James Lennox

Mr. Holland,

No, you should question your response before you placate it on a comment page. Yellowstone's lodgepole pine forests are stand replacement meaning that they mature and burn and replace themselves since their cones reseed through extreme temperatures. I have been to Yellowstone right after the fires of '88 and many times since then. The fires burned in a mosaic pattern leaving forested areas untouched. And the areas that did burn came back bountifully. Wildfires are a natural cycle that have developed ecosystems for thousands of years. Clearcutting forests and the acts of humans contributes to global warming, not forest fires.

People who do not have a clue should keep their comments to themselves, Mr Holland.

Douglas,

You did not offend me at all. I think it is important to know where your wood comes from. Here in the western part of the U.S. clear cuts on public lands remove biological diversity, clog streams with silt, and not to mention create a huge eyesore. Most of the time, replanting means only commercially viable trees and not restoring ecosystem diversity. Old growth forests have intrinsic value not just economic.

Thank you for the photo.

As long as my wood comes from more sustainable practices rather than the clearcut represented in this photo.

You can see photos of this storage solution for the Ultimate Crosscut Sled on my FWW post:

http://www.finewoodworking.com/item/104507/ultimate-crosscut-sled-revisited

The Stealth Bomber Crosscut Sled

This past summer I constructed the crosscut sled design described by John McCormack in his cover story, “The Ultimate Crosscut Sled,” (August, 2008). I fondly call it “the Stealth Bomber,” since it resembles the aircraft’s shape and the sled is quite “bomber,” meaning dead-on accurate.  A couple of problems with the Bomber arose while preparing to build it: I wouldn’t be able to repeatedly cut workpieces longer than five feet and the 3/4″ mdf sled would be heavy, creating a storage issue. 

So to address the first obstacle, I decided to add a telescoping flip stop to the Kreg Top Trak. The telescope slides out from a rabbet in the back of the fence trapped between the hard maple and plywood back fence and is locked in position with a Festool clamp. The Kreg Top Trak, adhesive rule tape & flip stop makes crosscutting a dream.

After a bit of pondering a storage solution, I traced the sled on the 4′ x 8′ outfeed table at the opposite far corner from the table saw and cut out an embedded and lockable Stealth Bomber hangar or docking station that makes the sled flush with the table saw top & puts the sled’s fence completely out of the way of the saw’s ripping path. The lock is a fixed piece in one of the sled’s many oval hand holds on the sled’s outer perimeter.

No need to develop a hernia by lifting the Bomber’s heft off the table saw, just slide it around the outfeed table and land it down into the hangar. The bomber’s hangar also keeps the sled from being bumped out of square or damaged by lifting it off the saw and placing it elsewhere. I squared the fence to the blade once and I have not had to tune it up since.

In addition to McCormack’s adjustable sawhorse supporting the sled on the saw’s left flank, I also use a five-foot infeed rip support located on the right side of the sled’s runner. I am able to safely crosscut 37 inches on the new Delta Unisaw since the blade is set back further than other table saws..

I can now quickly, repeatedly and accurately crosscut cabinet parts and trim work. Set-up time takes about a minute. John McCormack’s ultimate shop-made sled is by far the best of its kind and well worth the time it takes to build.