Skill Saw: Use with a guide

You can make up more sawguide with customized lengths for any number of other applications.

I highly recommend making up an 8 foot saw guide for making rip cuts on 4 by 8 material.

With both a 4 foot and an 8 foot sawguide you'll have everything you need to start cutting panels out of 4 by 8 sheets for making cabinet carcasses.

A couple of wise old carpenters used this sawguide to cut off the bottom of interior doors to clear newly installed carpet.
The beauty of the sawguide in this application is that when there is a need to cut the bottom off of a beautifully finished and expensive door, the saw never touches the door and there is no risk of scratches.

The sawguide also controls the nasty fraying of wood fibers and veneers when cutting across the grain.

skill saw guide

To use your sawguide just measure your material to be cut and make your pencil mark as usual.

Lay your sawguide on the "keeper side" (vs. the cut off side) of your pencil line on the material to be cut with the single thickness long edge of the sawguide right on the pencil line.

Carefully clamp each end of the sawguide to your work with spring clamps positioning them at a 45 degree angle to the sawguide (make sure that you're still right on the line when your done).

Now, set your saw to the appropriate depth and run it down the guide as you did before with the saw foot against the guide ripper, and PRESTO!, you have a straight as an arrow, dead-on accurate cut you can be proud of!

saw guide 4

After you have finished fastening the components together and all of the fasteners are set or flush and the glue is dried there is only one more thing to do and your done!

All you have to do now is to take your circular saw and set the depth of cut a little deeper than the thickness of the sawboard base.

Position your saw so that the motor side of its table (or foot) is against the edge of the guide ripper and the saw foot itself is resting on the open side of the saw board base.

Then slowly and carefully make your cut making sure that you stay tight against the edge of the guide ripper until the excess material of the sawguide base is cut off.

That's it!
That's all there is to it!
You now have your very own customized sawguide straight cut system that will serve you well for many years to come.

saw guide part 3

All you have to do is attach the guide ripper to the sawboard base at one long edge flush to three sides.
You can use whatever fastening system that suits your fancy but I recommend using yellow carpenters glue and clamping until dry.

If you glue, keep an eye on the edge alignment as you clamp, sometimes clamps will push pieces out of alignment as you tighten them down.

Also have a damp rag handy to catch those gushes and oozes (this could be real important for the accuracy of the saw guide).

If you decide to nail or screw, either one will work just fine, but just be careful to set and countersink everything and be sure that there are no points poking through otherwise it will defeat one of the great features of the sawguide we will discuss later.

The saw guide

The saw guide can be made out of just about any kind of 1/4" or 3/8" material like plywood, masonite, flake board, or whatever.
You might be able to find something laying around the shop for free!

The sawguide only has two components, we'll call them the guide ripper, and the sawguide base.

If you don't have a table saw you might seek out one you can borrow for fabricating these parts because if the guide ripper isn't straight as an arrow none of your future cuts with your sawguide will be either.

The guide ripper should be 4" wide or a little more. The sawguide base should be the entire width of the saw foot base of your circular saw, plus the four inches for the guide ripper.

Both the guide ripper and the sawguide base should be about 50 inches long or enough to lap over the width of a 4 by 8 sheet of material.

What is a sawboard

Out of all of the weapons in this mans arsenal, my sawboard has to be one of the most used and most functional pieces of equipment, as well as the least expensive to acquire. There aren't enough accolades to describe it!

In the simplest of terms the sawboard is a straight edge circular saw guide. Now, I know what your probably thinking right now:

"Yea right, another clumsy, pain in the butt saw guide thing that takes forever to get aligned and clamped only to find out that you've trashed the cut because it missed the line!"...Right?

Believe me I know exactly how you feel.

For years as a professional I tried just about everything on and off of the market and the only methods that gave me accuracy I needed for cabinet work took forever to measure and clamp, and then re-measure and clamp again several times before I could even make one cut.

What if I told you that with the sawboard there is no measuring for alignment with your cut? And then, what if I told you that the clamping literally takes only seconds?

Dowel

Storage Rack

Like many woodworkers, I keep several different size dowels on hand.

To provide easy access to the one I need, I made a simple storage rack.

The rack consists of three pieces of PVC pipe that "stairstep" up in height (10″, 22″, and 34″ in my case).

If a dowel is too short to stick out the top of a pipe, it's still visible through a "window" opening in front.
When cutting this opening on the a bandsaw, it's a good idea to clamp the pipe to a board to keep it from rolling.

tools

At one time or another we all do something that we regret, the more cheap tools we buy the more regrets we have.

Often it is better to put off purchasing a tool if you can't afford to buy a quality item, eventually it will go on sale, or you may find a used one at a garage sale, flea market.

I would be wary of used power tools, however I would definitely advise buying used hand tools, especially older brand names providing they have not been abused, generally the quality is superior to the newer models.

Another advantage to buying quality tools is that, heaven forbide, you don't wish to continue with the hobby they will have a much better resale value.

Let your friends and relatives know you are interested, often they will have tools that they no longer use and will be glad to give them a new home.

Soldering Iron Stand

My small pen-type soldering iron doesn't have any stand or support, so I'm always worried about burning my benchtop when I put the soldering iron down.

Rather than take the time to build a stand, I use a large binder clip meant to hold a large stack of paper together.

I just slip the binder clip on the shaft of my soldering iron and use the clip's handle as legs.

This set up is also handy for supporting the soldering iron in position when I need to hold something with both hands.

Thanks to Allan kirschner for this idea, it works great

Pencil Cushion

Shop "Pencil Cushion"

Pencils used to have a mysterious way of disappearing from my shop — until I started using this "pencil cushion".

It's just a piece of pipe insulation that fits onto a wall stud.

Sticking pencils in the cushion keeps them handy and keeps the tips from breaking.

Sharpen a Scraper

Sharpening a Scraper for Woodturning

Sharpening a scraper is easy.

The first thing you'll need to do is set the tool rest to match the bevel angle on the scraper.

With the rest locked in place, creating the burr is just a matter of setting the scraper flat on the rest and sliding the cutting edge along the edge of the wheel.

As you grind the scraper, a burr forms along the top edge.

For curved edges, the technique is a little different.

To avoid grinding a flat spot, you'll need to swing the handle to the side as you move the cutting edge across the edge of the wheel.

Sharp Tool Holder

I use a number of small, sharp tools for scribing, marking, and cutting workpieces.

But it's hard to protect the blades of these tools if they're stored loose in a drawer or toolbox.

To protect the sharp edges but still keep each tool close at hand, I made a small knife and tool holder.

It's nothing more than a piece of dense foam insulation (the blue stuff).

To keep my block anchored to my workbench, I built a wood frame to fit around the foam.

When the foam gets too chewed up, I just flip it over.

Corners

The corners of a shop often get filled with clutter.

Tucking a tool like a drill press into a corner can take advantage of wasted space.

Yet you can still drill holes in a long workpiece because of the distance between the adjoining walls,

Transferring a Pattern

To transfer a pattern to a workpiece, we used a simple trick.

All it required was a photocopy of the pattern and an ordinary household iron.

With the photocopy placed face down against the workpiece, slowly move the iron (set on high) back and forth.

The heat from the iron reactivates the toner on the photocopy and transfers the image to the workpiece.

Checking Table Saw Blade Alignment

To get an accurate crosscut on the table saw, the blade has to be parallel with the saw's miter gauge slots.

A quick way to check this is to use a combination square and a marker

If your blade isn't parallel to the miter gauge slots, the table saw trunnion needs to be adjusted.

(The trunnion is the assembly that holds the saw's arbor to the underside of the saw table.) Normally, all you need to do is loosen the bolts that hold the trunnion and tap the trunnion in the direction needed.

To check that your blade is parallel with the miter gauge slot, first mark a tooth.

Then place a square in the slot and adjust it so the end of the square just touches the side of the marked tooth.

Rotate Saw Blade Next, slide the square and rotate the blade backward until the marked tooth aligns with the square.
If the square just touches the side of the tooth, the slot and the blade are aligned.

protecing your tablesaw top

Preventing Table Top Rust

There are two basic steps we follow for maintaining a cast iron table top on a table saw and other stationary tools: remove rust and dirt, and seal it with a protective topcoat.

We're always on the lookout for rust so we can stop it before it becomes a problem.

Grit-embedded scouring blocks, like this Sandflex, work great for removing rust and grime from a cast iron table top.

After removing any rust, seal the top by spraying on a protective topcoat.

Spray-on topcoat products are available at hardware stores and woodworking stores.

In addition to rust protection, they also act as a sort of lubricant so workpieces slide smoothly across the table.

great Idea

Power Tool Shelf. Two shelves about 4" apart.

Besides providing storage for my portable power tools, this simple shelf solves another nagging problems as well — keeping the power cords from getting tangled up.

Each power cord fits in a separate compartment below the tool.

These compartments are formed by a number of dividers that are sandwiched between a top and bottom.

The location of the dividers is determined by the amount of space each tool requires.

Note: To allow the base of the tool to sit flat on the shelf, you may need to modify the top by cutting slots or drilling holes to acommodate blades or bits.

Fred Nordby

Red Deer, Alberta

push sticks for safety

This simple safety tool will help you keep all of your fingers safe when working around your router table or table saw.

When working around the blades of your table saw or router table a slip could mean disaster.

Push sticks and Push Blocks are intended to take some of this danger away from your fingers.

They allow you to rip and shape smaller pieces of stock with a greater level of safety. There are a number of commercial push sticks and push block available, but it is just as easy to make one.

There is not just one ideal shape or size. This varies from woodworker to woodworker, machine to machine, and application to application.
There are three basic designs that you can customize to meet your needs. Make your push sticks and blocks from straight, clean, hardwood.
Plywood is preferable since it is less likely to split, warp, or crack. Round the handles to prevent splinters.

Rectangular Push StickThe rectangular push stick is used to apply greater downward pressure on wider stock.
The push block is ideal for shaping or jointing applications. It allows you to apply a great deal of downward and forward pressure.




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