STL298: That’s a fancy commode!
Bob Van Dyke joins Mike and Ben to discuss sharpening to 80 grit, which wood is best for bending, bandsaw blade issues, and shoulder planes.
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Question 1:
From Robin:
Hi, I was listening to old episodes and Bob van Dyck mentioned using glue to help align a box hinge: was it five-minute epoxy, or hot melt glue? I thought it was epoxy, but then how would you remove the hinge? Any help is appreciated, as is your fantastic podcast.
Question 2:
From Tyler:
I want to start steam bending but I only have access to kiln-dried lumber. Brian Boggs said in an article that he will use kiln-dried lumber if he has to where as Micheal Fortune says only use air-dried lumber. I know Mike has done a bit of steam bending and wanted to know your preference or if it matters.
Also. How do you go about cutting joinery on bent parts? How do you go about getting reference points? Do I cut the joinery before bending?
Segments:
Bob – Soaking wood in glycerin to make it more bendable
Mike – Paying attention to grain direction when… pealing tape.
Ben – Lee Valley’s $5 ruler to get you over the free shipping hump
Question 3:
From Cameron:
I asked this of another prolific woodworking podcast (Ben note… I went looking for this conversation on the other podcast and couldn’t find it. I’m not going to call them out because they might have been misrepresented). However, my question to them was in regards to something they said which was sharpening at 80 grit is technically sharp, and going further is just for edge retention.
If this is true, why do most pros say that you have to have two polished surfaces to be sharp? This makes more sense to me but l have been struggling with it lately as l have not been woodworking as long as those guys. And my other gripe is if the Japanese who do a hand plane finish on their boards didn’t need to do it, I’m pretty certain they would not!
Question 4:
From Gerry:
I purchased a 1990s-era bandsaw from an abandoned shop and rebuilt it for my shop. I have since purchased a total of six blades of varying widths and TPI (1/8” to 5/8”) from several different sources. Recently I suddenly broke my first blade during a cut, so I changed the blade and resumed cutting only to have the second blade break within 5 minutes. At that point, I recognized that something was wrong. While mulling over possible causes I decided to look at the length of these blades. This bandsaw uses a 93 ½” blade, but I discovered that in ordering blades in the past I had accidentally ordered two 93” blades. A half-inch difference in the length of the blade probably didn’t seem that important at the time but, on reflection, I realized that the difference translated to an extra one-quarter-inch elevation of the upper wheel when tensioning the blade to the presets on the back of the tension spring block. This led to significant over-tensioning of the two 93 blades. Now that I have seen the error of my ways I have not experienced any more blade breakage with my collection of 93 ½” blades.
Every two weeks, a team of Fine Woodworking staffers answers questions from readers on Shop Talk Live, Fine Woodworking‘s biweekly podcast. Send your woodworking questions to [email protected] for consideration in the regular broadcast! Our continued existence relies upon listener support. So if you enjoy the show, be sure to leave us a five-star rating and maybe even a nice comment on our iTunes page.
Comments
Great show. They most always are, but this one was a cut above.
Looking for info on Mikes traveling toolbox. Is there an article or photo?
Great episode, probably my favorite trio.
With respect to the bandsaw blade length/tension question, no one really addressed whether the premise of the question was even valid, which it was not. To wit, the questioner assumed that the 1/2” shorter blade length affected tension because the gauge “pointer” was somehow linked to the upper wheel position, and as such the shorter blade was stretched (highly tensioned) so that the upper wheel could get to its position so that the gauge pointer was correct. That is NOT how the tension gauge works on a band saw.
Instead, the tension gauge pointer is linked to the tension spring mechanism, such that the pointer begins to move as the tension spring is compressed. Blade length (within a reasonable range of the target 93-1/2” spec) has absolutely nothing to do with what the tension gauge pointer shows. In reality, the upper wheel’s position is never solidly fixed in any of its possible positions, but instead is always “riding on” the spring’s tension, kind of like a car. Bottom line, the original questioner probably got a couple of bad blades - the breakage had nothing to do with the shorter length.
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