New tool day

Roland · January 2022

Teaser ...

paulnb57 · January 2022

Ooo! Bandsaw?

BillDL · January 2022

A Plek machine?

PVO_Dave · January 2022

Lathe?

sev112 · January 2022

Bradawl?

poopot · January 2022

Axe fx 4?

or a bandsaw…

it’s the axe fx…

Roland · January 2022

@PVO_Dave I already have a 12” lathe, which I can’t see myself upgrading.

@sev112 I have three bradawls, my uncle’s, my great uncle’s and my own.

It’s a bandsaw. Laguna 14BX. Rather a forced choose since no one seems to have a Jet or a Record Sabre in stock. Powerful enough to cut blanks for turning, and large enough to resaw timber for guitar making. Like all maniacs I would have liked its 18 inch brother, but that would have been too large for me to assemble on my own, and my workshop wiring wouldn’t handle the current drain with the extractor running at the same time.

BillDL · January 2022

It seems to have come out very well in the reviews I just looked at. That's a really nice bit of workshop kit.

Roland · January 2022

The reviews look good, as does feedback on woodworking forums, but so they should. The aspects which sold me on it were the rigid frame, the blade guides, the dust clearance, and the braking system.

For low volume cutting I probably won’t connect up the extractor. Instead I’ll vacuum the inside whenever I stop cutting.

Today’s task is to install a blade, level everything up, and cut a few test pieces. If that all works then I’ll dispose of the packaging.

Roland · January 2022

First the important news: all fingers and thumbs still attached and functioning.

The bandsaw is now set up and adjusted. I had to use Laguna’s YouTube channel for a few things which aren’t properly covered in the manual. In celebration I did some test cuts by slicing the expanded polystyrene packaging so that it would fit in the grey bin.

Then on to the important exploratory cuts on my stored logs. First the Yew:

I'm thinking this would look nice as a cap or veneer on a body. Then the Laburnum, which is a fretboard candidate. I’ve got a lot more if this piece isn’t long enough, or its grain is too twisted:

Since Laburnum is described as poisonous, and Yew is downright toxic, I decided that this was a suitable point to leave the air cleaner running, and call it a day.

Tomorrow is Sycamore day.

BillDL · January 2022

Immediately I saw Yew that was my first thought.

I love the grain in Sycamore. When I was in my early 20s and interested in guitar building I used to go up the back roads after gales to see what trees had blown over in the hope that I could find a nice Sycamore log. I was friendly with a farmer in the area that had a chainsaw and a woodwork teacher (a guitarist) who cut some bodies and necks for me.

Roland · January 2022

Sycamore day didn’t yield what I was hoping for. I’ve got a meter long trunk, about 35cm in diameter, which I ripped in half with a chain saw when I collected it late last year. Truth be told, I couldn’t lift it until I’d cut it in two.

Today’s objective was to re-saw it into 30 to 40mm planks, which could be used for neck blanks, or split for body caps. For re-sawing these larger logs I changed to a 20mm wide blade. This was relatively quick. Re-sawing was a lot slower. The cutting part was fast enough, but the trunk is heavy to manoeuvre. My dust extractor isn’t a match for the saw. I had to stop and vacuum up the dust after every cut. As a result it took two hours to change the blade and cut one quarter of the trunk onto four slices.

The bad news is that the wood moved a lot after cutting. At first I thought it was me not holding it against the fence. Having drawn and cut to a straight line, the timber then waved by 5mm by the end of the cut. So now it’s stickered and stacked, and unlikely to be used for at least a year.

BillDL · January 2022

I found that the best place to dry wood was in the old "boiler houses" of schools and hospitals over the Winter period, but with the changes in methods of heating, all the fire prevention inspections, and no longer knowing any janitors or facilities managers, I wouldn't be able to do that now even if I wanted to. It was handy while I could.

Roland · January 2022

A better cutting day today. The second quarter trunk is now:
- An 8mm plank which might end up as fretboards. I like blonde fretboards.
- A 50mm plank which could be split into a mirror image body cap.
- Two neck blanks.
Apart from the fretboard none of this is going to be fit for guitar building until next year.

Next step is going to be re-sawing the cedar which has been seasoning since 2015. The 20mm re-saw doesn’t wander, but doesn’t leave a particularly smooth surface. I’m tempted to go back to 15mm for the cedar.

Roland · January 2022

BillDL said:

I found that the best place to dry wood was in the old "boiler houses" of schools and hospitals over the Winter period, ...

Despite being impatient to use the Sycamore I don’t want it to crack through being dried too quickly. I might bring one piece into the house and see how it goes

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