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Question 1:

From Jerry:
Can you discuss table saw blade sharpening on one of your podcasts?
My question concerns a carbide 10” blade I recently had sharpened for the first time since new.
It was an expensive (for me, $130) blade and I notice upon using it that it’s not cutting a cleanly as when new. Also the blade guard thing that also serves to open the kerf is too tight to the blade and the wood has to be pushed harder thru the cut. Could the sharpening have thinned the blade? The blade is a thin kerf blade.
Any help and advice you can give would be appreciated.

Sharpening Services Updated A survey of the cost of getting tablesaw blades sharpened.

Question 2:

From Bob:
Always love your show and I’ve just recently become an unlimited member based on listening to the podcast. It worked Ben!

My question is around optimum height for a drill press table. Many years ago I purchased a tall Delta bench top drill press and coupled it with a tall bench that I already had established working in my shop. This really got the table height of the drill press up into the clouds. I got used to it and never really found anything I couldn’t do because it was that height.

I recently built my new shop and automatically built a standalone drill press stand at 39” tall to match the bench that the drill press was coming off of. In the new shop it’s certainly a familiar height but I didn’t put any thought in to it like should it be lower?. I’m 5’11” with aging eyes so I do like the table up close so I can see marking lines and drill point starters. One draw back I see is the table at about neck level any projectiles from a grabbed spade bit or similar will be aimed at places with not a lot of fatty tissue there to avoid impact.

Question to you guys is do you ever pay attention to what height you run your drill press table normally and why? I know when you drill tall objects the table will be lower but when drilling average ¾” and 1 ½” stock do you have a best working height for you.

I can adjust the height of my new standalone drill station easy enough

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Segments:

Ben – Smooth Move: Tinting the epoxy black on a marquetry panel.

Mike – Smooth Move: Tapping out a Japanese chisel
Bob – Favorite Tool: Accu – Burr burnisher

Question 3:

From Travis:
While finishing a wall cabinet I had a scary experience… luckily didn’t get hurt. I was routing grooves in the bottoms of draw sides using a 1/4″ down-spiral bit. The down spiral pushes chips back into the wood (instead of pulling them out like an up-spiral would, or like a drill bit would) the advantage being that the shearing pushes into the wood and doesn’t tear-out (like straight or up-cut bits would) but you have to cut slowly. Anyway, about halfway through routing all the sides (about board 14 of 24) the bit poked through the board (see photo).

Luckily I was smart enough not to be using my fingers as a feather board, but even still it was scary. I looked back at the other sides I had cut and you can see the depth gradually increasing.

It was easy to fix (I glued 1/4″ strips into all the sides I had already cut, flushed, and re-routed).

My question is: have you ever seen router bits climb like that? and what causes it? (How do I avoid it in the future?) I would have thought that a down-spiral bit would be less likely to climb (since the force of pushing chips into the board should push the bit away from the board). If it matters I had cut these over a couple days (the first few were done a week earlier and I was picking up where I left off). My shop is typically pretty hot (garage in Texas during the summer)… but if the bit was just hot from the environment I would expect the metal to swell (tightening everything). I’m paranoid enough now that anytime I come back to the router I re-tighten everything. Hopefully it was just a fluke.

Sorry for the long question. I love the podcast–it compliments the membership well.

How to Install a Router Bit Learn the right way to install a router bit for safer woodworking

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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.