Beginners Woodworking Videos

How to Use a Table Saw: Woodworking For Beginners #1

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In this video we begin our series on videos for beginners, with basic instructions on how to use a table saw safely. With the help of a little bit of trick photography for the title page, we go on to show proper table saw setup and usage.
To start of with, you need to make sure the saw is set up properly. ALWAYS, unplug the saw to disable power to the motor before doing any of the fine tuning and adjustments that might need to be done. Table saws can come out of alignment with all the use and vibration, so they need to be checked from time to time, and if you have never done this, now is a good time to start. First, check to make sure the blades is running parallel to the mitre slot, next the fence also needs to be exactly parallel to the mitre slot.

 If you have a Riving Knife or Splitter with blade guard, you need to make sure that these are in perfect alignment with the saw blade. If they are not, you may need to purchase or manufacture shims to adjust the positioning. I use brass sheets from the metal store, they are not expensive and last for ever, but any thin metal will work, you may need a few of different thicknesses to accommodate different blades.

A Scroll Sawing Introduction

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I can see now why Scoll Saw woodworkers refer to scroll saws as "arguably the most versatile woodworking tool". I have not done a lot of scroll saw work with the exception of some small rudimentary projects. Since we have received quite a number of requests and queries over the past couple of years on Scroll Sawing, I decided it needed at least a novice's look.
To start off with I went to the computer, opened Google and typed in Scroll Saw Patterns, then clicked on the link "images" as at Google menu option.
What I was greeted with was overwhelming. I had no idea there were so many different things that a woodworker could do with a scroll saw. The screen was filled with brilliant ideas with so many different kinds of woodworking projects from Intarsia (which is like a wooden puzzle), to small figurines like chess boad pieces, to pictures, signs, bird houses, quilt racks, boxes, accent pieces for doors and furniture, the list just went on and on.

The first thing to remember about a Sroll Saw, is that it is a saw! I saw that can cross cut and rip, just like any other saw, but that can also make very tight turns, and this sets the scroll saw apart.

Selecting The Proper Saw Blade

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I often hear woodworkers say something like "I always buy good quality 60 tooth blades", or something to that effect. When I hear things like that I know that they really don't know how to select blades for the table saw, radial arm saw, sliding mitre or chop saw, because arbitrarily selecting a 60 tooth blade could in fact be the worst choice they could make, depending on what they are cutting.

Cutting Natural Woods - There are only 2 blades you need if you are working with natural wood, a ripping blade and a cross cut blade. That's it - 2 blades.
Ripping blades are used on table saws to cut along the grain of the wood. These blades will have fewer teeth ususally between 20 and 30 with 24 being the most common in 10 inch diameter blades. The other feature on ripping blades will be large gullets (the deep space between the teeth), these are used to clear out the long fibers of the wood as the saw blade moves through the wood.
Cross Cutting Blades are used on table saws, sliding mitres, chop saws and radial arm saws and are often 60 to 80 teeth in a 10 inch diameter blades. The reason a cross cut blade can get away with more teeth is because cutting across the grain doesn't require moving much wood fibre out of the way so the blade can do a better job.

Of course with all so-called rules there is always an exception and with natural woods the exception is Combination or General Purpose blades. These blades are designed to rip and cross cut, and they do a pretty good job of both but they still cannot rip as good as a dedicated ripping blade and they don't cross cut quite as good as a dedicated cross cut blade. If you have a budget and can only purchase one blade, or if you are constantly ripping and cross cutting, get yourself an excellent combination blade.
Freud had recently introduced a new multi-purpose blade that gives extraordinary results ... especially for a general purpose blade. It's called ther Freud Premier Fusion and uses a special tooth design employed by Freud. It's a bit of an expensive blade compared to others, but when you see the results that are obtainable from a general purpose blade, you will see why - they are extraordinary.

Cutting man-made woods like plywood, hardboard, Medium Density Fibre Board (MDF) Particle Board and chip boards, all require a different types of blade, depending on the materials.