Woodworking

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Kolohe
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Yeah, it's fucking annoying how one project leads you into learning 7 new skills and you can never get to what you actually intended to do.
This has been my life for the past year and it's cathartic to hear someone say it.
 
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Soygen

The Dirty Dozen For the Price of One
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Yeah, it's fucking annoying how one project leads you into learning 7 new skills and you can never get to what you actually intended to do.
Yup, same. While woodworking has definitely been my main focus, I'm on such a tear of 'learning new shit', that I'm starting to get burned out on it all. I'm currently learning all the intricacies of compressed air. I went from simply wanting something I could use a spray gun to paint small projects, to now planning out a full garage setup of piping for compressed air. What piping is ok, what is not, how to set angles on the pipe layout. This is all in the last 7 days.
 
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lurkingdirk

AssHat Taint
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Sharpening a chain saw isn't really all that hard. And that's because you have to do it so often. With that much repetition you're going to get good at it. Put the blade in a vice on your work bench, sharpen one side. Turn the chainsaw around, do the same. Takes me about 5 minutes to sharpen my blade, and when I'm done it is good to go. Just make sure you have the right size file, and the angle markers to put on the file really help for the folks just starting out.
 

Kovaks

Mr. Poopybutthole
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I use this for my normal chains and it works really well but does take a while on my 24 inch bar.

images
 
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mkopec

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Yeah you just get a jig. They sell them at the home cheapo for like $25 and then you have to get files # for your specific chain. Do one side first, it sets the angle for you , then switch to other side and do that. Jsut sit in a lawn chair with cold beer and get to sharpening.
 
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Kolohe
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The best beer I ever had in my life was a lukewarm Pabst Blue Ribbon, right after an exhausting day whitewater rafting. Weird. Also, the timid girl I was dating used to he a whitewater rafting guide and that's the first and only time I ever saw her bossing people around and yelling with her big girl voice. So hot, much boner.


Anyways....I have 6x identical cuts of common board. I don't have a jointer. Can I clamp them all together and run them through the planer to clean up the sides?
 

whoo

<Silver Donator>
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The best beer I ever had in my life was a lukewarm Pabst Blue Ribbon, right after an exhausting day whitewater rafting. Weird. Also, the timid girl I was dating used to he a whitewater rafting guide and that's the first and only time I ever saw her bossing people around and yelling with her big girl voice. So hot, much boner.


Anyways....I have 6x identical cuts of common board. I don't have a jointer. Can I clamp them all together and run them through the planer to clean up the sides?
You can, but theres no guarantee the two sides will be parallel.

If jou don't have access to a jointer, search youtube for "jointer sled" and make one. The sled will get you one straight side using the table saw, and you can run that straight side against the fence to get the other side straight too.

P. S. You *can* use the planer for both sides if the sides are already parallel and are the same dimensions on all boards. But you'd have to be starting with pre-surfaced lumber and just plan to clean up minor scratches or be changing thickness on already parallel boards. If the edges are rough, youll get bad results.
 
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Captain Suave

Caesar si viveret, ad remum dareris.
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You can, but theres no guarantee the two sides will be parallel.

Pedantic correction: If you use the planer your two sides will always be parallel (at least at any given opposing point), since what a planer does is remove stock to a given thickness. They are not guaranteed to be straight, however, which is the primary purpose of the jointer.

Edit: If he used a shimmed planer sled on the edges of the clamped board that would get a straight enough edge to trim the opposing side on the table saw, but I don't think that's less work or more reliable than starting with a jointing sled on the saw.
 
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BrutulTM

Good, bad, I'm the guy with the gun.
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I use this for my normal chains and it works really well but does take a while on my 24 inch bar.

images
I've been thinking of trying one of those. So far I've just used a round file with or without the angle gauge.
 

Cutlery

Kill All the White People
<Gold Donor>
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This has been my life for the past year and it's cathartic to hear someone say it.

I'm now starting to understand why it took my dad 15 years to build an airplane in the garage.

But by the end of it, he knew how to do literally fucking everything.
 
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Bandwagon

Kolohe
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I'm now starting to understand why it took my dad 15 years to build an airplane in the garage.

But by the end of it, he knew how to do literally fucking everything.
I have built 9 tables now and every one of them is still in my house, with the exception of 1. It's encouraging to look at them in order and see that, even though I'm not happy with what I can do right now, I'm making progress.

This hobby is more expensive than the gun hobby, too. At least while I'm still getting set up, it is.

Going to look at a CNC Router tomorrow that can so 48in x 48in, too. Local guy selling a used one.
 

Intrinsic

Person of Whiteness
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I have built 9 tables now and every one of them is still in my house, with the exception of 1. It's encouraging to look at them in order and see that, even though I'm not happy with what I can do right now, I'm making progress.

This hobby is more expensive than the gun hobby, too. At least while I'm still getting set up, it is.

Going to look at a CNC Router tomorrow that can so 48in x 48in, too. Local guy selling a used one.

I've found in my 8 years so far that it is a bell curve, so to speak.

Start out with nothing, get deep in projects, buy to fill your niches, gaps, grow, and to learn and experiment. Then downsize and pare back and focus on the tools your really need, get rid of some of the extra stuff you bought that you thought you needed (and did while learning), and really hone in on what you want to specialize.

In a way it is like my gun hobby. Start off wide and then focus in and learn where you can efficiently spend on what you need.

Nothing wrong with going a little over the top at first.
 

Dandai

Lesco Brandon
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I have something very similar, and that was what did not work.

I think it's missing one angle of movement, and that may be the problem. I will do it by hand and go from there
I wasn't very good at chainsaw sharpening, even after I thought I had the proper technique. But these days I can easily accidentally cut myself after sharpening my chain. The critical difference I made was making sure there was a hook at the top of the tooth. Sometimes this means having to grind deeper into the tooth than it came off the shelf. I took 30 seconds to draw out what I mean. First picture shows what I mean by leaving a hook at the top of the tooth. Second picture shows what I mean by you sometimes have to grind deeper down into the tooth to make sure you're leaving a hook.

Chainsaw sharpening.png


Also, your rakers need to be filed down roughly every 5 sharpenings or so. If you don't lower the rakers, the tooth can't bite into the wood. I don't use a guide for hand sharpening, but I do use a raker gauge every so often to check if they need to be filed down.

Buckin Billy Ray has some great sharpening guides, but they're all pretty bloated with talking so I hesitate to share them.
 
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Cutlery

Kill All the White People
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IMG_20220619_205120694.jpg


Yep, I got it now. Back in business.

I think the grinder I had wasn't putting the hook on. The first run at sharpening got it passable. After I finish this log, I'll do it again before the next one and I should be in a good spot.

Just these logs left...then the big fuckers.
 
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Cutlery

Kill All the White People
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Intrinsic

Person of Whiteness
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I don't know if I mentioned but my fiancé's father passed away a few years ago, before we started dating. When we visited her mom a couple months back she let me take his miter saw. Never used one or touched one. Man this thing is pretty awesome lol. Welcome to 19XX, I know.

Only issue I have is that it is 7 1/4" so has a max cut capacity of like 3 3/4" inches? Not too bad to flip it and finish. But man it makes me want a 10" sliding.

I'd still use the tablesaw and crosscut sled for things but for quickly breaking down stock I've been missing out for years! Need to put this on my flip cart and get it mounted quick.
 
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