Previously, I wrote about the merits of using rough stock in your woodworking. In that post I discussed the benefits offered to every woodworker through milling your own boards from rough to ready. What I did not cover is how to go about preparing rough stock for use on a project.
The basic steps from Rough to Ready
Lot’s of articles have been written about taking a board from rough to 4-square. The basic steps that I follow are:
- Crosscut to rough length
- Rip to rough width
- Joint one face of the board
- Joint an adjacent edge square to the previously jointed face
- Rip to final width
- Crosscut to final length and/or add joinery details such as tenons, etc.
In this post, I’d like to focus on the first two steps of the process and to discuss how I typically approach them, and why.
As a point of clarification, the process and order of operations that I follow is deliberate. Some might argue with the first step of crosscutting to rough length so early in the process. My rationale is as follows: I try to get each piece as close to finished dimension as possible before any surfacing with the jointer or planer. Smaller pieces are easier to handle and the inevitable task of removing imperfections in a board (cup, twist, bow, etc.) are easier remove and with less wasted stock when the pieces are smaller. In some cases, a piece of stock that is basically unusable due to a condition such as bowing while in its long state can be successfully managed when cut down to smaller lengths because the condition is less pronounced in the shorter pieces.
Crosscutting to Rough Length
As I mentioned, the first thing that I do is to crosscut pieces to rough length. The only time that I deviate from this is when the finished parts may end up too short to rip, joint and/or plane in future steps of the milling process. My rule of thumb is a minimum of about 16″ in length. Shorter than that and I will usually try to layout and group like pieces within the same piece of stock. Then I will safely mill the longer board until the final step where I can crosscut to final lengths and add the joniery.
My tool of choice for this cross cutting step may surprise you. I typically use the hand held jigsaw for this operation. I do this because the jigsaw is portable and easy to maneuver in my small shop. I can also choose to crosscut in a larger area if necessary if the piece is to long to easily get into my shop. Those are the practical reasons however, the more important reason is safety.
Rough stock by nature is uneven and uncooperative when trying to hold it against a tool’s table or fence. It tends to wobble and shift in those situations. Of course, those conditions are a problem for tools such as the table saw, radial arm saw and/or miter saw. The way that those tools work with their relatively thick rotating blades tends to allow for conditions that support kickback to occur. Because the jigsaw is portable, I can set the rough stock across my workbench and with the aid of a roller stand for support, crosscut pieces as necessary without any worries. The jigsaw also has a very narrow blade that reciprocates rather than rotates. Thus, kickback is rarely a concern.
Ripping to Rough Width
Once the pieces have been crosscut to rough length, I can rip them to rough width. I can hear you out there saying that if I do this now before the stock is smooth I will either have to use a jig or risk kickback on the table saw. Well, the reason that I can do this now without the need of any special sleds or other jigs is because of the tool that I use.
My tool of choice for the rough ripping operation is the band saw. Because of the same dangerous condiitons that I described which can promote kickback during crosscutting rough stock, using the table saw for this operation (without the use of a rough ripping sled or some other device to make it safe) is not advisable.
I use the band saw to rough rip for much the same reasons that I use the jigsaw for rough crosscutting. The blade is thin and moves in a single direction toward the table. Even with the tendency for rough stock to close in on the cut while it is ripped (caused from relieving stresses in the board which develop during the growing and/or drying process) there is virtually no danger of kickback. The worst thing that may typically happen in severe cases is that the blade can bind requiring the kerf to be propped open with a wedge in order to complete the cut.
Other merits of using the band saw to rough rip are numerous. Some examples are: the ability to follow certain grain patterns in a rough board rather than ripping parallel to the edge in order to have the best looking piece result; to easily work around defects in stock; to get maximal use of a board due to the very narrow kerf of the band saw; and finally to more easily work with and rip thick stock avoiding potentially risky operations at the table saw.
Again, with the band saw I will sometimes group parts when I lay them out on the rough stock so that the ripping operation is safe both at this tool as well as later during final ripping on the table saw. I do not like to rip anything on the table saw that is shorter than 16″ in length and/or with a finished width narrower than about 2-3″. Generally, I do these dangerous ripping tasks safely at the band saw with a longer piece of stock and then joint or plane to finished width before the final cross cut.
If you don’t have a band saw, you could also accomplish these rough ripping tasks with a hand held jigsaw. Alternately, if you do not have a jig saw, you should build a rough ripping sled for your table saw in order to rip rough stock safely.
Hopefully, this sheds some light on the process that I use and why I do it this way. My main goal is to stay safe and to make the process as easy as possible within the constraints of my shop. I’d like to hear your thoughts on the subject. Please leave a comment with the comments field at the end of the post or send me an e-mail.
Tags: band saw, crosscut, dimensioning rough lumber, jigsaw, joint, plane, rip, rough lumber
This weekend I spent some time upgrading the blogging software that is under the hood at The Craftsman’s Path to the latest version. I migrated the site to WordPress version 2.6. That change does not really show anything outwardly to the viewer but, it upgrades many of the tools a features behind the scenes that help to create the blog.
I also decided that it was time for a new look. So, as you can see I’ve updated the look and layout of the blog with a new theme. I think that this theme allows for a bit more flexibility and maybe better navigation of the site.
Let me know how you like it and of course, if you notice anything that is not working properly, let me know that too!
Recently, I was watching Neil Lamens’ interview (Part 1 and Part 2) with Wendell Castle. Neil did a great job talking with Mr. Castle about his approach to the craft and art of woodworking and his approach to design. If you have not seen the interview, I’d urge you to give it a look.
Even if you do not care for Wendell Castle’s work, it’s hard to argue with his affect on the crossover from furniture to art in wood. His work is a curious mix of form and function, furniture and sculpture at the same time.
For me there’s an interesting coincidence with Wendell Castle. His studio is located in Scottsville, NY which is a suburb of Rochester, NY and about half an hour from where I live. Mr. Castle also taught at the Rochester Institute of Technology, School for American Craftsmen. I’m an RIT grad, though in a completely different discipline. Had I had it to do over again, I would have loved to attend the School for American Craftsmen.
In Neil’s interview with Mr. Castle, some interesting points were brought out. Not the least of which is that Mr. Castle sketches designs every day! His approach is that he thinks and works with a pencil – in his eyes, design is work and it requires that time be spent working through and developing ideas. Makes sense if you ask me!
There were many, many things covered but, a couple of significant things from the interview struck me. The first is a quote from Mr. Castle where he said:
“If you are hitting the bullseye every time, then the target is too close.”
This is interesting. What these points say to me are that he that design is work but, we need to push ourselves beyond our comfort zone in order to reach our potential. They were stated regarding design yet, I think they also hold true for various aspects of craftsmanship and new techniques, as well. If we aren’t trying new things in our woodworking or design we are not growing as woodworkers, artists or designers.
Something else that Mr. Castle said that struck a chord with me relates to the thoughts I expressed in a previous post “In design, simple is elegant”. Mr. Castle did not agree with going for extremes in design, craftsmanship, materials, price, or whatever. Instead he stated that rather, the design should be the focal point of a piece – it should not be obscured or overpowered by either the material or the craftsmanship. In his words:
“The best pieces live on their own…not because of the craftsmanship or the material but, what they are – their presence.”
This is interesting. Mr. Castle is not disdaining craftsmanship or spectacular materials – quite the contrary, he also spent some time speaking about how he learned to appreciate that exquisite craftsmanship also set pieces apart. However, what he is saying is that the elegance of the design of a piece is what sets it apart and/or makes it unique and valuable. To me this is quite enlightening – a piece need not be ornate or wild to be noticed or to command attention. In it’s design, it can be simple or complex but, it’s the design that should speak apart from how it’s built or what it is made from.
Mr. Castle says that throughout his career, he has made a lot of mistakes. However, he hopes that they have been made in the pursuit of something worthwhile…probably a good lesson for all of us working to develop our skills.
I’ll leave you with one final quote from Wendell Castle:
“If you’re not making mistakes, you’re not making anything.”
Tags: Design, elegant, furniture design, simple, Wendell Castle
I don’t consider myself an accomplished turner…yet. Though, I’m working on it! I like to turn and the relative instant gratification that turning projects can offer. I had not turned anything in a while but, recently I spied a small off-cut of Walnut in the shop that was left over from the sofa table project. It looked like it had a bowl hiding inside it. Read on and I’ll walk you through the process I followed to create the Walnut bowl.
The stock for the bowl started at about 8″ x 8″ x 3″ thick. I found the center of the stock and outlined the largest circle I could fit within the square. At the band saw I rough trimmed the stock round to make the truing up at the lathe easier. I mounted the trimmed stock to my faceplate centering it as best as I could. The faceplate was mounted to the side of the stock that will be the inside of the bowl so, the screw holes will eventually be turned away.
Once mounted on the lathe, with a bowl gouge I trued the edge until round and then flattened the face at low speed. With the stock true and balanced I started to rough out the outside shape of the bowl and also created a tenon that will be used to hold the bowl in a scroll chuck when hollowing out the inside.
In the picture you can see the rough shape of the outside of the bowl. With the outside turned I removed the stock from the face plate and mounted the tenon into the scroll chuck. Depending on the type of jaws your chuck has the tenon must be shaped appropriately. My chuck jaws have a slight dovetail recess so, I angles the sides of my tenon slightly to fit the jaws. It’s also important to be sure that the tenon does not bottom out in the chuck jaws because that tends to make the jaws grip a bit unstable.
The inside of the bowl was hollowed with a bowl gouge and finished off with a scraper. This was done slowly starting at the center of the bowl and working toward the outer edge while deepening the bowl. i worked the interior of the bowl until the walls were a fairly uniform 1/4″ thick. Once the hollowing was completed I sanded the interior with 100, 150, 180, and 220 grit sandpaper while turning on the lathe. With the interior sanding completed I applied a coat f Watco Natural Danish Oil to the inside, wet sanding it with 320 grit wet/Dry paper.
Next, I created a friction chuck from a piece of scrap. With some padding on the inside of the bowl I reversed it and applied pressure against the jam chuck with the tail stock. Centering the bowl to get it to run true was not too difficult because I had left the tail stock depression in the tenon from when the outside was turned. With the lathe running a slow speed I carefully turned away the foot leaving a small nub at the tail stock for support. Again, I sanded with the same grits and then applied and wet sanded Danish Oil to the outside of the bowl.
With the bowl largely completed. I removed it from the lathe and carved off the nub from the foot with a carving gouge and sanded the foot smooth. I signed the bottom with Sharpie and with a little oil applied to the foot, the bowl was complete. You’ve gotta’ love being able to complete a project in an afternoon!
Tags: bowl gouge, lathe, scraper, turned bowl, walnut, woodlathe, Woodturning
After I had routed the channels for the binding and purfling, the next step was to mortise the location for the end trim at the tail stock of the guitar. Because this end trim piece fits in between the bindings that go around the perimeter of the top and back it must be installed first.
I started by securing the body to the bench and aligning the end trim piece along the centerline of the tail stock. I carefully scribed with a knife along the edges of the end trim to define the mortise to be cut. With the initial lines scribed, I removed the trim and deepened the lines with the knife. I pondered whether to just chisel this area of the sides out or to use a router.
In the end I opted for the router to rough out the mortise. I set the depth of a straight cutting bit to equal the depth of the binding channels and made a couple of passes staying clear of the knife lines. With the bulk of the material removed I cleaned things up with a sharp chisel. Gluing the end trim in is not something that you can use a clamp for. So, I just used some tape to hold it in while the glue dried. Once it was dried I spent some time with a file to get the ends of the trim piece perfectly flush with the edges of the binding channels so that when the binding was installed there would be perfect seams with no gaps.
With the end trim installed I moved on to the bindings and purfling. Since there is only binding around the back of the guitar I opted to start with it – hoping that if I made any mistakes they would be less noticable on the back! I first carefully checked the fit of the binding all along the channel an noted any areas that were not smooth or of uneven depth. These areas were kissed with a file until the curves looked good. I also ran the inside bottom edge of the binding along a picece of sandpaper to chamfer it a bit and to allow the binding to seat fully.
I laid out my materials and got ready for the installation. I used binding tape from Stewart MacDonald to hold the bindings in place. Since these bindings are acrylic I also used some Weld-on cement appropriate for the material. Starting at the neck block I aligned the edge of the binding with the center seam of the guitar and applied cement for about 6 inches. I applied the tape by first pressing it against the binding and then stretching it first along the back and then down along the side. Every six inches or so, it was time for more cement. When I reached the tail block I carefully made a trim cut on the binding aligning it with the center seam. Once this half of the back binding was dry I applied a second strip on the opposite side of the back being careful to match th end seams of the binding. I let the bindings dry at least a full 24 hours. To remove the tape I slightly heated it with a heat gun ( a hair dryer would also work) to loosen the adhesive and pulled the tape at a 45 degree angle to avoid lifting any slivers of wood. Things looked good so, I moved on to scraping the bindings down to meet the back and sides. Notice in the picture that I put some tape on the corner of the card scraper to avoid nicking the back and sides as I scraped. (By the way that white piece you see on the card scraper is one of those flat magnet strips that I have on the scraper to avoid burning my thumbs as I scrape).
The procedure for the top was similar however, it was a bit more tricky because the binding and the purfling strips must be installed at the same time. Again I carefully checked the channels to be sure that things fit well, chamfered the inside edges of the strips with sandpaper and went ahead with the installation. The main task here was to assure that both the binding and the purfling were fully seated in their channels when applying the tape. This operation was also done in halves and left to dry for at least 24 hours before scraping down even with the top and sides.
The end result is pretty good. There are no gaps between the binding or purfling and the body and the seams in the strips look very tight. There is one small area where the binding is scraped down a little thinner than elsewhere ( I think that this is a result of an area where I bobbled and routed a bit too deep during the channel routing) but, it is not real noticable unless you are looking for it. I the pictures you can see a closeup of the binding an purfling along the top and a full shot of the body as it stands now. Next time, I’ll start turning my attention to the work on the neck.
Tags: binding, dreadnought guitar, guitar, lutherie, purfling
