The Frame Saw project is coming along quite well now having got the basic 'H' sorted out. The critical bit is the dimension of the central stretcher so that once the blade has been cut to 600mm, the securing holes can be drilled at 570mm between centres...these are the dimensions given on t'interweb for the Jap Turbocut blades which I may well fit later on. A couple of pics show a blank piece of ash (with a knifed shoulder line) and one turned handle...note the securing pin hole drilled at 4mm and the next pic shows a drill inserted in the hole so that I could gauge where to put the saw cut at 90deg to it. This needed a bit of care as you need to saw it pretty much 'by eye' as I couldn't fathom any way of marking it out. It can't be done on the bandsaw when the block is still square 'cos as soon as it goes into the lathe, the live centre will just splay the wood out as it's wound in. You would have thought of course, that someone with my vast intellect and huge amount of woodworking savvy would have cottoned on to that...but I didn't, so had to prepare a couple of new blanks!
There's another couple of pics of progress on the Cherry table. Last weekend I was fitting in the Indian Ebony lines into each end frame. I prepared them at 4mm square and shot them in on the shooting board...you can see in the pic the four bits of ebony in the process of being fitted and I'm happy to say that this bit of the project went without a hitch, which makes a change. The last pic shows a rather interesting little jig I made up to take the final shavings off the lines to get a decent fit. It's just a couple of blocks of beech bolted together, but there's a spacer in between them (in this case some bits of 4mm birch ply) which is the same thickness as the inlay. All you need to do is to hold a sharp cabinet scraper against the far side and pull the line through...I was really surprised 'cos it does actually work very well.
4 comments:
That's a neat idea for doing the stringing, Rob. Might pinch that.
Cheers ;-)
Paul Chapman
While I came to check out the progress on your saw, I'm ending up asking for more info, pics and whatever else you can offer about that great looking shooting board you have there. I've been looking for an old one by Stanley, but viewing the image showing yours, I'm starting to have second thoughts.
Great stuff on your site, by the way.
Peace,
Mitchell
Look out for a entry then on the Blog with full details about my shoot construction...glad you like it.
I made one of these saw frames 20 yr. ago. Instead of the extended shaft for the handle, I used a large woodscrew into a pilot hole in the handle, whilst the handle is being turned in the lathe. The head of the screw is removed and the slot for the blade cut by eye, seemed to work ok. If the slot is cut first, the hole for the retaining pin is easier to drill at right angles by placing a shim in the slot, lying the screw horizontally in the drill vice with the shim resting on the top surface, and the drill should then be perpendicular. I havn't seen your plan, but this was simple and obviated the need for a carrier plate. Instead of a tensioning screw, I used twisted cord across the top of the frame, and a flat wooden splint which contacted the central bar, to prevent unwind. Worked very well and you don't need to find the small spanner under the shavings. The shoulders of the tenons were rounded by eye, to allow for the tensioning.
Post a Comment