Thread: What are you working on?

Originally Posted by BeJay

Great job on the wood scaled W&B's Outback!

+1 to that!!!

Thanks guys.
Its been a long rough road with these two. I just finished honing the barbers notch, for a total of around 17 - 18hrs to make it through the stones. Twice it failed the tests, after stropping. Ended up at "4" layers of tape, and still a wide bevel, but floats through all tests except the important one.
Tomorrow mornings test shave, which I've cultivated a 3 day growth for.

Thanks guys.
Its been a long rough road with these two. I just finished honing the barbers notch, for a total of around 17 - 18hrs to make it through the stones. Twice it failed the tests, after stropping. Ended up at "4" layers of tape, and still a wide bevel, but floats through all tests except the important one.
Tomorrow mornings test shave, which I've cultivated a 3 day growth for.

There is only one way to reduce that bevel width. The truth is wether you reduce it or not it will be exactly the same steel holding exactly the same edge, and the shave will be identical. The scales are pretty nice though!

Originally Posted by RezDog

There is only one way to reduce that bevel width. The truth is wether you reduce it or not it will be exactly the same steel holding exactly the same edge, and the shave will be identical. The scales are pretty nice though!

I don't mind the wide bevel.
And just finished the test shave..flawless
3 pass BBS

First pass seemed like it was pulling, but it was the fact that I'd had 3 days growth instead of one, and hadn't found the right angle of attack.
2nd & 3rd were smooth as silk.
No weepers nicks, or cuts.

I've come to expect a wide bevel from these old wedges, they ain't new, and have been used for years, honed by different people, with various stones and methods.

Originally Posted by cudarunner

While I've yet to use it I too ordered a 3/8 blade (the largest this machine will accept). I believe like you the idea is that the larger (deeper) blade will have less reflection and thus result in a straighter smoother cut.

The outfit that I buy my Inlace Acrylic from custom cuts them on a Very Large Bandsaw using a 1" blade. So typically the blanks are very straight and fairly smooth.

It’s not so much the blade width, but the teeth per inch, TPI. Don’t try to make a finish cut, just a straight one.

Use at least 3 TPI for re-sawing thin cuts. If the blade cannot clear the material, the blade stops cutting and will drift and ruin your material.

And buy quality blades, it is worth the extra money to get a thin, straight cut, do make sure your saw is set up properly.

Bosch 3/8 x 18 tpi, and 3/8 x 6 tpi, as well as 1/8 x 14 tpi on order to round out my selections. I have 1/4 x 6 on hand already.
Good tip about investing in quality blades. They pay for themselves in reliable cuts.

I picked up my 1/8 and 3/8 here:

Woodworker.com: STARRETT® FLEXBACK BANDSAW BLADES

The 3/8" is 6 TPI the 1/8" is 14 TPI. For now I'll keep the stock 1/4" blade. I figure using the 3/8 for re-sawing and perhaps the 1/8 to cut the patterns out, I'll just have to see how it goes.

I like the Timber Wolf blades.

I just cut some scales from Reindeer Antler, which is very hard. A 3/8 3 TPI blade sliced it easily and very cleanly.

A wooden hand screw clamp, makes it easy to hold, especially if curved and keep the first cut perpendicular. After the first cut you can use a fence for the subsequent cuts.

The best thing about slowly choking on safety legislation and poorly qualified auditors making silly assertions in the workplace is every now and then someone like us gets a bone out of all the silliness.
Seems a recent audit uncovered some glaring dangers in my maintenance shop that needed to be corrected. Our drill presses had no automatic, self articulating chip shields on them like one of the auditors read about in robotic shops and he made a big stink.
Long story short, the cost of retrofitting these guards to my equipment is pretty steep so we could only afford to do one.


I decided to retire this dangerous old beauty to my home shop for suitable care and treatment.
Replace the chuck and square up the bed, maybe replace the belt,, good to go.