Record T5?

[Ttrees]

Space and noise are the issues Tom - I'm working in a single garage that also has a freezer in it. Tried to figure where I could shift the freezer to but no joy. And table saws make too much noise for me - the nice people in Cardiff Axminster ran a couple a while back, one brush and one induction motor, and they were both pretty loud without even cutting. So the noise would go through the house - whereas I can easily build a basic bench in the garden for a track saw, and the sound will dissipate easier I think. Not that I plan to cut much - just occasional use, but it'd still be an issue.

I like the sound of longer stock coming through the letter box. Do you have a pic of that?

Here you go Chris
Nothing special about these two basic fixtures
This gets me by until I make the bench
Sounds like a big bandsaw is the tool that would be most useful for you IMO
If you need to dimention stock as quietly as possible ...
Or go get a rip saw or two
Good Luck
Tom

 

[Chris152]

Aha, it's not the image I had in mind, which was the wood coming through the letter box like a letter. More funny, less practical.

You're right about the cost of those track saws compared to a table saw and I saw the small Axminster hobby one (TS-200-2) for a good price yesterday. So, at the risk of driving you all mad with my questions, and after reading around the net a fair bit:

Can you produce an edge fit for jointing with a good blade (Freud 30T TCG Thin Kerf Glue Line Rip Saw Blade?) on a well set up table saw?

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Yes ... if you're going to paint the finished product.

 

[Chris152]

Yes ... if you're going to paint the finished product.

Ah, right - do you end up with an ugly glue line?

 

[Chris152]

Yes ... if you're going to paint the finished product.

Ah, right - do you end up with an ugly glue line?

Anyone? Can a well set up table saw with the right blade produce a decent edge for jointing? I've no doubt a plane in the hands of a skilled cabinet maker would be better, but could a table saw bridge the gap til I can produce such an edge by hand?

 

[Phil Pascoe]

One way of finding out - give it a go.

 

[Trafalgar]

Yes ... if you're going to paint the finished product.

Ah, right - do you end up with an ugly glue line?

Anyone? Can a well set up table saw with the right blade produce a decent edge for jointing? I've no doubt a plane in the hands of a skilled cabinet maker would be better, but could a table saw bridge the gap til I can produce such an edge by hand?

It's possible with a very solid saw with a glue line rip blade installed. You need a good bit of motor to push a blade like this -- 3 hp minimum, 5 hp much better.

 

[Chris152]

Hmmm, I don't have a table saw and it'd have to have been a cheap one, so no chance of 3+ hp.

So, reading back through the posts above I decided to make this this morning - a shooting board in the vice, feels way more ergonomic than when horizontal and with gravity to assist the cut.

The grips are there to hold the wood in place as I lift it into the vice and, after shaving a bit of hair off my arm, I found it works a treat. I need to make a longer one (1m) for the boards I want to glue together, so we'll see if that works as well.

Thanks all for your thoughts and patience!

 

[Ttrees]

How are you gonna surface those wide boards Chris ?
That's normally done before the edges.
If you don't have a workbench or surface to plane on, that's what you should focus on.
You could even stick a fire door on a flat surface and clamp a baton to the end for a planing stop
that would be fairly handy.
You soon would not want a fixture for a long grain shooting board, as stock that wide will easily sit on the bench.
Tom

 

[Chris152]

I have another bench with a vice which I've been planing flat sides with, but it's a temporary setup, Tom. And they won't be as wide as the one in the picture, that's just a piece I had in the garage that I thought I could try the shooting board on. I'm reckoning the surface of the table can be a bit more forgiving in terms of accuracy than the joints along the boards for glueing...

 

[Ttrees]

Why fight a good thing ?
A well set plane will produce no tearout.
To get these results, it requires finer shavings depending on species.
You can then be sure you will get accurate joints afterwards as you can check your work more accurately.
A flat bench is essential IMO
I should have took a picture of the amount of fire doors that was down in the dump the other day.
One of those would sort you out for planing boards up.

Tom

 

[Chris152]

My first attempt to join boards to make a small table top. (Three pieces of pine jointed.)

I built a 1m shooting board to joint the boards along the grain and it seems to have worked fine. The glue-up wasn't tidy looking but it seems to have worked ok, some planing and it looks good to my eye.

Which just leaves the question of how I trim the ends. I've seen a small table saw for a good price (Axminster ts200), but it still scares me and a cheap track saw saves some money. With a decent cut, it shouldn't take too much finishing by hand with sandpaper? Track saw or table saw. hmmm...

 

[Phil Pascoe]

A plane.

 

[Chris152]

A plane.

Can't help but feel 45 cm of end grain is a bit outside my comfort zone for the moment!

 

[bridger]

Hmmm, I don't have a table saw and it'd have to have been a cheap one, so no chance of 3+ hp.

So, reading back through the posts above I decided to make this this morning - a shooting board in the vice, feels way more ergonomic than when horizontal and with gravity to assist the cut.

The grips are there to hold the wood in place as I lift it into the vice and, after shaving a bit of hair off my arm, I found it works a treat. I need to make a longer one (1m) for the boards I want to glue together, so we'll see if that works as well.

Thanks all for your thoughts and patience!

Adding a fence to your jointer plane would be easier

 

[Chris152]

Adding a fence to your jointer plane would be easier

I don't have a jointer but could try attaching a fence to the wooden plane as someone suggested in another thread. Tho I'm just happy to have something that works and feels stable for the moment.

It turns out that my hand sanding is far from accurate - I got a nice finish with paper but it wasn't at all flat and perpendicular to the faces of the table top, so I attached grades of paper to square section blocks of wood and lifted the table top, and ran the block along the bench top which keeps it square. The saw blade marks are still visible so I'm hoping a finer tooth blade on the track saw will be easier to clear up after.

 

[Ttrees]

That's a big waste of time to sand joint pieces, not to mention the possible grit impregnated into the timber that would stop a joint going together as good as it could be,
not to mention just the better finish for glue in general.
More important in instrument soundboards and the like, but it makes sense.
Did the camber not work out for you?
You did mention having two irons ...

Tom

 

[Chris152]

The boards are already jointed Tom, I planed the edges to joint then glued, trimmed the ends and now I'm trying to get a decent finish on them - which seems to work.

 

[Ttrees]

Well I sit corrected
Although my point still stands, as that grit could contaminate some other surface
I just have a thing about sanding :twisted:

Why did you not just plane it?
Tom

 

[Chris152]

I want to keep practising planing end grain, but tbh my skills just aren't up to 45cm of it. And I'm surprised what a great finish sandpaper can produce - I used 120 followed by 250, and it had a real polish to it. And very little dust - it didn't take so much work (though there are still traces of the blade - I'm going to recut it tomorrow to see if a finer tooth blade needs still less).