STL268: What flavor are your chisels?
Mike, Barry, and Ben discuss working with thin stock, combination milling machines, chisel handles, and Barry and Ben get a little too close to being fired on air.This episode is sponsored by Woodcraft and Pony/Jorgensen
 |
Staining and dyeing wood with Mike Mascelli |
Question 1:
From Daniel:
I’m currently following along with Mike’s Foundations of Woodworking book, which I’m really enjoying, however, I’m confused about the best way to mill thin (1/4, 5/8th) stock (which he uses a lot in the book) and I haven’t found a lot of help online.
I’ve tried a few methods, but was wondering if you could chat about what steps you follow when trying to mill thin stock like that. My first thought was to resaw on the bandsaw, however, the boards cup like crazy and then there isn’t enough material left to re-dimension them on the jointer.
I tried planing down from 3/4 inch, but that just feels very wasteful.
Question 2:
From Mike:
I’m working on a couple pieces based on Mike’s wenge Tea Box. For the clasps, Mike makes it sound easy to face the block with a thin strip of ebony once the magnets are installed.
But what’s a safe way to make those thin strips of ebony in the first place? I’m used to cutting shop veneers on the bandsaw, but that’s with much larger pieces of stock. Doing that with affordable (tiny) pieces of ebony is another thing altogether.
Segments:
Barry – All time favorite tool – mortising chisel
Ben – All time favorite tool – Woodpeckers saw gauge
Mike – Smooth move – A comically bad sharpening demonstration.
Question 3:
From Rob:
Kia ora from New Zealand
I enjoyed listening to the most recent episode (262) where there was talk about the order in which tools should be bought. Haunting beginner forums on Facebook shows this is a Frequently Argued Question! I could not agree more that a planer is more useful than a jointer, though the convenience of having both is awesome.
From the US perspective, it seems that the items are almost always bought separately, yet elsewhere combination machines are more common.
My perspective would be that I could afford to buy a very high quality planer/thicknesser whereas buying the same quality machines as separate items would have been prohibitive, both in money and shop floor space. I currently use an 8″ deWalt planer/thicknesser and have plans to upgrade to the 16″ Hammer A441. I don’t really need a 16″ jointer, but the 16″ planer is becoming essential as I like to do big stuff and I find the 8″ maximum thicknessing capacity quite limiting. Buying a combination machine means one footprint, one motor, once casing, one dust collector port, and critically one very expensive cutter block, the wear on which from jointing is of course going to be minimal – basically you get a jointer/planer combo for only just over half the cost of buying equivalent machines separately, or you could argue that you get a 16″ jointer for the price of a 6″ if you buy the planer with it…
What do you all think? Do you buy separates because you always have? Because you need a wider planer than jointer? Because you don’t like the changeover? – really interested to hear thoughts on why it is that separate machines have been so popular where the logical approach seems to be to buy a combination machine.
Nga Mihi
Rob
Every two weeks, a team of Fine Woodworking staffers answers questions from readers on Shop Talk Live, Fine Woodworking‘s biweekly podcast. Send your woodworking questions to [email protected] for consideration in the regular broadcast! Our continued existence relies upon listener support. So if you enjoy the show, be sure to leave us a five-star rating and maybe even a nice comment on our iTunes page.
Comments
RE: Combo Planer/Jointer
I have a Hammer A3-31 and it's a great machine. Mike was worried about the moving table tops but they move together as a unit and once you get the machine set up its pretty much maintenance free. I also added two bed extensions that take the bed from 55" to a whopping 118.5".
As mentioned, one downside is loosing your planer settings moving back and forth between revolutions. It would be nice if someone invented an aftermarket addon that could raise and lower the planer bed electrically with a digital readout. You can get it in the industrial Felder line but I don't want to spend $14k+
As a bonus you can bolt on a mortising unit that acts like a PantoRouter.
You can get a digital handwheel gauge for the Hammer machine. I measure within 0.05-0.1mm of the set height every time. It's surprising how accurate the gauge can be. It's available as an after-market upgrade which replaces the existing handwheel in inches or mm.
In terms of combo machine vs separate jointer and planer, I have a pretty small shop, but still like separate machines. My work flow is typically to go back and forth between those two machines so it would be a pain to have to change over multiple times between operations. I solved the space issue by putting my Delta 735 planer on wheels under my chopsaw. When it slides out I have 8+ infeed/outfeed space for planed boards. A bit of a pain to run boards through a foot off the ground - but I don't do production work so worth it for space savings. Recently upgraded to a 8" jointer with extra long indeed and outfield tables and love that!!
“[Deleted]”
I too love my Hammer A3-31. Digital hand wheel accurately returns the planer bed to within 1/1000” if needed. And, I too, bought a pair table extensions for the shorter beds, but don’t haven’t loved those (the bracket and mounting plate set up are exceedingly hard to dial in dead-nuts flat to their respective tables). Its a workout, but have been able to joint 8/4 stock up to about 65” long 10” wide without having to put on the extensions. Worth the tradeoff in bed length to have the helical segmented cutter head on both the jointer and planer. 4 hp motor and 5” dust port are nice too. Not strictly a bonus of the J/P, but Hammer makes an x,y,z table that mounts to the machine’s front…to go with a chuck mounted (at the factory) on the end of the cutter head —so the machine also provides me with a horizontal slot Mortimer.
One other observation —as I still own my Dewalt 735–the steel feed rollers and the pressure bars produce nearly zero snipe.
Hosts’ cackle, “AND UM”, interuptions, long and meandering monologues, ruin this potentially great podcast. Tighten up or bring back Ed Pernik.
Ed left 6 years ago. The show has changed since then and might not be your thing anymore. That's ok.
Yes Ed has been gone for six years and a lot of us miss him every day. Mike used to bring some adult supervision but now it a bi week Beavis and Butthead reunion. So why do I listen? I keep hoping it might get back to wood working. But generally, like today, I drop out by the half way point and find something else to listen to.
Maybe Mike can get Vic to take over the podcast and we could get back to an entertaining woodworking show and away from the one hour laugh track. Yes I do like humor. Vic is a funny guy. I'm sure this post will never see the light of day but I wanted you to know that not all are fans of the new all laugh all the time format.
Very sincerely yours
Log in or create an account to post a comment.
Sign up Log in