I did a Really Stupid Thing(tm) and in true Wreck spirit, I'm going to make
myself look like an idiot before the world.
I've spent the last few shop days putting a new top on my existing workbench
so I could adapt it to be better suited for woodworking.
The original top on the bench is made from dimensional lumber screwed to the
support structure. After many years in what amounts to a small barn, the
wood had cupped and twisted quite a bit, and the boards were never
perfectly flat to begin with. It really was all but useless.
So I planed off all the high spots and planed across the joints between
boards to provide a surface level enough to support a laminated hardwood
top. I didn't want to replace the entire top because I'm trying to save
money, because the top needed to be thicker anyway, and because I was too
lazy to un-bolt all my metal-working stuff from the far left side of the
bench and then go buy longer bolts and re-attach it.
Anyway, I set a piece of railroad track on the top, and slid it around on a
sheet of cardboard to make sure it was going to lay flat. When I did this,
I found a couple of spots that needed shimming slightly in order to avoid
sagging problems. I shimmed them with several used up sheets of 60 grit
sandpaper, since I had a lot of used up 60 grit sandpaper laying around,
and I needed very thin shims.
Much later, I started drilling my dog holes. I was initially just boring
through the new top, and only penetrating the existing one far enough to
see that I had hit pine; intending to finish the job with a spade bit. I
found one hole that had some weird black stuff at the bottom. The top had
some kind of funky stain from something or other deep in the wood, and I
mistook the "black stuff" for that, and thought I had "hit pine" so I
stopped.
On the next hole, I put my full weight behind the drill, and all I could do
was make smoke. It didn't cut worth a damn.
DUMBASS!!!!!!!!
So I finished the top, much to my dismay, with a spade bit. Luckily I had
already bored down 1/8" or so with the Forstner in all locations, so I have
clean entry holes.
I'm going to get out the Complete Guide and see if I can figure out how to
save this Forstner, but it's probably hopeless. Cutting through three
sheets of 60 grit sandpaper is a very good way to destroy most any bit, I'd
imagine.
Kids, don't try this at home. If you find yourself in the same situation I
described, plane off the rest of the damn thing so you don't have to use
shims, and if you don't follow that advice, at least don't use sandpaper
for shims unless you're a freaking moron like I am.
--
Michael McIntyre ---- Silvan <[email protected]>
Linux fanatic, and certified Geek; registered Linux user #243621
http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Rue/5407/
Morgans wrote:
> Go get a nice assortment of small files, and get to work. The forstner
> bit is not that hard to sharpen.
Maybe, maybe not. It's pretty severely out of whack now, and it looks like
there's a *lot* of filing to do.
I'm definitely going to give it a shot though. Today is sharpening day. I
have six abused chisels and two abused plane irons to re-grind and hone as
a result of this most recent endeavor. I'll probably spend the entire day
just sliding things around on sandpaper.
I need to get a decent wheel and tool rest for my grinder.
--
Michael McIntyre ---- Silvan <[email protected]>
Linux fanatic, and certified Geek; registered Linux user #243621
http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Rue/5407/
I have the Lee Valley tool rest and a good friable wheel ($18). Does a
lot. Especially handy for lathe tools that HAVE to be done freehanded
unless you buy a $50 tool holder which I am not. I'll be glad to
sharpen a couple of your chisels if you neeed the help. You pay
poostage. It'll shave hair off the back of your knuckles.
On Sun, 02 Nov 2003 09:58:41 -0500, Silvan
<[email protected]> wrote:
>Morgans wrote:
>
>> Go get a nice assortment of small files, and get to work. The forstner
>> bit is not that hard to sharpen.
>
>Maybe, maybe not. It's pretty severely out of whack now, and it looks like
>there's a *lot* of filing to do.
>
>I'm definitely going to give it a shot though. Today is sharpening day. I
>have six abused chisels and two abused plane irons to re-grind and hone as
>a result of this most recent endeavor. I'll probably spend the entire day
>just sliding things around on sandpaper.
>
>I need to get a decent wheel and tool rest for my grinder.
"Bay Area Dave" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Stupidest thing I've done lately?? Well the only thing that comes to
> mind is taking a couple of bozos out my twit list to see if they could
> behave. Of course they can't! Thank God it's only a couple of
guys...
>
>
> dave
Well we knew it wouldn't be anything having to do with woodworking.
Stupidest thing I've done lately?? Well the only thing that comes to
mind is taking a couple of bozos out my twit list to see if they could
behave. Of course they can't! Thank God it's only a couple of guys...
dave
Silvan wrote:
> I did a Really Stupid Thing(tm) and in true Wreck spirit, I'm going to make
> myself look like an idiot before the world.
>
> I've spent the last few shop days putting a new top on my existing workbench
> so I could adapt it to be better suited for woodworking.
>
> The original top on the bench is made from dimensional lumber screwed to the
> support structure. After many years in what amounts to a small barn, the
> wood had cupped and twisted quite a bit, and the boards were never
> perfectly flat to begin with. It really was all but useless.
>
> So I planed off all the high spots and planed across the joints between
> boards to provide a surface level enough to support a laminated hardwood
> top. I didn't want to replace the entire top because I'm trying to save
> money, because the top needed to be thicker anyway, and because I was too
> lazy to un-bolt all my metal-working stuff from the far left side of the
> bench and then go buy longer bolts and re-attach it.
>
> Anyway, I set a piece of railroad track on the top, and slid it around on a
> sheet of cardboard to make sure it was going to lay flat. When I did this,
> I found a couple of spots that needed shimming slightly in order to avoid
> sagging problems. I shimmed them with several used up sheets of 60 grit
> sandpaper, since I had a lot of used up 60 grit sandpaper laying around,
> and I needed very thin shims.
>
> Much later, I started drilling my dog holes. I was initially just boring
> through the new top, and only penetrating the existing one far enough to
> see that I had hit pine; intending to finish the job with a spade bit. I
> found one hole that had some weird black stuff at the bottom. The top had
> some kind of funky stain from something or other deep in the wood, and I
> mistook the "black stuff" for that, and thought I had "hit pine" so I
> stopped.
>
> On the next hole, I put my full weight behind the drill, and all I could do
> was make smoke. It didn't cut worth a damn.
>
> DUMBASS!!!!!!!!
>
> So I finished the top, much to my dismay, with a spade bit. Luckily I had
> already bored down 1/8" or so with the Forstner in all locations, so I have
> clean entry holes.
>
> I'm going to get out the Complete Guide and see if I can figure out how to
> save this Forstner, but it's probably hopeless. Cutting through three
> sheets of 60 grit sandpaper is a very good way to destroy most any bit, I'd
> imagine.
>
> Kids, don't try this at home. If you find yourself in the same situation I
> described, plane off the rest of the damn thing so you don't have to use
> shims, and if you don't follow that advice, at least don't use sandpaper
> for shims unless you're a freaking moron like I am.
>
Lawrence A. Ramsey wrote:
> I have the Lee Valley tool rest and a good friable wheel ($18). Does a
> lot. Especially handy for lathe tools that HAVE to be done freehanded
> unless you buy a $50 tool holder which I am not. I'll be glad to
> sharpen a couple of your chisels if you neeed the help. You pay
> poostage. It'll shave hair off the back of your knuckles.
'S OK, I got it done. I definitely need to get one of those good wheels
before I get my lathe out at 12:01 AM on Christmas morning, but I figured
out a way to do what I want with what I already have, without spending any
extra money.
I had a Good Idea(tm) that worked out very well. Everybody knows a belt
sander is good for sharpening, but when people say that, they mean one of
the 1" x ~ 42" deals. I have a 36" belt/ 6" disc combo sander that leaves
a lot to be desired for sharpening work.
However, I figured out how to use the thing anyway. The problem with angles
is setting them precisely so that the grind angle and the honing angle are
the same. (Well, unless you want to do micro-bevels, but just bear with me
on this...) I made a little table out of angle iron that's screwed into
tapped holes in the side of my platen. This lets me use the Veritas guide
for everything, with no additional tool holders required, and no chance of
setting the fiddly sander table to the wrong angle.
I got every banged-up edge in my shop mirror shiny in record time by letting
the machine do most of the drudge work. I need to massage it a bit yet to
compensate for slight irregularities in the angle iron (maybe Bondo or JB
Weld to fill it and then flatten it with granite/sandpaper), because the
angles are coming out some fraction of a degree different between machine
and hand sanding, but it sure beats the hell out of doing all of this by
hand, and it was free.
--
Michael McIntyre ---- Silvan <[email protected]>
Linux fanatic, and certified Geek; registered Linux user #243621
http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Rue/5407/
On Sat, 01 Nov 2003 22:35:24 -0500, Silvan
<[email protected]> wrote:
>I did a Really Stupid Thing(tm) and in true Wreck spirit, I'm going to make
>myself look like an idiot before the world.
Wastepaper baskets, repro Stickley style. Starts with a bunch of
quartersawn oak strip, 2 1/2" and about 3/8" or so thick. Then taper
the slats, rivet them to a couple of iron rings, and away you go.
So I fed my piece of 2 1/2" square stock into the bandsaw to resaw it.
After some careful adjustment, I resawed the whole piece up, into
several basketfuls.
To find that I'd carefully _flat-sawn_ the strips, not quarter-sawn
them.
--
Die Gotterspammerung - Junkmail of the Gods
"Silvan" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> I did a Really Stupid Thing(tm) and in true Wreck spirit, I'm going to
make
> myself look like an idiot before the world.
>
> I'm going to get out the Complete Guide and see if I can figure out how to
> save this Forstner, but it's probably hopeless. Cutting through three
> sheets of 60 grit sandpaper is a very good way to destroy most any bit,
I'd
> imagine.
>
> Kids, don't try this at home. If you find yourself in the same situation
I
> described, plane off the rest of the damn thing so you don't have to use
> shims, and if you don't follow that advice, at least don't use sandpaper
> for shims unless you're a freaking moron like I am.
>
> --
> Michael McIntyre ---- Silvan <[email protected]>
Go get a nice assortment of small files, and get to work. The forstner bit
is not that hard to sharpen.
--
Jim in NC