Studio711.com – Ben Martens

My table saw came from Tim who got it from Doug. I think Doug put together the rolling base for the metal stand. It worked ok, but the wheels were a bit small when I’d try to roll it out into the driveway and my first attempt at dust collection for the table saw never worked that well. I decided to build a new stand from scratch and I took the opportunity to learn some new things along the way.

The first task was to really learn SketchUp. It’s a free 3D modeling tool that is especially popular among woodworkers. As with any tool like this, there is a steep learning curve, but I’ve seen how much it can help people once they get the hang of it. I’m far from an expert but it was handy to visualize the build before getting into it, and it also helped me figure out how much wood I needed to buy. (The colors are just to help differentiate the pieces.) I stopped tweaking the drawing once I got it close and then I modified all the measurements slightly in my head so that I could make better use of the plywood and not have so much waste. Next time, I’ll spend the extra time to make those tweaks in the model because it would be really helpful to take measurements right from the model to figure out where all the dadoes go.

The next thing I learned was using a dado stack on the table saw. I cut lots of dadoes for Tyla’s jewelry box, but I used the router table for all of those. Tim loaned me his dado blades and I used my new custom insert. That setup combined with the track for cutting plywood made quick work of the main pieces

The dadoes made it easy to hold everything in place while I glued and nailed it together. Unfortunately, once I was part way into the assembly, I realized that I had cut one dado 1/2″ off of where it was supposed to be. Also the whole unit wasn’t quite square. The result was that it looked a little goofy and the box that was going to hold the two shelves wasn’t square. Yuck.

I ended up working around the mess. You can easily tell that it was built by a novice, but it functions quite well. There’s a hole cut out under the table saw so the dust falls into the top drawer. Plus, I have lots of storage for push sticks, blades, and jigs.

I put tall sides on the left and the back thinking that I might add some flip up tables on those sides to help support bigger pieces of wood. I’m not sure if/when I’ll get to that, but it was an easy addition to the project in case I decide to do that later.

The whole unit is solid and rolls around very nicely. The wheels are salvaged from my old Park ‘N Move which I don’t need after selling the motorcycle.

I’d be happy to toss this whole thing out for a nicer table saw, but in reality, this saw has been good to me and I think I’m going to have it for quite a while. There are lots of other tools I’d rather have before a new table saw.

PS. I also should have done a better job planning my cuts so that I could have matched the grain on the drawer fronts. I ended up with a huge green blotch in the poplar plywood on that bottom drawer and it very obviously doesn’t match the top drawer.

I never paid much attention to the insert that fits around the blade in my table saw until I tried to install a thick dado set of blades and they didn’t fit into the insert. You can pay $30-50 and buy new ones but yikes, that’s pricey for just the few cuts I wanted to make.

Instead, I pulled out a scrap piece of wood, cut out the exact shape of the opening, cut out a finger hole, drill some screw holes, routed the bottom to make it the right thickness and then mounted it into the table. I clamped a piece of wood over the insert to hold it down and then turned on the blade. I slowly raised the spinning blade up and it cut a perfectly sized hole in the insert. Booyah. Custom table saw insert for free!

You can find lots of great videos on YouTube showing you how to do this but I particularly liked the one from Frank Howarth.

YouTube is an incredible resource for learning a new hobby (or expanding the horizons of your current hobby.) Case in point: Matt Cremona. He doesn’t just go to the lumber yard to buy wood for his projects. He walks through the woods, cuts down a tree, slabs it with a chainsaw mill, lets it dry and then takes it into his shop to finish milling it for a project. While this isn’t something that I’ll probably ever get to do, it’s really fun to see how it works. Check out this video demonstrating his chainsaw mill:

A wood shop can be a dangerous place. There are blades spinning and cutting all over the place. One key part of staying safe is knowing what can be dangerous. A 2011 study from the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System lists these as the top injuries:

1. Table Saw: 39,750 annual injuries
2. Jointers, planers, shapers, and sanders: 10,930 annual injuries
3. Miter Saw: 6800 annual injuries
4. Band Saw: 3550 annual injuries
5. Radial Arm Saw: 350 annual injuries

Now obviously these numbers are a bit skewed by which tools people use the most often. For example, the radial arm saw isn’t very popular anymore as people are using table saws with sleds for many of the same purposes.

Whenever I get a new tool, I like to do a bit of reading about common injuries and tips for staying safe. One thing I learned with this new sliding miter saw is that after making the cut, you should let the blade stop spinning before lifting it out of the wood. Otherwise you run the risk the cutoff piece catching the blade and flying around the room. It can also give you a cleaner cut since the spinning teeth only touch the wood once.

It’s also important to keep the wood clamped down when possible. When the blade in a miter saw goes through the wood, it pulls up on the back side. It’s not uncommon for it to catch on the wood and rip it up in the air. If the wood isn’t firmly held in place, this can be pretty bad news.

As someone who makes money with his fingers, these kinds of tips are extra important!

One challenge with woodworking projects is figuring how to make the best use of the wood you have available. If you’re working with expensive wood, your decisions can have a dramatic impact on the total cost of your project. I did some quick searching around and found a few solutions, but my favorite (free) one so far is the Free Online Panel Cut Optimizer.

For the Adirondack chair project, I thought it took two 2″x6″x8′ boards and four 2″x8″x8′ boards. Using this tool, I got it down to three 2″x6″x8′ and two 2″x8″x8′. That drops the price by about 20-25%!

The downside is that the cuts aren’t as simple to make. The way I had it originally drawn, I cross cut the wood and then ripped it to the right width. This more efficient use of the wood requires more strategic cuts, but if it saves enough money, it’s worth the effort.