Woodworking Made Simple for Woodworkers

The Shaper Origin seems to be like a router however acts like a CNC. So far, CNCs have been giant, heavy, difficult instruments that take up a whole lot of area in a store. The Shaper Origin is one thing fairly totally different. It’s a hand-held, straightforward-to-use CNC that you simply take to your work as an alternative of the opposite method round. I had the chance to attempt one of many prototypes in 2016 and, now that the Origin is able to go, it’s time for a assessment. Details : Worth $2,399 – however you could possibly preorder for $2,199. The package features a Festool developed spindle, a Festool system case, three bits, two rolls of ShaperTape and a yr’s subscription to AutoDesk Fusion 360. You should purchase further one hundred fifty’ rolls of ShaperTape for $18 every. Good patterns make good elements. For an upcoming Well-liked Woodworking article on building the Greene and Greene Blacker Entry Mirror, I used the Origin to make ...

by James McConnell web page 18 T right here is little question in my thoughts that a chair scraper from BearKat Wooden ought to be in each chairmaker’s device chest. Card scrapers have lengthy been the key clear-up weapon of woodworkers, and it’s clear that this one was designed by somebody with an intimate information of the challenges that come up from working wood in complicated, curvilinear varieties. All the things about this device is sensible and solves an actual-world drawback. With a straight edge on one aspect and different radii alongside the again, flats are not any drawback, and inside and out of doors curves from seats to spindles are coated. The .025″ thickness has simply sufficient “give” to make it efficient at concentrating on hassle spots, and the 1095 tempered spring metal holds a pleasant hook whereas being straightforward to sharpen and to show a hook. My favourite factor about this scraper is the way it matches so naturall...

by Rob Porcaro web page 18 B efore studying why these SensGard listening to protectors are so good, think about when you share a few of the issues I"ve had with different protectors. I don"t like stuffing issues into my ear canals, resembling foam plugs that have to be compressed with typically soiled fingers, then uncomfortably jammed in, solely to later work unfastened. The varied silicone plugs, even these with excessive-tech designs, are nonetheless additionally caught within the ear canal like a cork in a wine bottle. I discover them disagreeable, particularly for intermittent use within the woodshop. Earmuffs are cumbersome, are likely to stumble upon issues and get sweaty. Worse, regardless of their delicate padding, muffs squeeze the temple arms of my eyeglasses towards my cranium. It isn’t lengthy earlier than I select the noise over the headache. The SensGard Ear Chambers clear up all these issues whereas offering nice noise discount. The replaceable foa...

by Brendan Gaffney web page sixteen I’m a fan of getting my instruments out and at hand within the workshop. It’s straightforward sufficient to mount the saws to the wall, whip up a chisel rack and tuck the planes on a shelf, however the small gadgets not often have a great spot to take a seat – in order that they find yourself on each horizontal floor, in the best way and topic to being knocked round or, even worse, onto the ground. When Jason Thigpen over at Texas Heritage Woodworks was building his Dutch software chest, he was in search of a great way to unravel the identical drawback. Together with his talent on the stitching machine and savvy in creating device storage options, he got here up with the Saddle Bag, a small footprint software organizer that’s at house in a device chest, on the wall and even hooked up to the aspect of the bench. With 12 pockets of varied sizes (from 1″-three″ in width and three″-four″ in depth...

by James McConnell web page sixteen Making a great handsaw is troublesome; making nice handsaws at a manufacturing degree appears darned close to unimaginable. The brand new D-8 handsaws (based mostly on the Disston D8 and Simonds No. seventy two) from Bad Axe Tool Works by some means invoke all the greatest issues concerning the golden age of sawmaking in America whereas setting a brand new benchmark for high quality. Bad Axe gives the D-8 in 24″ and 26″ plate sizes in devoted rip or crosscut configurations, and I had the pleasure of testing a 26″ ripsaw (5.5 ppi) and a 24″ crosscut noticed (9 ppi). I put them straight to work breaking down 50′ of 6/four Southern yellow pine and the ripsaw powered by means of 10′-lengthy cuts with ease whereas the crosscut carried out with precision and velocity. Each tracked impeccably in each hard and softwoods. These saws are taper floor, which suggests there"s much less metallic within the plate towar...

by Megan Fitzpatrick web page 14 W e love the unique picket-dealt with Bessey Okay Physique clamps. However they turned unavailable in 2008 when Bessey launched the Revo clamps, which had a bigger clamping floor (of about 30 %) than the Okay Our bodies and a gentle-grip deal with that allowed for simpler and extra snug tightening – however we discovered the clamps typically slipped underneath heavy strain, notably if the bars acquired moist (say, whenever you’re cleansing up glue). Plus, the plastic on the clamp heads broke simply when dropped. Bessey is about to launch the subsequent era of Revos (they’ll be obtainable within the first quarter of 2018), so we obtained a handful of them in for testing, and I talked with Karl Kish in Bessey’s product improvement group concerning the modifications. The corporate received complaints, he stated, that the moveable head slipped too simply when not underneath strain, and will slide again on the bar to smack ...

by Brendan Gaffney web page 14 Nicely-match joinery (not too unfastened, not too tight) and well-deliberate glue-ups not often want a lot persuasion – however I"m not all the time fortunate sufficient to seek out myself with both of these. Prior to now, I’ve used huge rubber mallets, small sledges and framing hammers (with a block of wood, in fact) to convey house tight joints or break aside a glue joint. Throughout a current glue-up, I slipped and ended up with a hammerhead-formed ding in a workpiece from a glue-up gone improper. I’ve seen quite a few really helpful rubber and lifeless-blow   mallets, however I remembered one we had at School of the Redwoods (now the Krenov Faculty) – the Lixie Dead Blow Mallet. This messy glue-up was what I wanted to lastly get round to ordering one. Lixie makes a variety of mallets, from a small 10 ounce to an enormous one hundred ten ounce “Mjölnir” of types. I went with a cushty measurement,...

How 5 masterful makers combine CNC and CAD know-how into their woodworking In the December 2017 difficulty of  Well-liked Woodworking journal, the article, Digital Artistry is a peek at what 5 skilled woodworkers are doing with digital instruments of their outlets. Every maker has an in depth conventional woodworking background and a few years of expertise earlier than they started to make use of digital instruments like CAD software program and CNC machines. As I identified in the article, everyone knows one another. We’re friencs and members of a small consumer group that meets recurrently to trade concepts and methods as we discover this new digital woodworking world. For the print article, I requested every woodworking to introduce themselves in their very own phrases – they every stated one thing about their backgrounds, their work and the way they acquired began utilizing digital instruments and extra. To do that, I despatched out a survey to every a...