Wood for home-grown cases?

Lew,

Ok, I will check again; when I have seen it locally, it has been an expensive way to buy wood. I will reinvestigate. So far, I used it for the panel on cabinet door, and can see how it would make a nice insert material for what I have in mind.

BTW, I am just making boxes, which I also view as a way to practice for the furniture I am gradually making.

As much as I admire his skill, I think he's bonkers ;) The drilling w/ elbow grease is just too much. I have a table saw and enjoy using it. However, I've seen experts go both ways on dovetails, and the by-hand crowd might have a point. Of course, I have not purchased a good jig, which I would need to try. One book in my collection shows an interesting way to cut dovetails on a bandsaw using an angled surface and blocks of consistent width. Anybody know how a guy with a mill could make that :) It might be the answer.

Thanks!

Bill

Reply to
Bill Schwab
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Well, if you're long on money, you can buy a jig. If you're not long on money, spending a little time making some dovetails by hand (on the first 10 or so don't even make a bad box - just make the joint and cut it off, then make another one) and then moving on to making some boxes will mean that you never need to buy the jig, or take the time needed to set the jig up, or find the space to store the jig. It ain't rocket science, but it is a skill, and if you practice the skill, you get better at it. Storage boxes are excellent further practice once you'd done a few joints purely for practicing the joint with no consequences if you screw up. Plus, you can make dovetails by hand which routers cannot duplicate (they need fat pins, because the router bit needs to be able to hold together - by hand you cut with a saw, and can make much skinnier pins).

As for woods, either your wood source is weird, or your location is screwing with the price of wood if any sort of poplar is expensive. Go with whatever is locally affordable or free. Hunt out sawmills for directly buying wood, or cabinet shops which may have "shorts and offcuts" for free, or at a low price.

Reply to
Ecnerwal

White oak is a lot better than red oak for the tannin problem. In addition, the tools don't touch the wood so the problem is a lot less than otherwise. Besides, that particular brand is touted more for the quality of the finish than for the good wood that is used.

-- Why do penguins walk so far to get to their nesting grounds?

Reply to
Bob May

All of the jigs that I've seen have basically been for 3/4" stock. Trying to do something other than that can bea real bear. Learning how to do dovetails by hand will end up letting you use wood of other thicknesses (try doing a box with 2x8 wood with a jig!) without any problems.

-- Why do penguins walk so far to get to their nesting grounds?

Reply to
Bob May

I have a medium power HP laser, along with beam splitters etc etc (anyone want it?) that came in a marvelous fitted fiberglass case

Unfortunately the foam had turned to slime.

The Stuff needs some cleaning.

Gunner

"Pax Americana is a philosophy. Hardly an empire. Making sure other people play nice and dont kill each other (and us) off in job lots is hardly empire building, particularly when you give them self determination under "play nice" rules.

Think of it as having your older brother knock the shit out of you for torturing the cat." Gunner

Reply to
Gunner Asch

Nifty. How medium power and what wavelength?

Pete C.

Reply to
Pete C.

Knowing Gunner it's 15kW YAG and the beams to be split are I beams

Happy Christmas Mark Rand RTFM

Reply to
Mark Rand

Wish I lived near you, I'm in PA, sounds like it would be a nice sized unit to play with, with my kids, for science class. That reminds me I have to start looking for a design for a homemade electron microscope.........

Bill

Reply to
Bill

I don't like a router for making finger joints for small boxes of thin wood -- as in cases for tools and instruments. When I was making boxes 25 years ago, I preferred the table saw and a shop-made jig.

I tried an Incra Jig. Didn't like it. Too easy to hit the wrong increment, and there's no fine adjustment -- or wasn't then.

My jig is just a plate with a series of small holes at equal distance, made on a mill for accuracy. Another plate slides on that plate, has a locating pin, so it can move in very accurate discrete steps of 1/8" or whatever. On one end there is a "foot" made of aluminum angle. The foot can be adjusted with a spring-loaded 1/4-20 screw as a "vernier". There is a dial indicator to note how much adjustment has been dialled in.

This assembly clamped to the sliding miter guide on my table saw.

It was both fast and accurate in use. Clamp the piece to the jig with one end butted against the angle "foot". Zing a row of cuts at some multiple of 1/8" apart. Flip the piece around, make a trial cut a bit shy of where you think it should go. Measure the resulting gap or finger with dial calipers, adjust the vernier w/ dial indicator accordingly, and zing zing zing that edge is done. This automatically takes care of blade thickness and any blade wobble or misalignment in the saw. The finger joints assembled with a light tap with a mallet or an easy squeeze in the vise.

The cost is a couple of hours' time, some scraps of wood or metal, and a $15 dial indicator from Enco if you don't already have a buncha DI's laying around.

Reply to
Don Foreman

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