Blakewd

Always something new and helpful.

Built the sled a while back and ran a test cut. It seemed to work fine. I used it for real this afternoon cutting the sides for a couple of keepsake boxes. All I did today was to cut and miter the box and cut the lid parts to length. Just for the heck of it I dry assembled the sides. With no glue and no clamps, I had a perfect fit at all four corners. Thank you, Matt. Also, a nod to Wixey.

I read the article in the most recent issue of FWW and immediately put it to use on some keepsake boxes I am building. I am using a 1/4 roundover bit with a bearing and a fence on my table saw mounted router. The pieces are large enough to hold firmly and I take care to remove only a small amount of wood with each pass. As the boxes end up with a very thin edge on the lid, even a little tearout would be impossible to hide. I did not experience the "wavy" results mentioned. Maybe because I made my climb cut and then ran the piece back in the normal direction. Anyway, the method worked so well that I emailed FWW right away to thank them for the article. Remember, BE CAREFUL!

When making my sled I used hardwood for the runners. I first clamped piece of oak to the back edge of the table then I placed the two runners in miter with a bead of glue along their length. Then I butted the rear fence of the sled against the back of the table and lowered the sled onto the glued runners. I then screwed the runners in place via pre-drilled holes and, lo and behold, everything is square and ready for the final touches.

I am one of the statistics. I still have all of my digits although one side of my left thumb is no longer quite as sensitive as God intended. My first thought, even before i checked the seriousness of the wound, was, "Blake, you dumb---! I did not rain down curses on Craftsman tools and I do not plan to organize a nationwide boycott of Sear's. What I do plan is to wait until the blade stops spinning before I clear away that scrap piece of wood. Yes, I would like a SawStop in my shop but it is out of my price range. Am I supposed to stop working until I can afford the new saw? I don't think so. Be safe! Pay attention! Wait until ALL cutting edges have stopped before proceeding to that next step. Take responsibility for your own actions.

Don't laugh but work this beautiful actually brings a tear (very small) to my eye. When someone like my fishing buddy asks why I go to so much trouble to get a joint tight when it is in a location that will never be seen, I tell him that I know it is there. Personal satisfaction in a job well done is worth a lot. This workbench is worth a couple of tons of personal satisfaction. Nice work.

I was introduced to woodworking by my grandfather, Guy A. Blake, when I was a very small child. His shop was a two car garage with a bench running around about one half the length of the walls. There were vises everywhere and drawers the entire length of the bench with cutouts for every hand tool he had. He used to say that the tools were in their correct place only twice. The first was when he finished building them and the second when I, at about age 6, put all of the tools in their proper places. His power tools were a table saw, with a four by eight foot table that he designed and built, lathe, jig saw/scroll saw, drill press, grinder, and others I cannot remember. His hand tools ran the gamut from his pocket knife to chisels and planes, all of them freshly sharpened. My grandfather taught me that a cheap tool is exactly that, cheap. He would never use filler on a miter joint. He would redo it. Sand with the grain of the wood. Clean those brushes. Don't be in a hurry. Plan ahead. Measure twice. Cut once. His words of wisdom were endless. I spent 20 years in the Air Force and then 15 years in retail so my workshop is a late bloomer. I am working out of an 8' X 18' truck body right now with plans to put up a real shop later this year. With a table saw, a table saw mounted router, and a 10' by 30" bench containing a 24" scroll saw, a drill press, a grinder, and other assorted stuff, I can hardly wait for the new building. A band saw is next on my list. This magazine, and others, is a great help. Not an issue comes in the mail that doesn't teach me something new or make some difficult task more simple or give me an idea on something else to build, just as soon as I finish this current project. I just hope I live long enough to make up for lost time. Maybe I will even live long enough to finish all of those current projects.