Woodworkers Thread
- Thread starter AgronAlum
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I just cleaned up an old window from the late 1800's that was a nice red. Was from one of the original houses in West Des Moines and the client wanted it installed in their new home. They later told me they mixed gold into the glass while it is formed to achieve the color. Probably worth like 15 grand. Glad the told me after I worked on it.
Ok- need a miter saw recommendation. I have been getting by with an old lower end Dewalt for years, but I have been doing some work on reclaimed trim in my house and furniture that I’m staining, and mine is just not as precise as I need, particularly on larger pieces when doing scarf joints. There’s no integrated clamping, so typically I get an ever so slight elliptical cut rather than perfectly straight on deeper Angles when laying flat.
If you’re just planning on doing trim work with it avoid the sliding saws unless you’ve got $1200 to blow on a festool. They take up a ton of room with the sliding rails and the rails add in some variation that’s hard to adjust for when cutting angles. After that look at the widest thing you want to cut and compare that to the capacity of the saw. Chances are a 10” Dewalt or Makita will do the trick for 90% of the people that buy a miter saw for around the house. The only reason to get a sliding saw is if you work with stuff wider than 6” on a regular basis.
Need help fellas. Here’s a table I’m working on. There will be breadth pieces put on I haven’t cut yet. I ran those boards through a table saw I borrowed from a buddy and there is still play and lots of daylight between those boards. Maybe this is normal? Maybe I’m an idiot? Or some combo is likely too. Anyway, my next thought is to belt sand the spots of those long joints so they are more flush before I use some kind of biscuit joiner/kreg jig combo to join them. The other part that pisses me off is that I didn’t account for the saw blade width so now I need to trim off just a little bit of those 4x4 cross pieces so they are flush with the top. Any pointers would be awesome. 
Did you run the edges of the boards through a jointer or planner to make sure they are flat and square??? Also, I have never made a table like this, but know someone who did. Make sure you glue the joints completely with biscuits. He used just pocket screws with minimal glue and the top boards warped on him. That caused major gaps in the joints.
Just so I’m understanding right you’ve got gaps longways over the whole length or just in spots?
Got it. Sounds like the edges need jointed. Rip cuts almost never give you a good enough edge to glue up.
Agreed.
It’s probably not the preferred method but this is how I do it with the tools I have (no jointer). I square up one side with a straight edge and either a flush trim bit on the router or a circular saw then square up the other side the same way.
I leave everything long then square up the whole table at the end.
Also, clamps and glue, not just pocket joints. The tiny gaps will disappear during glue up.
More than 4 hrs....
Bought it about a month ago and it’s been sitting in my garage.
When your talking about joints, what kind of joints exactly? Clamping these2x10s isn’t allowing me to “move” it obviously like a smaller board.
I did it like that for a long time until I got a jointer. I made a jig out of a piece of 1/2 hardboard and used the factory edge for a pattern bit on my router. It wasn’t perfect but it worked.
In a pinch a sharp number 5 bench plane will do wonders too. The best part about those is you can buy an old Stanley Bailey for $30 all day long. A little elbow grease cleaning it and sharpening it will amaze you.