ica NOTES FROM THE SHOP TE $e50 “Woodsmith ir PAHO) FGRNIMGURES COMPLETE PLANS FOR: @ PICNIC TABLE @ PATIO CHAIRS ®@ OUTDOOR BENCH PLUS. . .A SHOP TEST ON CARBIDE-TIP SAW BLADESSawdust Company. Al Rights Reserve. ‘Subscriptions: One year (6 issues) $10, Two ‘years (12 lees) $18. Single copy price, $250, (Canada and Foreign: acd $2 pet year.) Change OF Address: Please be sue io include beth your old ard new adérass for change of ‘address. Nal 10: Woodsmit, 1912 Grand Ave, Des Moines, lowa 50309. Second clase postage pald at Doe Meine, lowe. Postmaster: Send change of addiess notice. Ferm 3570, o Woedemith Publishing Co, 1912 Grand Ave., Des Moines, oa 50308. BACK ISSUES A ist ofthe contents of al back issues appears on the wrapper of tis issue. I the wrapper is miscing, you can sond fer a booklet doscting the conteris and prices ofall back issues. SAMPLE COPIES: you nave atrienawno woulc tke o see a.copy ‘of Woodsmith jst send he name and adress, and we'll send a sample (at 1 cos). ABOUT THIS ISSUE. I have a navy-blue sweater with a hole in one sleeve. It's thread-bare, and sagging fram old age ‘And T've been told i's time to get rid of “that old thing” and buy a new one. Bat I like my old sweater. I always feel warm in it — even though I know a new ‘Sweater would really be warmer. ‘So what's the point af all this talk about old sweaters? I thought this was @ wood: ‘working magazine. Well, it’s just that I have almost the sare fess abot my sav blade. For the couple of years I've been using Freud 0-tooth earbide-tipped com: bination blade. That blade has eut a lot of Wood and even though its beginning to wear down a bit, I feel comfo ne with it and it always gets the job done. T wouldnt think of getting a new one, That ic, until Tmade the mistake of using one of 's new LUS5M “Anti-grip” blades. Just one cut, that’s all it took to completely alter my way of lacking at saw blades an what I should expect of them. But before I get too excited about this blade, let me back up a msinute and explain how all ofthis started. Steve Krohmer (our assistant editor) drew the assignment of Writing a two-page article about saw blades. ce We agreed that we should bay sev types of blades and test them out to see if there really was any difference between one blade and another. Without going overboard on this project, we settled on two brands: Sears and Freud. Then we added the “Mr. Sawdust” blade, because I keeep seeing full-page ads for it in Fine Woodioorking and T wanted to know jast hhow good it was, In the middle of allthis, Ted Kralcek (oar Design Director) decided we shoal et anew tablesaw. Things were getting a Ftte eroded in the shop — almest to the point that we had to echedule time on the ‘ne table saw we had. Our new saw and the cllection of saw blades arrived about the same time. It was then | realized that we were really buying two separate pieces of equipment. ‘The table saw by itself is just a way to guido boards through the lade, But i's the saw blade that’s really doing all the work Tleft the shop to sign the checks forall this new equipment. Meanwhile, Steve started testing the saw blades. A couple of ‘weeks later, he emerged from the shop and Announced that the two-page article on saw blades was now going tobe six pages. I ‘agreed — if oni te get him out of the shop ‘0 Teould get some time inion the new saw. thought 1d test out the new table saw by cutting through a piece of serap oak. That's when it happened. 1 didn’t realize Steve had left the Freud “Anti-grip” blade onthe saw. As I trimmed off the end ofthe ak serap, 1 noticed something was ferent ‘The cut seemed smooth, almost effort- Jess. I ooked at the freshly cut end, and to my surprise, it wasn't smooth . it was perfect. The end grain felt tke gla. No tora fibers. No tooth marks. Just a smooth, almost burnished surface you couldn't help but touch. . . and beamazed. took the blade off the saw to see what it looked like. It looks awesome. The teeth shine like something straight out of a ‘toothpaste commercial. The blade itself is coated with black Teflon. (You get the feeling Darth Vader would use it to cut ‘down his opponents.) Okay, okay. All of this is beginning to sound like a big public relations effort for Freud saw biades. 1 will admit that I'm very impressed ‘with this blade, But inallfairncea, 'meare there are other saw blades that will pro- duce the same quality of eut. (The Mr. ‘Sawdust blade is one of them.) ‘But the point is this: using a good saw bladedoes make a difference. If you expect perfection, there are blades that will pre- luce. Tenis justamatterofhow mach ‘money it's wor T agree with Steve's conclusions that ‘one ofthe best choice for the money isthe Freud 50-tooth combination blade (my old favorite). The new Anti-grip blade is a fantastic ade, bat tsdesumed hey for cutoff wor TTalso agree that the Sears bladee will ccut wood, but they simply aren't up tothe ‘quality of the Freud products ‘As for the Mr. Sawdust blade, T'm still ‘not quite convinced that “the only blade yyoutl ever need” is worth $160. ‘NEW Paces, We've added one more new face to the group at Woodsmeith, Jeff Far- ris has joined us to coordinate the eircula- tion efforts — the business side of this business, Jeff is from Ava (population 2.504), Missouri, where he operated his ‘own hardwood limber company. "Ashe comes on board here, our cirela- tion stands at about 130,000, and Jeff wil bbe responsible for keopingall of thace num- bers under control. But he's off to a good start. He's already assured me that cir- culation will inerease by one new sub- seriber. Jeff and Marilyn are expecting their first child August 4th. NEXT MAILING. The next iseuo of Wood- ‘smith (Number 28) should be in the mail ‘during the week of July 25th. 2 WoopsMiTHTips & Techniques STICKY STAVES When it came time to “glue up” the staves ‘used for the turned canisters (Woodsmith No, 25), I came up with an easy way to keep everything under control. [just used tape (masking, fbergiass, or whatover) to secure all the individual pieces until they're glued together. ‘The first step is to lay out all the staves ‘edge to edge with the outside face upward. ube ‘Then | applied two or three rows of the outside face to hold the individual staves together. Finally, the whole assem- bly is turned over and rolied intoa cylinder ‘to chock the fit botwoen the staves. Ifeverything fits okay, the next step is toflatten the assembly out and brush giue ontheedges of each stave. Then the entire ‘assembly is rolled up, and clamped with ‘web clamps. If the fit between the staves needs ad- Justing, I don't apply glue to two of the Joints (opposite each other). This produces ‘wo half eylinders after the assembly has deen clamped, When everything is dry, 1 trim the two halves until they mate per- feetly. Then finaly, the two half evlinders are glued together. Perey P. Hansen Waihatia, North Dakota ‘ORGANIZED DOVETAILS Recently I constructed a few drawers (14 tobe exact) using adovetail fixture torout +halfblind dovetails on all foxr comers. This involved a total of 56 individual joints, and bout 10 million possible combinations. ‘About the time I was half dene, the problem started. All ofa sudden Trealized that I have become confused about where ‘toposition the proper pieces for each joint. (Repetition doesn't sharpen my mind, it djulls it.) So to eliminate the chance of mounting: the pieces into the dovetail jig in the wrong position, I came up with a simple labeling system for both the drawer sides, and the ig. ‘The first step is to label the individual drawer sides using a simple method that involves marking each drawer side with letter. The koy to this marking system is, to mark the etter near the bottom edge on the inside face. = Next, I made two labels that are at- tached to the dovetail jig for identifying both the proper sides, and thelr locations for roating each of the four joints. Each label consists of two separate twoletter combinations. Each set of letters is posi- tioned with one letter over the other, representing the two sides needed to form each comer joint. The top letter repre- sents the piece placed in the top ofthe jg, and the bottom letter represents the piece placed in the front of the jg. Example: The dovetail formed between sides B and A is cut using the let side of the Sg (two of the joints are eut using the left side of the jig, and the remaining two Joints use the Fight side of the jig). The label shows side B over side A, so pieve B is inserted inthe top ofthe jig, and piece A is inserted in the front of the fig, Note: Alwayskeep the labeled face of sides facing out, away from the jig, and th abel edge nse the pide pie a ‘Ung thin system, I can tll ta glance which two sides are joined together, and where to loeate each individual piece. Even after 56 joints. Sue Kortum Custer, South Dakota MEASURED CUT OFFS Le been using a cutoff jig you showed in Woodrmith No. 25 for some time now. There is one change I've made that might interest your readers — {added a measar- ing tape. “To incorporate the measuring tape into the eut off jg, 1 simply redesigned the fence into an “L” shape, This allows the "| wide tape to be attached on the shoulder of | the fence. Then finally, adjustable stop blocks are eut to fit the new fence. Ifthe measuring tape is attached to the fence of the cut off jig accurately, you can ‘save a lot of time normally used in measur- ing and marking. L.A. Snyter Wyoming, Mickigan Editor's Note: The only mail onder source we've been able to locate for the self stick- ing counter tapes is Garrett Wade, 161 Avenue of the Amerieas, New York, New York, 10018. Stock # 90No1.01, $3.90 ‘each. ‘These tapes are 6 feet long, “wide, and calibrated in Ye" increments (the firet 6 ‘are calibrated in Yi" increments). They ‘can be easily eut to match the length of the cut-off jig fence (they're made with .008" ‘thick steel). The rule is attached by remov- ing the paper back and simply pressing the tape in position. ‘One other note: When the tape is set up {for a particular blade, it may not be acen- rate when used with another blade. ‘you'd ike to share @ woodworking ip with oer readers of Woodsmith. send your idea to: Woodsmith, Tips & Techniques, 1912 Grand ‘Ave, Des Moines, lowa 50908. ‘We pay a minimum of $10 for tbs, and $15 or ‘moro for special techriques (that are accopted ‘or publication). Please give acorpiate explana tion of your idea. i a sketch is needed, send it _alorg: wel draw a new one. ‘WoopssaTHPicnic Table | | When I set out to build a picnic table, Thad two things in mind. First, I had visions of barbecued steaks, corm on the cob, potato salad, and cold watermelon — all nice laid out on a pienie table in my back yard. ‘But my second thought was, “What am I going to de with thetable when the gloomy ‘weather of winter rolls around and I want To solve this 5 nter-time storage prob- lem, T needed a fairly light-weight table that could be moved without the use of a tow truck. Also to make moving it around and storing easier, { Togs ofthe table {ke up much space Before | even sat down atthe drawing toard I realized that thistableinoncofthe few projects I've designed for when it tare going to be aaed. The method 1 ame up with to accomplish this gol waste tse a hingedleg arrangement thats not anly easy toset up, but t'salso quick and eany to tar down. | "The next problem was to de sign the tae top so the same Sle could be uned ona st of has page 8 ans bench ge 12) — ereaing a cour. | ea cotdor fut st To Coordinate these three com ponents, [ used 2 simple onetruction technique that involves making frames out of | 1WPthile redwood ‘and then incerting ¥othick colar slat (exe thimer sats also help to reduce the overall weight of the table top): inted tomake the sible soit wouldn't ‘THE TABLE TOP ‘Tho table top is constructed fellowing the same basie theme of the entire outdoor furniture set: a redwood frame with cedar slats, Only in the ease of the table top, the frame is modified slightly to accommodate two extra divider rails, see Fig. 1. ‘These extra rails serve two purposes, First, they shorten the span of the cedar slats (thas providing additional support for | the slats). And second, they provide | place for attaching the legs on the under- side of the table CUE TO Size. All of the picces for the table top are ripped toa standard width of 2". I started with the six pieces for the | frame, ripping them out of 2x6 redwood, see Cutting Diagram. SHOP NOTE: Since 2x6s usually have | roanded edges, I ripped these pieess to get | wo clean (square) edges. It should be 4 easy, I thought, to get two 2%4"-wide pieces out of a 2x6 (which is actually 54 Wide), But it didn’t work that way on the ‘material I was using because some of the boards were narrower than they were supposed to be. ‘What I wound up doing was ripping the 2x6e down the eenter first. Then I set the ence for 21" and ripped off as much of the outside (rounded) edge as I could. Finally, eat the two long rails (A) to a Jength of 64°, and the end rails (B) and the divider rails (C) to a length of. HALF LAPS AND GROOVES Alter all six pieces are cut to size, they're joined with half laps to form the frame. I cut the halflaps on both ends ofthe divider rails (C) and the end rails(B)first. (All four pieces are cut with the same settingzon the ‘saw to make sure the shoulder-to-shoulder distanee between the half laps is exactly the same on these four pieeos.) ‘Next, I cut the joints on the two long | LIGHEWEIGHT, STURDY & STORES FLAT | | valle (A) — a half lap at both ends, and rvs laps & from each end, see Fig. | ‘GROVES. After the joints were cat, 1 cut grooves on the edges of the two end rails (B) and the two divider (C) rails to wanted to make ts would be flush with the face of the frame members. Todothis, hold the face sideof one of the slats om the edge of one of the rails, and mark the position of the underside of the slaton the edge of the ral. Then set up the ‘saw to ent a3’ x groove so the bottom exige of the groove is on the line. AAs shown in Figure 2, the two end rails | (B) have grooves on the inside edge only. ‘The two divider rails (C) have grooves on both edges, LAG SCREWS. To strongthon each of the half laps I ackied lag screws at each joint. ‘But before drilling forthe lag screws, first Tdry-clamped all six membersof the frame (clamping the long rails against the shoul- ders of the half laps on the end rails and divider rails). Then just to be sure, T ddouble-checked the frame for square, Finally, I miarked the center of each joint and drilled % counterbores %' deep, followed by 4" pilot holes. (I found the easiest way to drill all these holes ‘was to use a dill mounted in a Portalign. | attachment.) WoopssarH‘THE stars ‘While the frame is dry-clamped together, ‘measure the distance between the grooves to determine the length to cut the slats ‘Then all ofthe slats are cut 24 wide, and ‘to length (to fit between the grooves). ‘After cutting the slats to size, rabbets on each end to leave a 3 tongue to fit the grooves, see Fig. 3 ‘And finally, to reduce the chance of splintering, T also chamfered both top ceriges of each slat, ASSEMBLY Now the table top is ready to be as- sembled. Slide the slats into the grooves and apply adhesive to all the balf laps. (I ‘used resorcinol glue. It's waterproof and suitable for outdoor projects.) Then drive the lag screws home. ‘When the gine is dry, cut a 1% radius on the four corners ofthis frame with a sabre ‘saw, and round over all edges with a" corner-round bit, see Fig. 4. ALIGN SLATS. Position the slats evenly across the width of the table, and drive ‘penny finish nails through the center of ‘each slat (from the bottom side of the table). cut “ BRACKET FOR LEGS Finally, a support bracket is mounted to the underside ofthe table, see Fig. 5. This, Ibracket supports the slats at the center of the table, and is also used to mount the hinged braces for the legs. ut the bracket (D) to length so it over- laps the outside rails 114" on both ends, see Fig. 6. Then cut a halflap on each end so the shoulders of the half lap fit tight ‘against the inside edges of the long rails. ‘After it's cut to length, drill pilot holes and apply glue to the half lap (but not on ‘any part that touches the slats), and serow it in place, SECURE SLATS. Finally, [ counterbared pilot holes inthe bracket, so each hole was ‘centered on a slat see Fig. 5) and secured the slats to the bracket with #8 - 17" ae] et pe ~ ee (END VIEW OF END RAM | mere r “ed <= WoopsMiTHTHE LEG ASSEMBLIES ‘After the table top is built, the only thing left to do is to add the legs, Initially, 1 designed this table with a trestle leg sys- tem. But thisstyledoesrtallow thelegs to collapse for easy storage. ‘Aftar a litle more time at the drawing ‘board, T came up with a hinged leg system that's sturdy, yet can be disassembled for storage. And one ofthe nicest things aboot thissystemis that it only requires building ‘two simple frames . .. using half laps, naturally. LEG ASSEMBLIES. Both leg frames con- sist of two legs (G), and two stretchers (H ‘and D. The first step is to rip all of the pieces for the frame to 24" wide. Then I fut the legs to a length of 25, andthe two Stretchers 3034 long "After all the pieces for the leg assem- biies are eut to size, the next step isto cut half laps on both ends of the legs, and on both ends of the stretchers, see Fig. 7. "At this point, I cut two additional notches inthe top stretchers (H) an both leg, assemblies. These notches house the ‘races J} s0 they le fat against the table tap (when the table is broken down for storage), refer to Fig. 11. These notches are 24° wide, 3° deep and are cut 77° from each end of the stretcher “The last step before assembly is to drill two 3 oles forthe bolts used to attach the lege tothe table top. These holes are 5 from each end af the top stretcher, see Fig. 7. ‘ASSEMBLY. Now the leg frames are realy for assembly. Dry-camp the four pieces foreach frame, and check the ft of the joints and the square of the frame, ‘Thenmarkthe center ofeach joint and dri 3} counterbores, %° deep. Fallow these counterbores with the 4 pilot holes for the leg screws. Finally, apply glue to each Joint and lag serew the leg frames together. MOUNT THE LEG FRAMES. (One of the tricks to this leg system is the ‘ay it folds down for storage. To be effec tive, the legs have to be easy to remove. Yet, when the table is assembled, the leg. frames have to be mounted so that they're sturdy. ‘To accomplish both objectives, 1 moun- ted the frames to the bottom of the table with rosan inserts and hex head boles ‘shop xoTE: Rosan inserts (also called threaded inserts) are brass sleeves that. are threaded on both the outside and in- ‘side, The outside threads are similar to ‘those on a screw — so the insert can be screwed into a hole. Then the inside threads are sized to aceopt a common hex. head bolt. "The rosan inserts I used onthis table are WoopsMiTHthreaded on the inside to accept a hex hhead belt. And the hole needed to serew them in place should be "in diameter. DRILL HOLES. To mount the rosan in- ert, the fst step i to mark the positon of wp holes on the divider ral (C). These thwoholes must lineup withthe two holes in the top stretcher of the leg frame. “To mark their position, I put hex head bolts in the holes ofthe stretcher and cen- tered the streteher on the divider rail When i's centered, I just gave the bolts a sharp tap to mark where the holes should be drilled. ‘Drill # holes at these points, and serew the” rosan inserts in place. And finaly, mount the logs with ¥ x8" hox head bolts. SUPPORT BRACES. ‘The log frames are supported with two braces J) going from the bottom stretcher of each frame to the center bracket, see Fig. 9. To get the final length of these braces, first mount the legs to the bottom. ‘of the table. Then measure from the inside ‘corner of the streteher (1) to the inside ‘corner of the bracket (D) and subtract 4" from this measurement to allow room for the hinges ‘MOUNT BRACES. To mount the braces, I used strap hinges on both ends of the braces, see Fig. 10. First, I attached the strap end of one hinge to the end of the brace. Then onthe other end of the brace, I attached another strap hinge to the op- ite face. ‘Next, I mounted the flap end of one hinge to the center bracket. Here, be sure ‘the knuckle of the hinge is centered on the ‘erige of the bracket, see Detail in Fig. 11. Howwover, when mounting the other hinge to the stretcher, slide the knuckle off- center slightly — so the edge of the hinge Jknuckle is on the edge of the stretcher. (Thisis to make sure the hinge doesa’t bind ‘when the legs are folded down.) FOLDING THE LEGS When the braces are mounted, the tableis ready to use, Then when you want to dis- assemble it for storage, loosen the hex head bolts (that hol the leg frames to the rosan insert on the bottom of the table). ‘Then fold the leg frames down, moving the top stretcher toward the center of the table If everything is aligned properly, the ‘support braces (J) should fold neatly in the rrotehes in the bottom stretcher of the leg. frames. To hold the leg frames in place during storage, I added small hooks and ‘serew-eves, FINISHING, Since food is likely to come in ‘contact with the surface of the table, a stain that’s non-toxic when i's dry should be used. See page 14 for a review of the possible stains to use. CUTTING DIAGRAM SSEogrmenes Veer -64 1x 24-35% Wn 24-38% Vier 394 x 2h- 0% Manta 30% Vs 2s 20% Wx |REOWOCD 186 $i WoopsMiTHPatio Chairs Building a chair for outdoor use (especially one that’s built entirely of wood) has two essential requirements. First, it mast ad- here to the mailman's ereed: resisting the ravages of *mud, rain, slect, hail, and snow." And second, it can't have a splinters. "To meet the first requirement, the chair shown here is built with redwood and cedar. Both of these woods are weather resistant, However, they're also prone to splintering. So all edges are rounled over | and sanded smooth to prevent any hang- ups ‘As for the construction of this chair, it’s designed to be built using only one basic ‘woodworking joint —a half lap (with the help of a few lag serews). Also, to make everything go. little easier, all of the pieces used to build this chair are eut toa ‘Standard width of 24 ‘TOSTART. To start things off, I ripped all redwocd toa width of 28" (All pieces are eut out of 2x6 stock, as shown in ‘the Cutting Diagram.) Then the 16 pieces for the side, seat, and back frames are cut to length as shown in the Materials List (items A throughG), ‘THE SIDE FRAMES Once sil ofthe pieces were cat to width and length, I started to work on the two side frames, Both of these frames consist of two legs (A), one arm (B), and one middle strtsher SOINERY. The firs step istocatahalflap ‘on both ends of the arms and stretchers, fand on the top ond of each leg. Then another halfla (which in this casei called ‘eros lap. is eat near the otiom of each leg. The only thing that sets ths joint apart from all he others that i's cut 332" from the bottom of each leg, rather than fash sith the ends, see Pig ‘HOF NOTE: Althoughl stared construc- tion with the two fife frames, im actual practic it's best tot all of the half laps forall four frames atthe sare time. This enstres camsistency for allo the joints ‘COUNTEREORE FoR LAC SCREWS. ARor cutting the halflape for the side frames, dry-clamped the frame members together ‘sith ppe lamps (clamping across the legs to held them against the shoulders of the sem and stretcher). Cheek all the joints to mnake sure they ft properly. ‘Then Lused a drill mounted in a Port align attachment tocounterbore a hole, Sedoep inthe contar of three joints: both Joints onthe stretcher and the front joint an the arm, see Fig. 1. After the eouiter- 8 _ SUMMERTIME SITTIN’ bores are drilled, drill W’-diameter pilot boles for the lag screws, see Detail B. Note: The fourth joint (where the arm meets the back leg) has 2 hole for a pivot dowel that's used to attach the chair’s hack, see Detail A. Thishole is drilled later on (after the frame is assembled). GLUE UP. After the three counterbores and pilot holes are drilled, remove the bar ‘damps and round-over the bottom end of ‘each leg with a 3” corner-round bit (on a router table), see Fig. 2. ‘Now, glue is applied to all four joints of both frames, (I used reeoreinel glue for this Droject. It’s waterproof and suitable for ‘outdoor applications.) Then drive 1" lag screws in three of the joints. The fourth Sint (for the pivot dowel is held together with 2 Clamp until the giue dries. ROUND OVER. To soften the edges of the chair, cut a 1% radius on the top corners of the frames (where the legs and arms ‘meet). Then round-over allof the edges on the outside of the frame, see Fig. 3. (The inside edges, between the arm and the stretcher, remain equare-edged.) PIvor boweL. Finally, a % hole, Wc deep is drilled in the center of the fourth Joint (where the arm meets the back leg.) ‘Then glue a Zong pivot dowel into this hole, see Fig. 2 SEAT AND BACK FRAMES After the side frames are completed, the ‘other two frames are built (one frame {forms the seat and the other one forms the ‘back). Both of these frames consist of a ‘redwood frame with cedar slats. And once again, all pieces are 2" wide. THE FRAMES. To make both the seat (D and E) and back F and G) frames, eut half Japs on the ends of each piece, see Fig. 4. ‘Then before the frames are assembled, eut a W x groove on the four 19-long pieces (D and F) to house the slats This groove must be positioned so the ats are flush with the top face of the frame. Tomark the correct position for the WoopsMITHgroove, place one of the cedar slats Mush With the top face ofthe frame member, and smurk the underside of theslat on the edge of the frame member, see Detail in Fig: 4. ‘Then cut the groove so the bottom of the groove is on ths line. ‘THE SLATS. After the grooves are cut, the five cedar slats (L and M) for each frame ean be cut to width and length. Once ‘again, these slats are 2:4" wide. To deter- mine their length, dry-assemble the frames and measure the distance between the bottoms af the grooves and cut them to this length. Next, rabbet both ends of the slats, leav- ing 34" X94" tongues to fit the grooves. Also chamfer the top edges of each slat to reduce the chance of splintering. ‘COUNTERNORE AND PILOT HOLES. After theslats are cut, dry-clamp the four frame members together and drill 3" counter bores and 4’ pilot holes at the center of each joint for the lag serews, ‘Thon, before final assembiy, two more 4" holes are neoded on the back frame. ‘These holes will accept the pivot dowels on. theside frames and are drilled 34" deep and ‘centered on the outside edges of the side pieces (G), see Fig. 4 ASSEMBLY. Now the frames ean be as- sembled. Insert the slats inthe grooves of the frame, apply glue to the half laps (10 sglue in the grooves or on the slats), and serew the frames together. POSITION SLATS. After the glue is dry, tap the slats into position sothey're evenly. ‘spaced in the frame. Then nail them in Pace (from the back side) with 3-penny Finish nails, CORXER ROUND, Finally, the four eor- ners of each frame are cut to a 19¢ radius, ‘and then the outside edges are rounded cover with « ¥ comer-round bit.‘SEAT SUPPORT SYSTEM At this point the four basie frames for the chair aro complote. Next, I added a sup- port system to provide a solid base for the seat frame, and also to increase the overall stability of the chair. The seat support consists of two cleats (EH) with a cross stretcher (I) between them, see Fig. 6. THE CLEATS ‘To make the cleats for this support sys- tom, rip two picees of redwood 2s’ wide and to a rough length of 18°. Then miter Doth ends at 6”, making sure the cuts are parallel to each other, see Stop 1 in Fig. 5 ‘The final length of each cleat should (measured from long point to short point ‘on ane edge). ASSEMBLY HOLES. Next, six holes are drilled in each cleat, Each hole consists ofa ¥é counterbore with a 4 pilot hole drilled all the way through. ‘The first two holes are used to join the cleat to the eross stretcher. They're drilled 0 the counterbores are on the outside foce of the eleat, see Step 2 in Fig. 9. ‘Tho next two holes are used to join the cleat to the side frame. They're drilled with the eounterbores on the iuside face of the cleat, see Step 3 6 ‘And filly, the remaining two holes are ‘used to mount the seat. They're drilled on the bottom edge of each cleat, as shown in Step 4 in Fig. 5. CROSS STRETCHER ‘To add stability (that is, to prevent racke ing) across stretcher is mounted between the two cleats. ‘The length of this cross stretcher (1) must be equal to the width of the seat frame (which should be 19") minas the thickness of both cleats (a total of 3). This should be a final length of 16°. ‘After cutting the stretcher to final length, dry-clamp it between the two cleats and make sure the total width of this ‘assembly is exactly equal to the width of the seat frame. And while you're atit, also cheek to see that the width of the back frame is equal to the seat frame. DOWEL HOLES. The cleats are mounted tothecrosestretcher by driving lag serews into the end grain ofthe stretcher, soe Fig. 6. However, end grain does not provide such holding strength for the lag screw: To strengthen the holding power, dril °¥€ hole near each end of the stretcher, and gine a. dowel in these holes so the lag. Serevis have something to hold on to. ‘When the dowels are in place, damp the ‘cleats tothe ends ofthe stretcher (see Fig. 7D and drill pilot holes into the ends of the stretcher, going through the dowels. ‘Then drive the lag screws into the holes (and dowels) to hold the assembly to- gether, see Fig. 8. WoopsMITHMOUNT SUPPORT SYSTEM Now the seat support assembly ean be ‘mounted to the side frames. This assembly 4s mounted at an angle to make the chair ‘more comfortable. After afew “test sits" I decided on an angio of 6. This angle gives ‘the feeling of sitting “in” the chair rather than just “on” it, ‘To mount the support system, first lo- cate the position of the pilot holes for the lag serews. The 4” pilot holes on the front legs are located 994" down from the bottom edge of the arm and ¥% from the inside edge ofthe leg, see Fig. 10, ‘The pilot holes on the back legs must be lower to get the 6° angle (mentioned above). To loeate the pilot holes on the back legs, mark a line 111" down from the bottom edge ofthe arm. Then temporarily serew the cleat to the front leg and align the center of the counterbore (on the back ‘of the cleat) with the marked line. Poke an awl through the counterbore to mar the ppsition of the pilot hole. Finally, dill 4" pilot hoes in the back legs. ASSEMALY, Now the'seat support assem- by can be glued and screwed to the side frames, NOTE: When you're ready to drive the lag screws home, be sure to ‘mount the chair’s back frame in position. Apply a coat of wax tothe pivot dowels and pop them into the holes inthe back frame. (MOUNT THE SEAT FRAME Next, the seat frame is mounted to the ‘support system. Position the scat frame co ‘it hangs 24 in front of the front edge of the legs, see Fig. 11. Clamp it in place and ‘use an aul to loeate the position of pilot holes, Then remove the seat frame, drill the pilot holes, and finally glue and lag the frame into position. BOTTOM STRETCHER AND CAPS Although the chair shouldbe pretty sturdy ‘at this point, it's best toad another cross ‘stretcher (J) between the two leg stretch- ‘ers. Ths stretcher is cut to length so it's” longer than the width of the seat frame. ‘Then eat V-wide, W-deop rabbets on each end, see Fig. 9. ‘After the rabbetsarecut, make sure the distance between the shoulders ofthe rab- boete is exactly equal to tho width of the seat frame. (This should be 19°.) Then round over alledges ofthis stretcher, and fluo tin place, see Fig. 12. ‘cars, Filly, to dressup the side ofthe chair alitl, [aided cap strips (K) tocover the side cleats. Those caps are 37 thick and cut to fit between the two legs with both ends mitered at 6 (To get the %° thickness for those caps, I resawed them from 1¥¢ stock.) FINISHING. 1 sugvest using some type of protective etin on this chair. A review ‘of the pessbilities is given on page 14. MATERIALS LIST |A Side Frome legs (4) 114 x 204-27 1B Side Frame Arms(2) 12K DA +19 IC Side Frome Stretchers (2) 134x204 -19 1D Seat Frome Top/Btm (2) 194 4204-19 JE Seat Frame Sides (2) 2x 254-1795) Fock Frome Top/Btm (2) 134 x24 1G Beck Frome Sides (2) 1%4 x24 1H. Support cleots (2) Vana 1 Support Stretcher (1) 134 424-16 etter Stretcher (1) Wee 3-1 Jk lect cops (2) Yax24- 149 IL Seat Slots (5) xD -19%4 | mock sen (8) Mend Te CUTTING DIAGRAM ‘eowo08 Ts a oH [ioe ees oe Se Se oe eS Sees) uo wooe 1 a 5 4" exam oe 519-77 BSP WoopsMiTHGarden Bench Everyone has a favorite way to relax. For ze it's sitting on a bench and watching life go by. After building this bench, I pulled it over to a large wainat tree in my back yard, And there, in the cool shade, T sat back on my bench, proppedup my feet, and watched the neighbors mow their lavens. (1 guess benches just bring out my romantic nature.) ‘Actually this bench was designed as a companion piece to the picnic table and chairs in this issue. In fact, the construc- tion of thie bench is almost identical to the chairs, The first step is to rip all the pieces toa standard width of 24. Then I start: construction with the side frames. THE SIDE FRAMES. Firat, eut the legs (A), arms (B), and stretchers (C) to length, and eut half laps ‘on each piece. (Refer to the drawing on page 9.) Then dry-clamp the frame mem bers together and mark the positions ofthe lag serews on three of the joints (where the hes overlap the legs and where the (diameter eounterbores deep at each joint, and follow with 1 pilot holes drilled all the way through cach counterbore. (I used a drill mounted to a Portalign attachment to drill these holes.) ‘Everything up to now has beea the same procedure as on the chairs, However, there's a change for the fourth joint (where the arm meets the back leg) Instead of drilling a hole for a single pivoting dowel, I anchored the back frame tothe side frames with two dowels. How- exer, I waited to drill these holes until after the back frame was assembled. ASSEMBLY. For now, go ahead and giue and lag screw the side frames together. ‘After they're assembled, eut a 13 radius ‘an the top corners (where the arms meet the leys), and round over the outside edges of the frame with a" corner-round bit THE SEAT AND BACK FRAMES ‘The basie construction of the frames for the seat and back is identical to those on the chair. The only difference isthe length of two members on each frame. The seat frame consists of two long pieces (D), and two side pieces (E), see Fig. 1. The back frame has two long pieces (P) and two side pieces (@). After the four pieces for each frame are ceat to length, cut half laps at the ends of teach piece. Then cut 94" x 4" grooves in ‘the long pieces. (Once again, use a piece of cedar to mark the position of the SIDE BY SIDE SITTIN’ _ \" bottom of thia groove on the inside edge of the long frame members.) ‘THE SLATS. There are 18 sat on each frame, and F wide. To determine the final length of the slats, dry-assomble the frames and measure the distance between the bottoms of the fRrooves and cut the slats to this length ‘Next, cut rabbets on both ends of the slats to leave thick tongues to fit in the grooves. (If all measurements and cats have gone according to schedule, the dis- tance between the shoulders ofthe rabbets On the slats should be equal to the distance between the shoulders of the half laps on the side pieces of the frame.) ASSEMBLY. At this point the frame for san be assembled (but wait on the back frame). Dry-clamp the seat frame together and drill counterbores and pilot holes at each carner. Then insert the sats, apply glue to the half lape, and serew the frames together. Finally, cut a 1% radius at each comer, and round aver the edges ‘with « M4" comer-round bit. MOUNTING HOLES Before the back frame can be acsembied, I ‘worked on the mounting system to join the back frame to the side frames. Here stead of drilling a single hole for a pivoting, dowel (as was done on the chair), T an (Land M) chored the hack frame to the side frame with two dowels. This means the back will be at a set angle (it won't pivot), and thus litte sturdier. HOLES IN SIDE FRAME. To do this, the first stepis to drill two 2" holesin the side frames. The first hole is centered on the joint where the arm meets the back leg. ‘see Fig. 2. Then a second hole is marked 2° down from the first one, and" from the inside edge of the frame. ‘Afier the positions of both holes are ‘marked, drill }& holes. 1" deep on the inside face of both side frames. HOLES IN BACK FRAME. Then, two rmatehing 1" holes must be drilled on the side pieces (G)of the back frame. The first hole is centered on the length of the side Piece, see Fig. 8. To locate the secondhole, measure down 2%" (which is the same distance as between the centers of the holes on the side frame). Mark this dis tance down fromthe first hole, and dvillthe second hole, ASSEMBLY, The last step is to glue dowels into the holes in the side frame, see Fig. 3. Then the back frame can be assem- bled. Glustfollow the same procedure men- tioned above for the seat frame.) SEAT SUPPORT SYSTEM ‘The seat support system for this bench is similar to the ore for the chair, but due to the extra length of the bench (and the WoopsMITHpotential for greater racking pressure), put two stretchers between the cleats (in- stead of just one as on the chair). ‘THE CLEATS. Once again cut the two leats(H) toarough length of 13° and miter | both ends at 6°. Then dril the six eounter- ‘bores and pilot holes in the cleats (as shown ‘in Fig. 5 on page 10). ‘THE STRETCHERS, After the cleats are ‘cut and drilled, mark off the length of the ‘support stretchers (I) so the total width of the support assembly is equal to the width ofthe bench seat. Alco drill the %' holes at each end of the stretchers for the %" dowels. Then the cleats are lag screwed to the stretchers the same way as was done on the chair, see Fig. 4. FINAL ASSEMBLY ‘To begin the final assembly of this bench, the support assembly is mounted to the side frames at a 6° angle. To mount this assembly, first locate the position of the pilot hole on the front leg, 994" down from the bottom of the arm and 4%" in from the inside edge of the leg. ‘To locate the pilot hole on the back leg, ‘mark a line 11’ down from the bottom ‘edge of the arm. Then temporarily serew the cleat to the front Jeg and align the center of the counterbore (on the back of the cleat) with the line on the back leg. Poke the paint of an awl through the eoun- terbore to mark the position of the pilot hole, Finally, drill the ¥" pilot holes on the back legs. ‘When you'reready to mount the support assembly to the side frames, be sure to ‘mount the hack frame on the dowels. This time, apply glue to the dowels to fasten ‘them into the holes in the back frame. At thesame time, giue and serew the support assembly to the side frames. ‘THE FINAL STEPS. Nowit's beginning to looklike abench. All ‘that remainsis to add the seat frame and a ‘bottom stretcher. ADD SEAT FRAME. Position the seat frame on the support cleats so the front ‘edigeis2 in front of the legs. Poke an aw! through the counterbores on the bottom of ‘the cleat to mark the position of the pilot holes. When I was ready to mount the seat frame, I made one minor addition. To keep this rather long frame from sagging in the middle, I glued an extra slat to the under- side of the middle slat on the frame. This extra sat rests cn thetwo support streteh- ‘ers and hold the seat up. ‘STRETCHER AND CAPS, Finally, 1 added ‘the bottom stretcher (J) that goes between the stretchers on the side frames. It's ext 2 longer than the length of the seat, and the ends are rabbeted with 1'-wide, ¥e-deep rabbets. As on the chair, I also added 94-thiek caps (K) over the cleats. (MATERIALS LIST A Side Frome legs (4) 14x25 +27 8 Side Frome Arms (2) Wax 24 +19 Side Frame Stretchers (2) 175 x2 D Seat Frame TepiBim (2) 1a x 214 - 54% Scot Frame Sides (2) 115 x 294 - 17% Fock Frome TopBim (2) Vii x 24-54% G Bock Frome Sides (2) Vax 214-12 Hi Soppor Cleat (2) Wax 114-17 1 Suppor stretcher (2) V1 x 2¥4-51% 4 Roltom Sietcher (1) Ta x 24-50%: Ke claot Cope (2) Vax 2is 144 Sect Sins (18) M Bock Sats (18) Mx Me Woopsmiri~ Outdoor Finishes FIGHT BACK AGAINST MOTHER NATURE ‘The outdoor farntare in this sue got me {othinkang stout the irony of trees they Spend tht entire ives outdoor, planted inthe dir and under constant attack rom tho weathor and al sorts of bogs. As long ts the tree in alive fr manages — forthe mos part to fend off all mers But the minute you turn a treo into lumber, Mother Nature's protection di appear’ and is upto Us mortals to supply sia! protection eft ouside and unprotected, ll woods (with the exception of the rare Arama SSrdond, Petrified) ar, sooner or later farmed go mulch. Te snaets and fang ‘which fnd'a‘comy home inside the Care, Is lumber eat the wood into ion Some woods, Redwood and Cedar for instance, have considerable natural ress tance toot decay and nants The heart ‘ood tat rt he spon of these woods Contains chemical extracaves that give the Se immenty to decay “Tiere are several other woods with natural resstance to decay. The US. De partment of Agricltare Forest Products Extoracory classifies Bald Cypress (old growth), Black Cher. Black Wain, feveral kinds of Oaks, Chertnt, Pace ‘Yew, aed Gatlin a “resistant” or “very resist.” ‘When came time to lst the wood to ase forthe outdone project thie sae, tras pretty easy ta narow my ehaee 1 Cedar and Redvond bocase of thir gon- eral avalabity and thet natural reit- free. But Cedar and Redwood have a= other thing ging for ther: dirensonal Stabliy—~ thir tendency notte sink, weap, or exp. There i ome other kind of wood to think about, prewure treated wood Preseure treatment invalves saturating Wood (ot @ Sarre of specs) with water-borne salts (GCA — chtomsted copper arsenate, for Instance) applied unger extremely high presture. (Walnanized is one brand fame) ‘This pressure treatment fe fle tive long lasting. and the protection hoit se food an ansthing Mather Natare Could have come up ithe ‘Some woods clei to be pressure treated, bot are really only stained to lnk lat way les best tocheck or thestampaf the American Wood Preservers Surea CAWPB). Their stamp sess that the troedreallyhas been pressure treated (ated ot je srface apie. "There's also anther drawback to using pressure tented woods — the treatment Keaves the wood witha ursghtygreeish of brownish cast, but later. In spite ofthe advantages of using press ture treated wood, I still like the idea of traditional Redwood or Cedar for outdoor projects, and since combining the two ‘Woods ereates a nice visual effect, I de- cided to use them both, FOOLING MOTHER NATURE If [lived in a place where the sun never shone and it was dry and there were no insects, | wouldn't have had to think any ‘more about protesting my outdoor furni- tare. However, most of us don’t (thank ‘goodiness) live in places like that so we're faced with the task of fooling Mother Nature, ‘Because the sun fades all woods (inciud- ing those with natural resistance to wea- ther) I wanted to add some color back to ‘the wood — which meant using a stain ‘Then I wanted to keep the water away from the wood — thet called for a water repellent, To preserve the wood, a preser~ vative; and finally a mildeweide to arrest the growth of mildew. 1 found out that the oil-based semi- transparent or solid stains sold today come with or without additional preservatives, fungicides and water repellents. Note: Avoid the really heavy-duty pre- ‘servative compounds which contain Pen TH deal with that tachloropheno! which is highly toxie. Many outdoor finishing products contain other chemicals that work just as well and are ‘much safer for use around plants, animals and people. ‘One other tip: when applying these preservatives/atains, be sure to follow the manufacturer's specific instructions for Breparation, application, coverage, and safety. ‘STAINS. All Wood discelors (turns grey oF black) when exposed to the double ‘whammy of the sun's ultraviolet rays and Water (Which leaches the color producing ‘extractives from the wood). Some people like this natural ook, and there are even ‘some wood preservative'siains designed to speed up this “aging” process But to defeat the elements and retain thelook of fresh eut Redwood or Cedar, it's necessary to add color to the wood with a stain. ‘Semi-transparent stains contain fewer pigments and come closest to approximat- ‘ng the natural look of freshly eut wood. ‘Solid stains, on the other hand, contain a higher concentration of pigment which ean rub offon lething, shoes — and you. Solid stains are not recommended for outdoor farniture or decks. ‘WATERREPELLENCY: The oll base of pro- servative/stains aets as a water repellent, but some manufacturers add parafin wax ‘8 additional protection from water. INSECT PROTECTION: The extractives in 4 WoopsMITHRedwood and Cedar provide natural pro- tection against termites and other insects that feed on wood. (Pressure treated wood is probably even more insect resistant.) ‘The ackiional combination ofall the ehem- ieals contained in stains and preservatives, plus Keoping the moistare out, will mak Sine Wood an unl’ and inhospitable home forinsects. Inany ease, termites and ther insects like to do their damage in ark, damp, undisturbed places, so if You're using your outdoor furniture a lot, Sou'l distur the eritors more than the’ ‘isturb the furniture. If termites are a real problem, youll want to check with an exterminstor for treatment alvice tailored for your area ‘PRESERVATIVES: Over the years, anam- ber of products have beon usod to protect ‘Wood rom decay and rot — ereosote and ther tars, for instance. Obviously they aren't suitable fora picnic table, bench, oF hairs. Other preservative elements such as Pentachlorophenol are toxic and shotld be aveided. ‘The oils in ol-based stains also act as preservatives, but some manufacturers {dd TBTO (Tribatytin Oxide), a preserva. tive which is non-toxic after it has dried and “bonded tothe wood. FUNGICIDES: Protective stains on the market today often contain chemicals to make the wood resistant to mildew. Folmet and Chlorophatonil are fangi- eldes Incorporated in some preservative! Stains, but the manufacturers point out that the chemicals aro there only’ to keep mildew out afer application. Sout there's mildew on the wood atthe time of appica- tion it’s likely to grow through the coating of stan applied over it. If mildew is pres- ent, remove it by serubbing the wood with fs solution of hoasehld bleach and water before applying the stan. APPLYING THE STAIN/PRESERVATIVE There's a minor “Cateh 22" to applying ‘ik-based preservativelstains: They pene- trate the surface cf rough wood better than the surface of smooth wood. But to elimi- nate unfortunate surprises eplinters), the furniture needs to be sanded smooth What to do? ‘There are two solutions: Go ahead and apply the finish to tho smooth wood, and re-apply it more frequently as time and the elements begin to weather the wood. Or {you can lot the furniture weathor naturally ‘utside for a couple of weeks — maybe ‘even a month oF two — to open up the pares 20 the wood will accept the Finish better. There's ttle chance that the relatively few weeks of untreated weathering will ‘alec. the color of the wood. Note: ‘pressure treated wood, it's especialy important to let it weather fr a while before applying a stain (which s all ‘that’s really neoded beeause of the durabil- ity of the wood), Semi-transparent stains ‘ork well on treated lumber ifthere aren't any visual distractions euch as mill stamps or other markings on the wood. If there are, sand them off, or position the boards 0 the markings are hidden. When you get around to applying the finish, make sure the wood is os dry as pouible. If you put an oil-based prosorva- tiveistain on wet lumber, you're just ask- ing for trouble. ‘How many coats of stain do you put on? ‘The answer depends on which product, you're using. Most manufacturers recom- ‘mend putting a second ecat on right after the first. These first treatments usually last for about four years. You may have to pply interim coats sooner, depending on the climate and amount of wear and tear ‘your furniture is subjected to. WHAT WE USED We tried out seven different varieties of stain/preservatives manufactured by Olympic Stain and the Darworth Company (Cuprnol) only to end up using Olympic ‘Wood Preservative (Clear) because we li- kked the way the picnic table, chairs and benches looked in the Naturally, i's always a matter of per- sonal opinion when it comes to selecting Just the “right” finish. Both the Olympic and Cuprincl stains ‘worked well on samples of Redwood and Cedar. Both companies feature colors ‘which approximate the natural color of Redwood and Cedar, both companies make oil-based stains with preservatives in # OLYMPIC SEMLTRANSPARENT LINSEED OL Redwood, #704 Cedar Natural Tone, #716 ‘Redwood Natural Tone, #717 OLYMPIC WEATHER SCREEN Cedar Natural Tone, #716 + OLYMPIC CLEAR WOOD PRESERVATIVE, «© CUPRINOL SEMI-TRANSPARENT STAIN AND WOOD PRESERVATIVE, WATER CLEAN UP ‘New Cedar, #W67 Sierra Redwood, #W21 ‘TEST RESULTS Here are some of our general comments about these products. MIXING. The Olympic Semi-transparent linseed ol stains were more complicated to imix before using. The instructions eall for pouring off the oils, and then gradually adding them back as you stir up the ‘ments, Olympic’s Weather Screen and Clear Wood Preservative, and the Cu- prinol Semi-transparent stain preserva. tives were less complicated to mix. PRESSURE TREATED. None of the stains ‘wetried would adequately cover the mark- {ngs which show up on pressure treated wood, but they're not designed to do so. ‘The only treated Wood we had in the shop was “fresh” and hadn't been ‘weathered " Ever so, the stains did fairly good job of covering the greenish tint, bat we agree with the manufaeturers about letting pressure treated wood veeather (to fade the green) before ap- lying stain ‘CLEAN-UP. The Caprinol Semi-trans- parent stains — even though they're hhased — are water clear-up, and that's a defiite plas, "APPEARANCE. In our tests, both the Cu- rina Se nt Stan and Preser- ative and the Olympic Weather Sereen ‘Guth of these products contain water re- Dellents) left more pigment on the surface {of the wood than did tho Olympic Semi- ‘transparent linseed cil stains (which don't have an additional water repellent or as many preservatives). ‘COVERAGE. A gallon will more than co- yerall the projects we built — even apply- ing two coats. The Olympic Semi- transparent linseed oil stain came in quarts; the rest you have to buy in gallons. ‘COLORS. The manufacturers of both products recommend testing their staine ‘on a sample of wood beforehand. At the local lumber yard where we purchased the stains we used, they had some samples (Kind of ike paint swatches, only on wood) of different stains applied to different ‘woods, These swatches didn't produce an exact match with the fnished product, but they were pretty close. "WATER REPELLENCY. The difference be- ‘ween the stain/preservatives with water repellents added and the “plain” stains was realy obvious — especially when we ripped water on the samples. Ifyou want era protection against water — buy ane of the products with a water repellent added. ‘And the last thing we did before setting the furniture outside wasto giveita liberal coating of clear furniture wax — nothing like a little “extra” protection, [WHERE TO BUY PRESERVATIVE/STAINS ‘The preservative/stains we used are gen- erally available ores oat the case of Olympicstains, (Olympic Stain, Bellevue, WA $8004) the quickest way to locate a dealer is by looking in the Yellow Pages under Pant ;prinol products (The Darworth Com- pany, Avon, CT 06001) are sold in all 50 states through distributorships. If you ‘ean't find a supplier, call Darworth (203-677-7721) and ask for the name of ‘distributor near you. A second call to the distributor will get you the name ofa retail outlet for Cuprinol, WoopsmrrH 15Tools of the Trade A REVIEW OF CARBIDE-TIPPED SAW BLADES {can still remember the day 1 purchased my first table saw (a ‘dream come true). Twas s0 cited I could hardly stand it. After making a cat on the closest piece of wood, I exam- ined the piece expecting to find the pertect edge. Bay wa | the finish was s0 Door { would have been better off using 2 hand saw double checked every pos- sible adjustment on the table ‘saw, only to discover that the | culprit was the blade, not the ‘saw. So I decided to stretch my already taxed budget, and buy: a good saw blade. ‘After listening to a sales virtues of using ipped blades, I de- scribed to the salesperson the type ofeutting I would be deing most often so I'd be sure to get the right blade. “No probiem, he said, “here's the saw blade for you” “Yes siree bob, that sure looks like a nice blade,” I thought. ‘So much for looks. I found out (too late) that the blade was designed for a totally different purpose than | wanted. The end result was that I had wasted $50 ona blade which now hangs on the wal collecting sawdust rather than making it. decided there had to be hetier sources of information on how te choose the correct saw blade, but after looking, 1 real couldn't find one. That's when T decided to contact some professionals: Carlo Vend- itto, Exeeutive Viee President of Freud, Bob Pirrone of Forrest Manufacturing Co. (both carbide-tipped saw blade mana- facturers), Paul Naylor, President of Keo ‘Saw (a professional sharpening: service), ‘and (wo metalurgists.[ figured ifanyone ‘ould tell me how to both determine the ‘quality of a saw blade, and how to choose one, they could. WHY CARBIDE-TIPPED? Saw blades fall into two general cat fegories: steel saw blades, and carbide- tipped saw blades. The only difference be- tween the two is that carbide-tipped blades have small pieces of tungsten car bide brazed to the steel body to form the ‘cutting edges. The effect this has on per formance is dramatic. RETAINING AN EDGE. Retaining an edge longer than a steel blade (usually at least 10 times longer) is one of the biggest ad vantages of a earbide-tipped blade. That ability results from the extreme hardness of the tungsten carbide. QUALITY OF THE CUT. The quality of eat produced by a.saw blade relates directly to the sharpuees of the tips. This is where ‘earbile-tipped blades ean make a big dif- ference, since they seem to stay sharp forever. Okay, so carbide-tipped blades outshine y aspect, right? Well ‘ot quite, The mest obvious drawback to carbide-tipped blades s their initial cast usually $35 to $170. Whereas stecl blades to $20, But comparing only the initial costs can be deceiving. Carbide-tipped blades re. quire sharpening less often than ste! blades. So, in the long ram, the cost of carbide-tipped blade is often no more than a steel blaile when you figure in the cost of, repeated sharpening. QUALITY VARIATIONS Once you've decided to take the plunge and buy a carbide-tipped blade, the first thing re faced with is determining the gen- ‘eral quality of the blade... while it’s sitting on a store shelf, Although many of the quality controls taken during the ‘manafacturing process can't be seen, luek- ‘ly there are afew toll-tale signs that indi. cate the level of workmanship. ‘THE PLATE. When a saw blade is born, it starts out as a circular piece of very soft steel. This steel plate is hardened by tem- pering the steel (alternate heating and cooling). The care taken in thie procedure ean rake the difference between a high quality saw blade, or just a round pioce of stee! ‘On higher quality blades, the plateis often tempered twice to achieve a hardness ranging from C-42 to C-460n the Rock- well C harness scale. On low- ‘er quality blades, the plate is sometimes made with cold- rolled steel that’s not tempered to the correct hardness, or not tempered at all ‘The quality of the tempering process ean not be detected Just by locking at a blade. However, there is a way to roughly determine the quality of the steel used in the plate. Simply grasp the biade with both hands, and try to bend the plate by applying moderate ‘pressure with your thumbs near the center of the blade. If the blade has boon tom pered correctly (in the range of C-42 to C-46), the plate will be rigid enough to resist any attempt at bonding. PLATE TOLERANCES. The plate tol- | erance, or the “runout” of the saw blade is | one of the key tests of quality for any individual blade. Plate toleran ant because it directly influences the a ity ofthe grinding onthe teeth. Ifa Blade wobbles from side to sie, it's imporsibleto grind the teeth precisely. Plate tolerance also becomes 2 quality factor because of the effect of harmon or high speed “flutter.” This phenonemon produces vibrations in a blade running at Til speed that can transform a O05" plate tolerance into a .010 to .019° wobble. Most high quality blades have plate tolerances of less than .009", and there are a few blades on the market that have plate tolerances below 001". Those new blades run extremely smooth — and also very quiet. ‘To determine 2 blade's plate tolerance, cheek the promotional literature on the blade, Usually, if the blade is manufue- ‘tured at & high quality produet, the eom- pany will tou. its demanding tolerances. MAXIMUM RECOMMENDED RPM. The ‘maximum Rat rating is important because it defines the maximum speed at which teach blade ean be operated safely, without succumbing to the centrifugal forees that are created within the spinning blade, 16 WoopssiTHTo get outer rim on a 10° bl a picture © de traveling ap ly 100 MPH... in a 10° erelo imagine introducing this spinning blade toa piece of hard maple — it's lly surprising that it doesn't fly apart blades have the tamped on the plate, oF listedin the product literature that comes with the | Blade. On higher quality blades, the max higher. And on a lower quality blade, this rating ean be as low as 3-4000R°M— which i below the epeed of some 10" table saw EXPANSION SLOTS, Mi have expansia cut in the body of the ‘running from the rim toward the arbor hole. The purpose of the expansio slots is to give the biade some expand as it heat: no expan: to warping as it heats up. rule, the mere expansion about the maximum on a 10° biade), higher the quality of the blade ‘CULLETS. The main purpo provide clear the removed. Ever simple, eve opinion on what shape to w The only gullets that should be avoided are ones with sharp, or ‘These sharp points can actually « blade to crack (See Talking Shop, Wood: tmith No. 26), by eoncente at a single point. And on top of tha also inhibit chips from being projected from the blade, which clog easly THE TUNGSTEN CARBIDE, And f got to the whole point = the carbide tips, There are more than 30 different grades of tungsten carbide used to make cutting tips for saw blade: each grade with its own characteristi Trying to determine the quality ences between the different grades is more of job for a metalurgist, than up during use, A blade esusceptib As a genera xe between | e carbide tips on different saw blades is | their size, The size of the carbide tip can | range from Sw!’ to ¥%" long, and about %" thick. Larger tips simply exter the life ofa blade by extending the number of sharpenings that ean be performed be fore the tips wear out BRAZING THE CARBIDE TIPS. The process of brazing (high temperature soldering) he tips to the steel is one of the more critical aspects in the construction of a carbide-tipped blade ‘commonly used t e ee ‘Two methods are aze tungsten carbide nduetion brazing, and | hand brazing with an acetylene torch ‘There's a questions about which method WoopsmirH HAND BRAZED. Hand brazing ean produce 2 due to inconsistent heating. COARSE. Grinding marks indicate only a coarse wheel was used to sharpen the ti produces the best bond between the car bide tip and the blade. The answer seem: to depend on who you're talking to. So I | tial) engineer special izing in metalurgy, and found that eithe method can prodice a very seeure bond, if done proper! Evidently, the biggest danger is in overhesting the blade and destroying the temper. Overbeating ean also cause gas pores, or pin holes in the brazing com pound. Usually these pores are only on the very surface of the alloy, but oecasiona they do penetrate further into the joint, weakening the bo Naturally, temperature ean be mare ac curately controlled with automatic me chinery than with @ hand toreh. T! supported by the fact that the only pin hholes we foand were on a blade which was brazed by hand, But as long as the tips don't actually fall off, the brazing is doing MACHINE BRAZING, Consistent | out pinholes due to total heat o FINE. Shinny, mirror-like fnish designates sharpness obtained by very fine grinding. How well another quality of a carbide-tipped b achieve the highest level of quality, the tips should be ground with tw different grades of diamond wheels (dis ‘monds are about the only material that can ‘THE TOOTH GRINDING bide tips are ground i cheek overall saw bla be used to grind tungsten carbide). The frst, or roughing-out pass is made with a course (8i-grit) diamond wheel ‘Then a second pass is made using a Sn ishing (400-grit or finer) diamond wheel ‘Todetermine whether or not a blade has been finish ground, check the top, face and sides of the carbide tips for a shiny | mirvor-like smoothness. (Using 2 small | hand lens ean be a big help in seeing the | differences.) TE the tips show any signs of grinding marks, it means the manufacturer hasn't | taken the timeto use the very fine diamond | wheet on the final pass — and that the blade isn't as sharp as it could be‘Beyond the quality ofthe saw blade, you'll also need a blado designed to. achieve the hi lity results for the type of cutting being performed. To achieve the highest quality results while ripping, you need a blade that’s designed specifically for ripping. Crosscutting is the samo — any a tru eroteat blade can produce the highest quality results. other words, there's no such thing as a ‘universal aw blade for making the perfect ‘cat every time on everything. Finding a saw blade that’s designed to match the type of eutting you domost often, is probably the most important part of ‘choosing a biade. The first step is to know hhow the different variables are used to fine-tune carbide-tipped blades to perform ‘different cutting actions. ‘The most common variables are: in dividual tooth configurations, namber of teeth, and the hook angle of each tooth. Understanding the way these throe fac tors work together de-mystifies the type of ceatting a blade is designed for, and what ‘you ean expect of it. TOOTH CONFIGURATIONS CChocsing the correct tooth configuration is Important because its what determines how, and how wel the teeth setually re- move material. The tooth configuration is ‘othing more than a profile ground en the top surface of the carbide tips, The other two surfaces (the sides and the face) of teach carbide tip are usually kept flat, or slightly tapered. “Thore are four common profiles used in grinding the tips of circular saw blade {Spe chip ands combination prot Hach ‘tiple chip, and a eombination of these profiles has its own personality, Inluding — pardon the pun — some good and bad point FLAT TOP. On a flat top tooth configura tion, the top of each individual tooth is ‘round square, perpendicular tothe sides the blade. ‘This ste of grinding ofers two distinct ‘advantages. First, it provides the most support for the euiting edge of the tooth, since the entire width of the tip is being ted. Second, the cutting edge will last longer because the teeth wear out evenly along the entire width, not just on one point, ‘The most common drawback to using a saw blade with fat top prfileisthefinish it produces. The blade takes bites out of the board that are as wide as the entire Width ofthe kerf. Because the chips being removed are large, they have a tendency to tear out, leaving @ rough surface. ALTERNATE TOP BEVEL. The alternate top bevel (ATB) profile is almost self ex- planatory: the tops ofalternating teeth are 18 ‘beveled to one side of the blade or the ther, s0 each tooth cuts only one side of the kerf. Using the ATB profile, each tooth is removing only very small chips. This is why an ATB profile such a high quality it’s the most com- ‘mon profil for circular saw blades. ATB is found on rip, erosscut, and combination ‘blades, and isslsocammon on finish blades ‘a extremely high quality finish One danbec to thie dng ie ati formsaninverted V, when euting growves ad dacs afi top prof produces a at nothing more than ahybrid of thealternate top bevel profile, and the ft top profile. It’s usually used on blades that are de- signed to bothrrip, and crosscut hardwoods ‘and plywoods, ‘Normally the teeth on combination blade are grouped together in sections of five teeth — four are ATB, followed by a flat top raker tooth to speed up removal of the material during ripping operations. ‘The combination of both profiles helps eop the biade from becoming clogged with chips, yet keeps the high quality of ‘Another aspect of the combination blade that helps Keep the rate of feed fairly high for ripping is the large gullets in front of tho raker tooth. This gullet just helps clear ‘out the chips a little quicker. ‘TOTAL NUMBER OF TEETH ‘The total number of teeth can be the one variablethat has the most noticeableeffect ‘on the cutting action of a carbide-tipped saw blade. ‘As the number of teeth on a saw blade increases, the distance between teeth is Sasori cede the ee tte ‘ofthe blade and makes chip efeetion from the kerf more difficult. A blade with high number of teeth also requires more ‘The triple chip profile incor triple chip ir ules of teeth, Eoveled chipper, and's fat‘ower to operate, more feed pressure, and 8 slower rate of foed. Under ideal situations, only three teeth should be cutting at one time. One should be leaving the piece, one cutting in the center, and one just entering the piece. To ‘maintain this optimum cutting situation, the total number of teeth should decrease as the thickness of the material increases. ‘The hook angle on each tooth is another key factor in determining the charae- teristics of a saw blade. The hook angie i ‘nothing more than the amount of forward Jean each tonth has. ‘Besieally, the mare hook angle a blade ‘has, the more pull, or grab the blade will have on the workpiece. One effect of this pulling ation is thatthe rate of feed tends to be faster whenever the hook angle is increased. ‘Reducing the hook angie also reduces both the amount of grab the blade exhibits, and the rate of feed. Cutoff saw blades are 4 good example of when a smaller hook angle would be used to prevent the blade from grahbing, or “running” throagh the 7 fc a heh angle approaches, in fet, as ag ’ and even exceeds 0* (producing a nega- ‘tive hook angle — or when the tooth lean backwards), the blade exhibits no grab- bingeffect at all. This is extremely import- ‘ant when cutting metals, where total eon- trol over the rate of feed is needed. RIP BLADES When choosing a blade for ripping, the highest concer is usually with the rate of feed, and not the quality of the finish. To provide rp lad wth he highest aco feed, several different aspects are addressed. Fit, the hook angle on each tooth is increased to about 21° to help pull the ‘workpiece into the blade. Unfortunately this extreme forward lean also increases ‘the impact on each tooth during the eatting process. To prevent the carbide from breaking under this added load, many manufac- eesenestinni eta nue tee rip blades (Freud uses a sufter C2 grade, rather than their normal C-4, which is harder and more brittle). A fat top tooth configuration is also the most popular be- cause it provides the masta suppor for tip. Second, to prevent the high rate of feed from overloading the blade with wood chip, the number of tooth are kept to a ‘minimum. In fact, some people believe that when it comes to a rip blade, the number of teeth is more important than the tooth configuration. The maximum number of teeth on a. 10" rip bade is eom- monly considered to be 24 teeth. ‘ROSSCUT BLADES, ‘The main differences between crosscut | blade and a rip blade are the number of teeth, the hook angle, and the tooth eon- | figurations. In other words, they're com pletely diferent. | Crosseut blades are usually used for ob- taining a high quality finish when doing cut-off work. To produce a higher quality finish, cut-off blades use a higher number of teeth (40 plus) in comparison to a rip bade (24 o tess). If this many teeth were used on a rip blade, they would ereate an instant clog sing problem. But when used on a crosseut bade, there are several reasons why they create no problems at al. First of al, the hook angle on a crosseut blade i usually kept within O° - 7 By keeping the hook angle in this range, the ammount of grabbing is kept toa minimum, ‘even completely liminated (a necessity for use on the radial arm saw). The real advantage to this is the total control ft iver over the rate of feed. Most material being trimmed with a ‘erosseut blade i fairly narrow. This heps slimirate any problems associated with fsing a higher number ofteeth because the blade usually ist in the wood long enough {or the chips to clog up the smaller gullets between the teeth. Using a diferent tooth configuration alto helps 2 erosseat saw blade produce a finer finish than rip blade. ‘The most ‘common profiles the Alternate T {or all purpose crosscutting of solid wood, Another profile that's usually used for crosscutting plastic laminates, or par- ticleboard is 2 Triple Chip profile COMBINATION BLADES. Obtaining perfection on every cut is im- possible with any one blade. But there is a type of blade that can achieve a fairly high level of quality over a wide range of eats ‘combination biades. “There are two distinct, characteristics that make combination blades unique. First of all, combination blades use a hhybeid tooth configuration that’s simply called “combination” profile. This profile allows the blade to either crosscut or rip, without any major drawbacks to either operation. ‘The second major distinction of a com- bination blade is the large gullet in front of therakertcoth. Thisoversized gullet helps improve chip removal during rip opers- tions, thus ineressing the rate of feed. ‘Combination blades are usually avail- able with 40 to 60 tecth. Naturally, the higher tooth count will create more resist ance while ripping, and the rate of feed will be slower. But the finish achieved while ‘crosscutting will be improved as the num- ber of teeth increases. 19SPECIFICS ‘At this point, all of this information is, ‘basicaly just «lot of talk. The true tost of the quay of ade i geting tn the shop, and making same sawdust. So | pur- Shed a varlety of eabid-tipped es ‘and put them through the Woodsmith shop test. Teeparated the blades being tested into ‘two categories: standard carbide-tipped saw blades, and the new generation of “super” eartide-tipped blades. For testing. ‘the standard blades, 1 ‘ewo com monly available and reasonably priced brands: Sears and Freud. ‘The new “super” carbide-tipped blades I tested were the Mr. Sawdust Blade man- ufactured by Forrest Manufacturing ($162), and a Teflon coated, “anti-grip” cut-off blade ($110) manufactured by Froud. ‘The chart on page 21 gives the results of the quality tests on the blades tested. As for our opinions and recommendations, here goes ‘The standard saw blades can be divided into three categories: Rip blades, Crosscut blades, and Combination blades. In each ‘eategary, several blades were tested. In ‘some cases, the blades boing tested were technically identical, and in others, the blades were slightly different. ‘COMBINATION BLADES ‘The three combination blades I tested ee poeente mee Eases procera: iste escent oe blades have four ATB teeth and one raker page lpgepep ig po ed hepa oy eee eneee DS epee ae combination profile performed better than peeebcer res caer een eae cle ed ten aos = |, the extra 10 tooth on the fluing (without On piywood, the 400th blade mn piswood, the 404% died more chipont em the face andthe ‘ge than the dtonth Blade. Alo, fi-tont ade produced a rougher cu, Stout Hace produ sn eX: igh gual fish. ing run through a i ‘SEARS W0-TOOTH COMBINATION BLADE, ‘The Sears40-tooth combination blade uses an ATB tooth con Om, 8 to the combination profile of the Freud blades. ‘One effect of using an ATB tooth profile onthe Sears blade is that therate of feed is much slower. This is due to the lack of any lange gullets, which are part of the “com- bination” tooth configuration But what really surprised me was how the Sears blade compared to the Freud blade when ripping hardwood and plywood. The quality of eat produced by the ATE profile Sears blade was definitely Jower than the Freud blaule. And consider ing the only real difference between the tooth configurations on these two blades is the addition of a raker tooth on the Freud blades, the overall quality of the Sears ‘blade becomes suspect. eats ieee cw quality of the ‘on Dlade Wasequivalent to the 40-tooth Freud blade, and it actually had less ehipout on the surface of the piece being cut. ‘CONCLUSIONS. The biggest advant any combination blade is its ability to both rip and crosscat. But they also have a reputation of being a jack ofall trades and master of none. Of the three combination blades tested, [ felt the 50-tooth Freud combination was the best all-round blade. Although the rate of fed is slighty slower when ripping, tho improved quality of the edge produced this blade the elosest to a “tio all” blade of any I tested. CROSSCUT BLADES ‘The eresseut blades I tested included a ‘Sears 72-tooth ATB blade and a Freud {i-toath Triple Chip blade. ‘When crosscutting hardwood, the ATB profile on the Sears blade produced a fait Amount ef chipoat on the top face of the picce, anda very large amount on the back edge. The Triple Chip profil ofthe Freul bladealso prodiced a small amount of ehip- ping on the top face, but there was no- ‘where near the amount of chipowt on the ‘back edge compared to the Sears blade. As far as the quality of the eut, both blades produced an extremely smooth finish, and zeither seemed better than the other. ‘When both blades were used for cutting plywood, the overall performance of the ‘ATR profile onthe Sears blade came out on top, although the quality of the cut still ‘wasnt up to the level produced by the Freud 5f-toath combination blade. the Freua 60-tooth Triple Chip blade was ‘used for eutting plywood, it produced an xcesive amount of chipout on tbe bottom ‘Even though both blades are forcing they ean ted or al ripping of stock when an extremely fine RIP BLADES Blades for ripping are generally nomore than 24 teeth (for a 10 biade). the blades I tested, only one fits this mold —a Freud 24-tooth rip blade, The second blade I tested was a 30-tooth Sears model. ‘The reason this blade was included in the test, even though it had more than 24 teeth, is because it’s the blade Sears recommends for ripping. ‘FREUD 24-TOOTH RIPPING BLADE. It only ‘took one cut to realize that this blade was ‘genuinely designed for ripping. The first thing that’s noticed i the fast rate of feed, ‘This was somewhat expected, considering. he 20° hk ane on the blade, “The quality of the cut produced by the fst top tooth configuration on the Freud blade wasnt nearly as poor as 1 had beon led to expect. In fact, when eatting hard- ‘wood, the flat top profile produced an edge almost as clean as the 4-tooth combination limited to Cutting plywood was another story. Regardless of the rate of feod, when eut- ng aeros the grain ofthe face veneer tearoat on the bottom was unacceptable for anything except very rough work. ‘SEARS 20-TOOTH KIP BLADE. After using the Fread rip blade, I was anxious to give the Sears blade a try, especially since the ‘tooth configuration on both blades was identical. Unfortunately, as soon as [made ‘a cut, my excitement abated. The finish produced by the 89-iooth Sears rip blade ‘was, without a doubt, inferior to the finish obtained with the Freud blade. ‘And when you consider that the Sears blade has 90 teeth, rather than 24 on the Freud blade, it was hard to understand hhow there could be this much deterioration in quality CONCLUSIONS. There really was a wide of qualicy difference in the finish fueed by the two blades. The Freud blade not only produced a better finish, it also cut ata faster rate. Although some of ‘the diserepaney in the rate of feed ean be ‘attributed to the higher number of teeth, the deterioration ofthe quality inthe finish finishis needed, as for glue joints, Used for ripping, any erosscut blade will have a very slow rate of feed, and produce a very fine finish, In fact. the quality of the finish produced by the 6)-tooth Freud blade was the highest of any of the standard blades I ‘The T2-tooth Sears blade, on the ‘other hand, was realy no better than the Freud 40-tooth combination blade. CONCLUSIONS, From the results of the tess between the Froud and the Sears blades, it ‘that they're about equal in the quality of their performance, with the Fretd blade slightly front, But when ‘ou factor in the quality of the blade, the Irread blade comes out on top by asignis- ‘cant margin. iE WoopsMITH :°can only bo attibted tothe quay of the Blades thorelve Tests ofthis test could yi teed as a fluke. But when ‘re combined with the problems found with the other Sears blades I tested, 1 think a fairly lear picture ean be drawnion oF lack of it, in the Sears ‘On the other hand, the Frend blades continually performed at, or above the pre- ddieted norms in all three categories. And when the heavily discounted prices of the Fread blades are taken into consideration, ‘becomes clear to me that they not only represent higher quality, but they also represent a better value in the long run. THE “SUPER” BLADES. I've grouped two different blades under ‘this Clasifeation because they've been ‘manufactured with exacting standards ex- feeding the industry norms, oF they heve incorporated a nev type of technology in their design DMR. SAWDUST. The Mr. Sowdast Signa- ‘tue line saw blade manufactured by For- rest Manafucturing is advertised as “the ‘only sav blade youll ever need.” That's a strong esim. ‘One ofthe reasons the people at Forrest boast about their blade with such zeal is that irs manufactured to very specific tol- frances its platetoleranceis within 01" Then to top it off, they've put an excep- tional edge on the carbide tips using a super-fine 600-grt diamond wheel. Aillinall the blade isthe finest example of quality we've seen, with one exception — the pin holes in'the brazing. alloy. ‘According to Forrest, thisian't a probl Bat according to everyone else, the holes shouldnt be there. especially on a $160 saw biade Because of the high number of teeth, this blate performs at its best when used isonly equivalent to about a40-tontheom- bination blade. Butone ofthe most surprising aspects of the Forrest blade i its ability to rp with a rate of feed nearly equal to that of ‘40tooth combination blade. The method Forrest uses to accomplish this fet is, according to them, a trade seret and can not be disclosed. But they di reveal that ‘thas a lot to do with their special adap- tion to the standard Triple Chip tooth configuration, ‘What isn'ta secret is the eost of their lade, At $162, i's by far the moet expen- sive blade on the retail market, But the keey question is whether or nat it's worth the cast ‘nail honesty, for crosscutting, the Mr. Sawdust blade produces the finest finish you could ever want. And when you add the optional 6° dampener Cts jut apiece of very flat steel that fts between the blade and the outside collar to help stabilize the blade), the results are ineredibly good When erosseutting oak, the finish is as smooth as glass. Its ns close to perfection as one ean get, without lying. Isit worth at extra $100 when compared tosome ofthe standard blades? To answer that, perhaps another question should be asked fist. How good is good enough when it comes to the quality of the finish? Tn my opinion, once you've reached a certain point, any farther improvement in the quality of finish is acadomic, and usually too expensive to justify. ‘Whether this blade, or any other “tuper” blade erosses the lin and enters thenever never land of perfeetinisparely personal opinion, My opinion is that this blade produces the finish I've been search- ing for, tut my packet book says “you've gt to be kidding.” FREUD ANTLGRIP BLADE, After testing ‘the Forrest saw blade, Ifelt that using any other blade would bé a letdown. I was ‘produced the finest finish ofall the blades [ tested. Freud not only manufacturve this blade to higher tolerances (plate tolerance of less than .001") than their standard blades, they've also improved on the stan- dard tooth configuration (ATB) by adding some secondary bevels. Then they ecated the plate with a layer of Teflon to reduce the friction between the blade and the ‘wood. (The icing on the cake.) ‘When crosceatting, the Freud blade pro- duced a finish equalled only by the finish the Forrest blade with the help of the 6° dampener. And that's saying a lot. (The ‘common reaction around our office was “T ccantt believe this cut is straight off the saw”) Because I was so with the finish the Freud blade produced when crosscutting, I decided to try it at ripping (although with 80 teeth, it's really de- signed only for erosseutting). The finish it produced during ripping was of better quality than the Freud 50-tooth combina- tion blade. Finally 1 tried cutting some plywood, and you guessed it, the Freud blade pro” duced the finest finish again (the Forrest. blade produced a small emount of tear out on the botiom edges). WHICH BLADE TO BUY? It were trying to choose a carbide-tipped ‘that would come closest to “omg. it ‘without a doubt, I'd choose the 5¢-tooth Freud combination blade. Then to ccampliment this blade, the next blade I purchase is a2t-tonth rip blade, and finally 2.60 to T2-ooth cutoff blade. ‘As far as the Super blades, not only is the Freud Anti-grp blade cheaper, but it also produces & finer cut than the Mr. Sawdust blade. But horestiy, the only ‘way I could consider purchacing either Super blade would be ifT were doing an awful lot of eut-off work, ar had the money asa cutoff Made, Butt can also be used as | surprised again. to bur, Otherwise, Td just use the stan- ‘trip blade, although the quality of the cut | ~ Freud's new Teflon-coated cutoff blade | dart biades and pocket the difference. ae tue stapes _|[ cnosscur atanee |[comamarion atanes|[ sunt stapes stars | reo [sears | revo || stats | eeu || roeeest | reruo 9G 32012/ Lm72m || 9GT32556) LUsIM 9613255 | LuBam | |Mr. Sewdust| LUSSM sa.s9 | se4as || $5009 | se640 || sa0.99 | s70.09 || $162.00 | siv0.se 30 4 n o ° 0 © NA a wa « NA a WA at at wt | tt ait | oie wi | Saat [aves | sas | epee | aes 9s et ‘wood | excel || goed | excel || good | excel || good | excel rough | smooth || rough | smooth || rough | smeoth || v.smeoth | smooth na | 203" wa | 003" wa | oor || oor | oor 3500 | 7000 || sso | 7000 | $800 | 7000 wa | 7000 - 4 3 e 4 [uses gulters}| 2Joinery: Half Laps MAKING ENDS MEET Half laps are easy to cut... at least they appear that way on the sirface. But the ‘ick to making & good, sturdy bai ip sto cat it so the joining halves are smooth ‘encugh to provide good ging surfaces. ‘Also, you need to take enough time on the ‘set-up to make sure each half of the Joint i truly one-half the thickness of the stock, ‘As far as actualy eutting the joint is concerned, there are two ways to go about it:1) remove the waste by making multiple passes over the blade, or 2) make two Individual euts —one cut atthe shoulder and the second eut to form the cheek. (MULTIPLE-PASS METHOD ‘One ofthe easiest ways tocut« halflapis to ‘make multiple passes over the blade. With. thie method, only one set-up is neoded. However, thereisadrawback — the finish ‘on the cheok of the joint is not as good as the two-cut method. CHOICE OF BLADES. Although any saw: blade can be used to make this eut, a rip blade will produceabetter surface because it makes a flat-bottomed cut. A dado blade ‘an also be used bat some clean-up may be ‘wedod to smooth the cheeks. SET GLADE HEIGHT. To set up this cut, first set the height of the blade. Raise the blade to just a smidgen less than one-half ‘the thickness ofthe stock. Then make a cut at the ond of 2 test piece. Flip the serap lover and make another pass right below the first one, see Fig. 1. ‘There should be a thin sliver of wood that the blade didn't cut. Raise the blade Just a touch, and make the same two cuts ‘again. Then repeat this prosedure, until the sliver is skimmed off SET FENCE. Once the height ofthe biade fs sot, use the fence as a stop for the final cut at the shoulder line. Rather than mea- ‘suring this distance, Iusethesecond board to position the fence for the shoulder eut on the first board, see Fig. 2. Hold the right ‘edige of the second board against the fence, and adjust the setting until the left edge is, flush with the outside edge of the blade. (CLEANOFF WASTE. Now it’sjust a matter ‘of making multiple pastes to clean off the ‘waste. Start at the end of the piece and ‘work toward the shoulder. Although this method is relatively ‘quick, it does leave the face of the joint 3 litte rough. If a cut-off or combination blade is used to make the cuts, the surface can be smoothed by sliding the workpiece Daekand forth over the highest point ofthe blade, see Fig. 3 ‘a rip blade or dado blade was used, @ ltl taueh-up witha sharpehite might be Two cur METHOD ‘The second method for cutting a half lap {volves making two cuts — one to estab lish the shoulder, and the second totrim off. the chock. This method producos « very dean joint, ready for gluing. ‘SHOULDER CUT. The first step in this ‘two-cut method is to make a cut at the shoulder line. Set the height of the blade for the shoulder cut (as described in the ‘multiple ext method, above), and use the fence as a stop for the shoulder line, see Fig. 1. When the saw is set up, go ahead and make the shoulder eats on all pieces, see Fig. 4. FACE CUT. After the shoulder euts are sade, the workpiece must be etood on end to make the face cut. To do this, T use a shop-made jig, see Fig. 6. (The directions for making this jig are given in Woodemith No. 24.) Mount «test picee in the jig and adjust ‘the jig 20 the blade cuts as clase to the center ofthe board as you can get it. Make {tral cut toseeifthe cheek is aligned with the bottom ofthe kerf of the shoulder cut, see Fig. 5. Once the cut is truly cutting half-way, raise the blade tothe top of the kerf of the shoulder ent, and trim off the waste onthe face of the joint. MULTIPLE PASS METHODTalking Shop AN OPEN FORUM FOR COMMENTS AND QUESTIONS GLUING UP NARROW BOARDS Thave a question that I hope you can axe Whenever Pr ede guing sarge cl from strip of wold Stock, 1 never or hal wets toa the sp. “Are the strips cut to different width for the different species, like onk, soalnat, ash, ‘or maple? And are there any ruler of Ghaond you follow when gluing sp large panels? Bill Powelt Denver, Colorado ‘eoretcaly, the width of the stripe ‘Should vary according to the species of ‘wood. The reason for this s that under the ‘same conditions, the amount af movement {in all three planes — tangential, radial, ongitudinal) ean very widely from one spi of wor! to ancter. By using na- “Tower strips with species that traditionally have a tendency toward excessive mave- ‘ment, the ill-ffects in some directions cupping, for example) can be controlled. However, there are two other factors ‘that really have more to do with determin- ‘ngthe amount of movement ofa particular board: the typeof eutting pattern that was ‘used to cat the log into lumber (flat sawn, i sav, quarer sawn), and the origina [position ofthe individual pieces in relation- hip to the pith, or the log’s center. (The ‘loser the pece is tothe pith ofthe log, the more chance there is that it may cup.) Sointheory, the widthofeachpicce prob- ably should vary according to the species, ‘original position in the log, and the cutting pattern used when cutting the log. ‘But in practice, 've found that aslong as keep the width ofeach trip between 3" (or all species), not only are most of the ceupping problems associated with wide boards eliminated, but the number of strips and joints are aleo kept within rea- son. So mitch for theories. COLLECTING OLD TOOLS ‘Wejust received asamplecopy of The Fine Journal, A Newsletter on Hand Tools Collectors and Craftsmen. The best iption ofthe content ofthenewsleiter in the first paragraph: Too! collec n2” These are the questions The Fine Journal addressee, ne interested in antique wood tools, whether for their antique for actual use in the shop, or just to Team mere about the history of antique Woodworking tools will find this newslet- ter vory helpfal ‘he iste we received featured articles on modern toolmakers, and “Tid-Bits of Useful Knowledge for Tool Colletors.” classified section for antique tools, anda listing of old original too! catalogs still n print ‘Then just to toy with their readers, there's a column called “Whatsit?” This calurn deseribes a unique old tol whose identity and parpose seem to have ehaed ail the experts. The hope is that a reader ‘may have crossed paths with the unknown tool before. ‘A one year subscription (for 10issues) is $10.60. For more information, contact: Sallie H. Ward, S¢The Fine Tool Journal, RD #2, Poultney, Vermont 05764 SPLIT TURNINGS Whenever I'm turning bowls and other items on a lathe, there's a problem that ‘keeps cropping up. The problem is that the wood keeps cracking shorily after the piece is turned. Any suggestions? Ross Barnes Cleveland, Ohio Splitting or cracking of tamed projects usually is caused by lumber that hasn't been property dried. During the turning recess, the wet interior of a semiciried Piece of wood is exposed to the ai, and it ‘naturally starts to dry out. Unfortunately, drying lumber this Way causes extreme stress in the wood as the exterior of the wood dries and shrinks, and the interior stays relatively wet and stable, And when the stress crented by. thi imbalance be ‘than the strength of the ‘wood itself, shows up as splits or eracks inthe surface. ‘There are two ways to eliminate the 3. The first is to use only well dried ried to7-%% moisture content) to climinate the variation in the moisture con- tent between the surface and the interior of the wood. Although using either kiln dried wood, wd ‘air dried lumber isthe best answer, there are times when a special piece of wood shows up that can't be ‘Gully, o€ effectively air dried. In this ase sing product aled PEG might be Polyethylene Glycol (PEG) is chemical ‘that's used to stabilize small quantities of green or wet lumber (making it ideal for ‘turning stock). The only drawback is that the PEG must be ina heated vat, and the wood must be totally saturated with heated PEG. This whele process ean some- times take several months, depending on the wood and its thiekness. For more information about using PEG, Including how to make a heated vat, time ‘schedules, and sources, I'd suggest obtain- ing a copy of Working Green Wood With PEG, by Patrick Spielman, $9.25. (One souree is Wooderaft Supply, 41 Atlantic Ave., Woburn, MA 01888.) CUTTING DIAGRAMS When you show the dimensions of mate- rial in the cutting diagrams for each proj- ect, I wonder if there's any allowance made for the kerf of the saw blade? T haven't seen this mentioned in any of your Articles, and there are occasions when I feel there ia no allowance for kerf widths J. F. Marthens Whittior, California ‘We do allow for atleast an %" kerf for each ‘eat. And sometimes we actually allow for ‘wider kerfs because it's often easier to give ‘each piece a little bit extra width, than hhaving the artists try to draw a very thin ‘Waste section on the edge of the drawing. However, we did goof on the cutting, diagram for the Tool Storage Cabinet in Woodsmith No. 25. Here we forgot 10 make allowances for the keris. This brings up a couple of other points about the materials list and cutting dia ‘grams. The materials list gives the quan- tity, and finished size of each piece in a project. The cutting diagram isn't quite so exacting. Part of the problem with the layout of the cutting diagram is that hardwood usually isn’t available in “standard” sizes. ‘This makes it almost impossible to lay-out ‘a cutting diagram that can be used by ‘everyone. What we dois ly out the pies for a ject in the most efficient arrangement, Ile at the same time keeping the overall dimensions of the lumber needed within reason (12" wide boards make great cut {ing diagrams, but they're nearly impossi- ble to obtain in most areas. ‘What this means is that the cutting lay- ‘out is only a guide. In fact, if you can't purchase lumber in the sizes listed in the ‘cutting diagram, you may needtodraw out ‘your own version to mateh the sizeof lam- ‘ber available. 2BSources WOODWORKING CLUBS ‘Tho threaded (“rosan”) inserts used to ‘attach the legs on the picnic table in this, issue may be available at your local hard- rare store bet if nt, you ean bay them Woorderaft Supply Corporation 41 Atlantic Avenue Woburn, MA O1a¥s Telephone: 1-300-225-1158 In Massachusetts: 617-985-5800 By ordering part number 12K91-FT, you'll got a package of inserts which are ¥e'long, require a" pilot hole, and accept 2¥/-20threaded bolt. Price per 25 s $9.95. SAW BLADES ‘The Sears blades tested in this issue are available in most Sears stores nationwide and in their special tool catalogs. Freud (PO Box 7187, 218 Feld Avenue, High Point, NC27254) produces a 96-page catalog which is available for $5.00. The ‘ost of the catalog will be refunded to Woodsmith readers with their first order. Ifyou already own a Freud blade, youcan get a free copy of the catalog simply by Submitting proof of purchase For more information about where to locate a Freud dealer in your area, callone of these two toll free numbers: 1-800- 834-2506 or 1-800-994-4107, If you live in ‘California, there's a special WATS nam- her: 1-800.894-0141 Forrest Manufacturing Co., Ine. only sellsits products by mail ander. Soif you're interestedin the Mr. Sawdust blade, other blades they make, or a copy of their eata- Jog, call 1-800-526-7882 (New Jersey resi- ‘dents cal 1-201-478-5236) or write them at 250 Delawanna Avenue, Clifton, NJ 07014, WOODWORKING CLUBS Just aboat five daysafter the lastissue was mailed, we started to receive responses in answer to our request for information bout woodworking clubs. It's not the same as being there, butwe sure enjoy reading the newsletters that are sent in. ‘What surprised us — and may surprise you — is the Incredible variety of wood ‘Working clubs. ‘Our offer to help with membership re- ceruiting and publicity for anyone who ‘wants to contribute stands. Just send any information about your clubs to Steve Krohmer, %Woodsmiti, 1912 Grand Ave- ‘ue, Des Moines, Iowa 50800. Inno particular order (except sort of as| ‘they arrived) here's who we've heard from: SAN JOAQUIN FINE WOODWORKERS AS. SOCIATION. Woodworkers from Fresno to Bakersfield (CA) started this elud on Feb- rusry Sth. Mark Webster, President, says there'll be three chapters of the elub — in Fresne, Bakersteld, and Tulare enuntes. letter, sponsors some woodworking dlas- ‘es, and the dues are $20.00 per year. Contact: Mark R. Webster, 20 North G Street, Porterville, CA 98257 (209- 3814074), PALM REACH WOODCRAPTER'S €LU Norm C. Friedman, President of the newly formed Palm Beach Wooderafter’s Club, would like to hear from other elubs. ‘They need advice, copies of application forms, by-laws and the like. ‘Ifyou can help Norm get his clubstarted right, write to him %eThe Palm Beach ‘Wooderafter’s Club, 22 Chevron Citele, Jupiter, FL $3458 (306-747-0555). “THE ALABAMA WOODWORKERS GUILD. ‘The Alabama Woodworkers Guild started in March. They already have a newsletter, and are planning a show in mid July. We think the President ofthe Gulld has an appropriate first name. Spruce Ifyou're from Alabama, write to Spruce McKee, Sr., PO Box 827, Pelham, AL 5124 COLORADO WOODWORKERS GUILD. Len Erickson, President of the Colorado Woodworkers’ Guild wants you to know that if you live in Colorado and are inter- «sted in joining the Guild, you should write to himat PO Box 5805, Denver, CO 80217. ‘THE WASHINGTON (DC) WOODWORKERS 1. This group has it all together. They hold meetings with expert speakers on ‘Variety of woodworking subjects, and pro- ‘ide what must be a popular and appreci- sted service for members: group purehas- ing of supplies and equipment. “The latest issue of their newsletter re- ported on 2 wine and cheese party where ‘member Chip Baker (another appropriate ‘woodworking name) said the wine was somewhat lacking in substance. Later the ‘editor reported that “Our meetings are BYOB.” We thought that was the kind of meeting we'd like to attend. But Jeff ‘quickly shattered oar illusions by explain- ‘ng the BYOB fora woodworkers guild has to mean “bring your own bonrds.” If you're in the Washington, D.C.. area, ‘contact, Ed Mark, Secretary, 1686 Dun: terry Place, McLean, VA 22101 for more information. SOUTHWEST ASSOCIATION OF WOOD: WORKER (SAW). There's a new association of woodworkers forming in the Oklshoma, City area. Sal nise name, huh) membership is currently made up’of Federal Aviation ‘Administration (FAA) instructors and ‘technicians at the Oklahoma City Aero- ‘autical Center, but is apen to anyone and everyone outside the FAA who fs inter ested in becoming an active, parpatig ‘Their meetings center arvund tea ew oF different techniques, many’ Of ‘which are based on Woodemith articles (8 source we highly recommend) They also Joking forward to am: monicating and exchanging siher cis, Contac: Hater, Petdaga Southwest Association of W Ste South Highland, Musca, O86 or call 405-376-4785 FLORIDA WOODWORKERS ARWOCIATION, W.B. Keeton, 210 Thomas Court NW, Pt. Walton Beach, FL 82548 says the Florida ‘Woodworkers Association s three months ‘ld and already has 80 members. They meet the first Thursday of the month te ‘swap ideas and help each other. Write to W. B. for mare information meee. Those initials are the acronym {or the most unusual woodworkers oFgHt: ination we've heard from yot (are there sme tocome?): The International Wooden Coffin Craftsman Guild Why don' let Tyrone D. Gormley, ane of the founders, say it: “Quite recently some friends around the country formed a special ub, (We are]interested in making ‘Wooden coffins. I know this is abit unusual (Ges, weld agree with that) but there has heen an upstinge in the art af the woaden ‘coffin and the making oft. “Currently I have a list of 20 persons whore enrresponding with each other. If any of your subscribers want to inguire about tie Gulld, and receive all informa- tion and lists of persons, have them write tome at 2005 Val Drive, Austin, TX 78723, Send $2.00 for postage ant duplication costs.” THE WOODWORKERS CLUM (CENTRAL towa, Right in our own backyard is a ‘woodworking club open to anyone in Cee tral Lowa. The Woodworkers Clubin. ‘has more than 20 members. They meet third Tuesday ofeach month, charge annual dues, and publish newlet ‘Contact Loren Zachary, Sec , 4905. Rose Road, Ames, 1a | 0010, Phone: 615-282-1067, 4 Woo!