# Bread Board (s)



## PurpLev (May 30, 2008)

*Recovering the Lumber - or - how I leant to love bowling alley flooring*

OK, so now that the kitchen challenge is all over, I guess it's a good time to post a blog regarding kitchen items … or… hold on… um - oops. too late.

Oh well, I guess I'll blog this anyways.

So, the plan is to make a bread board. for the time being, the design shall remain unseen and will reveal in details as this blog series will progress. The board is primarily made of hard maple that I am recovering from bowling alley floors (I still have about half a lane from building my workbench) with possible accent from my recently sliced applewood that is dry and ready for use.

I wanted to dedicate this first post to how I recover the lumber from these floors as they are fully loaded with twisted hardened steel nails which in the past I had a hell of a time getting out but now that I've gotten smarter I figured someone might find this useful, so away we go:

*Step 1: Relieving the Boards*
To begin, I found that it's impossible to take the nails out while the boards are still attached to one another and it's easier to handle the nails from a single board. so first step is to relieve the boards from one another. The easiest way (for me) to do this is to use 2 wedge type tools to systematically spread the top board apart starting at one end pounding 1 wedge in, then as the board slightly pulls apart, pound 2nd wedge further ahead into the board, as it lifts the board more, the 1st wedge will come loose, take 1st wedge, and pound it further ahead along the board - rinse and repeat until you get to the end, and the board is slightly lifted off the lamination:










Once the board is slightly released, I can freely slide my nail puller bar in the open space, and by pushing down, fully release the board from the lamination starting at the far end, moving along it's length, I push down on the bar with medium force trying not to break the board, but just release it slightly until I get to the end - if it's not fully released, start from the beginning again now that it's a bit looser - applying a bit more force until it just pops out clean:










*Step 2: Preparing the nails to be pulled*
Now that the board is on it's own and in porcupine mode, we can deal with the nails as they are only going through 1 board, and we have access to both their tip, and head.

The easier way to do this is not to try and pull the nails from the head at this point, but to pound on their tips (from the underside) so that half the nail with the head will be pushed up from the board giving us better access to the head for pulling it out in the next step:










*Step 3: Out you go*
Now that the nails have been pound upwards, we can lay the board flat (well, not fine woodworking flat - but you know what I mean) on the ground/workbench to pull the nails out.

What I found out was that if you'll try pulling the nails simply using the hammer/nail puller, the angle created by the hammer will be too steep and will mostly cause the nails to break in half (these are hardened nails - they DO NOT bend - they SNAP). to overcome this issue, I found that placing a spacer (3/4 material) under the hammer head to lift it up will cause the pulling action to pull the nail STRAIGHT UP (mostly), reducing the chance of the nail to break. I can say that after starting to use the spacer, 99% of the nails pulled out easily in whole. only a few nails broke - and I believe it is because they were weak, or had been pound unevenly:










The few nails that either broke off, or were broken to begin with did require to be hammered out with a pin punch, using the techniques described above - there were only a handful of broken nails compared to ~100 whole nails that were pulled.

The result (I actually have double the quantity of lumber cleaned out at the momend) after planing and jointing (still need to rip to width last edge) is this:










Lots of lumber waiting to be glued back together.

As I mentioned - I have double the quantity. the problem is that while planing the other half or the boards, my planer broke down- *UGH* talk about timing. with my recent interest in machining and what it entails, I took the planer apart, and found that the sprocket that drives the chain that turns the feed drums broke in half. the interesting thing is that (A) I could not find the broken half of it, making me think it was broken when I bought it and was somehow still functional until it just gave up traction now and (B) this is the 2nd gear in the last 2 days that I found broken on my machines - both as it seems broke for the previous owner. I called and ordered the part and in the mean time - planing the rest of the boards with my handplanes.

I don't mind jointing by hand, I actually like it. I don't mind thicknessing by hand in general, but for something like this - where there are lots of small boards that all need to be planed down to the exact same thickness so that they can be laminated in staggered fashion without leaving gaps - I really would prefer to run them all through my planer in a batch. oh well. a step back, but not too bad.

Next, glueing it up (yes, it's a lot of lumber, and yes- it's big).

P.S. I'll blog my fix to the planer when I get the part, so if anyone is ever running into issues with the rollers not feeding - you may find it useful as well.

Thanks for reading,
Peace.


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## Bearpie (Feb 19, 2010)

PurpLev said:


> *Recovering the Lumber - or - how I leant to love bowling alley flooring*
> 
> OK, so now that the kitchen challenge is all over, I guess it's a good time to post a blog regarding kitchen items … or… hold on… um - oops. too late.
> 
> ...


Good save on the wood, I know it is wonderful wood but what a way to get it! Too much like hard work for me with my bad back! I'll pass!

Erwin, Jacksonville, FL


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## swirt (Apr 6, 2010)

PurpLev said:


> *Recovering the Lumber - or - how I leant to love bowling alley flooring*
> 
> OK, so now that the kitchen challenge is all over, I guess it's a good time to post a blog regarding kitchen items … or… hold on… um - oops. too late.
> 
> ...


Looks like a lot of work….and that is great fun.


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## PurpLev (May 30, 2008)

PurpLev said:


> *Recovering the Lumber - or - how I leant to love bowling alley flooring*
> 
> OK, so now that the kitchen challenge is all over, I guess it's a good time to post a blog regarding kitchen items … or… hold on… um - oops. too late.
> 
> ...


Thanks guys,

here's the thing - I consider this to be 'urban logging', with the equivalent of acquiring lumber from logs (raw material) (free) so in essence - this is actually LESS work than milling logs (at least for me) and the material is fantastic, dried, and ready for use.


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## fernandoindia (May 5, 2010)

PurpLev said:


> *Recovering the Lumber - or - how I leant to love bowling alley flooring*
> 
> OK, so now that the kitchen challenge is all over, I guess it's a good time to post a blog regarding kitchen items … or… hold on… um - oops. too late.
> 
> ...


Hi Purplev,

Love saving wood. it looks like a piece of cake.

Remember to wear bulletproof vest.
Be watching


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## twokidsnosleep (Apr 5, 2010)

PurpLev said:


> *Recovering the Lumber - or - how I leant to love bowling alley flooring*
> 
> OK, so now that the kitchen challenge is all over, I guess it's a good time to post a blog regarding kitchen items … or… hold on… um - oops. too late.
> 
> ...


This is a great thing you are doing to give this wood a second life and keep it from wasting in the dump.
It looks like a ton of effort, but everything you make from it will feel that much more special.
Gotta get the planer working again though.
Are you using a metal detector on the boards???...I would be paranoid of missing a nail with that many in the boards and damaging equipment..
Be careful,
Cheers, Scott


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## ellen35 (Jan 1, 2009)

PurpLev said:


> *Recovering the Lumber - or - how I leant to love bowling alley flooring*
> 
> OK, so now that the kitchen challenge is all over, I guess it's a good time to post a blog regarding kitchen items … or… hold on… um - oops. too late.
> 
> ...


Sharon,
You are truly incredible! That bowling alley is being reincarnated in so many ways! 
I am looking forward to the next installment… and the fix. 
Ellen


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## Karson (May 9, 2006)

PurpLev said:


> *Recovering the Lumber - or - how I leant to love bowling alley flooring*
> 
> OK, so now that the kitchen challenge is all over, I guess it's a good time to post a blog regarding kitchen items … or… hold on… um - oops. too late.
> 
> ...


Sharon: I remember those days. I still have a small section of my alley on the wood pile.


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## SPalm (Oct 9, 2007)

PurpLev said:


> *Recovering the Lumber - or - how I leant to love bowling alley flooring*
> 
> OK, so now that the kitchen challenge is all over, I guess it's a good time to post a blog regarding kitchen items … or… hold on… um - oops. too late.
> 
> ...


Yikes. That's a lot of work. Nice haul in that last pic.

Sorry about your planer dude. I am glad that you are still charging ahead by ordering parts and fixing it.

Steve


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## BritBoxmaker (Feb 1, 2010)

PurpLev said:


> *Recovering the Lumber - or - how I leant to love bowling alley flooring*
> 
> OK, so now that the kitchen challenge is all over, I guess it's a good time to post a blog regarding kitchen items … or… hold on… um - oops. too late.
> 
> ...


Good work.

There's always the thought that every piece you recover doesn't have to come from a new tree. Plus as you say its free and stable.


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## LeeJ (Jul 4, 2007)

PurpLev said:


> *Recovering the Lumber - or - how I leant to love bowling alley flooring*
> 
> OK, so now that the kitchen challenge is all over, I guess it's a good time to post a blog regarding kitchen items … or… hold on… um - oops. too late.
> 
> ...


That's a lot of work, Sharon…

Plus I would be hesitant to put through my equipment. Too much wear and tear.

I think I'll just keep buying my wood.

Lee


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## PurpLev (May 30, 2008)

PurpLev said:


> *Recovering the Lumber - or - how I leant to love bowling alley flooring*
> 
> OK, so now that the kitchen challenge is all over, I guess it's a good time to post a blog regarding kitchen items … or… hold on… um - oops. too late.
> 
> ...


Thanks everyone. this lumber is definitely not equivalent to bought lumber. it does have the nail holes on the flat sawn side that requires design considerations and all. Yes, a metal detector is essential, I did manage to miss one nail and nicked my planer knives.

For me, it's lumber that I otherwise would not be able to afford at present time. so I take whatever I can


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## moonls (Mar 23, 2010)

PurpLev said:


> *Recovering the Lumber - or - how I leant to love bowling alley flooring*
> 
> OK, so now that the kitchen challenge is all over, I guess it's a good time to post a blog regarding kitchen items … or… hold on… um - oops. too late.
> 
> ...


Sharon I'm glad to see you've found ways to remove the nails more efficiently. I've done quite a bit of recovering hardwood in this way over the years. It is a lot of work but worth the effort when the wood is transformed into something even better! I look forward to seeing your planer fix and the finished project.
Lorna


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## NBeener (Sep 16, 2009)

PurpLev said:


> *Recovering the Lumber - or - how I leant to love bowling alley flooring*
> 
> OK, so now that the kitchen challenge is all over, I guess it's a good time to post a blog regarding kitchen items … or… hold on… um - oops. too late.
> 
> ...


Great post. 
Great wood.
Cool progress.

By the way: the other half of that sprocket wound up in my front yard … in Colorado.

Yeah. I thought it was more than a bit strange, too ;-)

When I bought the lumber, and a few shop essentials, to build my wine rack, the cashier at the lumberyard said, "You know you can just go to the store and BUY the thing for less than you're going to spend, here."

No disprespect, to *Lee Jesberger*, intended-I assure you-sometimes, that isn't the point. Sometimes, something like this just has "Fun Project and Cool Adaptive Re-use of Materials" written ALL over it !

Lastly-and this is pretty pertinent to *Sharon*: the reclaimed lumber place that I hit, in Cambridge, MA … charges a bloody fortune for cool old wood, with a story behind it, so-for those for whom the look, the story, or the process matters, or is fun, *Sharon*'s actually doing this on the dramatically cheap !

My $0.02. YMMV.


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## NBeener (Sep 16, 2009)

PurpLev said:


> *Recovering the Lumber - or - how I leant to love bowling alley flooring*
> 
> OK, so now that the kitchen challenge is all over, I guess it's a good time to post a blog regarding kitchen items … or… hold on… um - oops. too late.
> 
> ...


OhByTheWay:

Do any of those "high tech" nail pullers work particularly well for dealing with this kind of reclaimed wood ?

I'm thinking about any of these breeds:


































Or … similar.

DID somebody build a better mousetrap ?

I have the metal detector, and … a fair amount of time. I DO like to be on the lookout for cool deals for reclaimed, but … if they've cleaned it … it costs $$$$.

keywords: nail puller, cat's paw, reclaimed, salvage, nails


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## sras (Oct 31, 2009)

PurpLev said:


> *Recovering the Lumber - or - how I leant to love bowling alley flooring*
> 
> OK, so now that the kitchen challenge is all over, I guess it's a good time to post a blog regarding kitchen items … or… hold on… um - oops. too late.
> 
> ...


Ahhh, that brings back memories of dismantling farm buildings when I was growing up. Pretty much the same process - except we built other buildings. Very well written blog. Look forward to the rest of the story.


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## PurpLev (May 30, 2008)

PurpLev said:


> *Recovering the Lumber - or - how I leant to love bowling alley flooring*
> 
> OK, so now that the kitchen challenge is all over, I guess it's a good time to post a blog regarding kitchen items … or… hold on… um - oops. too late.
> 
> ...


FYI, Neil - the first nail puller you posted a picture of is just not up for the task. it's great for lighter duty nails, but not for these. they stripped it's jaws. using the technique I described above , a hammer worked the best to do the final pulling. even the 3rd nail puller you mentioned was a bit too soft - you can see it in my pictures, I used it as a wedge as I can hammer it pretty well, and it does a good job at that.


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## BritBoxmaker (Feb 1, 2010)

PurpLev said:


> *Recovering the Lumber - or - how I leant to love bowling alley flooring*
> 
> OK, so now that the kitchen challenge is all over, I guess it's a good time to post a blog regarding kitchen items … or… hold on… um - oops. too late.
> 
> ...


Sharon, Metal detector essential though. I've nicked a few blades in my time. I take it you know the trick of offsetting one of the planer knives a little so that the nick in each is covered by the other. Saves buying new knives or having to resharpen so soon.


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## PurpLev (May 30, 2008)

PurpLev said:


> *Recovering the Lumber - or - how I leant to love bowling alley flooring*
> 
> OK, so now that the kitchen challenge is all over, I guess it's a good time to post a blog regarding kitchen items … or… hold on… um - oops. too late.
> 
> ...


Thanks Martyn, and yes, while opening up the planer to find out the broken sprocket, I shifted one of the blades slightly to the right to make shift for the moment.


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## mafe (Dec 10, 2009)

PurpLev said:


> *Recovering the Lumber - or - how I leant to love bowling alley flooring*
> 
> OK, so now that the kitchen challenge is all over, I guess it's a good time to post a blog regarding kitchen items … or… hold on… um - oops. too late.
> 
> ...


What we will do for some beautiful wood!
I love your attetude!
Best thoughts,
Mads


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## HokieMojo (Mar 11, 2008)

PurpLev said:


> *Recovering the Lumber - or - how I leant to love bowling alley flooring*
> 
> OK, so now that the kitchen challenge is all over, I guess it's a good time to post a blog regarding kitchen items … or… hold on… um - oops. too late.
> 
> ...


guess they don't glue the boards, they just nail them. Imagine if they did both? Cool post.


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## PurpLev (May 30, 2008)

*Milling Woes*

I found time to get some shop time, and wanted to get back on track and get this project going (hard to do after a long pause). last time around I was milling the lumber, when my planer broke down on me in the middle. I have then milled some boards with hand planes, and fixed my planer, but at this point, I was a bit confused what was milled already, what thicknesses, and how much material do I have (more of a do I have enough? curiosity).

I still had to mill the apple lumber and add it as strips into the whole thing.

So. I decided to step back and check what I have. I grouped boards by thickness (I originally planed boards to max thickness I could before trying to mix and match) using a dial caliper - It's a very convenient dial caliper that I got from Lee valley for the purpose of woodworking. it's easy to read in 1/64th steps.

Stop! now, I did use a dial caliper - not that I'm interested in 1/64 accuracy here, and for that matter - I actually didn't even bother to check the numerical value of the thickness, but a caliper is easy to set to a given thickness, lock it, and using the locked mouth opening check other boards for identical thickness.

whatever board fell into 'misc' reading that didn't match another board - I put it aside and planed it down to match another group of boards.

I also smoothed out 1 face of each apple slice, glued it to a maple board, let it dry, and planed it flat and smooth to my other boards thickness. these would give an accent to the board - subtle, but visible.

One I had all the boards finally faced, planed parallel, jointed, and ripped to +width it was glue up time. Now this is one of those things that are hard to teach over the net I guess. It's easy to teach and learn technique (generally speaking), but it's not as easy understanding capacities, and quantities. I understand how to cut a M&T joint and glue it up - but it's a different thing understanding how many one could glue at the same time. I know how to put together a butcher block - but what I had a hard time was estimating how many boards I could glue together at one time before I start running into time constraints with the glue setting in. Add to that the fact that it started to get cold here and it was a recipe for trouble.

unlike previous projects, I decided I could glue the whole thing together in 1 go. yup, I'm optimistic. I had my clamps open accordingly, and all the boards lined up. Halfway through I could see the glue starting to white out which usually means its too cold, and it's starting to harden up. It didn't feel too cold yesterday, but the glue apparently felt differently. So, halfway through the entire thing I decided to do it in 2 parts, and clamped the whole thing down. the setup wasn't the best, and since some of the glue started drying it made things worse. Since I milled some of the boards a while ago, I also believe that some boards were not milled properly. All of this put together resulted in a glue up panel that is far from pleasing - there are some gaps, and some glue lines that I feel are too weak. Time will tell, but I think I may have to rip and reglue some joints in the future.

That said, the next morning I had a 40"x12"x1-5/8" board to work with:









Since it wasn't perfectly flat on either side, I ended up flattening one side with my #6 to that I can lay it flat on the TS sled and trim it to final size:









I then cut it down to 3 12" boards which will make the set and are all aligned within:









The plan is to use sliding dovetail to lock the 3 together, or just 2, or just use them individually. The middle board will be hollowed out to take a drawer for bread crumbs, and 1 other board will have grooves to be used as a trivet.


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## Karson (May 9, 2006)

PurpLev said:


> *Milling Woes*
> 
> I found time to get some shop time, and wanted to get back on track and get this project going (hard to do after a long pause). last time around I was milling the lumber, when my planer broke down on me in the middle. I have then milled some boards with hand planes, and fixed my planer, but at this point, I was a bit confused what was milled already, what thicknesses, and how much material do I have (more of a do I have enough? curiosity).
> 
> ...


Great looking boards. Nice job.


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## spunwood (Aug 20, 2010)

PurpLev said:


> *Milling Woes*
> 
> I found time to get some shop time, and wanted to get back on track and get this project going (hard to do after a long pause). last time around I was milling the lumber, when my planer broke down on me in the middle. I have then milled some boards with hand planes, and fixed my planer, but at this point, I was a bit confused what was milled already, what thicknesses, and how much material do I have (more of a do I have enough? curiosity).
> 
> ...


Interesting stuff. I see you picked your "when in doubt…" proverb for a reason.

I'm going to give your magen david board a shot (though only the center 36 sqaures). Hope to make it a Channukah present for my folks this year.

Keep us updated on your project.

Brandon


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## CharlieM1958 (Nov 7, 2006)

PurpLev said:


> *Milling Woes*
> 
> I found time to get some shop time, and wanted to get back on track and get this project going (hard to do after a long pause). last time around I was milling the lumber, when my planer broke down on me in the middle. I have then milled some boards with hand planes, and fixed my planer, but at this point, I was a bit confused what was milled already, what thicknesses, and how much material do I have (more of a do I have enough? curiosity).
> 
> ...


Sharon, I'm grateful for guys like you who are willing to take the time to write about this stuff at length. I learn a lot by reading about the trials and tribulations of my fellow woodworkers.


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## LeeJ (Jul 4, 2007)

PurpLev said:


> *Milling Woes*
> 
> I found time to get some shop time, and wanted to get back on track and get this project going (hard to do after a long pause). last time around I was milling the lumber, when my planer broke down on me in the middle. I have then milled some boards with hand planes, and fixed my planer, but at this point, I was a bit confused what was milled already, what thicknesses, and how much material do I have (more of a do I have enough? curiosity).
> 
> ...


Hi Sharon;

Glad to see I'm not the only one to forget where I left off.

Lee


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## sIKE (Feb 14, 2008)

PurpLev said:


> *Milling Woes*
> 
> I found time to get some shop time, and wanted to get back on track and get this project going (hard to do after a long pause). last time around I was milling the lumber, when my planer broke down on me in the middle. I have then milled some boards with hand planes, and fixed my planer, but at this point, I was a bit confused what was milled already, what thicknesses, and how much material do I have (more of a do I have enough? curiosity).
> 
> ...


I know the feeling, I havent been in the shop for so long….....sniffle!


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## PurpLev (May 30, 2008)

*Routing Foes*

Time to dress up that middle section and hollow it out for a drawer. the idea is to hollow out ~3/4" thickness from the bottom, leave ~2-3" shoulder on the sides and back, and trim that opening edge with a dovetail form that the drawer will slide and lock into.

I started by boring most of the material off with a drill press and a forstner bit - fairly simple and fast, and went real well.

Next I took an extra 1/8" bite off of the height using a 3/4" straight router bit. I set 2 stops on my fence for infeed and outfeed, and step by step took off 1/2" width off of the opening pushing my fence backwards 1/2" after each pass.

that went great. smooth bottom, with just the sides showing the 1/2 round shape of the router bit (on the infeed and outfeed sides).

Next, I set the fence to clean out the 2 sides showing the half rounds for a clean straight cut. since the cut was internal, that means that the piece would be between the cutter, and fence. for safery sake, I fed the piece from left to right to avoid a climb cut. again, I set a stop to limit how deep into the hollow I'd go (until I reach the end of the hollow) and using the fence, took 1/8" thick cuts until I reached my scribed lines. 1 side went great.

I started the 2nd side, same operation,

Hmm… as I'm writing this now, and about to disclose the big band theory that until now was a mystery to me it finally hit me what happened.

SO. as I mentioned before - since the piece was being cut between cutter and fence, it was crucial to feed from left to right to avoid a climb cut, and have the piece yanked away by the cutter. the first side indeed I fed it that way, but the 2nd side (which is what now occurred to me) since I was using the same fence stop for reach of cut, I placed the opposing part of the piece against the fence, and since the hollow opening is only on one side, and although I missed to comprehend that - the feed was now right-to-left (normal feed operation when the cutter is halfway burried in the fence, but not a good idea for the cut I'm making Now!!!).

First pass went ok, I advanced the fence 1/8" backwards to take another pass, and thats when it happened - the piece was yanked from my hand in a matter of 1/1000sec. you know how you sometimes see a cup about to fall and you try to reach it and save it - only to be too late? that usually is a 1sec action. now that that and divide it by 1000 - like a speeding bullet.

The piece was yanked away from me jamming between the fence and bit which put stress on the bit. the bit broke, and jammed in the collet, it also took a bite of the zero clearance insert (metal). the piece was thrown away and as it hit my lumber storage it shattered into lego parts:










disappointing to say the least. there goes a good freud bit, and there goes 3 days of work. At this point I kept all the pieces undecided whether it's worth glueing it all together, or not. we'll see. for now this is 1 board less to have.

At least this blog made me go back one step at a time and realize what has happened. now that I know it makes more sense, and at least can stop me from guessing.

As for safety - my hands were (and are) always far away from the cutters/blades. my grip on the work pieces is always firm, but Never in the direction of the cutter/blade so that if anything happens, my hands would end up heading for it, nor being pulled to it. at least my technique proves to be useful as I personally did not get jointed away by this.

oh well. can't win them all.


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## Rustic (Jul 21, 2008)

PurpLev said:


> *Routing Foes*
> 
> Time to dress up that middle section and hollow it out for a drawer. the idea is to hollow out ~3/4" thickness from the bottom, leave ~2-3" shoulder on the sides and back, and trim that opening edge with a dovetail form that the drawer will slide and lock into.
> 
> ...


glad you are ok next time try going at it from the top and use an acrylic base that may help. this ay you can see what you are doing. Just a suggestion


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## gfixler (Feb 21, 2009)

PurpLev said:


> *Routing Foes*
> 
> Time to dress up that middle section and hollow it out for a drawer. the idea is to hollow out ~3/4" thickness from the bottom, leave ~2-3" shoulder on the sides and back, and trim that opening edge with a dovetail form that the drawer will slide and lock into.
> 
> ...


I hate those moments! They scare the crap out of me, and make me lose confidence later. The next time I do the operation I'm all sweaty with worry. Glad you're okay.


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## Cato (May 1, 2009)

PurpLev said:


> *Routing Foes*
> 
> Time to dress up that middle section and hollow it out for a drawer. the idea is to hollow out ~3/4" thickness from the bottom, leave ~2-3" shoulder on the sides and back, and trim that opening edge with a dovetail form that the drawer will slide and lock into.
> 
> ...


Bummer Sharon, had to have been an adrenaline moment.

Obviously good that you did not get injured, but bad losing the progress on this project, so will be interesting now to see what solution you craft to fix the damage.

I cut some mortises yesterday on the router table, which I am new to, and was very conscious that a portion of my work piece was between the bit and the fence. After your mishap, I may go back to using the plunge router to cut them.


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## Lenny (Sep 28, 2008)

PurpLev said:


> *Routing Foes*
> 
> Time to dress up that middle section and hollow it out for a drawer. the idea is to hollow out ~3/4" thickness from the bottom, leave ~2-3" shoulder on the sides and back, and trim that opening edge with a dovetail form that the drawer will slide and lock into.
> 
> ...


Hi Sharon. Sorry this happened to you…glad you're okay. With the exception of the metal insert, the LS positioner is intact right? Can't have that fine piece of machinery suffering "injuries".


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## AaronK (Nov 30, 2008)

PurpLev said:


> *Routing Foes*
> 
> Time to dress up that middle section and hollow it out for a drawer. the idea is to hollow out ~3/4" thickness from the bottom, leave ~2-3" shoulder on the sides and back, and trim that opening edge with a dovetail form that the drawer will slide and lock into.
> 
> ...


yikes! that's frightening! I did nearly the same thing once - my mishap on the router happened MUCH faster than mishaps on any other woodworking tool so far. scary as hell.

I wonder: you need to use the fence to register the cut. but this accident might be avoided by keeping the majority of the "work" on the side of the bit closest to you and farthest from the fence. does that make sense? instead of trapping the heavy work in between the bit and the fence, use the bit to mill out work on the far side. Obviously the first "plunge" will have to be in the middle, but then from there you can work outward.


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## CharlieM1958 (Nov 7, 2006)

PurpLev said:


> *Routing Foes*
> 
> Time to dress up that middle section and hollow it out for a drawer. the idea is to hollow out ~3/4" thickness from the bottom, leave ~2-3" shoulder on the sides and back, and trim that opening edge with a dovetail form that the drawer will slide and lock into.
> 
> ...


The only thing you have failed to disclose here is the condition of your underwear at the conclusion of this escapade.


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## sras (Oct 31, 2009)

PurpLev said:


> *Routing Foes*
> 
> Time to dress up that middle section and hollow it out for a drawer. the idea is to hollow out ~3/4" thickness from the bottom, leave ~2-3" shoulder on the sides and back, and trim that opening edge with a dovetail form that the drawer will slide and lock into.
> 
> ...


You might want to pay close attention to your router for a while. I had a blow up that did not damage the bit, but I bent the shaft on my router. $110 to fix it - cheaper than a new router, but way more expensive than a new bit. The way I noticed was a little more noise and even my best bits would not make shavings - just powdery dust.


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## LeeJ (Jul 4, 2007)

PurpLev said:


> *Routing Foes*
> 
> Time to dress up that middle section and hollow it out for a drawer. the idea is to hollow out ~3/4" thickness from the bottom, leave ~2-3" shoulder on the sides and back, and trim that opening edge with a dovetail form that the drawer will slide and lock into.
> 
> ...


Hi Sharon,

Well at least YOU remain intact, and ready to try again.

Lee


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## PurpLev (May 30, 2008)

PurpLev said:


> *Routing Foes*
> 
> Time to dress up that middle section and hollow it out for a drawer. the idea is to hollow out ~3/4" thickness from the bottom, leave ~2-3" shoulder on the sides and back, and trim that opening edge with a dovetail form that the drawer will slide and lock into.
> 
> ...


I am and was quite alright. not really a scare, just a "what just happened?" moment.

*AaronK* - that should have been the proper way of doing it - I agree!


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## moonls (Mar 23, 2010)

PurpLev said:


> *Routing Foes*
> 
> Time to dress up that middle section and hollow it out for a drawer. the idea is to hollow out ~3/4" thickness from the bottom, leave ~2-3" shoulder on the sides and back, and trim that opening edge with a dovetail form that the drawer will slide and lock into.
> 
> ...


I'm thankful that you weren't injured in that mishap! It's good to know that following the basic safety measures helped keep you from injury. I'm confident that you'll salvage this project and create beauty out of chaos.


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## HokieMojo (Mar 11, 2008)

PurpLev said:


> *Routing Foes*
> 
> Time to dress up that middle section and hollow it out for a drawer. the idea is to hollow out ~3/4" thickness from the bottom, leave ~2-3" shoulder on the sides and back, and trim that opening edge with a dovetail form that the drawer will slide and lock into.
> 
> ...


Sorry to hear about this incident. You always hope a problem like this happens early on in the process. Once you are this far in, it becomes really painful. I'm sure you will carry on though and we'll be here watching as you overcome this bit of adversity.


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## mafe (Dec 10, 2009)

PurpLev said:


> *Routing Foes*
> 
> Time to dress up that middle section and hollow it out for a drawer. the idea is to hollow out ~3/4" thickness from the bottom, leave ~2-3" shoulder on the sides and back, and trim that opening edge with a dovetail form that the drawer will slide and lock into.
> 
> ...


******************** happens, just happy that you are not hurt.
Once in a while we get reminded how fast things can go wrong.
Best thoughts,
Mads


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