Oregon Wood Works
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Guild of Oregon Woodworkers Volume #24, Issue #3 March 2007 OREGON WOOD WORKS ON JOINTING BENT BOARDS BY BOB OSWALD sing a jointer is sort of straightfor- concave one. Which edge you choose is ward… sort of. Keeping your most typically dictated by the part of the U thumb clear of the cutter is simple board you want to use for that part of your too, sort of. The good news is that this arti- project. cle isn’t about thumbs. The most common error most people You set the height of the cut, put a make is pushing the board through the board on the table and push it through. A jointer while pushing down on the back end. pass or two and it comes out straight. Un- The outfeed table is where the finished piece fortunately that’s if it’s already pretty straight ends up. So this is the reference, the most and all you’re doing is cleaning up the edge. important part. As soon as there is enough wood past the cutter to start applying down- TOOL OF THE MONTH However there are two lumber situations where the going gets tough. I’ve heard ward pressure on the outfeed table, you more people say that they have a bad curve should transfer your force there. This is and all they seem to be able to do is make is usually the left hand reaching forward to worse. hold the board down while the right hand is Inside this Issue: pushing from behind. As soon as the hold- Both situations involve a board with an ing force is transferred to the outfeed table, exaggerated bend on its edge. You can On Jointing Bent Boards 1 choose to straighten the convex one or the (Continued on page 3) Pres: On Letting Go 2 O UR NEXT MEETING—APRIL 18, 2007 7:00PM It’s Show Time Again 3 The next meeting will be at Franklin High School. East on Powell to Social time starts at 6:30. Last Meeting: Wood- 4 51st Avenue. North about 6 blocks and you run right into it. Bring your own chair crafters Here’s a great new twist on woodworking although it’s a time honored, tried and true profes- Design and Furnuture 5 sion involving wood, boat building. building Seminar Rockler Special Event 5 The April meeting will feature a presentation by a couple of mem- bers of Rivers West Small Craft Center. They will give us a brief Crown Molding 6 overview of the organization, take a quick look at materials and techniques for building small craft and show an in-progress cedar Super Taper Jig 7 strip kayak project. They're also primed to field your questions. Rivers West is a non-profit boat-building and low-impact boating Reasons to like Shellac 8 organization. It has a full boat shop in Portland with rental space available for building wooden boats. For a preview of this exciting program's The Mighty Miter Saw 9 topic, take a look at their website at http:// www.riverswest.org. Factory Direct to You 9 The RiversWest shop is a low cost boat shop Make a Picture Frame 9 where members can build and repair small craft. We are well equiped with power tools and boatbuilding knowledge. Members have built many different boats, so whatever your boating interest, we can probably find someone to offer advice. Page 2 Volume #24, Issue #3 F ROM THE PRESIDENT: ON LETTING GO BY LEE JOHNSON s some of you know, I am just about But here is the trouble with all that hand finished with the big “French Provin- work: it is mine. It came from my hands, not a cial” breakfront in my shop. Just in machine. Oxygen burning in my cells fueled all time. Another month would have that work, not Portland General Electric. It was A made it a year and a month in construc- my thumbs that blistered from the heat of the tion. cabinet scraper fairing the door panels. It was my index finger that got cut on the sharp edge of There are any number of reasons it will be the beech when using the finger as a molding good to deliver this thing to the clients. Getting plane fence to mold the front of the shelves. a final payment (which I need for new equip- Mine. My sweat. My blood. (OK, OK, no ment in my next shop); getting it out of the shop tears, but sweat and blood is dramatic enough, so I can move the shop (thereby ending my dou- isn’t it?) I’ll have to let it go. ble rent payments -- one for the existing shop, one for the new); moving on to possibly paying So this big piece of furniture is my off- But it will be a loss. projects (by my rough calculations, I stopped spring. I’ve raised it from the first pencil line on making money on this one about last July.) a blank sheet of drawing paper to a big, hulking monster that’s ready to hold, ever so gently, its With those kinds of reasons, one would fine glassware, porcelain and china, lacy linens, think I’d be not only anxious, but also really and silver services for at least the next 300 years. happy to contemplate getting this thing out the I’ll be so proud of it when it has taken its place door. Emotions, however, have little to do with of employ and is doing it’s job so gracefully and logic. Instead, I am growing sadder as I get proficiently. It will have the three true attributes closer. of fine furniture: utility, strength and beauty. I think I’ve shared some statistics on this So I’ll have to let it go. But it will be a loss. monster with you -- 384 hand dovetails; 81 One must grieve losses, and so I will grieve. pieces in the drawer section -- without the draw- ers; 96 little opposing rabbet slats to cover the The form this takes (I’ve done it before) is double-dome top; more than 170 linear feet of that I will be worthless as the well-intentioned 1/8 -inch beading scratched in by hand, 100 pavement of Hell for about two weeks. I’ll lineal feet of hand-cut door and panel molding -- mope around a little, have pity-parties about it goes on. twice a day, and wonder why I’m not getting anything done. I’ll walk into the shop and won- der why it seems so empty and deserted. Oh woe is me. But you know, depositing a pretty good- sized check seems to take the edge right off all this grieving business. Money does not buy hap- piness, it’s true, but using it to buy some cool new tools sure comes close! New shop. New tools. Back to work! Y OUR DUES HAVE Your Guild Mem- EXPIRED March is the end of the grace period. We would bership has expired. like you to stay around. Renew on line at www.GuildOfOregonWoodworkers.com or send a check to Norm Michaud, 1041 Chandler Road Lake Oswego, OR 97034 (Not to the PO Box) $35 General $45 Professional. Warning OREGON WOOD WORKS Page 3 O N JOINTING BENT BOARDS (CON’T) (Continued from page 1) cally the most frustrating in that you push the board all the the right hand should only push forward, not downward. So way through the jointer usually pushing down on the back this is the basic jointing procedure. end (the wrong end) and it just makes the problem worse. Now if the board is significantly bowed, this procedure If you use the outfeed pressure approach you will typi- alone is typically not enough to straighten out the errant soul. cally waste a large amount of lumber getting that straight line So depending on your choice of edge, two different ap- to transfer the length of the board. So my approach is similar proaches are required. to the concave situaiton above except that you start trimming in the middle. Use Caution Here: Set the board on the The Concave Side jointer with the cutting end resting on the guard and the end If you start with the concave side, each end touches the of the board extended past the cutter so it will contact the table and the middle is up in the air. The approach here is to outfeed table. With the jointer running, slide the guard back make a short cut on each end, not passing the board all the just enough to lower the board to the outfeed table. Don’t let way through the jointer. Set the depth of cut as appropriate it drop, lower it slowly. Push the board about 3/4 of the way for how much material you need to remove. A more aggres- through the cutter and stop. sive cut can speed the process. Make a cut from one end If the board is badly curved, you might want to set the until the blade stops cutting. Reverse the board and make a board on the outfeed table so that 1/3 of it is beyond the cut from the other end until it blade stops cutting. Repeat cutter. Then shave a section out of only the middle 1/3. In this procedure, sighting down the board after each pass. other words we’re slowly flattening out the rocker started When your new flat spots are at least 1/3 of the way near the middle.