Jim Dwight
02-22-2022, 11:03 AM
I'm making my son and daughter-in-law a large cabinet to improve storage in their laundry area. It is about 5.5 x 4x 2 feet. The cabinet is together and I am working on the face frame. They plan to paint the cabinet so I am using maple (durable and I hate to think of them painting cherry). So I needed to cut a maple board I had on hand to 1 7/8 wide pieces, their kitchen has a 1 7/8 face frame on the cabinets and is adjacent to the laundry. I actually have two maple boards but am reserving the nicer one with straighter grain for the doors. So the board I used has a pretty good sized knot near one end but still gave me plenty of wood.
Now I know that maple burns at the slightest provocation and a dirty blade is more than enough provocation. But I didn't bother to clean my table saw blade. I also know that I get a better straight edge on boards using my track saw than I do with my table saw. But I did not initially use it either. I just frustrated myself using my dirty bladed table saw to make slightly non-straight pieces. I tried just changing blades but the one I put on was not very clean either. Fortunately I did switch quickly to cutting the first edge with the track saw - which has a decently clean blade on it. But as a result of my messing around the face frame will be 1 13/16 wide instead of 1 7/8. Not a big deal.
I also found a new way to mess up. I tried just cutting both edges of these narrow strips with the track saw but I was cutting on a sheet of foam insulation and I think that let the pieces tilt during the cut and the edge was not at right angles to the face. I've never noticed that before. Switching to scrap plywood for a sacrificial layer probably would have solved it but I just switch back to the table saw for the second cut. I used a clean combination blade on a piece and by then the cleaner had cleaned my rip blade and I put it on. So the last several cuts went fine. Clean rip blade works much better.
Humbling to have to relearn to clean my blades and use the right tool for the job, not what is easiest to use.
I also noticed that the area closer to the knot was less stable but I anticipated that and it did not contribute significantly to my issues.
I am taking a short rest before cutting the pieces to length and putting domino mortises in the joints. I think I will have room to also put a pocket screw in each joint so I do not to mess with large clamps. I'm planning to take the face frame to their house in pieces and fit the two sides to the walls before putting the face frame together. So the horizontal pieces will be left about 1/8 long.
Now I know that maple burns at the slightest provocation and a dirty blade is more than enough provocation. But I didn't bother to clean my table saw blade. I also know that I get a better straight edge on boards using my track saw than I do with my table saw. But I did not initially use it either. I just frustrated myself using my dirty bladed table saw to make slightly non-straight pieces. I tried just changing blades but the one I put on was not very clean either. Fortunately I did switch quickly to cutting the first edge with the track saw - which has a decently clean blade on it. But as a result of my messing around the face frame will be 1 13/16 wide instead of 1 7/8. Not a big deal.
I also found a new way to mess up. I tried just cutting both edges of these narrow strips with the track saw but I was cutting on a sheet of foam insulation and I think that let the pieces tilt during the cut and the edge was not at right angles to the face. I've never noticed that before. Switching to scrap plywood for a sacrificial layer probably would have solved it but I just switch back to the table saw for the second cut. I used a clean combination blade on a piece and by then the cleaner had cleaned my rip blade and I put it on. So the last several cuts went fine. Clean rip blade works much better.
Humbling to have to relearn to clean my blades and use the right tool for the job, not what is easiest to use.
I also noticed that the area closer to the knot was less stable but I anticipated that and it did not contribute significantly to my issues.
I am taking a short rest before cutting the pieces to length and putting domino mortises in the joints. I think I will have room to also put a pocket screw in each joint so I do not to mess with large clamps. I'm planning to take the face frame to their house in pieces and fit the two sides to the walls before putting the face frame together. So the horizontal pieces will be left about 1/8 long.