27 NOTES FROM THE SHOP . ~Woodsnmith PARIO FGRNIMGRIE: COMPLETE PLANS FOR: @ PICNIC TABLE @ PATIO CHAIRS @ OUTDOOR BENCH PLUS. . . A SHOP TEST ON CARBIDE-TIP SAW BLADESSS Woodsmith. Sawdust Number 27 May/June, 1983, Editor Donald B. Peschke Design Director ‘Ted Krallcek: Assistant Editors ‘Stevo Krohmer Michael P. Scott Graphic Designers David Kreyling Morcia Simmons ‘Subscription Manager ‘Sandy J. Baum ‘Subscription Assistants Christel Miner ‘Vieky Robinson sJackle Stroud Shirley Feltman am Dickey Computer Operations Kon Miner Crulation Manager ‘oft Farris: ‘Adminitrative Assistant ‘Cheryl Scott ISSN; 0164-4114 WOODSMITH® (ISSN 0164-8144) is. pub- lished bimonthly (February, April, June, ‘August, October, December) by Woodsmith Publishing Co., 2200 Grand Ave., Des Moinos, lowa 60312. Woodsmith® is a registered trademark of the Waodsmith Publishing Co. ‘©Copyright 1983 ly Woodsmith Publishing Co, All Rights Reserved. Printed in U.S.A. ABOUT Tins ISSUE. I have a navy-blue sweater with @ hole in one sleeve. It's ‘thread-bare, and sagging from old age. ‘And T've been told it's time to get rid of “that old thing” and buy a new one. ‘But I like my old sweater. I always feel warm in it — even though I know a new sweater would really be warmer. 'So what's the point ofall this talk about old sweaters? I thought this was a wood Working magazine, ‘Well, i's just that I have almost the same feeling’ about my saw blade, For the past couple of years I've been using a Freud 50-tooth carbide-tipped com- bination blade, That blade has eut a lot of ‘wood and even though it's beginning to ‘wear down a bit, [feel comfortable with it and it always gets the job done. T wouldn't think of getting a new one. ‘That is, until I made the mistake of using ‘one of Freud's new LU85M “Anti-grip* Dlades, Just one cut, that’s all it took to ‘completely alter my way of looking at saw blades and what I should expeet of them. But before T get too excited about this blade, let me back up a minute and explain how allof this started. Steve Krohmer our assiatant editor) drow the assignment of writing a two-page article about saw blades. ‘We agreed that we should buy several types of blades and test them out to see if there really was any difference between fone blade and another. Without going overboard on this project, we settled on two brands: Sears and Freud. Then we added the “Mr. Sawdust” blade, because 1 keep seeing full-page ads for it in, Fine Woodworking and T wanted to know just how good it was. Tn the middle of all this, ‘Ted Kralivele (our Design Director) deeided we should ‘get a new table saw. Things were gettingsa litte erowded in the shop — almost to the point that we had to schedule time on the fone table saw we had ‘Our new saw and the eolleetion of save blades arrived about the same time, It was then I realized that we were really buying, two separate pieces of equipment. ‘The table saw by itself is just a way to guide boards through the blade. But it’s the saw blade that's really doing all the work. left the shop to sign the cheeks for all this new equipment. Meanwhile, Steve started testing the saw blades. A couple of weeks later, he emerged from the shop and announeed that the two-page article on sav blades was now going tobesix pages. ‘agreed — if only to get him out of the shop 50 [could get gome time inon the new saw. 1 thought 1'd test out the new table saw by eutting through a piece of serap oak. ‘That's when it happened. I didn't realize Steve had left the Froud “Anti=grip" blade on the saw. As trimmed offthe end of the oak serap, I notieed something was different. ‘The eut seemed smooth, almost effort- tess, [ook atthe freshly eut end, and to ry surprise, it wasn't smooth . .. it was. perfect, The end grain felt like glass. No Yorn fibers. No tooth marks. Just a smooth, almost burnished surface you couldn't help but touch... . and be amazed. Took the blace off the saw tosee what it looked like, It looks awesome. The teeth shine like something straight out of a toothpaste commercial, The blade itself is coated with black Teflon. (You get the feeling Darth Vader would use it to eut down his opponents.) ‘Okay, okay. All of this is beyinning to sound like a big public relations effort for Freud saw blades, Twill admit that I'm very impressed ‘with this blade. Butinall fairness, I'm sure there are other sav blades that'will pro- duce the same quality of eut. (The Mr. Sawdust blade is one of them.) ‘Bat the poin: is this: using a good saw blade does make a difference. IT youexpect perfection, there are blades that will pro- ‘uceit. Then it's just amatter of how much money it's worch. T agree with Steve's conchisions that ‘one of the best choice for the money is the Freud 50-tooth combination blade (my old favorite). The new Anti-grip blade is a fantastic blade, butit's designed chiefly for eut-off work. TTalso agree that the Sears blades will ceut wood, but they simply aren't up to the ‘quality of the Freud products. “As for the Nr. Sawdust blade, I'm still rot quite convineed that “the only blade youll ever need” is worth $160. ‘New FACES, We've added one more new face to the groap at Woodsrnith, Jeff Far- ris has joined us to coordinate the cireula- tion efforts — the business side of this business, Jeff is from Ava (population 2,504), Missouri, where he operated his ‘own hardwood lumber company. "As he comet on board here, our circulax tion stands at about 130,000, and Jeff will he responsible for keeping all of those num- bers under eontrol. But he's off to a good start, He's already assured me that cir culation will inerease by one new sub- Seriber. Jeff and Marilyn are expecting ‘their first ehild August 4th, WoopsmITH| Tips & Techniques STICKY STAVES When it came time to “plue up” the staves used forthe tured canisters (Woodsmith No. 25), Leame up with an easy way to keep everything under control. I just dsed tape (masking, fberglass, or whatever) to secure all the individual pieces uni they're glued together. “Poe frst step sto lay out all the staves eget eige with the outside face upward are ive ue ‘Then I applied two or three rows of tape to the outside face to hold the individual staves together. Finally, the whole assem- bly is turned over and rolled into a cylinder to cheek the ft between the staves. Afeverything fits okay, the next step is toflatten the assembly out and brush glue ‘on the edges of each stave. Then the entire assembly is rolled up, and clamped with ‘web clamps. If the fit between the staves needs ad- Justing, I don’t apply giue to two of the joints (opposite exeh other), This produces two half eylinders after the assembly has been clamped. When everything is dry, 1 trim the two halves until they mate per- fectly. Then finally, the two half eylinders are glued together. Percy F. Hansen Wathalia, North Dakota ORGANIZED DOVETAILS. Recently I constructed a few drawers (1d to be exact) sing a dovetail fixture lw rou hhalfblind dovetails on all four corners. This involved a total of 56 individual joints, and about 10 million possible combinations. ‘About the time I was half done, the problem started. All ofa sudden I realized that I have hecome confused about. where ‘to position the proper pieces for each joint. ‘(Repetition doesn’t sharpon my mind, it dulls it.) So to eliminate the chance of mounting the pieces into the dovetail jig in the ‘wrong position, T eame up with a simple labeling system for both the drawer sides, andi the jg. ‘The first step is tn Iabel the individual drawer sides using a simple method that involves marking exch drawer side with aletter. The key to this marking system is tomark the etter near the bottom edge on the inside face. Nox, T made ts labels that are st tached to the dovetail jig for identifying Doth the proper sides, and their locations for routing each of the four joints. Each label consists of two separate two-letter combinations. Each set of letters is posi joned with one letter aver the other, representing the two sides needed to form each corner joint. he top letter repre- sents the pieée placed in the top of the jig, ‘and the bottom letter represents the piece placed in the front of the jig. Example: The dovetail formed between sides B and A is cut using the left side af the jig (wo of the joints are cut using the left side ofthe ji, and the remaining two Joints use the right side of the jig). The label shows side B over side A, pi isinserted inthe top af the jig, and piece A [rou x is inserted in the fhent of the jig. Note: Always keep the labeled face of the drawer sides facing out, awsy from the jig, and {he laboled edge agaict the guide pins in e ig. Using this system, I can tell at a glance which two sides are joined together, and where to loeate each individual piece. Even after 66 joints Sue Kortum Custer, Sow Dakota MEASURED CUT OFFS. {ve been using a cut off ig you showed in Woodsmith No. 25 for some time now. ‘There is one ehange I've made that might interest your readers — I arded a measur- ing tape. ‘To incorporate the measuring tape into the ont off jig, T simply redesignod the fonee into an “L” shape. This allows the 4" wide tape to be attached on the shoulder of the fence. Then finally, adjustable stop blocks are cut to fit the new fence, Ifthe measuring tape is attached to the fence of the cut off jig accurately, you can save alot of timo normally used in measur ing and marking, L.A. Snyder Wyoming, Michigan Editor's Note: For more information on where you can find self-adhesive measuring tapes See the Sources pageeat the back of this issue for a list of available mail-order ‘These tapes are 6 feet long, %" wide, and calibrated in Ys" tnerements (the first @ ‘are calibrated in vs" increments). They ‘can be ensily cut to match the length of the ext. jig fee (theyre made with 008 ‘thick sieel). The rule ws attache by remvov- ing the paper back and simply pressing the tape in position. ‘One other note: When the tape is set up ‘for a particular blade, it may not be acc rate when used with another blade. SEND IN YOUR IDEAS you'd ke o share a woodworking tp wih other Feaders of Woodsmith, send your idea to: Woodsmitn, Tips & Techniques, 2200 Grand ‘Ave, Des Moines, lowa 50312. ‘We pay a minimum of $10 fo tps, and $15 oF ‘more for special techniques (that are accepied {or publication), Pleaso give a complete ox- planation of your idea. Ia sketch Ie needed, send it along; well draw a new one. WoopsmiTH,Picnic Table LIGHEWEIGHT, STURDY & STORES FLAT When [set out to build a pienietable, Thad two things in mind, First, [had visions of barbecued steaks, com on the cob, potato salad, and cold watermelon — all nicely Tad out on a pienie table in my back yard. ‘But my second thought was, “What am 1 spoing todowith the table when the gloomy ‘weather of winter rolls around and I want to store it away?” ‘To solve this wintertime storage prob- Jom, T needed a fairly lightweight table that could be moved withou: the use of tow truck, Algo to make moving it around and storing it easier, I wanted to make the logs of the table eliapsible soit wouldn't take up mach space. ‘Before I even sat down at the drawing ‘board, {realized that this table sone ofthe few projects I've designed for when it arasn't going to be used. The method T came up with to accomplish this goal was to tse a hinged-log arrangement that’s not only easy to set up, but it’s also ‘quick and easy to tear down, “The next problem was to de- sign the table top so the same Style could be used on a set of chairs (page 8) and @ bench (page 12) — ereating a coordi nated outdoor furniture set, To coordinate these three com: ponents, L used a simple construction technique that involves making frames out of 1"-thick redwood and then inserting thick cedar sts (These thinner slats also help to reduce the overall weight of the table top). ‘THE TABLE TOP ‘The table top is constructed following. the same basie theme of the entire outdoor furniture set: a redwood frame with codar slats, Only in the ease of the table top, the frame is modified slightly to accommodate two extra divider rails, see Fig. 1. "These extra rails serve two purposes. First, they shorten the span of the cedar slats (thus providing additional support for the slats). And second, they provide a place for attaching the legs on the nnder- side of the table. CUT TO Size, All of the pieces for the table top are ripped to a standard width of 2Y/ Lstarted with the sb. pieces for the frame, ripping them out of 2x6 redwood, see Cutting Diagram. SHOP NOTE: Since 2x63 usually have rounded edges, Ixfpped these pieces to get ‘two clean (square) edges. Tt should be easy, I thought, to got two 2¥'-wide ppleces out of a 2x6 (which is actually 12” ‘wide), But it didn't work that way’ on the material I was using because some of the boards were narrower than they were supposed to be. ‘What I wound up doing was ripping the ‘2x6 down the enter first. Then I set the fence for 2’ and ripped off as much of the outside (rounded) edge as I could. Finally, Lut the two long rails (A) to a length of 64", and the end rails (B) and the divider rails (C) to a length of 3542 HALF LAPS AND GROOVES ‘After all six pieces are eut to size, they're joined with lf laps to form the frame. I ‘cut the half laps on both ends of the divider rails (C) and the end rails (B) first, (All four pieces are cut with the same setting on the saw to make sure the shoulder-to-shoulder distance between the half laps is exactly tthe same on these four pieces.) ‘Next, T cut the joints on the two long rails (A) — a half lap at both ends, and feross laps 8° from each end, see Fig. 2 ‘Gnooves. After the joints were cut, 1 cet grooves on the edges of the two end rails (B) and the two divider (C) rails to house the slats, Here, T wanted to make sure the face of the slats would be flush ‘with the face of the frame members. "Todo this, hold the face side of one ofthe slats on the edge of one of the rails, and tmark the position of the underside of the slat on the edge ofthe rail. Then set up the ‘saw to cut a x 4” groove so the bottom ‘edge of the groove is on the line ‘As shown in Figure 2, the two end rails (B) have grooves on the inside edge only. "The two divider rails (C) have grooves on both edges. LAG SCREWS, To strengthen each of the half laps I added lag serows at each joint. ‘But before drilling for the lag serews, first Tdry-elampedall six members of the frame (lamping the long rails against the shoul- ders of the hilf laps on the end rails and divider rails), Then just to be sure, 1 ‘double-checked the frame for square. inally, T marked the conter of exch joint and drilled 1" counterbores %" deep, Yollowed by %" pilot holes. (I found the easiest way to drill all these holes was to use a drill mounted in a Portalign attachment.) 4 WOODsMITH‘THE stars While the frame is dry-clamped together, ‘measure the distance between the grooves to determine the length to ent the slats ‘Then all of the slats are eut 234" wide, and to length (to fit between the grooves) ‘After cutting the slats to size, T cat rabbets on each end to leave a i" x 4" tongue to fit the grooves, see Fig. 3. And finally, to reduce the chance of splintering, T' also chamfered both top ledges of each slat Now the table top is res sembled. Slide the slats into the groaves and apply adhesive to all the half laps. (I used resoreinol glue. It’s waterproot and suitable for outdoor projects.) Then drive the lag screws home. ‘When the glues dry, eut 174" radius on the four corners of this frame with a sabre saw, and round over all edges with a 36” comer-round bit, see Fig. 4 ALIGN SLATS, Position the slats evenly across the width of the table, and drive 2epenny finish nails through the center of each slat (from the bottom side of the table). BRACKET FOR LEGS Finally, a support bracket is mounted to the underside of the table, see Fig. 5. This, ‘bracket supports the slats at the center of the table, and is also used to mount the hinged braces for the legs. Cut the bracket (D) to length soit over- laps the outside rails 11 on both endl, see Fig. 6, Then cut 2 half lap on each end so the shoulders of the half Iap fit tight against the inside edges of the long. rails ‘After it’s eut to length, drill pilot holes and apply glue to the half lap (but not on any part that touches the slats), and serew it in place, SECURE SLATS. Finally, I counterbored pilot holes in the bracket, so each hole was centered on a slat (see Fig. 6) and secured the slats to the bracket with #8 - 172" ‘woodserews. nore 10 “SCREW SLATS To SUPPORT BRACKET WoopsMITH201" 3d stock ‘houNo OVER au es xetrt Tor Wo eboss —~ DnvbeR Ra ‘THE LEG ASSEMBLIES After the table op is built, the only thing. feft to do is to add the legs. Initially, I designed this table with a trestle leg sys- tem. But this tle doosnt allow thelegs to collapse for easy storage. ‘After a little more time at the drawing ‘board, Teame up with a hinged leg system that's sturdy, y3t cam be disassembled for storage. And ane of the nicest things about this system is tkatt only requires building two simple frames .. . using half laps, naturally. ‘LEG ASSKMBLIKS. Both leg frames con- sist of two legs (@), and two stretchers (H and D, ‘The first step is to rip all of the pieces for the frame to 24" wide. Then | fut the legs to a length of 2, and the two stretchers 30% long. ‘After all the pieces for the leg assem- blies are eut tosize, the next step is to cut half laps on both ends of the legs, and on both ends of the stretchers, see Fig. 7. ‘At this point, I eut two additional notehes in the top stretehers (Hf) on both Jeg assemblies. These notches house the ‘braces (J) so they lie flat against the table top (ovhen the table is broken down for storage), refer to Fig. 11. These notche are 244" wide, %" deep and are cut 7s" from each end of the stretcher. "The last step before assembly is to dill two 34’ holee for the bolts used to attach the legs to the table top. These holes are 5" from each end of the top stretcher, see Fig.7. ASSEMBLY, Now the leg frames are ready for assembly. Dry-clamp the four pieces for eack frame, and cheek the fit of the joints and the square of the frame. ‘Then mark thecenter ofeach joint and drill -yP counterbores, °° deep. Follow these counterbores with the ¥ pilot holes for the leg screws Finally, apply glue to each joint and lag serew the leg frames together. (MOUNT THE LEG FRAMES One of the treks to this leg system is the sway it folds down for storage. To be effee- tive, the legs have to be easy to remove. ‘Yet, when the table is assembled, the leg frames have to be mounted so that they're sturdy. "To aceomplsh both objectives, I moun- ted the frames to the bottom of the table ‘with rosan inserts and hex head bolts, ‘shir Novs. Rosan inserts (also called threaded inserts) are brass sleeves that fre threaded on both the outside and in- fide. ‘The outside threads are similar to those on a serew — so the insert ean be serewed into a hole. Then the inside threads are s'zed to accept a eommon hex head bolt, “The rosan inserts I used on this table are 6 WOODSMITHthreaded on the inside to accept a 3" hex ‘head bolt, And the hole needed to serew ‘them in place should be %" in diameter. DRILL HOLES. To mount the rosan in- serts, the frst step is to mark the position of two holes on the dlivider rail (C), These ‘two holes must line up with the two holesin the top stretcher of the leg frame. ‘To mark their position, I put hex head bolis in the holes ofthe stretcher and een: tered the stretcher on the divider ral. When it's centered, I just gave the holts a sharp tap to maric where the holes should be aie. Drill 4" holes at these points, and screw the %" rosan inserts in place. And finally, ‘mount the legs with 3e" x3" hex head bolts, SUPPORT BRACES ‘The leg frames are supported with two braces (J) going from the bottom stretcher of each frame to the center bracket, see Fig. 9. ‘To get the final length of these braces, first mount the logs to the bottom of the table. Then measure from the inside ‘corner of the stretcher (1) to the inside ‘corner of the bracket (D) and subtract 1" from this measurement to allow room for the hinges. MOUNT BRACES. To mount the braces, I used strap hinges on both ends of the braces, see Fig. 10. First, I attached the strap end of one hinge to the end of the bbraee, Then onthe other end ofthe brace, L attached another strap hinge to the op- posite face Next, I mounted the flap end of one hinge to the center bracket, Here, he sure the knuckle ofthe hinge is centered on the edge of the bracket, see Detail in Fig. 11. However, when mounting the other hinge to the stretcher, slide the knuekle off- center slightly —'so the edge of the hinge Jauclde is on the edge of the stretcher. (This is to make sure the hinge doesn't bind ‘when the logs are folded down.) FOLDING THE LEGS ‘When the braces are mounted, the table is ready to use. Then when you want to dis assemble it for storage, loosen the hex head bolts (that hold the log frames to the rosan insert on the bottom of the table). ‘Then fold the leg frames dawn, moving the top stroteher toward the center of the table. If everything is aligned properly, the support braces (J) should fold neatly in the notches in the bottom stretcher of the leg frames. To hold the leg frames in place daring storage, I added small hooks and serow-oyes, FINISHING. Since food is likely to eome in contact with the surface of the table, 2 stain that’s non-toxie when it's dry should bbe used. See page 14 for a review of the possible stains to use, Tamor envcn on EDGE OF aRAcKer ro1> Bown (MATERIALS LIST Long Rail (2) nd Rolle (2) Divider Rail (2) Centr Bracket (1) Shor Slots (22) tang Sloe (11) For the Lag Frames: 1S bogs (4) 1 Top sheteher (2) ]FBottom Stretchers (2) 4 Braces (4) For the Table Top Fame: Wn 6t xs 30% THe 244-28 14% 24-20% 14245-3015] e526 WoopsmirHtPatio Chairs Building a chair for outdoor use (especially cone that's built entirely of wood) has two essential requirements. Firs, it must ad- rere to the mailman’s creed. resisting the ravages of “mud, rain, sleet, hail, and snow.” And second, it can't have any splinters. "To meet the first requirement, the chair shown here is built with redwood and cedar. Both of these woods are weather resistant, However, they're also prone to splintering, So all edges are rounded over and sanded smooth to prevent any hang ups. ‘As for the construction ofthis chair, it's designed to be built using only one basie ‘woodworking joint — a half lap (with the help of a few lag serews). Also, to make everything go a little easier, all of the pieces used to build this chair are cut to a standard width of 2) ‘rostant. To start things af, I ripped all of the redwood to a width of 2%". (All pieces are eut out of 2x6 stoek, as shown in the Cutting Diagram.) Then the 16 pieces for the side, seat, and back frames are cut to Length ss shown in die Materials List (items A throughG). ‘THE SIDE FRAMES Once all ofthe pieces were eut to width and length, I started to wark en the two side frames, Both of these frames consist of two legs (A), one arm (B), and one middle stretcher (C). JOINERY, The first step isto cut ahalf lap on both ends of the arms and stretchers, fnd on the top end of each leg. Then another haf lap (which in this ease is called 4 cross lap, is eut-near the bottom of each leg. The only thing that sets this joint apart from all the others isthat it's eut 3" from the bottom of each leg, rather then flush with the ends, see Fg. 1 ‘SHOP NOTE: Although Istarted construc tion with the two side frames, in actual practice it's best to cut all ofthe half laps for all four frames st, the same time. This ‘ensures consistency for all of the joints. ‘COUNTIERBORE POR LAG SCREWS. After cutting the half laps for the side frames, 1 ‘ry-clamped the frame members together ‘with pipe clamps (clamping across the legs to hold them against the shoulders of the arm and stretcher). Check all the joints to make sure they fit propery. ‘Then T used a drill mounted in a Port- align attachment to counterbore a" hole, 59° deep in the center of throe joints: both joints on the stretcher and the front joint on the arm, see Fig. 1. After the counter- SUMMERTIME SITTIN’ bores are drilled, drill ¥'-diamotor pilot holes for the lag Serews, see Detail B. ‘Note: The fourth joint (where the arm meets the back leg) has a hole for a pivot dowel that’s used to attach the chairs ‘back, see Detail A. Thishole is drilled later on (after the frame is assembled). ie P, After the three counterbores ‘and pilot holes are drilled, remove the bar ‘lamps and round-over the bottom end of teach leg with a 6" corner-round bit (on & router table), see Pig. 2. ‘Now, glue is applied to all four joints of Doth frames. (used resoreinol glue for this project. Tt's waterproof and suitable for ‘outdoor applications.) Then drive 1" lag ‘serews in three of the joints. The fourth joint or the pivot dowel is held together with a C-clamp until the glue dries. ROUND OVER, To soften the edges of the chair, cut a 144° radins on the top corners fof the frames (where the legs and arms meet). Then roune-over all of the edges on the ouside of the frame, see Fig. 3. (The inside edges, between the arm and the stretcher, renrain square-edged.) Pivor DOWEL. Finally, a 44° hole, 1%" deep is drilled in the center of the fourth Joint (where the arm meets the back leg.) ‘Then glue a 2'-long pivot dowel into this hole, see Fig. 2. SEAT AND BACK FRAMES After the side frames are completed, the other two frames ave built (one frame forms the seat and the other one forms the back) Both of these frames consist of a redwood frame with cedar slats. And once again, all piczes are 24" wide, "Tht FRAMES, ‘To make both the seat (D sand B) and back (F and G) frames, eut half laps on the ends of eaeh pioce, see Fig, 4. ‘Then before the frames are assembled, cut 4%" x 8" groove on the four 19'-long pieces (D and F) to house the slats. "This groove must be positioned s0 the slats are Mush with the top face of the frame. To mak the correct position for the 8 WooDsMITHsr00ve, place one of the cedar slats fush with the top face of the frame member, and mark the underside of the slat on the edge of the frame member, see Detail in Fig. 4 ‘Then cut the groove 20 the bottom of the groove is on this line ‘THE SLATS. After the grooves are cut, the five cedar slats (L. and M) for each frame ean be eut to width and length. Once again, these slats are 244" wide, To deter- mine their length, dry-assemble the frames and measure the distanee between the bottoms of the grooves and eut them to this length ‘Next, rabbet both ends ofthe slats, leay- ing x 46" tongues to fit the grooves. Alco chamfer the top edges of exch slat to reduce the chance of splintering. COUNTERBORE AND PILOT HOLES. After the slats are cut, dry-clamp the four frame members together and drill %" eounter- bores and ¥4" pilot holes at the center of each joint for the lag serews. ‘Then, before final assembiy, two more Ye holes are needed on the back frame. ‘These holes will accept the pivat dowels on the side frames and are drilled ¥" deep and centered on the outside edges of the side pieces (G), see Fig. 4 ASSEMBLY. Now the frames can be as- sembled. Insert the slats in the grooves of the frame, apply glue to the half laps (no slue in the grooves or on the slats), and sSerew the frames together. POSITION SLATS, After the glue is dey, tap the slats into position so they're evenly spaced in the frame, ‘Then nail them in see (from the baek side) with 3-pemy nish nails CORNER ROUND. Finally, the four cor- nors of each frame are cut toa 134" radius, and then the outside edges are rounded ‘over with a %" corner-round bit. ‘ye COUNTERBORE oe Insioe roses Gum a WACK RANE BETA | Ye Nour, eer ENTERED Ow stock cur 194 paws ‘ON Alt con ‘comer oun ‘on oursibe eos WoopsmiTHeuRe surrorr clear _-surromrsteernet \ oa vero: Hous no END OF STRETCHER ) serene Se oeee bor 1 CORNER ROUND ON ALENFOSED SEAT SUPPORT SYSTEM point the four hasie frames for the ‘hair are complate, Next, [added a sup- port system to provide a solid base for the Beat frame, and also to increase the overall Stability of the chair. The seat support consists of two cleats (H) with a cross ‘stretcher (1) between them, see Fig. 6. ‘THE CLEATS ‘To make the cleats for this support sys- tem, rip two pigces of redwood 24" wide ‘and to a rough length of 18". Then miter both ends at 6°, making sure the euts are parallel to each other, see Step Lin Fig. 5. ‘The final longttof each eleat should be 17° (measured from long, point to short point ‘on one edge). ASSEMBLY HOLES. Next, six holes are drilled in each deat. Each hole consists ofa ‘Ye eounterbore with a %" pilot hole drilled all the way through. ‘The first two holes are used to join the ‘leat tothe eross stretcher. They're drilled 50 the eounterbores are on the ouside face of the cleat, see Step 2 in Fig. 5. ‘The next two holes are used to join the ‘leat to the side frame. They're drilled ‘with the counterhores on the inside face of the cleat, see Step 8 in Fig. 5. "And finally, zhe remaining two holes are ‘used to mount the seat. They're drilled on tthe bottom edge of each cleat, as shown in Step in Fig. 3 CROSS STRETCHER ‘To add stability (that is, to prevent rack ing) a eross stretcher is mounted between the two cleats, ‘he length of this cross stretcher (1) rust be equal to the width of the seat frame (whieh should be 19") minus the thickness of bath cleats (a total of 3"). This should be a final length of 16". ‘After cutting the stretcher to final length, dry-clamp it between the two ‘leats and make sure the total width of this, assembly is exactly equal to the width of the seat frame. And while you're ati, also check to see that the width of the back frame is equal to the seat frame. DOWEL HOLES. The cleats are mounted tothe cross streteher by driving lag screws {nto the end grain ofthe stretcher, see Fig. 6. However, end grain does not provide much holding strength for the lag serews. ‘To strengthen the holding: power, drill a 4 hole near each end of the stretcher, and flue a 34° dowel in these holes so the lag Serews have something to hold on to. ‘When the dowels are in place, clamp the cleats to the ends ofthe stretcher (see Fig. 4) and drill 4" pilot holes into the ends of the stretcher, going through the dowel. ‘Then drive the lag serews into the holes 10 (and dowels) to hold the assembly to- gether, see Fig. 8 WoopsmiTHMOUNT SUPPORT SYSTEM Now the seat support assembly ean be ‘mounted to the side frames, This assembly is mounted at an angle to make the ehair more comfortable. Aftera few “test sits" L decided on an angle of 6. This angie gives the feeling of sitting “in” the chair rather than just “on” it. ‘To mount the support system, first lo- cate the position of the pilot holes for the lag screws, The %' pilot holes on the front legs are located 994" down from the bottom fdge of the: sem andl ¥%" fram the inside ‘edge of the leg, see Fig. 10. ‘The pilot holes on the back legs must be lower to get the 6° angle (mentioned above). To locate the pilot holes on the Dack legs, mark a line 11/4" down from the bottom edge of the arm. Then temporarily screw the cleat to the front leg and align the center of the eounterbore (on the back of the cleat) with the marked line. Poke an awl through the counterbore to mark the position of the pilot hole. Finally, drill 4” 3 holes in the back legs. assim, Now the seat support assema- bly ean he glued and serewed to the side frames, NOTE: When you're ready to drive the lag serows home, be sure to ‘mount the chair’s back frame in position. Apply a coat of wax tothe pivot dowels and ‘pop them into the holes in the back frame. [MOUNT THE SEAT FRAME Nest, the seat frame is mounted to the support system. Position the seat frame so it hangs 24" in front of the front edge of the legs, see Fig. 11. Clamp it in place and tise an awl to locate the position of 4" pilot holes. Then remove the seat frame, drill the pilot holes, and finally giue and lig the frame into position, BOTTOM STRETCHER AND CAPS Although the chair should be pretty sturdy at this point, it's best to add another cross stretcher (I) between the two leg streteh- ers, This stretcher is eut tolength soit's2" longer than the width of the seat frame. ‘Then cut 1'-wide, ¥-deop rabbots on each end, see Fig. 8 Aer the rabbetsareeut, make sure the distance between the shoulders ofthe vab- bets is exactly equal to the width of the seat frame. (This should be 19°.) Then round over all edges ofthis streteher, and clue it in place, see Fig. 12, cars, Finally, to dress up the side ofthe chair alittle, [added cap strips (K) to cover the side cleats, ‘These eaps are %" thick ‘and cut to fit hetween the two legs with both ends mitered at 6°. (To get the ‘thickness for these caps, I resawed them from 114" stock.) FINISHING, I'd suggest using some type ‘of protective stain on this chair. A review of the possibilities is given on page 14, WoopsmiTH ‘mount suPPoKr ASSENaW’ ‘x Sane me }—Fronr i Sean “ENTER aoTION STRETCHER DETWEN (EOS (MATERIALS LIST IA Side Frame logs (4) 142% -27 1B Side Frome Arms (2) 19421419 IC Side Frame Stretchers (2). 194 x214-19 ID Seat Frame TopBim (2) 1%4x2%-19 Ie Seat Frame Sides (2) 194 24-17 IF Back Frame Top/tm (2) 1% 214-19 Io Bock Frame Sides (2) 1%4x2¥4- 12 Ik Suppor Cleats (2) W224 -17 Suppor stetchee (1) 1742416 ls Bottom Stentchar (1) 14 w 904291 Ik. cleat cops (2) xB 144 I. Seat sits (5) x2 13% IM Back stots (5) eB CUTTING DIAGRAM eoWa00 114» 5-08 fs eee eDOOD 1s x54 40 aaa iLGarden Bench SIDE BY SIDE SITTIN’ ‘Byeryone has a favorite way to relax. For ‘me it's sitting on a bench and watching life igo by. After building this bench, 1 pulled it over to a large walnut treo in'my back, yard, And there, In the cool shade, 1 sat back on my beneh, propped upmy feet, and watched the neighbors mow their lawns. (L guess benches just bring out my romantic nature.) ‘Actually this bench was designed as a companion piece to the picnic table and chairs in this issue. In fact, the construc- tion ofthis bench is almost identical to the chai. The first step isto ripall the pieces to a standard width of 24". Then I started construction with the side frames, ‘THE SIDE FRAMES First, eut the legs (A), arms (B), and stretchers (C) to length, and eut half laps fon each pieee. (Refer to the drawing on page 9.) Then dry-clamp the frame mem- bers together and mark the positions of the lag serews on three ofthe joints where the stretches overlap the legs and where the front leg meets the arm.) TNealy drill %4"-dinmeter counterboree deep at each joint, and follow with pilot holes drilled all the way through each ounterbore. (L used a drill mounted to @ Porlalign attachment to dril these holes.) “Everything up to now has been the same procedure as on the chairs. However, there's change forthe fourth joint (where the arm meets the hack leg). Instead of drilling a hole for a single pivoting dowel, I anchored the back frame to the side frames with two dowels, How fever, I waited to drill these holes unt ‘fier the baek frame was assembled. ASSEMBLY. For now, go ahead and glue and lag serew the side franes together. After they're assembled, eut a 14° radius ‘on the top eomers (where the arms meet the legs), and round over the outside edges ‘of the frame with a %" correr-round bit. THE SEAT AND BACK FRAMES ‘The basie construction of the frames for the seat and back is identical to those on the chair. The anly difference isthe length of two members on each frame. The seat frame consists of two long pieces (D), and two side pieees (E), see Fig. 1. The back frame has two long pieces, (F) and two side pieces (G). “After the four pieces for each frame are cut to length, eut half laps at the ends of tach piece. Thon eut %" x ¥" grooves in the long pieces. (Once again, use a piece of serap cedar to mark the position of the bottom of this groove on the inside edge of ‘the long frame members.) ‘THE SLATS. There are 18 slats (Land M) on each frame, and each slat is 24" wide. ‘To determine the final length ofthe slats, dry-assemble the frames and measure the stance between the bottoms of the ‘grooves and ent the slats to this length. Next, cut rabbets on both ends of the slats to leave %'-thiek tongues to fit in the grooves. (If all measurements and cuts have gone according to schedule, the dis- tance between the shoulders ofthe rabbets ‘on the slats should be equal to the distance Detween the shoulders of the half laps on the side pieces of the frame.) ‘ASSEMBLY, At this point the frame for the seat can be assombled (but wait on the ‘back frame). Dry-clamp the seat frame together and drill eounterbores and pilot holes at each corner. Then insert the slats, apply gue to the half laps, and serew the frames together. Finally, cut a 1%" radius at each corner, and round over the edges with a ¥ comer-round bit. MOUNTING HOLES ‘Before the back frame ean be assembled, I ‘worked on the mounting system tojoin the back frame to the side frames. Here, in- stead of drilling a single hole fora pivoting dowel (as was done on the chair), 1 an- | chored the back frame to the side frames ‘with two dowels, This means the back will bbe at a set angle (it won't pivot), and thus it’s a litle sturdier. HOLES IN SIDE FRAME, To do this, the first step isto drill two "holes in the side fraes, ‘The first hole is centered on the joint where the arm meets the back leg, See Fig. 2, Then a second hole ts marked 2° down from the first one, and 56" from the inside edge of the frame. ‘After the positions of both holes are marked, drill 4" holes, 1” deep on the Inside faee of both side frames, HOLES IN HACK FRAME. ‘Then, two matching W' holes must be drilled on the side pieces (G)of the back frame. The first Ihole is eentered on the length of the side piece, see Fig, 3 To locate the second hole, measure down 24 (which is the same distanee as hetween the centers of the hholas on the side frame). Mlark this diss tance down from the first hole, and drill the second hole, ‘ASSEMBLY, The last stop is to glue #4" dowels into the holes in the side frame, see Fig. Then the baek frame can be assem- bled. (lust follow the same procedure men- toned above for the seat frame.) SEAT SUPPORT SYSTEM "The seat support system for this bench is similar to the one for the chair, but due to the extra length of the bench (and the 12 WoopsMITH 4potential for greater racking pressure), I Dut two stretchers between the eleats (in- stead of just one as on the chat). ‘THE CLEATS. Onee again cut the two cleats (H) toa rough length of 18" and miter Doth ends at 6°, Then drill the six eounter- bores and pilot holes in the cleats (asshown in Fig. 6 on page 10). ‘THE srmecuEs. After the cleats are ‘cut and drilled, mark off the length of the ‘support stretchers (I) so the total width of the support assembly is equal to the width ‘of the bench seat. Also drill the holes at each enn) of the surelehers for Uve 9" dowels. Then the cleats are lag serewed to the stretchers the same way as was done (on the chair, see Fig. 4 FINAL ASSEMBLY ‘To begin the final assembly of this bench, the support assembly is mounted to the side frames at a 6° angle. To mount this assembly, first loeate the position of the pilot hole on the front leg, 994" down from the bottom of the arm and %4" in from the inside edge of the leg. ‘To locate the pilot hole on the back leg, mark a line 11%" down from the bottom edge of the arm. ‘Then temporarily serew the cleat to the front leg and align the center of the eounterbore (on the back of the cleat) with the line on the hack leg. Poke the point of an awl through the coun- terbore to mark the position of the pilot hole. Finally, drill the 4" pilot holes on the Dek legs. ‘When you're ready to mount the support assembly to the side frames, be sure to ‘mount the back frame on the dowels. This time, apply glue to the dowels to fasten them into the holes in the baek frame. At the same time, glue and serew the support assembly to the side frames. ‘THE FINAL STEPS Now it's beginning to looklike a bench. Al that romains isto add the seat frame and a bottom stretcher. ADD SEAT FHAME, Position the seat frame on the support cleats so the front edgeis24'in front of the legs. Poke an av ‘through the counterbores on the bottom of the cleat to mark the position ofthe pilot ‘When I was ready to mount the seat frame, I made one minor addition. To keep this rather long frame from sagging in the middle, T glued an extra slat ta the under side of the middle slat on the frame. This extra slat rests on the two support streteh- ers and holds the seat up, STRETCHER AND CAPS, Finally, I added the botiom stretcher J) that goes between the stretchers on the side frames. It's cut 2" longer than the length of the seat, and the ends are rabbeted with 1'-wide, ‘¥e-deep rabbets. As on the ehait, T also added ¥%'-thiek eaps (K) over the cleats, TAF PATA FOUR CORNERS we AUF LP AT ALL FOUR CORNERS De sibe ean (MATERIALS LIST CUTTING oINGRAM See Sido Fame logs (8) 14x 2% -27 Side Frome Arms (2) 14x24 -19 Side Frome Stretches (2) 14 x24 -19 Seat Frame TopiBim (2) 194 x 21% - 5434 Seot Frome Sides (2) Wa x 24-1714 Back Frame TopiBiry (2). 14 x 214 - 54% Back Frame Sides (2) V4 x2¥4 12 Support Cleats (2) 14x20 Support Stretcher (2) 1144214 Bottom Stretcher (1) Vax 204-5644 Cleat Cape (2) YIM 14% Seat Slot (18) W224 19% Dock Sats (18) xB 7% REDWOOD 114" 514" WoopsmiTH BOutdoor Finishes ‘The outdoor furniture in this issue got me tothinking about the irony ofxrees — they spend their entire lives outdoors, planted inthe dirt, and under constant attack from the weather and all sorts of bugs. As long a the tree is alive it manages — for the ‘most part — to fend off all exmers. But the minute you turn a tree into lumber, Mother Nature's protection dis- Appears and it’s up to us mortals to supply artificial protection Left outside and anprotected, all woods (vith the exeeption of the rare Arizona harehwood, Petrified) are, sooer or later, turned to muleh, The insects and fungi ‘whieh find a cozy home inside the dark, moist lumber eat the wood into oblivion. ‘Some woods, Redwood and Cedar for instance, have considerable aatural resis- tance Lo rot, decay and insects. The heart- wood! (but nat the sapwood) of these woods contains chemical extractives that give the ‘Wood immunity to decay. ‘There are several other woods with natural resistance to decay. The U.S. De- partment of Agriculture's Farest Products Taboratory classifies Bald Cypress (old growth), Black Cherry, Black Walnut, several kinds of Oaks, Chestnut, Pacific ‘Yew, and Catalpa as “resistant” or “very resistant.” ‘When it eame time to selest the wood to use for the outdoor projects in this issue, it twas pretty easy to narrow my choice to Cedar and Redwood beeaus» af their gen- feral availablity and their natural resist- ‘ance. But Cedar and Redwood have an- other thing going for then: dimensional Stablity — thelr tendency not to shrink, ‘warp, or eup. "There is one other kind of wood to think about: pressure treated wood. Pressure treatment involves saturating. wood (of a variety of species) with water-borne salts {CCA — chromated copper arsenate, for instance) applied under extremely high pressure. (Wolmanized is one brand hame,) This pressure treaiment is effec- tive, long lasting, and the protection is about as good as anything Mother Natare ‘auld have eome up with. Some woods claim to be pressure treated, but are really only stained to look that way. It's best tocheck forthe stamp of the American Wood Preservers Bureau (AWPR), Their stamp assures that the ‘wood reaily has been pressure treated (and not just surface applied) ‘There's also another drawback to using, pressure treated woods — the treatment feaves the wood with an unsightly greenish or brownish east, but YM deal with that later. Inspite ofthe advantages of using pre ture treated wood, I still like the idea of traditional Redwood or Cedar for outdoor projects, and since combining the two ‘woods creates a nice visual effect, I de- cided to use them both. FOOLING MOTHER NATURE If [lived in a place where the sum never shone and it was dry and there were no insets, I wouldn't have had to think any more about protecting my outdoor fun ture. However, most of us don't (thank goodness) live in plaees like that sa we're faced with the task of fooling Mother Nature. ‘Because the sun fades all woods (inelud- ing those with natural resistanee to wea ther) T wanted to add some color back to the wood — which meant using a stain. "Then I wanted to keep the water away from the Wood — that ealled for a water repellent. To preserve the wood, a preser ve; and finally a mildeweide to arrest the growth of mildew. T found out that the oil-based semi= ‘transparent or solid stains sold today come ‘with or without additional preservatives, fungicides and water repellents. Note: Avoid the really heavy-duty pre= servative compounds which contain Pen- {nehlorophenol whieh ishighly toxie. Many FIGHT BACK AGAINST MOTHER NATURE ‘outdoor finishinge products contain other chemieals that work just as well and are much safer for use around plants, animals sand people. ‘One other tip: when applying these preservatives/stains, be sure to follow the manufacturer's specific instructions for preparation, application, coverage, and safety. STAINS. All wood diseolors (turns grey or black) when exposed to the double ‘whammy of the sun’s ultraviolet rays and ‘water (whieh leaches the color producing ‘extractives from the wood). Some people this natural look, and there are even some wood preservativelstains designed to speed up this “aging” process. But to defeat the elements and retain the look of fresh cut Redwood or Cedar, it's necessary to aild color to the wood with a stain. ‘Semictransparent stains contain fewer pigments and come closest to approximat- ing the natural look of freshly eut. wood. ‘Solid stains, on the other hand, contain a higher eoneentration of pigment which ean rub off on clothing, shoes — and you. Solid staing are no! recommended for outdoor furniture or decks, ‘WATER REPRLLENCY: The oil base of pre- servativelstains acts 28 2 water repellent, Dut some manufacturers add parafin wax ‘as additional protection from water. INSECT PROTECTION: The extractives in 4 WoopsMITH )ee a Redwood and Cedar provide natural pro- tection against termites and other insects that feed on wood. (Pressure treated wood is probably even more inseet resistant.) ‘The additional combination ofa he chem- ieals contained in stains and preservatives, plus keeping the moisture out, will make stained wood an unlikely and inhospitable home for insects. In any ease, termites and other inseets like to do their damage in dark, damp, undisturbed places, so if you're using your outdoor furniture & lot, {you'll disturb the eritters more than they'll ‘itirh the flinitire If termites are a real problem, you'll want to cheek with an extorminstor for treatment advice tailored for your area, PRESERVATIVES: Over the years, anum= ber of products have been used to protect ‘wood from decay and rot — creosote and other tars, for instance. Obviously they aren't suitable fora pienie table, bench, or chairs. Other preservative elements stich as Pentachlorophenol are toxie and should be avoided ‘The oils in oil-based stains also act as preservatives, but some manufacturers add TBTO (Tributyltin Oxide), a preserva tive whieh is non-toxic after it has dried and “bonded” to the wood. PUNGICIDES: Protective stains on the ‘market today often contain chemieals to ‘make the wood resistant to mildew. Folmet and Chlorophatonil are tungi- cides incorporated in some preservatives stains, but the manufacturers point out that the chemicals are there only to keep mildew out after application. So if there's ‘mildew on the wood! atthe time of applica- tion it’s likely to grow through the eoating of stain applied over it. If mildew is pres cent, remove it hy scrubbing the wood with a solution of household bleach and water before applying the stain. APPLYING THE STAIN/PRESERVATIVE ‘There's a minor “Catch 22” to applying cil-based preservativelstains: They pene: trate the surface of rough wood betier than the surface of smooth wood, But to elimi- nate unfortunate surprises (splinters), the furniture needs to be sanded smooth, What to do? ‘There are two solutions: Go ahead ancl apply the finish to the smooth wood, and re-apply it more frequently as timeand the elements begin to weather the wood. Or ‘you ean let the furniture woather naturally ‘outside for a couple of weeks — maybe even a month or two — to open up the ppores 80 the wood will accept the finish Detter. ‘There's little chance that the relatively few weeks of untreated weathering will adversely affect the color of the wood. ‘Note: With pressure treated wood, it's especially important to let it weather for a while before applying a stain (whichis all WoopsmiT that’s really needed gecause ofthe dus ity of the Wood). Semi-transparent stains Work well on treatec lumber if there aren't ‘any visual distractions such as mill stamps ‘or other markings on the wood. If there are, sand them off, or position the boards so the markings are hidden, ‘When you get. around to applying the finish, make sure tie wood is as dry as possible. Ifyou put an oil-based preserva- tive/stain on wet lumber, you're just asl ing for trouble. ‘How many coats of stain do you put on? ‘The answer deponts on which product you're using. Most manufacturers recom ‘mend putting a secand coat on right after the first. These first treatments usually last for about four years. You may have to apply interim coats sooner, depending on the climate and amount of wear and tear your furniture is subjected to, (WHAT WE USED ‘We tried out seven diffaront variotios of stain/preservatives manufactured by Olympic Stain and tke Darworth Company (Cuprina} only to end up using Olympic ‘Wood Preservative (Clear) because we Ii kked the way the pienie table, chairs and benches looked in tke photographs, ‘Naturally, it's always a matter of per- sonal opinion when it comes to selecting. just the “right” finish Both the Olympic and Cuprinal stains ‘worked well on samples of Redwood and Cedar. Both companies feature colors Which approximate the natural colar of Redwood and Cedar; both companies make oil-based stains with preservatives in them. ‘Here's what we tried: ‘OLYMPIC SEML-TRANSPARENT LINSEED Ott, Redwood, #704 Cedar Natural ‘Tame, #716 Redwood Natural Tone, #717 © oLympre wearin ScRREN Cedar Natural Tne, #716 ‘OLYMPIC CLEAR WoOD PRESERVATIV ‘© CUPRINOL SESI-TRANSPARENT STAIN AND WOOD PRESERVATIVE, WATER CLEAN UP New Cellar, #W07. Sierra Redwood, #W21 TEST RESULTS Here are some of our general comments out these produets, MIXING. The Olyrepie Semi-transparent linseed oil stains wer» more complicated to ‘mix before using. The instruetions eal for pouring off the oils, and then gradually adding them baek at you stir up the pig- ments, Olympic’s Weather Screen and Clear Wood Preservative, and the Cu- prinol Semi-transparent stain/preserva- tives were less eomlieated to mix. Paessune TaRATED, None of the stains we tried would adequately cover the mark- ings which show up on pressure treated ‘wood, but thoy’re not designed to do eo, ‘The only pressure treated wood we had in the shop was “ivesh” and hadn't been “weathered.” Even 50, the stains did a fairly good job of eovering the greenish tint, but we agree with the manufacturers about letting pressure treated wood weather (to fade the green) before ap- plying stain, ZAN-UP, The Cuprinol Semi-trans- parent ctaina — even though they're oi based — are water clean-up, and that’s a definite plus. APPEARANCE, In our tests, both the Cu- prinol Semi-transparent Stain and Preser- vative and the Olympie Weather Sereen (both of these products eontain water re- pllents) left more pigment on the surface ‘af the wood than did the Olympie Semi transparent linseed oil stains (which don’t have an additional water repellent or as ‘many preservatives) covineace. A gallon will more than eo- verall the projects we built —even apply- ing two coats, The Olympic Semi- transparent linseed oil stain eame in quarts; the rest.you have to buy in gallons. coLons. The manufacturers of both products recommend testing their stains ‘on 2 sample of wood beforehand, At the loca! lumber yard where we purchased the stains we used, they had some samples (kind of like paint swatches, only on wood) of different stains applied to different woods. These swatehes didn't produce an cexuet match with the finished produet, but they were pretty close. WATER REPELLENCY. The difference he- tween the stainipreservatives with water repellents added and the “plain” stains was really obvious — especially when we «dripped water on the samples. Ifyou want extra protection against water — buy one of the produets with a water repellent added. ‘And the last thing we did before setting the furniture outside was to give ita liberal coating of clear furniture wax — nothing like a little “extra” protection. WHERE TO BUY PRESERVATIVE/STAINS, ‘The preservativefstains we used are gener ally available throughout the country. In the ease of Olympic stains, (Olympie Stain, Bellevue, WA 98004) the quickest way to locate a dealer is by looking in the Yellow Pages under Paint. Cuprinol produets (The Cuprinol Group, Cleveland, OH 44115) are sold in all 50 states. If you can't find a supplier, call Cuprinol (800-424-5837) and ask for the nameofadistributor near you. A second eal, to that distributor will get you the name of ‘local retail outlet for Cuprinol 15Tools of the Trade A REVIEW OF CARBIDE-TIPPED SAW BLADES T can still remember the day 1 purchased my first tablo saw fa ‘dream come true). Iwas so ex cited I could hardly stand it After making a cut on the closest piece of wood, I exar- {ned the piece expecting to find the perfect edge. Boy was 1 surprised! The finish was s0 poor I would have been better off using a hand saw. T double checked every pos- sible adjustment on the table sayy, only to discover that the culprit was the blade, not the saw, So I decided tostretch my already taxed budget, and bay ‘a good saw blade. ‘After listening to a sales piteh on the virtues of using carbide-tipped blades, T de- seribed to the salesperson tie type of cutting I would be doing ‘most often so 'd be sure to get the right blade. “No problem,” he said, “here's the saw blide for you.” "Yes eines hoh, that sure looks like a nice blade,” I thought, ‘So much for looks. I found out (too late) that the blade was designed for a totally different purpose than T wanted. ‘The end result was that [had wasted $50 on a blade ‘which now hangs on the veall collecting sawdust rather than making it T decided there had to be better sources of information on how to chocse the correct saw blade, but after looking, I really couldn't find one. That's when I decided to feontaet some professionals: Carlo Vend- itto, Executive Vice President of Freud, Bob Pirrone of Forrest Manufacturing Co, (both carbide-tipped saw blade manu- facturers), Paul Naylor, President of Keo Saw (a professional charpening service), and two motalurgists. I figured if anyone could tell me how to both determine the quality of a saw blade, and how to choose ‘one, they could, WHY CARBIDE-TIPPED? Saw blades fall into two general eat- egories: steel saw blades, and earbide- tipped saw blades, The only difference be- tween the two is that carbide-tipped blades have small pieces of tungsten car- bide brazed to the steel body to form the gutting edges, The oe this has on per formance is dramatic. STAINING AN EDGE. Retaining an edge Jonger than a steel blade (usually at least 10 times longer) is one of the biggest ad. ‘vantages of a carbide-tipped blade. ‘That ability results from the extreme hardness Of the tungsten carbide. QUALITY oF THE CUT, The quality of eut produced by'a saw blade relates directly to the sharpness of the tips. This is where ‘earbide-tipped blades ean make a big dif- ference, singe they seem to stay sharp (Okay, so earbide-tipped blades outshine steal blades in every aspect, right? Well not quite, The most obvious drawback to ‘earbde-tipped blades is their initial cost — ‘usually $95 to $170, Whereas steel blades rrun $5 to $20. 'Bat comparing only the initial eosts ean be deceiving. Carhide-tipped blades re- quire sharpening less often than steel blades, So, in the long run, the cost of a carbide-tipped blade is often no more than steel blade when you figure in the eost of repeated charpening. QUALITY VARIATIONS Once you've decided to take the plunge and buy a earbide-tipped blade, the first thing you're faced with is determining the gen- tral quality of the blade... while it's sitting on a store shelf. Although many of the quality eontrols taken during the ‘manufacturing process can't be seen, lu ily there area few tell-tale signs that indi- ‘ate the level of workamanshi ‘TuwpLate, When a saw blade is born, it starts out as a circular piece of very soft steel, This steel plate is hardened by tem- periag the steel (alternate eating and cooling) The care felon in ths procedare ean take the diference between a ighauality saw Hade, or ust 2 round poco of steel On higher quality Hades, the platcisofen empered bie to chieye a hardness ranging frome to Cb on the Rode wel hardnes sale, On low tr aunty blades, the plate Is Sometimes made with cold. Folledsteel hats not tempered {o the eorrect harness, or not tenpered a al "The quality of the tempering proces ean not be detected Just by looking at a blade, Hionever, there is a-way to ‘roughly determine the quality Of the steel used inthe plate Suuply grasp the blade’ with both and try to end the plate by applying moderate pressure with your thumbs nea the enter Sf the blade, I the blade has been tem- peed correctly Gin the Tange of C- to E46, the pate will be Hp enough ta resist any attempt at bending. PLATE Toutmawcrs. Phe plate tol vance, orthe “runout” ofthe saw blade is one af the key tents of quality for ang Fn blade, Pate tolerances impor nt because iret influences the gual Hy of the grinding on the tect, Tra lade ‘wobbles omalle tose, Us impossibleto {ind the teeth procly Plate tolerate also becomes « quality factor beeaue ofthe effect of harmonics, tr high speed “utter.” This phenanerson produces vibrations in able running at Fillspeed tat can transform a 005 plate tolerance into 4,010 to 015" wobble Most high quality biades have plate tolerances of es than “00, and here terse blades an the mark that ave Plate tolerances below 00 These new Bias run extrmely smooth — snd sso very quiet "Ty determine a blade’s pate tolerance, check the promotion lterature on the Bint, Usualy i the blades manufac tured as a high quality product, the com puny wl oot its demanding toerances, MAXIMUM RECOMMENDED RPM The marin nratraingsimportantbecate Teter the maxim speed a which tach blade canbe operted safely, without Secumbing to the centri forces hat ae ereaied win the sping blade. 16 WoopsMiTHSS ESSE ‘To get a picture of the amount of destructive force on a blade, visualize the outer rim on a 10" blade traveling: ap- proximately 100 mex... in a 10" cirele. ‘Then imagine introducing this spinning: steel blade to a piece of hard maple — it's really surprising that it doesn’t fly apart immediately. ‘Most blades have the maximum REM rating stamped on the plate, or listed in the product literature that comes with the blade. On higher quality blades, the max- um ratings will be 7000 RPat, or even higher. And on a lower quality bledo, this rating can be as low as 3-4000 n0a— which is below the speed of some 10° table saws. EXPANSION SLOTS. Most blades have “expansion slots” eut in the body of the blade, running from the rim toward the arbor hole. ‘The purpose of the expansion slots is to give the blade some “room” to expand as it heats up during use. A blade with no expansion slats is more susceptible to warping as it heats up. As a general rule, the more expansion slots (8 slots are about the maximum on a 10" blade), the higher the quality of the blade. GULLErTS, The main purpose ofa gullet is to provide clearance for the chips being removed, Even though their purpose is simple, everyone seems to have their own, ‘opinion on what shape to use, ‘The only gullets that should be avoided are ones with sharp, or square corners. ‘These sharp points ean actuslly cause the blade to erack (See Talking Shop, Wood: smith No. 26), by concentrating stress ata single point, And on top of that, they also inhibit chips from being projected from the blade, which causes the blade to clog easily ‘THE TUNGSTEN CaRMIDE, And finally we get to the whole point of the saw blade — the carbide tips. There are more than 30 different grades of tungsten carbide lused fo make eutting tips for saw blades, each grade with its own characteristics. ‘Trying to determine the quality differ enees between the different grades is really more of ajob for a metalurgist, than for a woodworker. ‘The most apparent difference hetween the carbide tips on different saw blades is their size. The size of the carbide Lip ex range from %” to ™%" long, and Ys" to about %" thick, Larger tips simply extend | the life of blade by extending the mumaber ‘of sharpenings that ean be performed he- fore the tips wear out, BRAZING THE CARMIDE TIPS. The process of brazing (high temperature soldering) the tips to the steel is one of the more critical aspects in the construction of 8 carbide-tipped blade, Two methods are commonly used to braze tungsten earbide to steel: machine induction brazing, and hand brazing with an acetylene torch, ‘There's a questions abeuit which method HAND nrazieD. Hand brazing ean produce pin holes due to inecnsistent heating. ‘coars#. Grinding marks indicate only a coarse wheel was use! to sharpen the tip. produces the best bend between the car bide tip and the blad>. The answer seoms to depend on who you're talking to, So T ‘contacted an (impartial) engineer speeial- iaing in metalurgy, and found that either ‘method can produce a very secure bond, if done properly Evidently, the biggest danger is in overheating (he blad? and destroying the temper. Overheating ean also cause gas pores, or pin holes in the brazing com pound. Usually thesepores are only on the very surface of the aley, but occasionally they do penetrate further into the joint, weakening the bond. Naturally, tempersture ean be more ac- curately controlled with automatic ma- chinery than with a hand toreh, ‘This is supported by the fact that the only. pin- holes we found were on a blade which was brazed by hand. But as long as the tips don't actualy fal off, the brazing is doing [MACHINE BRAZING. Consistent joint with ‘out pinholes due to total heat control, Fie. Shinny, mirror like finish designates sharpness obtained by very fine grinding. ‘THE TOOTH GRINDING, How well the ear- bido tips are ground is another way to check overall quality of a earbide-tipped saw blade. To achieve the highest level of quality, the tips should be ground with two different grades of diamond wheels (dia ‘mondls are about the only material that ean be used to grind tungsten carbide) ‘The first, or roughing-out pass is made with a coarse (180-grit) diamond wheel ‘Then a second pass is made using a fin- ishing (400-grit or finer) diamond wheel ‘Todetermine whether ornota blade has been finish ground, check the top, face, and sides of the carbide tips for a shiny” tmirvor-like smoothness. (Using a small hand lens ean he a big help in seeing the differences.) If the tips show any signs of grinding ‘marks, it means the mantfaetirer hasn't taken the time to use the very fine diamond ‘wheel on the final pass — and that the blade isn’t as sharp as it eould be. WoopsmirH 17CHOOSING A BLADE Beyond the quality of the saw blade, youl also need a blade specifically designed to achieve the highest quality rasults for the type of entting being performed. To achieve the highest quality results while ripping, you need a blade that’s designed specifically for ripping. Croseeuttingis the same — only a true erosseut blade can produce the highest quality results. In other words, there's no such thing as a ‘universal eaw blade for making the perfect cut every time on everything, ‘a saw blafle that’s designed to match the type of eutting youdo most often, ig probably the most important part of choosing a blade, The first step is to know how the different variables are used to fine-tune earbide-tipped blades to perform different cutting actions. "The most common variables are: in dividual tooth configurations, number of teeth, and the hook angle of each tooth. Understanding the way these three fac. tons work together de-mystifes the type of cutting a blade is designed for, and what you can expect of it. TOOTH CONFIGURATIONS ‘Choosing the eorrect tooth configuration is important because it’s what determines how, and how well the teeth actually re= toys imalerial The tooth configuration is nothing more than a profile ground on the top surface of the carbide tps. The other ‘two surfaces (the sides ani the face) of ‘each carbide tip are usually kept fat, or slightly tapered. ‘There ate four common peofles used in grinding the tips of circular saw blade teeth: flat top, alternate top bevel (ATB), tiple chip, and a combination profile. Bach of these profiles has its own personality, ‘neluding — pardon the pan—some good and bail points. FLAT TOP. On a flat top teoth eonfigura- tion, the top of each individual tooth is ground square, perpendicular to the sides of the blade, ‘This style of grinding offers two distinet advantages, First, it provides the most support for the cutting edge of the tooth, since the entire width of the tip is being tused, Second, the cutting edge will last Tonger beeause the teeth wear out evenly along the entire width, not just on one point. "The most, common drawback to using a saw blade with a flat top profil is the finish it proviaces, The blade takes bites out of the board that are as wide as the entire ‘width of the kerf, Because the chips being removed are large, they have a tendeney to tear oul, leaving @ rough surface. ALTERNATE TOP BEVEL. The alternate top bevel (ATB) profile is ulmost self ex: planatory: the tops of alterrating teeth are beveled to one side of the blade or the other, so each tooth euts only one side of the kerf. Using the ATE profile, each tooth is removing only very small chips. his is ‘why an ATB profile produces such high ‘quality finish, and why it’s the most com thon profile for ireula saw blades. AT is found on rip, erosseut, and combination blades an salso common on finish blades that use high numbers of teeth to produce an extremely high quality finish ‘One drawback to this design is tht it forms aninverted V, when cutting grooves and dads (flat top profile proces a flat bottom. The very tip of the eutting edge ‘onan AB profile dullsquieker than most ther blades because this is the area that dos most af the cutting "TRIPLE CHIP. A triple chip tooth confir- uration uses two diferent tooth profiles, ‘ne for the “chipper” tooth, and another for the raker tooth. The chipper tooth Jooks ke a tooth ground to afat top profile with both outside corners chamfered off The purpose of the chipper tooth is to *seore” the material in the center and along both edges ofthe kerf. Then the flat top raker tooth follows through and cleans everything up. "This tooth configuration is normally used on saw blades designed for very high (quality finish, and are used to eut lami- fated countor tops, particle boxed, plastic laminates COMBINATION. Finally, there's a com bination tooth configuration that’s really sothing more than ahybridofthealternate top bevel profile, and the fat top profile its asually used on blades that are de- igned to both ip, and erosseat hardwoods and plywood ‘Normally the teeth on a combination bade ave grouped together in sections of five teeth — four are ATB, followed by a flat top raker tooth to speed up removal of the material during, ripping operations. ‘The combination of both profiles helps ep the blade trom becoming. clogged with chips, vet keeps the high quality of Tish, ‘Another aspect ofthe combination blade that helps Keep the rate of feed fully high for ripping isthe large gullets infront of Aheraker tooth, This guilt just helps clear out the ebips a litle quicker. TOTAL NUMBER OF TEETH ‘The total number of teeth can be the one variable that has the most noticeable effect ‘on the eutting action of a carbide-tipped saw blade. ‘As the number of teeth on a saw blade ‘nereases, the distanee betwoen teeth is decreased. This reduces the size of the gullets of the blade andl makes chip ejection from the kerf more difficult. A blade with a high number of teeth also requires more FLAT TOP: ‘This style of tooth uses only. ‘one grinding profile — flat ‘across the top, and produces a flat bottomed kerf, ALTERNATE TOP BEVEL ‘This profile produces a fine fin-| ish (and a kerf in the shape of a 'V), and ean be used on any style of blade. ‘TRIPLE CHIP. ‘The triple chip profile incor. pporates two styles of teeth, a| beveled chipper, and a flat topyed raker tooth, ‘COMBINATION ‘This multipurpose grind cam- bines the flat top, and the ATTB profiles for ripping and eross- eatting hardwoods. 18 WoopsMITH xa ‘CROSSCUT BLADE ‘COMBINATION BLADE power to operate, more feed pressure, and aslower rate of feed, Under ideal situations, only three teeth should be cutting at one time. One should be leaving the piece, one cutting in the center, and one just entering the piece, To maintain this optimum cutting situation, the total number of teeth should decrease as the thickness of tie material increases, HOOK ANGLES ‘The hook angle on each tooth is another key factor in determining: the chars teristics of saw blade. The howl angle fs nothing more than tae amount of forward Jean each tooth has. Basically, the more hook angle a blade has, the more pull, or grab the blade rill have on the workpicee. One effoct of this pling action is that the rate of feed tend: to be faster whenever the hook angle is Reducing the hook angle also reduces both the amount of grab the blade exhibits, and the rate of feed. Cutoff saw blades are good example of when a smaller hook angle would be used to prevent the blade from grabbing, or “running” throogh the piezo being cut, Ih fact, as the hook angle approaches, and even exceeds 0” (producing: a nega” tive hook angle — or when the teeth lean backwards), the blade exhibits no grab- Ding effect at all This is extremely import- ant when cutting metals, where total eon- trol over the rate of feed is needed, RIP BLADES ‘When choosing a ble for ripping, the highest coneern is usually with the rate of feed, and not the quality of the finish, To provide rip blade wth the highest rate of feed, several different aspects are addressed. First, the hook argle on each tooth is increased to about 20° to help pull the ‘workpiece into the blade. Unfortunately, this extreme forwarl lean also increases ‘theimpact on each tooth during the cutting. process. ‘To prevent the carbide from breaking under this added lead, many manufae- turers use a slightly softer earbide on their rip blade (Freud ucco a cofter C 2 grado, rather than their normal C-4, whieh is harder and more brittle). A Tat top tooth configuration js also she most popular be- ‘eause it provides the maximum support for the tip. Second, to prevent the high rate of feed from overloading the blade with wood chips, the number of teeth are kept to a minimum. In fact, some people helieve that when it eomes to a rip blade, the number of teeth is nore important ‘than the tooth configuration, "The maximum ‘number of teeth on a 10" rip blade is eom- ‘monly considered to 3e 24 teeth, CROSSCUT BLADES ‘The main diferences between 2 erosseut blade and a rp blade are the number of teeth, the hook angle, and the tooth eon- figurations. In other words, they're com- pletely different. CCrosscut blades are usually used for ob- taining @ high quality finish when doing cutoff work. To produce a higher quality finish, cut-of blades use a higher number of teeth (40 plus) in comparison to a tip blade (24 o Tes). This many tooth ware used on a rip blade, they would create an instant eloge ging problem. But when used ona erossent Bad, thore are several reasons why they ‘reate-no problems at all First ofall, the hook angle ona erosseut blade is usually kept within 0° - 7. By keeping the hook angle inthis range, the amount of grabbing is kept toa minima, ‘or even eompletely eliminated (a necessity for use on the radial arm saw). The real advantage to this is the total control it fives over the rate of feed. Most material being trimmed with a evosseut blade is firly narrow. This helps eliminate any problems associated with using a higher number of teeth because the blade usually isnt in the wood long enough {or the chips to clog up the smaller gullets between the teeth. Using a different tooth configuration also helps a erosseut saw blade produce « finer finish than a vip blade. ‘The mest common profits the Alternate Top Bevel for all-purpose crosscutting of said wood. Another profile that's usually used for crosscutting plastic laminates, or par- tieleboard is a Triple Chip profil. ‘COMBINATION BLADES Obtaining perfection on every eut is im- possible with any one blade, But there is 2 type of lade that can achieve a fairly high level of quality over a wide range of euts combination blades. ‘There are two distinet charueteristies that make combination blades unique. First of all, combination blades use a hybrid tooth configuration that’s simply called a “combination” profile, This profile allows the blade to either crosseut 0 without any major drawbacks to eithe operation, "The second major distinetion of a com= bination blade is the large gullet in front of the raker tooth. This oversized gullet helps improve chip removal during rip opera- tions, thus inereasing the rate of feed. Combination blades are usually avail- able with 40 to 60 teeth. Naturally, the higher tooth count will ereate more resist= ‘neo while ripping, and the rate of feed will be slower. But the finish achieved while crosscutting will be improved as the num- ber of teeth increases, WoopsMiTH 19et aS SES SPECIFICS AL this point, all of this information is, ‘basically just lat of talk. The true test of the quality of a blade is getting it in the shop, and making some sawdust, So I par chased a variety of carbide-tipped blades and put them through the Weodsmith shop teat T separated the blades being tested into two categories: standard earbide-tipped saw blades, and the new generation of “super earbide-tipped blades. For testing the standard blades, I purchased two com- monly available and reascnably priced brands: Sears and Freud, ‘The new “super” carbide-tipped blades I tested were the Mr. Savodust Blade man- ufactured by Forrest Manufacturing (§162), and a Teflon coated, “anti-grip* cut-off blade ($110) manufactured by Freud. ‘The chart on page 21 gives the results of the quality tests on the blades tested. As for our opinions and recommendations, hore goes "The standari saw blades can be divided into three extegories: Rip blades, Crosseut blades, and Combination bades, In each category, several blades were tested. In some cases, the blades beirg tested were technically identical, and in others, the blades were slightly different. ‘COMBINATION BLADES ‘The three combination blades I tested ‘were: a 40-Looth Sears blade that uses an ‘ATE profile, and 40- and £0-tooth Freud blades that use the combination profile "THE PREUD COMBINATION BLADES. Both, the 40- and 60-tooth Freud combination blades have four ATB teeth and one raker tooth, whieh is the typical “combination” tooth’ configuration. "The only difference between the two blades is the number of teeth — the 40-Looth being the most eom- ‘monly recommended. "Ripping was one operation where the ‘combination profile performed better than a rip blade in one aspect, and worse in another. The combination profile requires slower rate of fed, but ithe process, it also produced a considerably improved finish. 'As expected, the extra 10 teeth on the 60-tooth blade slowed the rate of feed even more than the 40-tooth medel, but it also produced an even higher quality finish. In fact the 50-tooth version produced a finish that I considered good enough for edge gluing (without being run through a inter). ‘On plywood, the 40-tooth blade pro- ‘dueed ‘mare chipout on the face and the back edge than the 60-tocth blade. Also, the 40-tooth blade produce! a rougher cut, while the 50-tooth blade produced an ex- 'SHARS 40-TOOTH COMBINATION BLADE. ‘The Sears 40-tooth combination blade uses an ATB tooth eanfiguration, as opposed to the combination profile of the Freud Dlades. ‘One effect of using an ATTB tooth profile ‘on the Sears blade is thatthe rate of feed is much slower. This is due to the ack of any large gullets, which are part of the “com- bination” tooth configuration. ‘But what really surprised me was how the Sears blade compared to the Freud blade when ripping hardwood and plywood, The quality of eut produced by the ATE profile Sears blade was definitely lower than the Freud blade. And consider ing the only real difference between the tooth configurations on these two blades is the addition of a raker tooth on the Freud blades, the overall quality of the Sears Dlade hecomes suspect. ‘On the other hand, the crosscutting quality of the ATB profile an the Sears bade was equivalent-to the40-tooth Freud blade, and it actually had less chipout on the surface of the pieee being ent. ‘CONCLUSIONS. The biggest advantage to ‘any eombination biade is its ability to both rip and eresseut, But they also have a repataton of olga jack ofl trades and master of none. ‘Of the three combination blades tested, | felt the 60-tooth Freud eombination was. the best all-round blade. Although the rate ‘of feed is slightly slower when ripping, the improved quality of the edge produced rales this blade the closest to a “do all” blade of any I tested. ‘ROSSCUT BLADES ‘The erosseut blades I tested included a Sears 72-tooth ATB blade and a Freud 60-tooth Triple Chip blade, When crosscutting hardwood, the ATB profile on the Sears blade produced a fair ‘amount of chipout on the top face of the piece, and a very large amount-on the back edge. ‘The ‘Triple Chip profile of the Freud blade also produced a small amount of chip- ping on the top face, but there was no- ‘where near the amount of chipout on the back edge compared to the Sears blade. As far as the quality of the cut, both blades produced an extremely smooth finish, and neither seemed better than the other. ‘When both blades were used for eutting plywood, the overall performance of the ‘ATE profile on the Sears blade came out on top, although the quality of the cut still wasn't up to the level produced by the Freud 60-tooth combination blacle. When the Freud 60-tooth ‘Triple Chip blade was used for cutting plywood, it produced an ‘excessive amount of chipout on the bottom face, Even though both blades are designed for crosseutting, they ean be used for final ripping of stock when an extremely fine Finish isneeded, as for glue joints. Used for ripping, any erosseut blade will have a very slow rate of feed, and produce a very fine finish, In fet, the quality of the finish produced by the 60-tooth Freud blade was. the highest of any of the standard blades I tested, The 72tnoth Sears blade, on the other hand, was really no hetter than the Freud 40-tooth combination blade. ‘CONCLUSIONS, From the results of the tests between the Freud and the Sears blades, it appears that they're about equal in the quality of their performance, with the Freud blade slightly in front. But when ‘you factor in the quality of the blade, the Freud blade comes out on top by a signifi- cant margin. RIP BLADES. Blades for ripring are generally limited to rho more than 24 teeth (fora 10” blade). OF the blades T tested, only one fits this mold —a Freud 24tooth rip blade. The second blade I tested was a 80-tooth Sears model ‘The reason this blade was included in the test, even though it had more than 24 teeth, is because it’s the blade Sears ‘recommends for ripping. FREUD 2-T00TH RIPPING BLADE. It only took one cut to realize that this blade was genuinely designed for ripping. The frst thing that’s noticed is the fast rate of feed. "This was somewhat expected, considering ‘the 20° hook angle on the blade, "The quality of the eut produced by the flat top tooth configuration on the Freud blade wasn't rearly as poor as I had been led to expect. In fact, when eutting hard ‘wood, the flat Lop profile produced an edge almost as clean as the 40-tooth eombinati blade. Citing plywood was another story. Regardless of the rate of feed, when cut ting across the grain of the face veneer, tearout on the bottom was unacceptable for anything except very rough work. ‘SEARS 90T00TH RIP BLADE. After using the Frend rip blade, I was anxious to give the Sears blade a try, especially since the tooth configuration on both blades. was identical. Unfortunately, as soonas Tmade ‘eat, my exeitement abated. The finish produced by the 80-tooth Sears rip blade ‘vas, without « doubt, inferior to the finish obtained with the Freud blade. "And when you consider that the Sears blade has 80 veeth, rather than 24 on the Freud blade, it was hard to understand hhow there could be this much deterioration in quality. CONCLUSIONS, There really was a wide range of quality difference in the finish produced by the two blades. The Freud blade not only produced a heiter finish, it also cut aa faster rate. Although some of the diserepaney in the rate of feed ean be attributed to the higher number of teeth, the deterioration ofthe quality in the fini WoopsMITHan only be atsibuted to Uhe quality of the blades themselves. ‘By itslf, the results of this test could possibly be dismissed as a luke, But when they're combined withthe probiems found with th other Sears blades I tested, I inka fainly clear peture ean be dravenon the quality, or lack of it, in the Sears blades. On the other hand, the Freud blades continually performed a, ar above the pre- dicted norms in all three categories. And ‘when the heavily diseounted prices of the Froud blades are caken into consideration, it becomes elear to me that they not only represent higher quality, but they also represent a better Value in the long: run THE “SUPER” BLADES {ve grouped two different blades under this classification beeause they've been ‘manufactared with exacting standards ex- ceeding the industry norms, or they have ineorporated a new type of technology in their design. MR, SAWDUST. The Mr. Sawdust Sigma- ture line saw blade manufactured by For- rest Manufacturing is advertised as “the only saw blade you'll ever need.” That's a strong claim. One of the reasons the people at Forrest boast about their blade with sueh zeal is ‘that it's manufactured to very specific tol- erances (ts plate tolerance is within .001"). ‘Then to top it off, they've put an exeep- tional edge on the carbide tips using a super-fine 600-grit diamond wheel, All inal, the blade isthe finest example of quality we've seen, with one exception — the pin holes in’'the brazing. alloy. According to Forrest, this isn't a problem. But according to everyone else, the pin holes shouldn’'the there. .. especially ona ‘$160 saw blade. Because of the high mumber of teeth, ‘this blade performs at its best when used asaccutoffblade, But it ean also he used as arip blade, although the quality of the cut is only equivalent to about a 40-tooth com- bination blade. Butone of the most surprising aspects of the Forrest blade is its ability to rip with a rate of feed nearly equal to that of ‘.40-tooth eombinaticn blate. The method Forrest uses to aceomplish this feat is, according to them, a trade seeret and ean not be disclosed. But they did reveal that it has a lot to do with their special adap- tion to the standard Triple Chip tooth configuration. ‘What isn't a secret is the cost of their blade, At $162, 108 by far tho most expen- sive biade on the re:ail market, But the ‘key question is whether or not it's worth the cost. Inall honesty, for erosseutting, the Mr. Sawdust blade produces the finest. finish ‘you could ever want, And when you add ‘the optional 6° dampeser (i's just piece of very flat stee! that f's between the blade and the outside eollar to help stabilize the blade), the results are ineredibly good. When’ erosseutting oak, the finish is_as smooth as glass. [U's as close to perfection as one ean get, witheut lying. Isit worth an extea$100 when compared to some of the standavd blades? To answer that, perhaps another question should be asked first. How goods good enough when it comes to the quality of the finish? In my opinion, onze you've reached a certain point, any further improvement in the quality of finish is aeacemie, and usually too expensive to Justify Whether this blade, or any other “supor” blade erosses the line and enters the never neverland af perfection is purely personal opinion. My opinion is that this blade prodiuees the finish I've been search- ing for, but my poekst book says “you've got to he kidding.” FREUD ANTI-GRIP BLADE, After testing the Forrest saw blade, [felt that using any Frets new Teflor-coated cut-off blade produced the fines finish ofall the blades 1 tested. Freud not only manufactures blade to higher tolerances (plate tolerance of less than .001") than their standard blades, they've also improved on the stan- ard tooth configuration (ATTB) by adding some secondary bevels. Then they coated the plate with a layor of Teflon to reduce the friction between the blade and the ‘wood. (The icing on the cake.) ‘When erosscutting, the Freud blade pro- duced a finish equalled only by the finish the Forrest blade with the help of the 6” dampener. And that’s saying a lot. (Ihe common reaetion around our office was “I can't believe this cut is straight off the Because I was so impressed with the finish the Freud blade produced when crosscutting, T decided to try it at ripping, (although with 80 teeth, it’s really de- signed only for erosseutting). The finish produced during ripping was of better quality than the Freud 60-tooth combina- tion blade, Finally I tried cutting some plywood, and you guessed it, the Freud blade pro- ‘Gueod the finest finish again (the Forrest, blade produced a small amount of tear out ‘on the bottom edges). WHICH BLADE TO BUY? IfT were trying to choose a carbide-tipped blade that would come elosest to “doing it all”, without a doubt, I'd choose the 50-ooth Freud eorabination blade, Then to ‘compliment this blade, the next blade I'd purchase isa24-tooth rip blade, and finally 260 to T2-tooth cutoff blade. AAs far as the Super blades, not only is the Freud Anti-grip blade eheaper, but it also produces a finer cut than the Mr. Sawdust blade. But honestly, the only way T could consider purchasing either super blade would be if [ were doing an awful ot of eut-off work, or had the money to burn, Otherwise, I'd just use the stam dard blades and pocket the difference, mene RIP BLADES crosscur stapes |[comsinarion stapes || SUPER BLADES COMPARISONS |["“seans [” rntun || stants | rmmuo [sears | raeup || Forrest | _mntvo gorszo12|_um7am || 9cra2ss6| tuezm |] 9crazss | tusam |r. sowdes| Luss Rotel rice sav | see.0s || ssas9 | sooo || sa0.00 | s7oo9 || s16z00 | sriou # of Teoh 30 2” 7 © «0 «0 “ 0 Carbide Quality NA NA cy wa | oc NA cy 1 Hardness at ie tf ai [att itt | se Carbide size (enath) || az’ ox" | 2" || a" | 2" || %2" | a" Tip Brazing good good excel excel good excel TipGrinding || rough rough smooth smooth v.smooth | smooth | Runout Tolerances [wa 003" NA 003" 001 001" Maximum RPM 500 3500 | 7000 || soo | 7000 wa_| 7000 ° a 6 4 [osee gutlers|| WoopsmarH, 21Joinery: Half Laps MAKING ENDS MEET Half laps are easy to cut... atleast they appear that way on the surface. But the ‘ik: to making 2 good, sturdy half ap is to cet it so the joining halves are smooth ‘enough to provide good gluing surfaces. ‘Also, you need to tale enough time on the initial set-up to make sure each half of the Joint is truly one-half the thickness of the stock. ‘As far as actually cutting the joint is concerned, there are two ways to go about it: 1) remove the waste by making multiple passes over the blade, ot 2) make two ‘individual euts — one cut at the shoulder ‘and the second eut to form the cheek, (MULTIPLE-PASS METHOD One ofthe easiost ways to cutahalflapis to ‘male multiple passes over the blade. With this method, only one setup is needed. However, there isa drawback — the finish in the check of the joint is not as good as the two-eut method. ‘CHOICE OF BLADES. Although any saw blade ean be used to make this cut, a rip blade will produce better surface because itmakes a flat-bottomed eat. A dad blade ‘ean also be used but some clean-up may be needed to smooth the chess. ‘SET BLADE UBIGHT. To set up this cut, first set the height of the blade. Raise the blade to just a smidgen Jess than one-half the thickness ofthe stock. Then make cut at the end of a test piece. Flip the serap lover and make another pass right below the first one, soe Fig. 1. "There should be a thin sliver of wood ‘that the blade didn't cut, Raise the blade juust a touch, and make the same two cuts ‘again, Then repeat this procedure, until the sliver is skimmed off. ‘SET FENCE. Once the height ofthe blade is set, use the fence as a stop for the final ceutat the shoulder line. Rather than mea- ‘suring this distance, [use the second board to position the fenee for the shoulkiereut on the first board, see Fig. 2. Hold the right edge of the second board against the fenee, fand adjust the setting until the left edge is ‘lush with the outside exge of the blade, ‘CLEANOFF Waste. Nowit’sjust amatter ‘of making multiple passes to clean off the ‘waste, Start at the end of the piece and ‘work toward the shoulder. ‘Although this method is relatively quiel, it does leave the face of the joint a Tittle rough. If a cut-off or combination blade is used to make the cuts, the surface san be smoothed by sliding the worlspices ‘ack and forth over the highest point of the blade, see Fig. 3. Ifa rip blade or dado blade was used, a little touch-up with a sharp chisel might be needed. Wo CUT METHOD "The seeond method for eutting a half lap involves making two cuts — one to estab- lish the shoulder, and the second to trim off the cheek. This method produces a very clean joint, ready for gluing. SHOULDER CUT, The first step in this two-eut method is to make a cut at the shoulder line. Set the height of the blade for the shoulder eut (as deseribed in the multiple eut method, above), and use the fence as a stop far the shoulder line, see Fig. 1. When the sav is set up, go ahead and make the shoulder euts on all pieces, see Fig. 4. ACH CUT, After the shouldor euts are ‘made, the workpiece must be stood on end feee cut, To do this, T use a sshop-made jig, see Fig. 6. (The directions formaking this ig are given in Woodsmith No. 24) ‘Mount a test piece in the jig and adjust the jig so the blade cuts as close to the center ofthe bard as you ean got it. Make atrial eut to seo ifthe cheek is aligned with the bottom of the kerf af the shoulder ent, see Fig. 5. ‘Once the cut is truly eutting half-way, raise the blade to the top of the kor? of the shoulder cut, and trim off the waste on the face of the joint. MULTIPLE PASS METHOD: oy