Ripping Blade & Sharpening Stone, & Clamps Advice

[Dustin Brown]

Hey guys, got a couple questions before I go and spend some money. I've got a couple hundred dollars to spend on a few things I need like countersink bits, saw blade, clamps, etc...

I'm currently building the 21st century bench and I'm starting to machine the lumber for the top(8/4 hard maple). I need a good ripping blade for a decent price. I plan to use it for anything up to 2" on my 3HP unisaw. Would you guys recommend the 30T freud glue line rip or would there be a better options for this? I figured with the 3hop saw I wouldn't need a 25t blade.

Second question is on a new waterstone. I currently have what I believe is a king stone from leevalley. A 1000/4000 combo stone. I'm a little unsure about how much higher I need to go on the grits and what stone to get. I would spend the money and get the set with 3 stones and a diamond plate from Stu, but I think I would like to utilize what I have and continue to flatten the stones with drywall sandpaper on granite. I'm thinking the best option might be to go with the king 8000 grit stone? I don't sharpen very often. I will only be sharpening card scrapers, narex chisels, stanley block plane, & a woodriver #5 plane.

Last questions is on clamps. I'm fairly certain I am going to need some more clamps building this bench. What would you guys recommend for some affordable decent quality f-style clamps that would be suitable for this?

Thanks!

[Erik Christensen]

I would get an 8,000 grit stone for plane blades & chisels.

I have a freud glue line rip and like it but what I use almost exclusively now is a Ridge Carbide 10" TS2000 24 Teeth - the blade is extremely stable and the carbide teeth are massive. ridge claims 20-25 sharpening's for their blades and i believe them.

clamps - I have Bessey but have heard good things about Jet. I would look for whatever is a good deal - you will buy them for a while - I have yet to hear somebody say "I have too many clamps"

[Jim Andrew]

My latest rip blade is a 24 tooth 10" I bought at Sears. The Cman Professional, fine print says made in Italy. Last couple times I was at Sears didn't find any. It is chrome, and cuts 2" oak like nothing on my Uni 3hp.

[Michael W. Clark]

I have a Frued 24 tooth Diablo(?) that I got from the home center. It was cheap and I didn't expect much, but it does a nice job. Sears has 1/8" kerf Frued blades from time to time. Check the clearance area.

I bought some of the Jorgenson Cabinet Master sets from Woodcraft when they were on sale, they are really nice. I think you would need a very heavy clamp for gluing up the top you are describing. It would take a very good F-clamp or you may consider pipe clamps. I have Pony pipe clamps and some from HF. I like the Pony ones better (less flexing and the crank mechanism seems better) but the HF ones work too.

[Bill White]

24 tooth full kerf ripper for maple or you'll have burn marks on the wood. I use an Infinity ripper, but Freuds are another great blade.
Don't overlook stupid old pipe clamps. Relatively inexpensive, and they still work after all these years. Alternate clamps top and bottom of the glue-up.
I'm not minimizing the value of extreme stones, but I don't use 'em.
I've got waterstones (2) of unknown grits. One soft, and one hard. I use 'em in conjunction with leather strops charged with green compound. It is all I've ever needed.
Bill

[George Gyulatyan]

Per Freud, the Glue Line Rip blade's maximum cutting thickness is 1", although on a 3HP saw you shouldn't have problems with it. I use mine on a 1 3/4 HP saw and it works fine on most 8/4 stock although hard maple is a challenge. For maple I use Forrest WWII 20T rip blade, which gives surprisingly smooth cuts, which I attribute to the fact that this one has ATB teeth rather than the raker teeth on most dedicated rip blades.

[Victor Robinson]

For a ripping blade for thick woods, the Freud 24T LM72 is a good bet. In addition to being a good rip blade for thicker wood, it's also a flat top tooth grind, meaning it's perfect for spline slots etc. because it leaves a flat bottom (most combo blades including the WWII will leave a beveled bottom). Amazon currently has 20% off Freud blades meaning the LM72 is about $48 (you only see the discounted price upon checkout, and make sure you are purchasing from AMZ and not a 3rd party vendor). Not bad.

As for sharpening stones, you can get away with 6000 if you strop. Stropping was one of those things that seemed intimidating to me at first because I had no idea what anyone was talking about. Turns out it's as simple as smearing green compound (sold at Lee Valley, pretty cheap) on a piece of MDF and doing what you'd do with a stone (except instead of going back and forth on the stone just go back, lift, and repeat to avoid dulling the freshly sharpened iron by gouging the MDF).

[Joe A Faulkner]

I agree with Michael Clark - F clamps are not the best choice for a bench build. Given your budget, you probably are looking at pipe clamps. I'd stay away from the super cheap ones you might run into at the tool discount places. I've had decent luck with Pony brand, so long as you use "black" pipe. I much prefer the 3/4" over the 1/2". A little bulkier to work with, but more durable. Be careful letting the bars come in contact with glue squeeze out and your material - an interesting chemical reaction will occur transferring nasty black stains to your work (speaking from experience here).

[Michael W. Clark]

Be careful letting the bars come in contact with glue squeeze out and your material - an interesting chemical reaction will occur transferring nasty black stains to your work (speaking from experience here).

Especially on lighter woods, it is a pain to sand/plane/scrape away. I saw a tip somewhere to put blue painters tape on the part of the pipe that comes in contact with the glue-up. I've been using this method and it works pretty good.

[Jim Riseborough]

spend as much as you can on clamps at menards if there is one around, they have the jorgys on sale right now, about 40% off.

[Jim Andrew]

Just looked at the Menards ad, they have the Jorgenson Cabinet Masters 24" for 21.99, and the 36" for 27.99 . That is the best price on the 24's they have had so far. I have been buying a few each time they have them on sale, just a few 48", more 36 and can't get enough 24". Whenever I glue up a project, the more I have, seems the more I need. Need to remodel to gain some more room to store clamps.

[scott spencer]

I think the WWII 30T or a good 24T FTG like the LM72 would be a better choice. The Freud LM74 is more likely to burn in 2" material, and is less versatile than the WWII 30T. You should still get glue ready edges with a good 24T.

[Dustin Brown]

Thanks for the info guys. I think I'm going to go with the Freud LM72 for now.

I was looking at different 8,000 grit stones and trying to figure out which would be best. I was looking at the king 8,000 grit and the Imanishi 8,000 grit at leevalley. I was leaning towards the Imanishi since it's only $10 more and is larger/thicker. Any reason not to do this or something else to look at? Also considering buying a flattening plate if the drywall sandpaper won't work well with the Imanishi stone. Maybe the DMT 8"x3" 220g?

Highlandwoodworking also carries a Japanese 8,000 grit stone for $50, don't know if this is any good though?

[Matt Day]

I just wanted to share an experience I recently had ripping some 8/4 maple. I didn't have a splitter installed, and ran into some reaction wood which pinched the blade and burned the wood and bogged down the saw. So make sure you have some kind of splitter installed, or use a BS to rip and clean up with the jointer like I did.

[Joe Angrisani]

spend as much as you can on clamps at menards if there is one around, they have the jorgys on sale right now, about 40% off.


Just looked at the Menards ad, they have the Jorgenson Cabinet Masters 24" for 21.99, and the 36" for 27.99.....

Thanks for the Heads-Up, guys. I just got back from one of my Home Depots (Littleton off Santa Fe at Belleview) where I scored some more Cabinet Masters using the Menards ad that I printed out. The Cabinet Master parallel clamps are SUPERB. As some of you may recall, I've used the Menards ad a few times over the years to buy Jorgy C-Ms at Home Depot, despite the closest Menards being 200 miles away in Scottsbluff, NE, and the next-closest over 400 miles away.

So don't be afraid to give it a try at your local Home Depot, Dustin. All I did was print out Page 1 and Page 30 of the "Christmas Catalog" from Menards. Grabbed four 48"-ers for $31.99 each and headed for the checkout. Told the girl at the express lane, "I have a competitors ad from Menards. Will you match it?" I handed her the ad and magically the prices changed from $44.99 each to $31.99 each. In the past I have purchased the 24" at HD with the Menards ad printed out.

I may even go back and buy some more 24"-ers to cut down to 12" since $21.99 is even a great price for the shorties that I really want. Has anyone ever cut and drilled the bar on a Jorgensen Cabinet Master clamp?