woodrapper

As a relative beginner, I struggle to make my pieces look as close to store bought perfection as I can. I very rarely suceed, but that's my goal. Is it the goal of very many woodworkers to make their pieces look less, so they are easily identified as handmade? I use a dovetail jig and router when I want that joint, but rabbets and dadoes work very well for drawers and things also. If I wanted to make it look handmade, it's pretty easy to slop a bit with the router and create a bit of an oops joint. In fact, I'm very good at that ... even when I don't want to be. What escapes me is why, if a customer wants dovetail drawer construction, would making them with a router and jig be so horrifying. Would that method not save tons of time, and therefore money, and allow people there desire without it costing "far more"? I do make things for family and friends as well as for my household, but not commercially. For the speciality woodworker hobbiest who enjoys spending hours and hours cutting and working with hand tools and/or antique tools, the old woodworking mystique holds true, and must certainly provide a tremendous sense of accomplishment. Otherwise, however, a well designed, attractive, functional, piece that will last at least for the lifetime of the intended user is, it seems to me, a reasonable and sensible goal for most woodworkers, professional or hobbiest.

Plain stupid. It wasn't even a novel, creative design. Not even an idea for a quick (maybe 120 seconds?) knock together way-out wacky design. Booo.

I bought a 10 inch Hitachi portable contractor saw in order to squeeze some sort of table saw ability into my garage workshop, which when not in use as a shop, must be able to house two cars, and when it becomes my shop, must still be able to hold one car every night.

To use the Hitachi for serious woodworking, I had to do the following:

The aluminum table is OK for cutting dimensional lumber for building and construction work, but improvement is needed for woodworking. I laid down an MDF top, which also created a zero clearance blade throat as a side benefit. (There is otherwise no zero clearance insert available, and making one is not easy for this saw.)

The fence cannot be used in that arrangement, of course, but that was no loss because the fence was useless anyway. I set up a set of tracks front and rear along the MDF and made a hardwood fence that I position and square for each cut. Takes a minute or two to do, but the cuts are accurate.

The blade arbor spindle is too short so that it isn't possible to use all the chippers of my dado set, making two passes required for any cut width over 1/2 inch.

For cross cutting, a sled is needed to get accuracy. A good shop made sled does the job though.

The saw comes with a slide-out rear outfeed support and a dowel-like, steel, screw-in rear "leg" to help keep the saw from tipping when the outfeed is used. However, I found that more help was needed, and had to devise a 2x4 outfeed support "leg set" to ensure stability.

However, the saw has plenty of power, and has never hesitated on any cut from hard maple and oak to poplar and pine. Once set, it will hold an angle for a bevel cut, but I certainly do not rely on the saw's grads.

It's all worth it though. The alternative is no table saw at all, and that is not an option. The saw doesn't cost much, takes up relatively little space, and with some creative work and tuning, actually can be made to do a reasonable job.