Klaus Zunker began by telling of a thick piece of wood he had that he wanted to make into a table top. Of course the piece of wood had a crack down the middle. Klaus decided he would make a piece of inlay to go over the crack, thus covering it and enhancing the beauty of his table. He made a pattern for his inlay and using a bushing set with his router, cut the pattern in a sample piece of wood. When he put his inlay in, the piece was about inch too small for the opening. Obviously he had done something wrong. Upon checking what he had done, he found he had used the same bushing set to do both the inlay and the pattern for the inlay, rather than using the second bushing. The tool came with both a male and female bushings. When he tried again on a second sample it worked correctly. Klaus reminds us to always use a sample to try something on, before doing the final product. He was able to save his table top by not going directly to that first.
Vern Eilers told of a segmented bowl he was making. He had put in a lot of work. He went to turn the inside of the bowl and did not move his tool rest in really close to the work. His bowl blew up and he lost all the hours of work he already had done. Vern reminds us that if we hurry and don't pay attention to doing all the steps correctly, we may cost ourselves the entire project and/or a lot of time having to redo something.
Walt Hadcock told of spending a lot of money on a new table saw blade. He decided to sharpen it rather than buy a new one. When he restarted his table saw and started using it to cut wood, it made a ding in the tip of the guide bar as it took two teeth out of his expensive blade. The problem? He had not tightened the blade correctly as he put it back in the table saw. He reminds us to be very careful when changing tools. A new member (sorry I did not get your name) told of working on a large piece of black walnut as turning a bowl. Somehow he managed to have the piece blow up and go flying in two directions, one across the room and the other straight at his face. Fortunately he was wearing his safety helmet. But even with wearing that it took out the lens to his glasses. He reminds us to always use the safety equipment when we are using our tools.
Bill Smeaton talked of working with his scroll saw with a piece of foreign wood. He had a cough at the time and it started getting worse every time he worked on his piece. He talked to Ron Hinderman who suggested he might need better dust equipment that he was using. So he went and bought a Triton helmet with the air circulation and all and found he did not develop the cough while working on the wood when he wore it. He reminds us that some woods are toxic. Especially foreign woods and we should use proper protection when working with them. Also, he handed out some copies of wood toxicity that had been sent by Ron Hinderman.
Bill Drummel told of making a bookcase out of oak veneer. He purchased his plywood and took if off the stack himself. When he was fitting the pieces of his bookcase together he found they didn't fit. He had cut them at the same time so he knew that wasn't the problem. So he took a micrometer and checked the size of the plywood pieces and found that one was 1/16th of an inch thicker than the other. He reminds us to really check the plywood for thickness. Sometimes different sheets of plywood that are sold as the same size really are different.
Dick Butula told of a time he had purchased a 4 x 8 foot piece of plywood to make a project. He went to cut the wood and it would not follow a straight edge on his table saw. When he checked to see what could be wrong, he found he had installed his saw blade backwards. He also told of making grooves in a piece of wood to slide a top on a drawer. He put the groove in the wrong side of the wood. He fixed it by turning it over and putting the groove in correctly, and then put inlay into the wrong groove. He reminds us to pay close attention to details when working with our projects. And to consider alternate ways to solve some of the problems we make for ourselves.
Another member (sorry I did not get your name either) told of buying a large solid block of birdseed because it was cheaper that way. He decided he could cut it up with his band saw into small enough pieces to fit into the bird feeder. Unfortunately the molasses in the birdseed dulled the band saw blade and it cost him 5 times the price of the birdseed savings to replace the band saw blade. He reminds us that the cheaper way often isn't!!
Jerry Tackes reminds us of safety in the shop. He had an incident where his wife got cut on the tip of her finger because she got too close to a tool that was turned off, but had not yet stopped rotating. Ken Bahr told of a time he was making a really small raised panel and had small pieces flying all over the place. He made a jig to help so it would not continue.
Dick Yezek reminds us all that spinning hardware pulls the hand into the blade. He lost half of a thumb when a hand held power plane hit the tip of his thumb. He suggested that we could take a tube of clear bathroom caulk and see the effect of that when it hits a spinning blade. It is much the same with a body part.
Dave Gillis was helping his son shaping the wood with a router while remodeling his house. He plugged in the router and it took off on him. It seems it was not turned off before being unplugged. His finger was cut as he caught the router. He reminds us again of safety in the shop. Tom Shuppe told of building a wine rack and using his drill press to cut the circles out of the wood. He didn't clamp the wood and when the drill press went down the board lifted and caught the end of his finger. It could have been worse. He reminds us again to not forget important steps in the process. Clamps were invented to be useful.
George Henderson told of the time he was using super glue to glue a blank to get ready to turn a project. He put the glue onto the frame of the lathe. Then he proceeded to put his hand down on the glue. It took him 15 minutes to get the attention of his wife so she could help him by using the solvent to free his hand. He also told of working with some 4H kids and using a product that said to use in a well ventilated area, but they were using it in the basement. When it became clear that they were all being affected by the fumes they escaped to the outdoors. But it took 20 minutes to feel better. As you can see, most of the incidents required more care to follow safety precautions and it could have prevented some accidents. Please note these were written to the best of my recollection and may not be exactly as they were told.
May
Date: May 16, 2005
Topic: Sharpening
Time: 9:00 am. - 1:00 pm
Enrollment: 12 (Members Only)
Fee: $25.00
Location: Sylvan Studio, Inc.
6228 West State Street Wauwatosa, WI
Presenter:Walt Hadcock
Materials: All materials provided.
What To Bring: Chisels, plane blades that need sharpening.
Comments: This is one of the most basic needs of woodworking. Sharp tools
make your shop safer and your work faster and more enjoyable. Workshop will
give the theory and process of sharpening, and enough supplies to get you
started, as well as send you home with a few sharp tools! The method being
taught is the "Scary Sharp" system that is very inexpensive and quite
effective.