Woodworking Reviews at LumberJocks.com

Just Get This One

Iffy — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 19:20:41 GMT

When I first got my Grizzly bandsaw, I was pretty disappointed with the results with the blade provided. I always knew I needed to get a better one and I was hesitant to use the tool because the experience wasn’t very nice.

For an upcoming project, I decided now was the time to get a new blade. I checked the reviews here on lumberjocks and finewoodworking.com and decided to get this blade. It arrived today and after spending a few minutes getting it installed I was ready for a test cut.

Basically, I cussed because I was blown away by the results. I’m no bandsaw genius and haven’t really been around bandsaws that were production machines. So this was my first in-person look at what a bandsaw blade was supposed to do. I think I’ll go throw out my old one now.

Now I keep thinking, “Hmm…what else can I do with my bandsaw now?

Get this blade.

The Clifton Multiplane

lethentymill — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 19:36:16 GMT

A new Multiplane is quite an investment – when I started this series of projects five years ago I was still under the spell of this tool and Stanley still had a couple of cheaper alternatives which could be recommended for grooving and cutting dados.
Five years on (running evening classes and producing the home learning course), how do I feel about them?

The only successor to the Stanley/Record models that I knew was the Clifton – I have three old Stanleys and had one new Clifton; it was the best – too precious for sharing – so has moved on.

I see there are some alternatives showing up on the internet now, but the Stanley ones have gone (and to put it mildly, they were not very sophisticated). You can still get second hand ones, but make sure they are in good condition and all the parts are there.
There are websites devoted to the Multiplane and some people hate them but, after relying on these most complex and most versatile of hand tools, I think I can add my pennyworth.

I have worked fairly intensively with lots of electric routers and a variety of spindle moulders over the years and the multiplane is certainly not a router or a spindle.
There are some big limitations of the plough type of plane (including the Multiplane) that come to mind; you can’t plunge them, fix them to a trammel for curved work, or do an end stopped groove or dado. Apart from that, working with them is slower and requires more patience and skill.

So why use them at all? Well, they are still very versatile and to the dedicated hand tool user there is no alternative.

Old wooden planes –moulding planes etc. had a better design. The continuous wooden sole in the shape of the cutter grips the wood better and cuts out chatter, but good ones are hard to get now.

The 55, which is the most sophisticated multiplane that Stanley made, has an extra piece to beef up the sole but even that doesn’t allow you to use difficult wood. I have tried it. So, with that in mind, if you are lucky enough to have a good Multiplane don’t expect too much of it! Select your stock from the straight grained pieces at your disposal. Pine will be easier to work with than hardwoods. Always use the “spur” cutters when cutting across the grain and even when you are cutting along the grain when you are working with cross-grained woods like elm.

So what do Clifton say about it? The 450 Multiplane is for those who enjoy the sheer craftsmanship of working with hand tools.

The body is machined from quality grey iron castings, nickel chrome plated. The handle, knob and fence are made from rosewood. The plane is supplied with a set of 24 cutters made of Sheffield tool steel, accurately ground, hardened and tempered, to 61–62 Rockwell “C” hardness, cutting edge ground to 35 degrees, and these are packed in a plastic wallet.
The Multiplane comes complete with all accessories packed in a traditional wooden box, together with full instruction leaflet.

An additional set of 16 cutters is also available (these include sash cutters, fluting cutters and reeding cutters).

Unique Rifle Stock Knife

GaryCN — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 05:12:55 GMT

This is a very nice walnut handle hunting knife that comes with holster.Mine is engraved with a union logo.
Cliff at Corwin Knife Company is very helpful.
Corwin Knives will custom build one for you.
440c Stainless Steel Blade, Solid Brass Bolster, Walnut Handle.
Very high quality knife, would make a great gift for a hunter or fisher.
http://www.corwinknives.com/

Steel City 1HP dust collector

kaferhaus — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 23:03:11 GMT

Just bought this yesterday at the local Woodcraft (good folks here)

With the exception of the the four bolts that hold the blower assy to the frame, assembly was rather uneventful.

After assembly I immediately put the collector to use attached to my table saw and it seemed to work “ok”, not great. Even though I was using a zero clearance insert, a good amount of dust managed to escape from every nook and cranny from the cabinet. The collection only seems to be marginally better than the large shop vac that I was using prior.

About 5-6 minutes into using it I noticed a transient change in the sound of the motor almost a “groaning noise” this sound only lasted a few seconds and then disappeared. A minute or so later the sound returned only to disappear again. This continued for the rest of the time I used the collector. While investigating the sound, I touched the motor only to find it extremely hot…. I sent off an email to Steel City customer service which was replied too this afternoon with a name and number to call. Called the fellow in the service dept who stated that the motors “run hot”.... he was at a loss to explain the noise which is reasonable as he couldn’t hear it. Bottom line is I was told the unit has a 5 year warranty, should the motor fail they’d be happy to send me another… other than that, use it as is until then.

The only other issue I have with it is the plastic collection bag…. the bag’s diameter is so much larger than the opening that you clamp it too that you cannot get a good seal as the bag ends up with several “pleats” in it. A good amount of dust escaped around the clamp and after an hour or so the entire bottom of the unit was covered in dust. I removed and replaced the bag several times, cinched the clamp as tight as I could and the problem remains. Not much use in a 1 micron filter bag if the collection bag won’t seal…

The pros are:

It’s attractive

Easy to assemble (less the aforementioned blower housing)

Fairly quiet as dust collectors go.

Manual is sufficient but does not have a wiring diagram for 220 conversion even though the motor is dual voltage.

Cons:

Motor noises (as I explained to the service dept in my 40+ years of using things electrical, motors that run hot and or make noises are not long for this world)

Collection bag won’t properly seal (maybe why the unit doesn’t perform well at the saw)

No way this unit is moving 700 CFM of air as claimed… my shop vac produces a fraction of that and this collector is only slightly better at removing chips and dust.

While prompt in their response, Steel City really offered no solution to any of the issues I’m experiencing.

If and when this machine gets straightened out, I’ll update this review.
I’ll give this machine another week or so and if I can’t get it sorted out I’ll likely have to return it.

Rockler Thin Rip Tablesaw Jig

Tim Dorcas — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 03:46:52 GMT

In the past one of the things I hated to was rip thin pieces of wood. Typically this is done to create keys for mitered joints. Last December I was going to build a one of the many jigs that you can find online when Rockler came out with their Thin Rip Tablesaw Jig. For $20 I thought, “Why not?” It arrived about three weeks later (They were sold old initially and everything takes longer in Canada.) and I was surprised at the quality of it’s construction. If anything the fit is a bit tight. After fitting everything together I immediately gave it a workout. I already had a box made that I needed keys for. The first cut was a little too thin. After struggling with the tight fit to slide it back, I finally got what I needed. There is a ball bearing at the tip which makes the wood flow nicely.

Most of the woodworkers I know are a frugal bunch but for $20 bucks I think it more than pays for itself. The only thing I wish it had was a numerical system for ease of setup. That and the fact that it is bit hard to move at first knocks off a half of a star. I would rate this 4.5 stars. If you need to rip thin strips I would recommend getting one.

Just the ticket for those difficult sanding tasks

Sawdust2 — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 02:08:52 GMT

Saturday morning I was lying in bed and on the TV was the lovely Jody Marks touting the MultiMaster. Now, it’s difficult not to do what Jody says, she being all wonderful and woodworky. And my wife had already decided that we (I) were (was) going to refinish the kitchen table (as opposed to the dining room table). You can see it in the photo.

This top is veneered out of some unidentified wood that looks like a cross between birch, maple and European Beech. But the edging was shaped with a complex set of curves that neither my 1/4 sheet PC nor my Ryobi vibrating hand-numbing triangular sander would work on. Actually, my Ryobi sander won’t work on anything.

Did I mention that my wife went out of town this weekend?

Did I also mention that Woodcraft was having it’s anniversary sale this weekend with 10% off EVERYTHING?

Wonderful Jody. Wonderful wife out of town. Wood project. Wonderful sale. The stars aligned for just this moment.

The Fein Multimaster comes with many add-ons and accessories. And it’s profile sanding accessories were just what I needed to do the kitchen table. If I ever need to remove grout or tile or cut copper pipe right at the wall, it has accessories for that, also.

The MultiMaster is a heavy, solid tool. With just a short learning curve (maybe 2 minutes of excitement) I was able to attach the profile attachment, slip on the supplied (in 5 different grits) sandpaper and wonderfully smooth the groovy edge of the table.

The MultiMaster was pricey. The Ryobi sander wasn’t. Spend the money.

The manual was dozens of pages in many languages. I only had to (and only could) read two.

(Did I use enough adjectives here?)

Lee

Dixon Ticonderoga #2 HB Pencil

Brad_Nailor — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 23:42:27 GMT

Ok…I know your thinking this is a joke…but I assure you , my friends I am serious as a heart attack! Pencils these days are a sad conglomeration of strange MDF like material that feels more like rubber, and breaks easily when you try to sharpen it. Same with the leads…if your lucky enough to get a point on it after grinding down half the “pencil” in the sharpener it will break as soon as you put any pressure on it. Not at the tip…down low under the fake wood. The free pencils that the hardwood suppliers give you are like this as well. Not the Ticonderoga..it is (as you can see by the box) the worlds best pencil, and I agree 100%! It is made out of pure cedar and the graphite used is a good quality. It sharpens well, and holds a point without breaking . My father was an accountant, and he loved these over mechanical pencils, and they have been made the same way for allot longer than most of us have been alive!

You have enough to think about when building a project and a crappy pencil is just as annoying as loosing your pencil all the time. This box cost like three bucks at Office Depot, and I have had it for six months and am still on my first pencil! Spend the money..sometimes it’s the little things that make the difference..

This review may be slightly tounge in cheek…but I love these pencils….

You can make your SketchUp model dance

kshipp — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 03:47:13 GMT

I just got this a few days ago and I love it already. That being said I should probably start with a description before I get questions about how many horsepower this router has or why the sander has a blue light on it.

This is a navigation device that is used for 3D graphics programs. I have seen people at work use similar devices but they actually do CAD for a living. I only do SketchUp for fun but this device is amazing. When you move the knob it is exactly like you are moving the object on screen. You can pan left/right, pan up/down, tilt, twist, turn, zoom, and roll. It sounds really complicated and it does take a bit of getting used to but it is really as simple as manipulating an object in real life.

I used to spend a lot of my time in SketchUp changing from the movement tools to the drawing tools and back again. The SpaceNavigator allows you to move the model with your left hand while you do all the drawing operations with your right hand.

3Dconnexion has a very good video on their website that shows how the SpaceNavigator works with SketchUp. It also works with about 100 other programs including all CAD programs and even Google Earth.

The one I got has the PE designation and retails for $60. It is the same hardware as the SE but the PE is only licensed for personal use. The SE is $100 to use it for commercial purposes.

The images here are shameless stolen from Buy.com which is where I bought mine but I have no other affiliation with them.

I would highly recommend the SpaceNavigator for SketchUp and probably many other programs but I haven’t tried it with any others.

Accuracy out of the box

Michael Brailsford — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 15:54:50 GMT

I have owned a Rockwell Unisaw for 4 years now. I bought it used from the US Army. It had the original fence on it. It was a constant job to keep it aligned and semi accurate. I recently was able to purchase the Delta 36-U30 Unifence. I took only about an hour to assemble it. It was amazing after I was done to do my first test cut. I set the curser at 6” and made my cut and low and behold it came out to six inches. Coming from what I just had all I could say was WOW! With my old fence I had to measure every cut at the blade. I could never have trusted the setting. I will still continue to measure at the blade to double check, but it is nice to know that I am starting from a much better position. The product is very strurdy. The fence is 43” long and is great when cutting ply wood sheets. I love the fact that I can slide the fence back and use it as a cut-off fence. The only adjustment I had to make was the curser. Everything was perfect the first time out.

Thinking about a thumpin' slab? This is your book!

BikerDad — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 01:40:32 GMT

I picked up this book recently after stumbling across a mention, then a review, then a bunch of raves. I chose to purchase the book directly from Lost Art Press, getting the Deluxe Edition (w/ CD). Their website didn’t want to have anything to do with my credit card, but that simply meant I had to deal directly with a real live and very courteous individual. The verdict on the purchasing experience: the folks at Lost Art Press are a pleasure to deal with.

But, you may be wondering, what about the book? Is it all its cracked up to be?

In a word, Yes.

What it isn’t is directly comparable to the other Workbench books out there (Scott Landis’s comes to mind). Schwarz’s book isn’t chock full of stunning photographs and chapter after chapter of human interest stories. What it does do quite well is delve into the fundamental nature of what a workbench is really intended to accomplish and how to evaluate various design features in light of those intentions.

How Schwarz goes about doing this is usually entertaining, especially the early chapters. The chapter on evaluating different workholding options is, frankly, a bit tedious to read. The information therein is valuable, well organized, but since its basically asking the same questions in various permutations, yawwwwnnnn. Page turner in the sense that you want to get past it to more entertaining pursuits like “where’s this gonna take me, and how do I build it when I get there?” Well, go ahead, skip over the bulk of the chapter, at least on your first read, I did.

First read, yes. Like the other Workbench books, this is something you’ll likely revisit, certainly while you’re pondering the subject of bench design. What’s somewhat unusual about this book is it accomplishes something rare in woodworking publishing, it increases the value of its competitors. Christopher brings clarity to the subject, and equips the reader to revisit Landis’s and Schleining’s (sp?) books with a much better set of analytical tools. Landis’s book is very well suited for appreciating the workmanship that goes into the benches it profiles, Schwarz gives you the chops to evaluate them on their performance, and determine whether or not a feature is something you want to add to your design.

There are some downsides to this tome. First, ‘tis printed in China. While that doesn’t affect the content, it does matter to some folks, including me. In truth, had I encountered the book in a bookstore without the benefit of prior knowledge, I likely would have sat it down simply because my past experience with books that have been printed in China is that they are “lightweights” as far as their content and depth are concerned. So I was pleasantly surprised to find that this book is an exception to that paradigm.

Second, the “Hotzie” bench is NOT included in the book, although it is on the CD. Since I haven’t dipped into the CD yet, I don’t know whether the treatment of the “Hotzie” is comparable to the English bench and the Robou.

Third, the section on wood selection suffered from some shortcomings. Schwarz’s geographic situation led to him giving a lot of attention to Southern Yellow Pine as a benchmaking material, which in itself is fine. Unfortunately, his coverage of Douglas Fir, the western equivalent, is less than impressive. While DF can be quite hard, it is also very soft, and any large flat surface using DF will need to account for this. Sure, grain orientation can pretty much solve the issue, but unless a person has worked a fair amount with DF doing furniture projects rather than simply construction, they’ll unlikely to be aware of its quirks.

Along with the short shrift given DF, there’s no mention of the subject of bench color. Setting aside cost, are there downsides to using a dark wood for a bench?

Last, on the subject of wood selection, there’s two charts in the book, one covering the strength of various woods, the other addressing their hardness. Unfortunately, the two charts don’t include the same woods! Oh, the usual suspects (hard maple, European beech, ash, red and white oak) are in both, but some other woods aren’t. Synchronizing info like this is the sort of thing editors are supposed to insure happens.

In one sense, the book is “evolving”, because Christopher continues to explore the subject and posts his musings in his blog. Thus, the tactic of “sleeving” a drawer or carcase over the end of the bench is covered, something that certainly would have been of value in the book. (Can’t sleeve if your bench has no overhang!).

In closing, if you’re looking for a coffee table book with wonderful pictures that may inspire you to get working, or inspire others to begin, then Landis’s book is a better tome. For those interested in the purpose, design, analysis and use of woodworking benches, this book is IMHO the best available today. Yes, it can be just as inspirational as the Landis book, but whether or not you’ll enjoy the inspiration while you’re flattening your new Robou because Schwarz enabled you to articulate what it was about your old bench that just wasn’t working, well, I’ll just leave that for you to find out.