creating something unlike chisels, but very much like knives. If you try to cut with a crosscut profile through a rip cut, the knife edges tend to wedge between the fiber ends and follow circuitous routes as they pass through them, cutting poorly, and fighting the movement. However, on crosscuts, the chisel-like rip profile teeth tend to wedge under the horizontal fibers and tear them up, creating more friction and making a sloppy, torn cut. The knife-like, alternating teeth of the crosscut blade will instead slice through the sides of the fibers easily.

The angle you turn the file to to create the knife edges of a crosscut saw is called the 'fleem.' I need to remove the fleem put into this saw to change it from crosscut to rip. One of these days… I have to slap together a saw vise first. Oh, and as you repeatedly sharpen a saw, or file it to a new profile, the "set" of the teeth is filed away. Set is how much every other tooth leans to one side to help create a wider channel in the wood for the saw back to pass through without binding up. To put the set back in, or "set the teeth," I picked up this saw setter along with the saw and file - it's basically a fancy pair of pliers that bends a tooth when you squeeze it:



But enough of that stuff. There's a fantastic treatise on the issue of sharpening hand saws here if you would like to learn pretty much everything about the subject.

Alas, I had tried the saw once the week I got it, and attempting to rip the last half of the Chinese elm log reminded me why I had so hastily hung it from a rafter never to come back to it. The handle is an absolute deal-breaker. It's made of beech, but it's only 3/4" thick, and for a saw this large, that's a small edge pressing against your palm. Too, they didn't completely round anything over - just kind of. This means there are sharp edges everywhere, especially against my palm as I try to use it. After 5 minutes, I gave up, and my palm still has a swollen spot 2 days later. Finally, there's no little nub to keep your thumb webbing in place. On every push stroke, my whole hand rolls up and over the top of the saw. I can't get any downward pressure. Why did they round the top?

Take a look at this replacement. I wouldn't use it if they paid me that $19.95. It feels like they made the handle upside down. The 3 rivets are almost mirrored about an axis, and that would not only put the retaining flourish at the top, where it would help hold my hand in place - instead of the bottom where it is now - but it would angle the saw handle down a bit for greater leverage. Maybe someone's been putting these things on upside down???

On the flight home to see my folks on the other coast of the US this past holiday season, I drew up various possible alternate handle shapes. Some looked like large Ds, some like large Bs, and one had a pole sticking straight up. I decided to go for the elevated D, and to use up some small scraps of birch while I was at it. After drilling the handle off - a monumental task that required drilling both sides (a lot, while shooting sparks everywhere), sawing, drilling, and crowbarring away parts of the old wood handle, Dremel cut-off wheeling away the rivet pegs - 6, 3 per side, which seemed to be pressed through, then welded in place - then polishing the stumps flat - I designed the following shape, based on a handful of competing needs and wishes:





I actually used the cut off handle upside down to design the top portion, putting that little cusp at the top where it really should have been all the while to hold the hand in place. Too, I tilted it forward, as I want good downward leverage and pressure when cutting with this thing. The scraps of birch are seen here as well:



The heartwood was quite pretty, and there was a beautiful, ribbony chatoyance in the one on the right. Don't worry, though. I forgot what I was doing and later hid that side entirely from view forever 



This handle would be 10" tall. I decided before making any smaller birch scraps to model up the concept in SketchUp. I even had the textures lined up, but don't know how to project them over curved surfaces. Oh well:





I used the time-honored transfer method to get the first piece laid out:



I sharpened it up with my Rockler mechanical pencil, which I got with a gift card recently. The reviews were all praise, and I'm singing along now. This is a really solid, heavy, accurate little mechanical pencil, with whopping 2.0mm HB lead inside. The eraser comes in a little plastic holder that features a 2.0mm hole in it to sharpen the lead, and it gets it needle sharp with ease, and then that needle point does not easily break:



I got this little Craftsman scroll saw back in high school in the early 90s. I shipped it back from my folks' place in NJ to my place here in LA last year, and it's just been sitting first on the dining room floor, and for months now on the garage floor in front of the band saw. It was time to fire it up again. The Zip-Loc bag that's been floating around with it had all of the pieces, thankfully, and assembly took minutes, cleaning another minute, inserting the blade 2 more minutes, and then I was off and cutting. Not bad! This thing is probably 17 years old. Nice to know something isn't breaking, knock on wood (and there's plenty of that around here 



Here's a little movie wherein I slip the blade at the end, bending it up beyond use (luckily I had at least a dozen more, in a variety pack of about 50 waiting around since about 1993!):

http://www.flickr.com/apps/video/stewart.swf?v=71377

It's on the router table. I'm so out of homes for things now. Anyway, intending only to lightly and temporarily tack these things together while sanding them to match, I used a few too many drops of CA glue and bonded them forever. I also got the faces I wanted showing on the outside glued together on the inside. Sigh… I just went with it. I'd solve what I could later. I had used the belt sander as well as drum sanding bits in my drill press to really smooth up and get the shape I wanted after scroll sawing out the one half.

Now one piece was nice, and one very roughly cut in the glue-up, so I used first a very large flush trim/pattern bit from Incra with a tall, straight cutter and bearing above and below, flipping the piece to put the pretty piece up top or on the bottom and altering the bit height to put either bearing in contact with its center line so I could cut sections with the grain. I had a huge chipout when I got to a section of the handle that sent the flush trim bit against the birch's grain when I first started, so I decided to play it safe after that. Nice to have that double-bearinged bit handy! It made them nice and flush, and I was able to use the belt sander to knock down the chipout section to remove it entirely while keeping a nice, fluid curve that looks and feels intentional. Phwew! I switched to a 3/8" roundover bit with bearing in my router table (seen in this picture) to round over all the internal and external edges:





It was starting to look like something. Then I used the belt sander's face and the wide, round belt wheel at the end (after removing 4 screws and the metal end guard plate to access it) to smooth the convex and concave faces, respectively. Then I put a small, very coarse sanding drum in the drill press and used it to manually shape the handle. Wherever I felt a bulge I didn't like in my closed fist, I'd imagine the hollow area my finger wanted and carve it out, test, carve, hold, carve, round, smooth, repeat:



It's not as pronounced in these pics as it is in real life:



Testing the fit:



I'll note that I have something like arthritis in my finger joints, so small handles hurt. I really love big handles. I've even at times taped a screwdriver to the back of my guitar's neck so my hand would stay in a big "O" shape while playing, and it felt wonderful. Whereas this handle probably looks too fat to most people, it was a joy for me to hold, and that's what this was about - making just the right handle for me:





Now I had to think about how to fix the overly done CA glue holding the halves together. I hadn't slathered it on. I just put about 5 or 6 drops around it. However, I didn't want a few drops of CA glue, and the rough seam line between the unsurfaced halves to be the final joint. I opted to set up a fence on my band saw, and carefully slide the saw handle through, pressed tightly to the fence by my Gripper push block. This split them nicely, once again revealing how dull my band saw blade is:



At least the blade tracked in a straight line for me. I ran the halves over the jointer very carefully making a few very small passes to joint the faces. The low bit still burned from the band saw blade seen in this pic will be covered by the large, crosscut saw blade when the halves are properly joined, so another jointer pass wasn't necessary:



I think these faces would have been so much prettier on the outside if I hadn't messed it all up early on, CA gluing them together and rounding over the wrong outer edges because of it. Anyway, the two 3/4" birch pieces made a 1.5" wide handle, which was a lot nicer than a 3/4" handle in feel, but was actually just a whisker too wide really. Sawing the handle in half and jointing the faces removed probably 3/16" and brought the handle to what feels like an ideal thickness, a lucky break:



I drilled 3 really hard to drill holes where the circular marks from the previously ground away rivet pins on the solid metal saw were, then used those drill holes to mark one half of the wood for drilling. Then I used that piece of wood with drilled holes to mark the other half of the wood. This got everything lined up perfectly. Then I used the profile lines drawn on the one half (outlining the blade area of the handle), and steady hands with my laminate trimmer set to flat cut to a depth just about the thickness of the saw's kerf (tested and refined first on scrap wood for a perfect fit), and moved in passes from the edge back, always keeping half the trimmer base in contact with the wood being backed onto. This allowed me to shave away just enough for the blade to sink in flush between the halves. I just eyeballed it to the line and slightly over, a little more in the corner to make sure the back top corner of the blade would seat in fully.

A visual would probably help a lot in understanding that, so in this shot, notice how I've routed out space for the blade's kerf in one handle half. Because it's the slightly thicker half, the blade (3/64" thick, as per digital calipers, which is 1/64 shy of 1/16) will sink in flush with that half and end up more or less centered in the handle (the blade outline on the other half was from when I was still considering routing both halves, yet does not necessarily line up with the lines I had drawn on the routed half, as you can't really transfer the pattern between mating surfaces):



Here I've filed away the raised edges on the holes drilled through the hard steel blade:



I had some carriage bolts that were just about the right size, and soon had installed my new handle!









I'm very eager to cut with this:





In fact, I was so eager that at 8PM I went out in the dark and gave a few test passes in that Chinese elm log that's still waiting to be fully halved. It was joyous. It was practically effortless to push the saw and get a solid, biting cut with no hand hurting, and even pressure across so much of my palm. What a difference between this and even my favorite Irwin Marathon crosscut saws, which have served me so well in crosscutting even some larger logs.

Having the handle angled down a bit really adds in that extra bit of pressure for a strong push stroke, and it's totally the natural angle for such a movement. After the dozens of hours I've put into hand sawing over the last year, I've really built up a kind of old-school knowledge about what I need, or feel will work. It's the whole 'necessity is the mother of invention' thing. I know where it hurts my hand, and I think I know what to do about it. I've been eager to try a profile more like this forever, and it works as I'd hoped, at least in light testing. I have more to learn by actually spending some time with it.

Until then, I don't know why they don't make saws this way. I can tell at once that I'll no longer end up with the webbing between my thumb and forefinger all swollen, red, calloused, burning, and nerve dead after a long sawing session, conditions pretty much all hand saws leave me in, because the top 1/3rd of the handle is where all of the pressure meets your hand, and that's the webbing area. I guess most people don't saw nearly enough to notice this, but you're reading the words of a man who's spent literally 2 hours on a single rip cut through eucalyptus (1.5 the first night, .5 the next day, both non-stop sessions) with a crosscut saw, and still wanted more, but couldn't continue with such a beat-up hand. Hopefully this solves that once and for all!

I undid the carriage bolts, slathered on glue, put the carriage bolts back in and tightened them up hard (with regular and lock washers), and added 3 K-Body clamps with full pressure to get the rest glued up:



The handles were nicely aligned when I left things to dry overnight. Soon I can unclamp, remove the bolts and blade again, leaving a nice, dry, fitted kerf, then finish sand and apply a durable finish. I'm thinking water-based, wipe-on poly - a smooth, hard finish that should make the birch pop a little bit - but am open to suggestions.

When I get it all finished up, I'll post it as a project, hopefully with some example sawing video footage.


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## Jason34 (Oct 17, 2008)

gfixler said:


> *A new handle for my 3' crosscut saw*
> 
> When my chainsaw broke the other day, halfway through a log, I reached for a secret weapon I've not really brought out into the light in the exactly 6 months (as of today) since it arrived: my 36", German, hand-hammered, regular-tooth, one-man crosscut saw from Traditional Woodworking. Here are pics from early October that I've had squirreled away. The saw was so much bigger than I'd even imagined, and I had imagined it even bigger than I would ever have imagined it to be just to prepare myself:
> 
> ...


Nice work Gary. That's a wicked looking saw.


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## lew (Feb 13, 2008)

gfixler said:


> *A new handle for my 3' crosscut saw*
> 
> When my chainsaw broke the other day, halfway through a log, I reached for a secret weapon I've not really brought out into the light in the exactly 6 months (as of today) since it arrived: my 36", German, hand-hammered, regular-tooth, one-man crosscut saw from Traditional Woodworking. Here are pics from early October that I've had squirreled away. The saw was so much bigger than I'd even imagined, and I had imagined it even bigger than I would ever have imagined it to be just to prepare myself:
> 
> ...


I have two of these saws- seriously!!

I used to teach Scuba Ice Diving. We used these saws to cut a hole in the ice. I found that the set in the teeth wasn't "wide" enough because the kerf kept freezing shut before the hole could be completed. Had a saw sharpening place reset the teeth on one of the saws and kept the other one for cutting wood.

Nice modification on the handle!!

Lew


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## asthesawturns (Aug 23, 2009)

gfixler said:


> *A new handle for my 3' crosscut saw*
> 
> When my chainsaw broke the other day, halfway through a log, I reached for a secret weapon I've not really brought out into the light in the exactly 6 months (as of today) since it arrived: my 36", German, hand-hammered, regular-tooth, one-man crosscut saw from Traditional Woodworking. Here are pics from early October that I've had squirreled away. The saw was so much bigger than I'd even imagined, and I had imagined it even bigger than I would ever have imagined it to be just to prepare myself:
> 
> ...


Great job, I want a saw like that now, same reasons too. Just have too many projects and not enough time, or money for that process. One tip, when temporariy glueing the handles together, use wood glue on both sides and paper in between, then they just spit where the paper is with a tap from a chisel. Looks like an awesome monster to use.


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## gfixler (Feb 21, 2009)

gfixler said:


> *A new handle for my 3' crosscut saw*
> 
> When my chainsaw broke the other day, halfway through a log, I reached for a secret weapon I've not really brought out into the light in the exactly 6 months (as of today) since it arrived: my 36", German, hand-hammered, regular-tooth, one-man crosscut saw from Traditional Woodworking. Here are pics from early October that I've had squirreled away. The saw was so much bigger than I'd even imagined, and I had imagined it even bigger than I would ever have imagined it to be just to prepare myself:
> 
> ...


Jason - thanks!

Lew - that's pretty funny. I didn't think I'd find anyone who knew about these saws, let alone had one, and definitely not two! Leave it to LumberJocks. I would love a second one eventually to use for large crosscutting. I've actually contemplated refiling the profiles on the teeth to switch back and forth as per need, but that's just getting ridiculous.

Andrew - I really like the sound of that technique! Do you think it would hold up against some pretty serious routing worK? That was my biggest fear, and why I went a little overboard with the drops. I wanted to be sure the halves held together while the huge pattern/flush trim bit did its work. I could have actually separated the halves to do the roundover work later if I wanted.


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## lew (Feb 13, 2008)

gfixler said:


> *A new handle for my 3' crosscut saw*
> 
> When my chainsaw broke the other day, halfway through a log, I reached for a secret weapon I've not really brought out into the light in the exactly 6 months (as of today) since it arrived: my 36", German, hand-hammered, regular-tooth, one-man crosscut saw from Traditional Woodworking. Here are pics from early October that I've had squirreled away. The saw was so much bigger than I'd even imagined, and I had imagined it even bigger than I would ever have imagined it to be just to prepare myself:
> 
> ...


Gary,
These saws and the "Two-Man" variety (longer and two handles) are quite common around here. Folks buy them at flea markets/antique tool places, paint country scenes on them and then hang them on their walls as decorations.

What a waste of a good tool!!

Lew


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## HokieMojo (Mar 11, 2008)

gfixler said:


> *A new handle for my 3' crosscut saw*
> 
> When my chainsaw broke the other day, halfway through a log, I reached for a secret weapon I've not really brought out into the light in the exactly 6 months (as of today) since it arrived: my 36", German, hand-hammered, regular-tooth, one-man crosscut saw from Traditional Woodworking. Here are pics from early October that I've had squirreled away. The saw was so much bigger than I'd even imagined, and I had imagined it even bigger than I would ever have imagined it to be just to prepare myself:
> 
> ...


I like it, although it is a pretty crazy looking handle to me. I don't have thick fingers but I've got big hands. A saw that has a little thicker handle would be welcome in my shop. If I were to suggest a finish, I think I'd go with an oil. I really like how BLO looks on tool handles. The best part is, if it ever wears through, you just put another coat on. Since it penetrates, there is no need to sand off the old finish to get a smooth refinish. poly could chip off and you'd be left with an uneven finish. Finally, if you don't like the BLO's protection, you could always put a coat of poly over the top, but you couldn't go the other way around.

My second choice would be amber shelac. heck, you could do BLO then shellac. I just know that tool handles tend to wear in select areas faster than otehrs. The ability to maintain a handle on a tool that gets a reasonable amount of use would be important to me.

Very nice work.


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## Dennisgrosen (Nov 14, 2009)

gfixler said:


> *A new handle for my 3' crosscut saw*
> 
> When my chainsaw broke the other day, halfway through a log, I reached for a secret weapon I've not really brought out into the light in the exactly 6 months (as of today) since it arrived: my 36", German, hand-hammered, regular-tooth, one-man crosscut saw from Traditional Woodworking. Here are pics from early October that I've had squirreled away. The saw was so much bigger than I'd even imagined, and I had imagined it even bigger than I would ever have imagined it to be just to prepare myself:
> 
> ...


I know the saw from a German uncle (but he has past away 20 years ago)
and it was before I got in to the more woodrelated stuf of all my interreses.
I never try´d the saw but I have seen him work with it many times, and he allso
had another handle different from the new one you show.
I have try´d the dubblesaw and if you not doing it for living it is realy fun to use

and I know that many forest men still bring both saws and different axes with them 
when they take the chainsaw and go on the job in the forest.
they say it´s just in case and you never know (maybee they are right but I think it´s
becourse they dream back to the days before the noisymascines )

Dennis


----------



## Tangle (Jul 21, 2007)

gfixler said:


> *A new handle for my 3' crosscut saw*
> 
> When my chainsaw broke the other day, halfway through a log, I reached for a secret weapon I've not really brought out into the light in the exactly 6 months (as of today) since it arrived: my 36", German, hand-hammered, regular-tooth, one-man crosscut saw from Traditional Woodworking. Here are pics from early October that I've had squirreled away. The saw was so much bigger than I'd even imagined, and I had imagined it even bigger than I would ever have imagined it to be just to prepare myself:
> 
> ...


About every hunting camp and pack outfit I ever worked for had at least one of these. We used the two man " Misery Whips" a lot more but always had one of these to take along if you were pulling a pack string by yourself. As you all know, you can't use a power saw in the wilderness areas of the West. I have an Oregon Saw, 30 inch, that I carry in a scabbard on my saddle to cut blow down on the trail. It works on the pull stroke and is a bigger version of a pruning saw.


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## gfixler (Feb 21, 2009)

*What was that about wedges?*

Okay. I picked up an 8lbs. sledge hammer and axe, both with long, fiberglass handles, and 2 mauls. Back home, I tried in vain to pound the maul into a light check in the end of one of my large Chinese elm logs. It goes in about 1/4"-1/2", but that's it. Four separate large hits with the sledgehammer had the wedge bounce back out and twirl toward me at speed each time, once landing on my foot. Countless other blows fell to no avail.

I also rolled the log on its side and tried to split through the side at various points from end to end. It goes through the soft bark easily, and then it's like it hits a wall. I can't begin to form a split on the side, even right at the edge where it meets the end grain. I also tried taking the axe and hitting over and over in the maul wound on the end grain, with all of my 300lbs of might behind it, connecting repeatedly with the maul's narrow opening, and it just won't open up any more than it has.

I had a feeling this would be the result for some reason.


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## gfixler (Feb 21, 2009)

gfixler said:


> *What was that about wedges?*
> 
> Okay. I picked up an 8lbs. sledge hammer and axe, both with long, fiberglass handles, and 2 mauls. Back home, I tried in vain to pound the maul into a light check in the end of one of my large Chinese elm logs. It goes in about 1/4"-1/2", but that's it. Four separate large hits with the sledgehammer had the wedge bounce back out and twirl toward me at speed each time, once landing on my foot. Countless other blows fell to no avail.
> 
> ...


Update: I cooled down and decided to go back and try again with a different wood. I selected a roughly 8"-10" diameter by about 1' tall log of Modesto ash. It has pretty strong checking in the end, so I set it on top of the 2' diameter log of Chinese elm, lined up the maul in the deepest check, and had at it. I can't even start the wedge. It won't spread the check enough to hold itself upright, even with some pretty serious hammering with the 8lbs. sledgehammer. I never got to the point where I could let go, back up, and take serious swings with the sledgehammer.

I had another go with the sledgehammer and that large block of Chinese elm. I managed to get the maul to stick, and even managed some full, overhead swings from behind my back, and once going, I got some really hard, full-body strikes to connect perfectly, but I never got it more than about 1.25" deep. There's a check forming on both sides of it, but it's too hard to get the second maul into those. They're like the ash, and won't accept the maul. They also curve in an S shape from the pith to the edge, so they're not nice, straight lines.

Then I got my new 3' axe and tried to do that thing where wood choppers stick the axe in the corner of the log, where side and end grain meet. I swung hard from over my head, and while it did make a slice, it also bounced right back up about 1' out of the hole, like I'd struck a hard piece of rubber. I had the maul do that, too several times. I'd hit nice and centered, but the sledgehammer would bounce up high, and the maul would bounce up like a bouncing betty behind it. I almost caught it in the face on one swing. It went whirring past my head, sounding like a huge, angry bee as it twirled. I don't know how much my safety goggles would have done had it connected.

My forearms are weak from the unusual exercise (typing is a shaky chore right now), my hands burn from the effort of holding onto the rubber grips through probably 40 hard, but useless strikes, and my lower back feels like someone hammered on it with a baseball bat. I guess that answers all of the people who asked here and on YouTube: "Why not just use a maul/wedge/sledgehammer?" Apparently, they don't work. That's why


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## Sarit (Oct 21, 2009)

gfixler said:


> *What was that about wedges?*
> 
> Okay. I picked up an 8lbs. sledge hammer and axe, both with long, fiberglass handles, and 2 mauls. Back home, I tried in vain to pound the maul into a light check in the end of one of my large Chinese elm logs. It goes in about 1/4"-1/2", but that's it. Four separate large hits with the sledgehammer had the wedge bounce back out and twirl toward me at speed each time, once landing on my foot. Countless other blows fell to no avail.
> 
> ...


To split rocks they often drill holes to get something called "feathers and wedges" to sit in. They would place a couple of these along the break line and start hammering away at each. If its hard like a rock, maybe its time to start treating it like one.


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## hObOmOnk (Feb 6, 2007)

gfixler said:


> *What was that about wedges?*
> 
> Okay. I picked up an 8lbs. sledge hammer and axe, both with long, fiberglass handles, and 2 mauls. Back home, I tried in vain to pound the maul into a light check in the end of one of my large Chinese elm logs. It goes in about 1/4"-1/2", but that's it. Four separate large hits with the sledgehammer had the wedge bounce back out and twirl toward me at speed each time, once landing on my foot. Countless other blows fell to no avail.
> 
> ...


Here's a video of a Kentucky wood-splitter that lives down the road a ways. 
Don Weber is actually a Welsh bodger transplanted to the Blue Grass State.

Don Weber video


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## Pete_Jud (Feb 15, 2008)

gfixler said:


> *What was that about wedges?*
> 
> Okay. I picked up an 8lbs. sledge hammer and axe, both with long, fiberglass handles, and 2 mauls. Back home, I tried in vain to pound the maul into a light check in the end of one of my large Chinese elm logs. It goes in about 1/4"-1/2", but that's it. Four separate large hits with the sledgehammer had the wedge bounce back out and twirl toward me at speed each time, once landing on my foot. Countless other blows fell to no avail.
> 
> ...


Gary, when I was a young man, we had a fireplace at the cabin that was 6 ft across the back of the firebox. Had to split lots of 5 ft. long logs for firewood. We would have an assortment of wedges, some very slim some thicker, all very sharp, and a 10 and 16 pound hammer. I spend a lot of hours during the summer filling the wood lot, and it worked like in the above video. Good luck, but look and the wedges that you bought, It might be that they are dull, chuby, and designed for softwood.


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## jbertelson (Sep 26, 2009)

gfixler said:


> *What was that about wedges?*
> 
> Okay. I picked up an 8lbs. sledge hammer and axe, both with long, fiberglass handles, and 2 mauls. Back home, I tried in vain to pound the maul into a light check in the end of one of my large Chinese elm logs. It goes in about 1/4"-1/2", but that's it. Four separate large hits with the sledgehammer had the wedge bounce back out and twirl toward me at speed each time, once landing on my foot. Countless other blows fell to no avail.
> 
> ...


Think this is a young man's game. My brother five years older, but about 5 or more years ago, so then my current age, managed to detach a retina splitting wood. He had been heating with wood off and on for probably 40 years and was in excellent physical shape. No more splitting wood for him.

Gary, you are young and not brittle. At my age I wouldn't even consider splitting a large log. Maybe some short pieces of softwood for a fire. I have done that many times.

I plan to use a plane on tenons, and a straighten a few small boards, but I wouldn't consider spending an hour planing. I wouldn't be able to perform surgery for a week. My wrists have becom a weak point, and my shoulders aren't the best.

Keep seeing those log splitters sitting outside of the BORG. Might be a thought…...........(-:


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## lew (Feb 13, 2008)

gfixler said:


> *What was that about wedges?*
> 
> Okay. I picked up an 8lbs. sledge hammer and axe, both with long, fiberglass handles, and 2 mauls. Back home, I tried in vain to pound the maul into a light check in the end of one of my large Chinese elm logs. It goes in about 1/4"-1/2", but that's it. Four separate large hits with the sledgehammer had the wedge bounce back out and twirl toward me at speed each time, once landing on my foot. Countless other blows fell to no avail.
> 
> ...


Gary,
As Skarp pointed out, some woods split easier than others. American Elm has "wild" grain- it doesn't run straight and true- making it hard to split. Maybe Chinese Elm is similar. Also, the drier the wood, the easier it can be split with wedges and mauls. Sharp wedges and mauls are a must.

Lew


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## patron (Apr 2, 2009)

gfixler said:


> *What was that about wedges?*
> 
> Okay. I picked up an 8lbs. sledge hammer and axe, both with long, fiberglass handles, and 2 mauls. Back home, I tried in vain to pound the maul into a light check in the end of one of my large Chinese elm logs. It goes in about 1/4"-1/2", but that's it. Four separate large hits with the sledgehammer had the wedge bounce back out and twirl toward me at speed each time, once landing on my foot. Countless other blows fell to no avail.
> 
> ...


gary ,

on a trip to thousand oaks area ,
my ex's son had a big pile of eucaliptus ,
that had been sitting there for over a year .
the ex and i got bored and rented a hydraulic splitter ,
they brought it from the rental place and left it .
unfortunately , it was a 20 ton ( i've got a 27 ton at home ) ,
and it was leaking oil from the reservoir .
those logs were 3' across , and about 2 1/2 ' long . 
it was a bear , i could only chip slabs off the edge !
so i rotated the log and just kept at it .
some logs had somewhat straight grain ,
and worked ok , but others had spiral grain , forget it !
in 24 hours we only split about half of that pile ,
and when the rental guy came to pick up the machine he said ,
" oh , yeah , you have to split eucalyptus when it is wet ,
when it is dry it won't split " 
well especially with a splitter that was underpowered 
and leaking !
my point is , that you can rent a machine ,
just be sure it is in working order .
it may help , to at least get those logs to a manageable size .


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## Galirex (Mar 21, 2010)

gfixler said:


> *What was that about wedges?*
> 
> Okay. I picked up an 8lbs. sledge hammer and axe, both with long, fiberglass handles, and 2 mauls. Back home, I tried in vain to pound the maul into a light check in the end of one of my large Chinese elm logs. It goes in about 1/4"-1/2", but that's it. Four separate large hits with the sledgehammer had the wedge bounce back out and twirl toward me at speed each time, once landing on my foot. Countless other blows fell to no avail.
> 
> ...


Gary, 
Sounds like you can now make butter by just holding the cream jug - the shaking will do the rest ! = )
Sounds to me like you have 2 problems
(a) As mentioned, those wedges might be the problem, &
(b) Green wood. 
You clearly declared war on those Chinese elm logs, but they're fighting back !


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## TopamaxSurvivor (May 2, 2008)

gfixler said:


> *What was that about wedges?*
> 
> Okay. I picked up an 8lbs. sledge hammer and axe, both with long, fiberglass handles, and 2 mauls. Back home, I tried in vain to pound the maul into a light check in the end of one of my large Chinese elm logs. It goes in about 1/4"-1/2", but that's it. Four separate large hits with the sledgehammer had the wedge bounce back out and twirl toward me at speed each time, once landing on my foot. Countless other blows fell to no avail.
> 
> ...


Try a wedge in those checks. They have a slimmer taper than most mauls. Some times you need 2 or 3 of them side by side, but it will give ;-)


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## Dark_Lightning (Nov 20, 2009)

gfixler said:


> *What was that about wedges?*
> 
> Okay. I picked up an 8lbs. sledge hammer and axe, both with long, fiberglass handles, and 2 mauls. Back home, I tried in vain to pound the maul into a light check in the end of one of my large Chinese elm logs. It goes in about 1/4"-1/2", but that's it. Four separate large hits with the sledgehammer had the wedge bounce back out and twirl toward me at speed each time, once landing on my foot. Countless other blows fell to no avail.
> 
> ...


Chainsaw. Let those rotted dinosaurs do your work.


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## swirt (Apr 6, 2010)

gfixler said:


> *What was that about wedges?*
> 
> Okay. I picked up an 8lbs. sledge hammer and axe, both with long, fiberglass handles, and 2 mauls. Back home, I tried in vain to pound the maul into a light check in the end of one of my large Chinese elm logs. It goes in about 1/4"-1/2", but that's it. Four separate large hits with the sledgehammer had the wedge bounce back out and twirl toward me at speed each time, once landing on my foot. Countless other blows fell to no avail.
> 
> ...


I have no experience with chinese elm, but you may want to consider making and using some gluts. Gluts are essentially wooden wedges, but they are much longer (~15-24 inches) so you get the mechanical advantage of the longer ramp. Here is a link to what Roy has to say about them http://www.uncpress.unc.edu/woodwright/images/Underhill_Guide_excerpt.pdf
(its a pdf so you'll have to search for the word "glut' once you get into it.

He suggests making a root maul to drive the glut, but if you don't plan to use it over and over again, you could make a commander by taking a large piece of firewood (oak works well), (8-10" in diameter and ~ 12' long. Bore a hole for a handle and mount it. use that to drive the gluts.


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## patron (Apr 2, 2009)

gfixler said:


> *What was that about wedges?*
> 
> Okay. I picked up an 8lbs. sledge hammer and axe, both with long, fiberglass handles, and 2 mauls. Back home, I tried in vain to pound the maul into a light check in the end of one of my large Chinese elm logs. It goes in about 1/4"-1/2", but that's it. Four separate large hits with the sledgehammer had the wedge bounce back out and twirl toward me at speed each time, once landing on my foot. Countless other blows fell to no avail.
> 
> ...


gary , plastic wedges are for ' falling ' trees ,
they are used after a cut is made acrros the tree ,
so it doesn't fall backwards by the wind .
http://www.baileysonline.com/category.asp?catid=238

steel wedges , are used for splitting
http://www.baileysonline.com/search.asp?skw=wedge+steel&PageNo=1&x=10&y=9 
these guys are the mercedes of logging and forrest stuff


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## Pete_Jud (Feb 15, 2008)

gfixler said:


> *What was that about wedges?*
> 
> Okay. I picked up an 8lbs. sledge hammer and axe, both with long, fiberglass handles, and 2 mauls. Back home, I tried in vain to pound the maul into a light check in the end of one of my large Chinese elm logs. It goes in about 1/4"-1/2", but that's it. Four separate large hits with the sledgehammer had the wedge bounce back out and twirl toward me at speed each time, once landing on my foot. Countless other blows fell to no avail.
> 
> ...


Gary, I forgot to add that I grew up in the PNW and some of the wedges were hand forged in my great uncles forge circa 1910, and yes we ground the splinters off the heads on a regular when needed. I still have a box full, but would not part with them for any price, still use some of the for firewood, and as I just got some free black walnut will use some of them on it.


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## nmkidd (Sep 18, 2009)

gfixler said:


> *What was that about wedges?*
> 
> Okay. I picked up an 8lbs. sledge hammer and axe, both with long, fiberglass handles, and 2 mauls. Back home, I tried in vain to pound the maul into a light check in the end of one of my large Chinese elm logs. It goes in about 1/4"-1/2", but that's it. Four separate large hits with the sledgehammer had the wedge bounce back out and twirl toward me at speed each time, once landing on my foot. Countless other blows fell to no avail.
> 
> ...


hand grenade…......dynamite…...C4…..all come to mind!!!


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## OutPutter (Jun 23, 2007)

gfixler said:


> *What was that about wedges?*
> 
> Okay. I picked up an 8lbs. sledge hammer and axe, both with long, fiberglass handles, and 2 mauls. Back home, I tried in vain to pound the maul into a light check in the end of one of my large Chinese elm logs. It goes in about 1/4"-1/2", but that's it. Four separate large hits with the sledgehammer had the wedge bounce back out and twirl toward me at speed each time, once landing on my foot. Countless other blows fell to no avail.
> 
> ...


Hi Gary. I'm thinking to get the best advice, we need to see a couple of pictures. The wedges, the axes, the hammers, the wood, the checks, etc.

I work on splitting found wood just like you do and I can tell you from my limited experience that it does matter how sharp the wedge is, what the angle on the face of the wedge is, how much of it fits inside the check without touching unchecked grain, how square the blow is to the face of the check, and a bunch of other stuff that escapes my feeble mind right now. That guy in the video was splitting premium stock so don't let that get you down. I will leave you with this thought. An appropriate wedge applied properly with the right force will always prevail. The mechanical advantage will eventually overcome the wood.

Best,


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## TopamaxSurvivor (May 2, 2008)

gfixler said:


> *What was that about wedges?*
> 
> Okay. I picked up an 8lbs. sledge hammer and axe, both with long, fiberglass handles, and 2 mauls. Back home, I tried in vain to pound the maul into a light check in the end of one of my large Chinese elm logs. It goes in about 1/4"-1/2", but that's it. Four separate large hits with the sledgehammer had the wedge bounce back out and twirl toward me at speed each time, once landing on my foot. Countless other blows fell to no avail.
> 
> ...


Nice find Autumn!! )


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## gfixler (Feb 21, 2009)

gfixler said:


> *What was that about wedges?*
> 
> Okay. I picked up an 8lbs. sledge hammer and axe, both with long, fiberglass handles, and 2 mauls. Back home, I tried in vain to pound the maul into a light check in the end of one of my large Chinese elm logs. It goes in about 1/4"-1/2", but that's it. Four separate large hits with the sledgehammer had the wedge bounce back out and twirl toward me at speed each time, once landing on my foot. Countless other blows fell to no avail.
> 
> ...


sarit - ALWAYS MORE TOOLS! Lol. I can't win. I get a chainsaw, it breaks trying to make it through these things. I make a new handle for my 36" crosscut saw, it turns out to be a huge workout. Several people say wedges. I get wedges. They don't work. Now I'm supposed to get different wedges and a new kind of wedge. There's just no end.

hobomonk - neat video, and I agree with his points, but that wood split easily. If the Chinese elm split anything like that, I'd be posting a success story. He's using a 2' sledgehammer with one hand tapping sideways lightly and immediately opening large splits. I was using a 3', 8# sledgehammer with full swings from behind my back, over my head, and straight down onto the wedge with the ground as a backing, and with all my 300lbs of strength, and it wasn't doing anything at all. Incredible difference in the wood type here.

Pete - they do have chubby tips to them. Just for a sanity check, I took the 3' axe, which also did nothing at all but mar the surface of the elm lightly and took it to a chunk of I'd say 6' diameter eucalyptus. In one small swing it shattered into 4 pieces. I thought I was going crazy before that.

Skarp - I have a bunch of 2×4 wedges - long and narrow. I wonder what a bunch of those would do, though I have a feeling they'd just compress and break up in this stuff.

Jim - the retina story is frightening! I think really, I just want a nice 20" gas chainsaw. I'd be done each log in a minute or two. I'm turning these, so things like riving vs. sawing make no difference. The faces are going to be turned away long before I get to the final piece, and I love the look of nice, clean blocks, stacked up on stickers, coated in wax, and drying as they await their fate. I like a lot of old processes, like hand sawing, but this splitting thing isn't my bag. I can see that now. I had that maul fly at my face no less than 5x during this effort.

Lew - Yes, the Chinese elm definitely twists all over. I'll have better pics of that up soon in a new post. These trees grow all loopy, literally in many cases. I found one large limb that had grown in a perfect corkscrew, and for no real reason. The trees look like twisty straws. In the end grain of these trunk pieces, there are no straight ray lines. They sort of spiral from the center out, like a pinwheel. The check I was following looks more like the curve of a nautilus. I find that in a lot of the woods here.

david - My folks have a big hydraulic splitter built into its own trailer that's lived out by a log pile behind the garage for more than a decade. I've split probably thousands of logs with it now over a lot of my childhood and young adult life, mostly oak and pine. It never made a very nice split, though. The logs more or less tear apart. There'd be a tremendous amount of planing involved to get them back to board shape. As I said earlier in this comment, though, I just want a good 20" gas powered chainsaw. I think it's far more what I really need for what I'm doing. Cutting through the craziness instead of riving along it is what I actually want, as this will ensure turning blanks that have whorls and mixes of colors and grain patterns, instead of having everything uniform. If the Chinese elm log I was trying to split had actually split along its spiraling check, I'd have a lot of wasted, or at least much smaller wood in the acute angles it would form.

Topamax - if you say so!

AtomJack - now you're talking! This is really where I seem to be heading. I just need to start making money again so I can afford it.

swirt - 12' long!? I do have a bunch of very long 2×4 wedges, trimmed from something I forget now. I could give them a shot, though I don't think they're nearly strong enough. I'll keep it mind for the future, though. Thanks.

I'm curious to try steel wedges, but they're pretty expensive at $17/ea. I already blew $100 on the sledgehammer, axe, and mauls, and I didn't actually have that money free, so I need to make it back now somehow 

Pete - very cool! What do you mean by grinding the splinters off the heads? Metal splinters from the wedges? Wood splinters stuck on the wedges from using them?

Doug - no kidding!

Jim - I'm pretty sure the mauls I got are just too fat for this wood. They should be long, and very narrowly angled, and I'm sure you're right that they'd work. I have some pics and videos I'll put in another post soon.

Autumn - Woo hoo! Not only would that be fun, but I'd learn a little something about the cops' response time in my little suburb. Those logs actually moved a lot farther than the size of my yard. I'd have a little explaining to do to my neighbors, but it would be a lot easier to go over there with the fence knocked down


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## TopamaxSurvivor (May 2, 2008)

gfixler said:


> *What was that about wedges?*
> 
> Okay. I picked up an 8lbs. sledge hammer and axe, both with long, fiberglass handles, and 2 mauls. Back home, I tried in vain to pound the maul into a light check in the end of one of my large Chinese elm logs. It goes in about 1/4"-1/2", but that's it. Four separate large hits with the sledgehammer had the wedge bounce back out and twirl toward me at speed each time, once landing on my foot. Countless other blows fell to no avail.
> 
> ...


I have split a lot of maple that started at 4' +/- in diameter. Hard to believe that stuff is tougher than those twisty grain of chunks of maple, but maybe it is :-(( Guess I'd have to say start with a smaller charge of black powder, try to keep things in your own yard ;-)) Might want to try some home made slender wedges out of some hard wood like oak, see what they do in the checks.


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## jerryz (Jun 4, 2009)

gfixler said:


> *What was that about wedges?*
> 
> Okay. I picked up an 8lbs. sledge hammer and axe, both with long, fiberglass handles, and 2 mauls. Back home, I tried in vain to pound the maul into a light check in the end of one of my large Chinese elm logs. It goes in about 1/4"-1/2", but that's it. Four separate large hits with the sledgehammer had the wedge bounce back out and twirl toward me at speed each time, once landing on my foot. Countless other blows fell to no avail.
> 
> ...


Uh







If you live in an urban area I wouldn't reccomend the extreme force approach, trying to explain to the local law enforcement why you're making loud noises might be conducive to troubles. I mean in this day and age when sanity has gone out of the window you just don't do it…..

But if you are in the woods, then by all means blast away… You still can get in trouble dough!!!

You've been warned hahahaha

Be safe


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## TopamaxSurvivor (May 2, 2008)

gfixler said:


> *What was that about wedges?*
> 
> Okay. I picked up an 8lbs. sledge hammer and axe, both with long, fiberglass handles, and 2 mauls. Back home, I tried in vain to pound the maul into a light check in the end of one of my large Chinese elm logs. It goes in about 1/4"-1/2", but that's it. Four separate large hits with the sledgehammer had the wedge bounce back out and twirl toward me at speed each time, once landing on my foot. Countless other blows fell to no avail.
> 
> ...


That reminds me of a friend of mine who lives in Colville, WA. He had his windows rattling by a guy trying to put in a forest service road. The mountain was solid granite. He used truck loads of fertilizer to try to blast his way through. They finally made him stop. Too many complaints from the neighbors. That was back in the age of sanity, now he'd probably have to go to jail without passing "Go" or getting his $200


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## jbertelson (Sep 26, 2009)

gfixler said:


> *What was that about wedges?*
> 
> Okay. I picked up an 8lbs. sledge hammer and axe, both with long, fiberglass handles, and 2 mauls. Back home, I tried in vain to pound the maul into a light check in the end of one of my large Chinese elm logs. It goes in about 1/4"-1/2", but that's it. Four separate large hits with the sledgehammer had the wedge bounce back out and twirl toward me at speed each time, once landing on my foot. Countless other blows fell to no avail.
> 
> ...


As I noted as a comment on Autumn's black powder post, when I cut wood for my cabin many years ago, I just chain sawed it into manageable pieces. In later years I carried an electric chain saw in my motor home. It was powerful enough running off the generator, safe and effective. I still have the electric and its use is only for handling fallen tree branches. Fun thread.


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## Pete_Jud (Feb 15, 2008)

gfixler said:


> *What was that about wedges?*
> 
> Okay. I picked up an 8lbs. sledge hammer and axe, both with long, fiberglass handles, and 2 mauls. Back home, I tried in vain to pound the maul into a light check in the end of one of my large Chinese elm logs. It goes in about 1/4"-1/2", but that's it. Four separate large hits with the sledgehammer had the wedge bounce back out and twirl toward me at speed each time, once landing on my foot. Countless other blows fell to no avail.
> 
> ...


Gary, the heads of the metal wedges will mushroom with use. You will need to grind the mushroom off or the steel that hangs over the side of the head can form sharp splinters that can cut your hands and also fly off with a lot of speed. Good luck


----------



## lilredweldingrod (Nov 23, 2009)

gfixler said:


> *What was that about wedges?*
> 
> Okay. I picked up an 8lbs. sledge hammer and axe, both with long, fiberglass handles, and 2 mauls. Back home, I tried in vain to pound the maul into a light check in the end of one of my large Chinese elm logs. It goes in about 1/4"-1/2", but that's it. Four separate large hits with the sledgehammer had the wedge bounce back out and twirl toward me at speed each time, once landing on my foot. Countless other blows fell to no avail.
> 
> ...


This reminds me of a neighbor that bought a new chainsaw from Sears to cut some eucalyptus logs that have been drying here in the desert for 4-5 years. After trying for a full day and only cutting into the first log about 4" and dulling the blade several times, he took it back and they laughed at him and called it "Abuse." 
I told him when he brought them home to cut and split them then, but some people are all wise and all knowing. lol
I've cut and split a lot of hard woods in my boyhood in the Ozarks, Oak, hickory, ash, elm, and the worst blackjack oak. My opinion is you need a saw mill now. When this tree drys out even this may not work unless you have a good supply of blades.
If you try the explosives route, have a good lawyer on hand. There is a law about restitution for all the blown out windows in your neighborhood. And your neighbors will not like you after this. 
A serious work of caution: Do not try any explosives if you have no experience with them. You will only main or kill yourself. This stuff is very unforgiving. Good luck. Rand


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## gfixler (Feb 21, 2009)

gfixler said:


> *What was that about wedges?*
> 
> Okay. I picked up an 8lbs. sledge hammer and axe, both with long, fiberglass handles, and 2 mauls. Back home, I tried in vain to pound the maul into a light check in the end of one of my large Chinese elm logs. It goes in about 1/4"-1/2", but that's it. Four separate large hits with the sledgehammer had the wedge bounce back out and twirl toward me at speed each time, once landing on my foot. Countless other blows fell to no avail.
> 
> ...


No worries, folks. There's no chance I'm going to be fooling with black powder here. I have 3 houses of neighbors I don't know all within about 30' of the yard where I'd have to do it. Too, I'd worry about my cat pal who visits me every day. She seems to wander by at the most dangerous moments.


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## swirt (Apr 6, 2010)

gfixler said:


> *What was that about wedges?*
> 
> Okay. I picked up an 8lbs. sledge hammer and axe, both with long, fiberglass handles, and 2 mauls. Back home, I tried in vain to pound the maul into a light check in the end of one of my large Chinese elm logs. It goes in about 1/4"-1/2", but that's it. Four separate large hits with the sledgehammer had the wedge bounce back out and twirl toward me at speed each time, once landing on my foot. Countless other blows fell to no avail.
> 
> ...


swirt - 12' long!?

Sorry…my shift key is starting to wear out.. that should have been 12" long.


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## PurpLev (May 30, 2008)

gfixler said:


> *What was that about wedges?*
> 
> Okay. I picked up an 8lbs. sledge hammer and axe, both with long, fiberglass handles, and 2 mauls. Back home, I tried in vain to pound the maul into a light check in the end of one of my large Chinese elm logs. It goes in about 1/4"-1/2", but that's it. Four separate large hits with the sledgehammer had the wedge bounce back out and twirl toward me at speed each time, once landing on my foot. Countless other blows fell to no avail.
> 
> ...


you DID sharpen the wedges - right?


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## gfixler (Feb 21, 2009)

gfixler said:


> *What was that about wedges?*
> 
> Okay. I picked up an 8lbs. sledge hammer and axe, both with long, fiberglass handles, and 2 mauls. Back home, I tried in vain to pound the maul into a light check in the end of one of my large Chinese elm logs. It goes in about 1/4"-1/2", but that's it. Four separate large hits with the sledgehammer had the wedge bounce back out and twirl toward me at speed each time, once landing on my foot. Countless other blows fell to no avail.
> 
> ...


swirt - I figured 

Purp - no, you're supposed to? The have a rather blunt point on them, like they were intentionally curved to not be sharp. I thought that was supposed to help with the splitting action.


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## TopamaxSurvivor (May 2, 2008)

gfixler said:


> *What was that about wedges?*
> 
> Okay. I picked up an 8lbs. sledge hammer and axe, both with long, fiberglass handles, and 2 mauls. Back home, I tried in vain to pound the maul into a light check in the end of one of my large Chinese elm logs. It goes in about 1/4"-1/2", but that's it. Four separate large hits with the sledgehammer had the wedge bounce back out and twirl toward me at speed each time, once landing on my foot. Countless other blows fell to no avail.
> 
> ...


I have had some sharper than others. They just need to be sharp enough to start into the wood and set there for the next Kaboom with a 12# sledge or maul. I've found 16#ers to be a bit unwiedly and tiring.


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## gfixler (Feb 21, 2009)

*Jet 16-32 drum sander*

Mom visited a couple of weeks back for 10 days. She tends to come out once per year in the summer to see me, her only son. She helped me replace some broken things in my continuing "everything's breaking" period (broke a bit last week on the mill - pricey, too - my computer a week or two before that, and my TV shortly before that, sigh…). Then over dinner for her birthday somewhere nice we talked about woodworking, and my idea for making some things like cutting boards that I can sell. She asked what I needed to make that happen in any kind of feasible time period, as I'm now working full time, and it's harder and harder to find hours free in the shop. I mentioned that the one thing that would help a lot would be a drum sander.

The next day we took a trip to Rockler to check them out. They were 2x the starting price I had misremembered ($500ish, not $250ish), and they were out of the 10" wide model. I was ready to go when she surprised me by saying "What about this 16-inch model?" She got it for me for my birthday, which is next month. This is another reason for me not to get married and have kids. All that grandkid money is funneling directly to me! evil laughter



She really is way too nice to me. I have to make this (and all the other stuff she made way more awesome during her visit) up to her this year somehow. She even got me some boxes of grits:



They come in rolls:



I figured eventually I'd get one, but I really thought it wouldn't be for at least a year, probably a few. I'm still kind of amazed 2 weeks on that this thing is in my shop. It's unbelievably useful.



I've used it almost every day since for about an hour or two per day. I've made about 6 different boards with it from various scraps (which I'll post soon). I've cleaned up a bunch of boards from pallets, revealing in a few instances some very pretty wood beneath the grease and grime. I even realized the scraps I save that no one would use, like the 1" thick, mostly bark scrap from the first flat-sawn board from some logs (Chinese elm, e.g.) can be cleaned up into usable pieces. I've fed quite a bit thorugh here that simply cannot be put in a planer, and it seems to handle end-grain glue-ups with almost no tearout, though more testing is called for in this area (and tonight I begin on that!).



Switching grits takes about 30-45 seconds, and isn't unpleasant at all, so I've been back and forth between them 2 dozen times now at least. This totally changes how I can work, too. I can do things I wouldn't, because they'd be such a hassle to clean up later. I fed a 13" diameter log round through it from some Modesto ash, a sister piece to the top I made for this cake stand. 16" is a very useful dimension! Cutting boards fit easily through it, and I can make a second pass with the board spun around 180° to get up to 36" wide sanding. I even put a small piece of aluminum through it today, and it worked well.

I love this thing. It's WAY more quiet than the planer, and much safer. I almost left the shop with it still running once, because when it's on it makes almost no noise whatsoever. Some old refrigerators hum louder than this machine. It's very well balanced.

Here's a crummy board from a stack of pallet wood:



It turned out to be beautiful underneath, with shimmering chatoyance. I didn't immediately recognize it until I caught the wonderful, slightly fruity smell. The drum sander warms the wood a bit, making it even more fragrant. It's alder.


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## lew (Feb 13, 2008)

gfixler said:


> *Jet 16-32 drum sander*
> 
> Mom visited a couple of weeks back for 10 days. She tends to come out once per year in the summer to see me, her only son. She helped me replace some broken things in my continuing "everything's breaking" period (broke a bit last week on the mill - pricey, too - my computer a week or two before that, and my TV shortly before that, sigh…). Then over dinner for her birthday somewhere nice we talked about woodworking, and my idea for making some things like cutting boards that I can sell. She asked what I needed to make that happen in any kind of feasible time period, as I'm now working full time, and it's harder and harder to find hours free in the shop. I mentioned that the one thing that would help a lot would be a drum sander.
> 
> ...


Gary,

I am willing to be adopted ;^)

Nice score- sure beats the sock and underwear my mom *still* insists on buying me!

Lew


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## lightweightladylefty (Mar 27, 2008)

gfixler said:


> *Jet 16-32 drum sander*
> 
> Mom visited a couple of weeks back for 10 days. She tends to come out once per year in the summer to see me, her only son. She helped me replace some broken things in my continuing "everything's breaking" period (broke a bit last week on the mill - pricey, too - my computer a week or two before that, and my TV shortly before that, sigh…). Then over dinner for her birthday somewhere nice we talked about woodworking, and my idea for making some things like cutting boards that I can sell. She asked what I needed to make that happen in any kind of feasible time period, as I'm now working full time, and it's harder and harder to find hours free in the shop. I mentioned that the one thing that would help a lot would be a drum sander.
> 
> ...


Gary,
What are you making Mom in return? She should get your most spectacular cutting board!


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## NBeener (Sep 16, 2009)

gfixler said:


> *Jet 16-32 drum sander*
> 
> Mom visited a couple of weeks back for 10 days. She tends to come out once per year in the summer to see me, her only son. She helped me replace some broken things in my continuing "everything's breaking" period (broke a bit last week on the mill - pricey, too - my computer a week or two before that, and my TV shortly before that, sigh…). Then over dinner for her birthday somewhere nice we talked about woodworking, and my idea for making some things like cutting boards that I can sell. She asked what I needed to make that happen in any kind of feasible time period, as I'm now working full time, and it's harder and harder to find hours free in the shop. I mentioned that the one thing that would help a lot would be a drum sander.
> 
> ...


Awwwwwwwwwww.

Dude.


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## SPalm (Oct 9, 2007)

gfixler said:


> *Jet 16-32 drum sander*
> 
> Mom visited a couple of weeks back for 10 days. She tends to come out once per year in the summer to see me, her only son. She helped me replace some broken things in my continuing "everything's breaking" period (broke a bit last week on the mill - pricey, too - my computer a week or two before that, and my TV shortly before that, sigh…). Then over dinner for her birthday somewhere nice we talked about woodworking, and my idea for making some things like cutting boards that I can sell. She asked what I needed to make that happen in any kind of feasible time period, as I'm now working full time, and it's harder and harder to find hours free in the shop. I mentioned that the one thing that would help a lot would be a drum sander.
> 
> ...


Good Mom ya got there. She done you good. Tell her thanks for me.

I like helping out my kids too.

I have that sander, and it is one of the most useful tools I own.

Good story,
Steve


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## degoose (Mar 20, 2009)

gfixler said:


> *Jet 16-32 drum sander*
> 
> Mom visited a couple of weeks back for 10 days. She tends to come out once per year in the summer to see me, her only son. She helped me replace some broken things in my continuing "everything's breaking" period (broke a bit last week on the mill - pricey, too - my computer a week or two before that, and my TV shortly before that, sigh…). Then over dinner for her birthday somewhere nice we talked about woodworking, and my idea for making some things like cutting boards that I can sell. She asked what I needed to make that happen in any kind of feasible time period, as I'm now working full time, and it's harder and harder to find hours free in the shop. I mentioned that the one thing that would help a lot would be a drum sander.
> 
> ...


I have the same one and I just love it to death…


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## Brad_Nailor (Jul 26, 2007)

gfixler said:


> *Jet 16-32 drum sander*
> 
> Mom visited a couple of weeks back for 10 days. She tends to come out once per year in the summer to see me, her only son. She helped me replace some broken things in my continuing "everything's breaking" period (broke a bit last week on the mill - pricey, too - my computer a week or two before that, and my TV shortly before that, sigh…). Then over dinner for her birthday somewhere nice we talked about woodworking, and my idea for making some things like cutting boards that I can sell. She asked what I needed to make that happen in any kind of feasible time period, as I'm now working full time, and it's harder and harder to find hours free in the shop. I mentioned that the one thing that would help a lot would be a drum sander.
> 
> ...


Wow..can your Mom adopt me? Thats awesome!
Great looking sander..thats the one I want!


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## sbryan55 (Dec 8, 2007)

gfixler said:


> *Jet 16-32 drum sander*
> 
> Mom visited a couple of weeks back for 10 days. She tends to come out once per year in the summer to see me, her only son. She helped me replace some broken things in my continuing "everything's breaking" period (broke a bit last week on the mill - pricey, too - my computer a week or two before that, and my TV shortly before that, sigh…). Then over dinner for her birthday somewhere nice we talked about woodworking, and my idea for making some things like cutting boards that I can sell. She asked what I needed to make that happen in any kind of feasible time period, as I'm now working full time, and it's harder and harder to find hours free in the shop. I mentioned that the one thing that would help a lot would be a drum sander.
> 
> ...


Gary, your mom sounds like a keeper to me!! This is a nice sander that you have obviously already put through its paces. I have one of these on my wish list as well. Could you use a brother?


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## PurpLev (May 30, 2008)

gfixler said:


> *Jet 16-32 drum sander*
> 
> Mom visited a couple of weeks back for 10 days. She tends to come out once per year in the summer to see me, her only son. She helped me replace some broken things in my continuing "everything's breaking" period (broke a bit last week on the mill - pricey, too - my computer a week or two before that, and my TV shortly before that, sigh…). Then over dinner for her birthday somewhere nice we talked about woodworking, and my idea for making some things like cutting boards that I can sell. She asked what I needed to make that happen in any kind of feasible time period, as I'm now working full time, and it's harder and harder to find hours free in the shop. I mentioned that the one thing that would help a lot would be a drum sander.
> 
> ...


sweet… those visits sure do pay well, in all aspects


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## TopamaxSurvivor (May 2, 2008)

gfixler said:


> *Jet 16-32 drum sander*
> 
> Mom visited a couple of weeks back for 10 days. She tends to come out once per year in the summer to see me, her only son. She helped me replace some broken things in my continuing "everything's breaking" period (broke a bit last week on the mill - pricey, too - my computer a week or two before that, and my TV shortly before that, sigh…). Then over dinner for her birthday somewhere nice we talked about woodworking, and my idea for making some things like cutting boards that I can sell. She asked what I needed to make that happen in any kind of feasible time period, as I'm now working full time, and it's harder and harder to find hours free in the shop. I mentioned that the one thing that would help a lot would be a drum sander.
> 
> ...


I'd start inviiting her 2x a year, Gary ) You'd better hope she doesn't read LJ and find out about the grandkids being on hold until your shop is up to snuff ;-))


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## twokidsnosleep (Apr 5, 2010)

gfixler said:


> *Jet 16-32 drum sander*
> 
> Mom visited a couple of weeks back for 10 days. She tends to come out once per year in the summer to see me, her only son. She helped me replace some broken things in my continuing "everything's breaking" period (broke a bit last week on the mill - pricey, too - my computer a week or two before that, and my TV shortly before that, sigh…). Then over dinner for her birthday somewhere nice we talked about woodworking, and my idea for making some things like cutting boards that I can sell. She asked what I needed to make that happen in any kind of feasible time period, as I'm now working full time, and it's harder and harder to find hours free in the shop. I mentioned that the one thing that would help a lot would be a drum sander.
> 
> ...


Cool stuff. 
Your mom is awesome.


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## lanwater (May 14, 2010)

gfixler said:


> *Jet 16-32 drum sander*
> 
> Mom visited a couple of weeks back for 10 days. She tends to come out once per year in the summer to see me, her only son. She helped me replace some broken things in my continuing "everything's breaking" period (broke a bit last week on the mill - pricey, too - my computer a week or two before that, and my TV shortly before that, sigh…). Then over dinner for her birthday somewhere nice we talked about woodworking, and my idea for making some things like cutting boards that I can sell. She asked what I needed to make that happen in any kind of feasible time period, as I'm now working full time, and it's harder and harder to find hours free in the shop. I mentioned that the one thing that would help a lot would be a drum sander.
> 
> ...


You got a great mom and a great sander.
I got the same and found it very usefull.


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## Dennisgrosen (Nov 14, 2009)

gfixler said:


> *Jet 16-32 drum sander*
> 
> Mom visited a couple of weeks back for 10 days. She tends to come out once per year in the summer to see me, her only son. She helped me replace some broken things in my continuing "everything's breaking" period (broke a bit last week on the mill - pricey, too - my computer a week or two before that, and my TV shortly before that, sigh…). Then over dinner for her birthday somewhere nice we talked about woodworking, and my idea for making some things like cutting boards that I can sell. She asked what I needed to make that happen in any kind of feasible time period, as I'm now working full time, and it's harder and harder to find hours free in the shop. I mentioned that the one thing that would help a lot would be a drum sander.
> 
> ...


I think you most bee this weeks SUCKER , congrat´s Gary with your new toy
but now you have a big problem HOW WILL YOU EVER CUOLD PAY HER BACK
this gesture 
enjoy It the next many years

Dennis


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## REK (Aug 30, 2009)

gfixler said:


> *Jet 16-32 drum sander*
> 
> Mom visited a couple of weeks back for 10 days. She tends to come out once per year in the summer to see me, her only son. She helped me replace some broken things in my continuing "everything's breaking" period (broke a bit last week on the mill - pricey, too - my computer a week or two before that, and my TV shortly before that, sigh…). Then over dinner for her birthday somewhere nice we talked about woodworking, and my idea for making some things like cutting boards that I can sell. She asked what I needed to make that happen in any kind of feasible time period, as I'm now working full time, and it's harder and harder to find hours free in the shop. I mentioned that the one thing that would help a lot would be a drum sander.
> 
> ...


The life of an only child (envy)!!!!


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## stefang (Apr 9, 2009)

gfixler said:


> *Jet 16-32 drum sander*
> 
> Mom visited a couple of weeks back for 10 days. She tends to come out once per year in the summer to see me, her only son. She helped me replace some broken things in my continuing "everything's breaking" period (broke a bit last week on the mill - pricey, too - my computer a week or two before that, and my TV shortly before that, sigh…). Then over dinner for her birthday somewhere nice we talked about woodworking, and my idea for making some things like cutting boards that I can sell. She asked what I needed to make that happen in any kind of feasible time period, as I'm now working full time, and it's harder and harder to find hours free in the shop. I mentioned that the one thing that would help a lot would be a drum sander.
> 
> ...


Your mom is a generous person and a loving mother Gary. Not everybody has one like that, so you can consider yourself a very lucky guy. Your new sander looks great and very useful. I'm waiting for someone to give me one like that. I'm just not sure where I could put it.


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## Porosky (Mar 10, 2009)

gfixler said:


> *Jet 16-32 drum sander*
> 
> Mom visited a couple of weeks back for 10 days. She tends to come out once per year in the summer to see me, her only son. She helped me replace some broken things in my continuing "everything's breaking" period (broke a bit last week on the mill - pricey, too - my computer a week or two before that, and my TV shortly before that, sigh…). Then over dinner for her birthday somewhere nice we talked about woodworking, and my idea for making some things like cutting boards that I can sell. She asked what I needed to make that happen in any kind of feasible time period, as I'm now working full time, and it's harder and harder to find hours free in the shop. I mentioned that the one thing that would help a lot would be a drum sander.
> 
> ...


Welcome to the easy life my friend.


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## Ken90712 (Sep 2, 2009)

gfixler said:


> *Jet 16-32 drum sander*
> 
> Mom visited a couple of weeks back for 10 days. She tends to come out once per year in the summer to see me, her only son. She helped me replace some broken things in my continuing "everything's breaking" period (broke a bit last week on the mill - pricey, too - my computer a week or two before that, and my TV shortly before that, sigh…). Then over dinner for her birthday somewhere nice we talked about woodworking, and my idea for making some things like cutting boards that I can sell. She asked what I needed to make that happen in any kind of feasible time period, as I'm now working full time, and it's harder and harder to find hours free in the shop. I mentioned that the one thing that would help a lot would be a drum sander.
> 
> ...


Gary congrats! So happy things are looking up for ya. Hows that new job going? Pretty cool mom you got there, getting a present for you like that. I just ordered the 18 inch V drum sander from Stockroom Supply and can't wait until it gets here! Hope all is well. Will have to do lunch soon.


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## bigfish_95008 (Nov 26, 2009)

gfixler said:


> *Jet 16-32 drum sander*
> 
> Mom visited a couple of weeks back for 10 days. She tends to come out once per year in the summer to see me, her only son. She helped me replace some broken things in my continuing "everything's breaking" period (broke a bit last week on the mill - pricey, too - my computer a week or two before that, and my TV shortly before that, sigh…). Then over dinner for her birthday somewhere nice we talked about woodworking, and my idea for making some things like cutting boards that I can sell. She asked what I needed to make that happen in any kind of feasible time period, as I'm now working full time, and it's harder and harder to find hours free in the shop. I mentioned that the one thing that would help a lot would be a drum sander.
> 
> ...


Gary, now I know we need to get together. This is a tool on my list, but until the wife find work any tool purchases are on hold.


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## gfixler (Feb 21, 2009)

gfixler said:


> *Jet 16-32 drum sander*
> 
> Mom visited a couple of weeks back for 10 days. She tends to come out once per year in the summer to see me, her only son. She helped me replace some broken things in my continuing "everything's breaking" period (broke a bit last week on the mill - pricey, too - my computer a week or two before that, and my TV shortly before that, sigh…). Then over dinner for her birthday somewhere nice we talked about woodworking, and my idea for making some things like cutting boards that I can sell. She asked what I needed to make that happen in any kind of feasible time period, as I'm now working full time, and it's harder and harder to find hours free in the shop. I mentioned that the one thing that would help a lot would be a drum sander.
> 
> ...


Sounds like many people have and love this tool. That's good to hear!

lightweightladyleftie - Mom's actually got a pretty involved request put in. It'll be a LOT more work than a cutting board, but I guess she's more than earned it 

Dennis - I don't think I have enough lifetime left to repay her for the lifetime of kindness she's already shown me. She really is the greatest, and not at all just because she buys me things. She's always been there for me, whether it's cheering me on, cheering me up, or chewing me out when I need it 

ken - the new job is going very well. I'm still loving it, all my coworkers, the work, the location, and we're in negotiations right now to move me from contractor to full-time, so they must like me, too! I'd love to have lunch one of these days, although next week is jury duty cue dramatic music.

Looks like I picked up several new family members in here with this post!


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## Dennisgrosen (Nov 14, 2009)

gfixler said:


> *Jet 16-32 drum sander*
> 
> Mom visited a couple of weeks back for 10 days. She tends to come out once per year in the summer to see me, her only son. She helped me replace some broken things in my continuing "everything's breaking" period (broke a bit last week on the mill - pricey, too - my computer a week or two before that, and my TV shortly before that, sigh…). Then over dinner for her birthday somewhere nice we talked about woodworking, and my idea for making some things like cutting boards that I can sell. She asked what I needed to make that happen in any kind of feasible time period, as I'm now working full time, and it's harder and harder to find hours free in the shop. I mentioned that the one thing that would help a lot would be a drum sander.
> 
> ...


I know what you meen Gary
I have the same problem with my mother (always there when needed)

Dennis


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