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Progress and mucking about

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Woodworking

So I figured I’d start by playing with the new toy and taking some test cuts.

The blade runs sort-of true. Well, I wasn’t expecting laser levels of perfection here, but the guides really are letting things down. The lower thrust bearing can’t be backed off readily to adjust it so it’s not poking the blade out of true, which is disappointing. And I really can’t run this thing without dust extraction or the whole lower case clogs up and the bearing itself locks up. Well, I knew machinery would counter its speed by increasing the amount of faffing about needed to support it. This is why you usually mount this stuff permanently where you have room to manoeuvre around it. But again, 8’x6′ shed, no room to think, let alone manoeuvre, so we need to make do.… Read the rest

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Meanwhile…

Side TableWoodworking

Of course, whatever about new toys, the new project continues. Some rough flattening of two of the boards, some mild cleanup of one edge on each board and then some bookmatched edge planing to set up for a rubbed glue joint.

You know it’s after Samhain when the hide glue needs to be put into hot water for a few minutes to get it to flow again. And there may have been a small amount of squeeze-out…

There’s quite a bit of excess material here; there’s an inch or two to come off on all sides. Well, better than than to not have enough. Flattening is going to be a pain in the fundament though. And that #5½ is acting up on me – I need to resharpen the blade and the Y-lever is one of the more modern two-piece pressed steel things instead of the older cast iron pieces:

The problem with my #5½ is that the two pieces have separated and the glue repair has not held.… Read the rest

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Interloper

New Toys!ShedTools
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Woodworking

So it’s pretty obvious that all my woodworking stuff is done with hand tools, right?

It’s not because of an ideology, it’s because 8’x6′ sheds don’t give you a lot of room for power tools or machinery. I do find the power tools really obnoxiously loud, but that’s a secondary point and it’s mainly because the cheap modern power tools tend to use lightweight construction and universal motors in order to hit a price point and so make a lot of high-pitched noise — older stuff with induction motors and a lot of cast iron are a lot less screechy (you definitely do need hearing protection anyway, but for the neighbours it’s a significant qualitative difference).

And for some things – joinery, shaping, finishing and so on – it’s more of a challenge to use hand tools and so more satisfying to do.… Read the rest

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