Making jigs and finding uncovering tips in woodworking seems have maybe become a second nature to me. I find myself even doing this when I visit other woodworkers shops or watch them in their woodworking, and sometimes making subtle suggestions to them ... as they do to me sometimes to, I guess we all learn this stuff together
Here are a few things I have been doing for a while now and I keep meaning to publish the ideas and jigs, and thanks to all who read these and offer even more ideas or ways to make things better ... I always love to hear things like this ...
As I mentioned in the video, I purchased this "Used" Carter Bandsaw fence a few months ago, mainly because it came with 2 Magswitche150 magnets that are used to "clamp" the fence to the steel deck of the bandsaw. After getting it home and trying it out I found it to be a VERY useful accessory fence for my bandsaw (which by the way came with a fence which OK for some applications, not so for others).
This of course sent me down the "Bandsaw Blade Drift" rabbit hole, which I don't talk much about. I have heard many woodworkers proclaim that there should never be any bandsaw blade drift. Yup, I agree with that ... in a perfect world, otherwise for all the rest of us who have other things going on bandsaw drift is often a fact of life .. with 2 main causes.
1 Cutting circles or arcs with a bandsaw blade that is too wide for the job
2 Not setting up the bandsaw guides properly and damaging the tooth set of the blade.
The lovely steel bearing blade guides are terrible of the "tooth set" of a blade if not set up properly and as is the case for both of the above reasons, the tooth set can be flattened on either, or both sides of the blade which often results in blade drift.
The easiest fix for drift when you want use a fence is to take make a test cut the set the fence to the angle of the test. This way you can adjust for blade drift and still make good quality cuts the way you want.
Some time ago I made made a new steel deck for my horizontal belt sander with the purpose in mind for using the steel deck for Magswitches in a variety of jigs I wanted to make.
The first (and best) jig is the one that holds the dust collection port and connects with a hose to my dust collector. The idea for this came from one of my subscribers and I works super awesome. Now I can easily adjust the port because it uses 2 - Magswitches so I can adjust it as needed or easily remove it altogether if I wand to use the large round back roller.
Next was a jig for making nice even chamfers on dowels (wooden tool handles and chisel handles) or on the bottom of table and chair legs. When I first used this jig I was astounded how evenly it worked, a very nice easy to use jig.
And below is the same jig now with the table leg sample. I made Magwitch holes on both sides of the jig and 2 on the left side to accommodate the square let option.
Another jig that is still a works in progress is the "thin strip sizing jig", the idea of this this jig is to thickness size thin wood I want to use for insert and banding. I seems to work OK, but on one occasion where I was using it too close to the sanding belt, the belt caught the flexible plastic featherboard feature and pulled it back, sanding it at the same time ... which of course means remaking another flexi plastic featherboard.
I am thinking of trying to adapt a roller system featherboard, but am open to any ideas others might have.
And lastly ... I keep forgetting to mention this trick, of anyone who seems to be needed to accurately measure the inside of cabinets or boxes, such as when requiring shelves, using "Stair Guides" might solve your problem. They are quite inexpensive and actually have a variety of uses around the shop ... I don't use them often, but when I need them they work easily and quickly.
That's it for this issue folks .. if you have an idea for my jig above, let me know
Colin Knecht
woodworkweb
