Safely removing quite a lot of material from a block of wood

[dance]

Hi

Today I was faced with this, at face value, quite simple problem.

How to remove a lot of material (30mm worth) from a block of wood you can hold in your hand...but leave a 12mm lip.

I've attached a picture to better illustrate this!

At first I tried routing out the material, raising the router bit as I went, but I realised this was dangerous and so stopped.

Then I tried trenching with the mitre saw, but whilst this worked, it was fiddly, time consuming and still left a lot of work because the curved saw blade left a concave trench in the wood. The table saw might have been another option but I didn't think it was safe because of how small the wood was.

Any ideas?

Thanks

 

[marcros]

what tools do you have, and what length is the timber?

as long as it wasn't too short, i would probably do it on a table saw, or router table

 

[Zeddedhed]

Band saw?

 

[dance]

Length of wood was 95mm, thickness 45mm, width 110mm. So, as I say, possible to hold in your hand, and feels a bit frightening to use on a router table.

Thinking about it now, I think I should have used the bandsaw. Although it wouldn't be as precise, it would have been a lot safer and quicker.

Note to self. Run through all available machinery in your mind next time.

 

[dance]

Band saw?

Yep, I don't know why I didn't think of this at the time!

 

[GLFaria]

Fillister plane
or
Backsaw (for stiffness) for cutting to depth along the lines + Chisel for finishing

I'm sure there are more ways
Wood held in a vice, of course.

 

[AndyT]

Of course a hand saw is the obvious safe answer, as GLFaria has said. You can't rely on power tools for everything.

 

[dance]

You can't rely on power tools for everything.

Quite. I had that thought whilst I was struggling.

Got there in the end. Thanks for all the suggestions. Back saw is another good (obvious now) one. ](*,)

 

[Graham Orm]

Table saw to put in a series of parallel cuts then knock off the waste and chisel flat. Or router table, band saw or hand tools.

 

[Jacob]

You can do things like this quite safely over a router table and other machines if you use two push sticks. It takes a bit of practice but it becomes second nature after a bit. The biggest risk is to the workpiece or the sticks, or kick back, but your fingers stay safe.
But I would have done it with hand tools and/or band saw.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Table saw to put in a series of parallel cuts then knock off the waste and chisel flat.

Why? You've only to cut once then turn the block over and cut again?

 

[Graham Orm]

Table saw to put in a series of parallel cuts then knock off the waste and chisel flat.

Why? You've only to cut once then turn the block over and cut again?

Agreed Phil, but it's a fiddly little piece. You're probably right.

 

[bugbear]

If you have a time machine handy, work the lip detail BEFORE you cut the piece off the stock.

BugBear

 

[mseries]

I'd use my router table and a push stick. If you are less confident you could make a custom holding device

 

[RogerP]

Surely it wouldn't take more than a few minutes with a tenon saw?

 

[dance]

I'd use my router table and a push stick. If you are less confident you could make a custom holding device

How much material would you try to take off in each pass? I found the router bit very throwy. Hence my unease with this method, push sticks or no.

 

[DTR]

Surely it wouldn't take more than a few minutes with a tenon saw?

+1

 

[ayuce]

It seemed to me like a big rabbet. Just another idea, if you have a portable power planner (most of them have fences for rabetting) remove the bulk with it. Then fine tune with a rabbet plane.

 

[bussy]

Needed the exact same thing last night, pondered a while on the best way to make the cut with the timber vertical, didn't feel safe running through the table saw. then remembered bought a cheap tenoning jig from Rutlands a while ago, knew it would come in handy one day

Marty