How do I make this cut?

[Dan Lautner]

I have an 18 foot long redwood window sill that I want to cut at a slight angle shown in the photo. Any idea how to do this?

Thanks, Dan


51397

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Dan..........I'd make a router jig with a 5 degree slope to it and use a flat cutting router bit. I'd make the jig say 2' long and cut to finish 2 feet at a time; move the jig...route 2 more feet.

Good luck!

[Kristian Wild]

I'd say vertically on the table saw. leave a bit of extra so you can do a clean-up pass across the jointer afterwards. As far as making the little right angled notch at the top it is probably easier to do it before hand with a dado blade, the wood oriented horizontally. You could do it afterwards though too.

Kris

Wait a sec. The length is your problem right? I was thing in our shop it would work fine. Pull the tools into the driveway?

[Dan Lautner]

Kristian, your idea sounds good but that vertical cut would be like 7". The router method seems good but might take a long time because I have more than one of these to do. Thanks for all the good advice

Dan

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Dan..............You could use a combination of both methods.

Use the t/s to make the intial cut...as much as possible and leave yourself a little extra thickness. Use a circular saw to make a vertical cut to finish removing the t/s cut material. Then use the router to clean up the little "extra" you left with the t/s and finish the rest of cut with the router. Thus the bulk of the material could be removed using the t/s and the c/s.

How about making a jig to hold the material and using a hand held electric planer?

[Ed Blough]

I have an 18 foot long redwood window sill that I want to cut at a slight angle shown in the photo. Any idea how to do this?

Thanks, Dan


51397

You want a 7 inch cut and it can be cut only from one side with the design you presently have.

Unless you want to hand plane the cut I think the only way is slightly modify the angle to allow you to cut the bevel on a band saw clearing the vertical of the notch or make sill in two pieces.

Is there any reason the angle couldn't be steepened slightly? Just messing with a paper and pencil it seems if the angle was increased a few to degrees you could easily cut the angle on a bandsaw with the table tilted.

[Dan Lautner]

Ed, The angle could be increased a bit. I have my eye on a new bandsaw at the moment so this could be the final incentive. Is that a hard cut to make considering the length of the piece?

Thanks, Dan

[Andy Hoyt]

I agree with Ed.

Modify the design such that the sloped area's plane extends beyond/higher than the high point of the square portion.

But at 18' long (and assuming it has to stay that way) it's gonna be a bear to control properly on a bandsaw - at least it would on mine. I'd build a sloped sled/jig thingie and run it through a planer to remove the bulk of the stock. Finesse with handtools afterwards.

[Mark Singer]

I just made a similar cut for the sofa on the bandsaw ...check the thread

[Frank Hagan]

I'd be tempted to do this with a handheld power planer to rough dimensions, then finish with a block plane. That's because my shop is only 20' long, and I can't imagine trying to wrestle a 18' long piece of stock through any of my machines (even with the garage ... er, shop ... door open).

[glenn bradley]

If the angle can be increased to clear the lip at the right in your drawing, I'd build a sub-table for your planer and run this through. The sub-table would clamp to your existing platen and infeed/outfeed tables, have a 97-98* angled bed. With proper support at the infeed and outfeed (read 'lots of it') you should be able to maintain control of the material. A neighbor to catch while you feed wouldn't hurt either.

[Jerry Dickens]

Two passes on the table saw would do it I think. First to make lip and second cut with blade at a 5 or 10 degree angle to put that on the face below the frist cut.

[Richard McComas]

I have made large bevels like this on my planer. I attach a narrow strip of the appropriate thickness (to get the amount of bevel I need) on one side of the bottom edge of the stock. In your case I would make this in two pieces. Make the bevel first and the add the top piece to make the 90* notch.

I could make a drawing in AutoCad but I don’t know how to post that kind of file.

[Marcus Carr]

I don't know if you have done this yet, but it is an easy cut to make with a planer.

You would build a base that slides into the planer to keep it at an angle while you feed it through. I use a 12" wide board, three feet long and tack a stick to one side.

I will attach a quick picture. The red is the jig, the blue is your sill.

Marcus

[Dan Gill]

If you don't want to modify the angle, consider removing the rectangular section at the top right, then gluing a piece back on after cutting the angle. I like the planer method better than anything else for cutting the angle. Let us know how you get it done.

[Kent Parker]

Dan,

First, I'm impressed you have a 12" x 3.5" x 18' piece of redwood:eek:

With large planks I would tend to think of a way to cut it without having to pick it up too often as moving this much mass and weight increases the chance of cutting error.

I can see making the first cut with a skill saw that would make the vertical cut to the left of your profile sketch. Continuing to the left with your cuts will eventually provide the small area of horizontal surface. This could be followed by a router cut to clean it up. No sense using a router bit to cut this much wood. Use a skill saw, its got more teeth and cuts faster.

The bevel could be could be cut with an electric plane very quickly and then smoothed up with a joiner plane. The small horizontal area (its right edge) would be the stopping point for the bevel cut.

Piece of cake! Just make sure the plank is fully supported so that it is straight and true.

Cheers,

Kent

[Mike Seals]

I've used the planer method with good results and completed rather quickly. I'll attach (lift) a small piece to the edge I want the slant on and run it through.

[Frank Chaffee]

Dan,
I realize this thread is old and understand that you have likely completed the sill, but still, I offer how I would do this. Your attached drawing does not contain all necessary information, but holding a straightedge to the sill slope does show that it cannot be cut with a bandsaw or planer.
• Align guided cut rail (Festool or EZ), near the outside edge of the sill, and by layout or calculation, set sawblade depth just shy of desired finish cut.
• Move the rail inwards and the sawblade depth shallower incrementally. All the wood will not need to be removed. Wood that remains may be knocked out with a hammer.
• Incline the sill by means of a shim under the outside edge, so the plane of the finished decline is level.
• Build a router sled and route the decline smooth.
• Again using a guided rail, route the final portion of the top surface.

Frank

[Bill Wyko]

Put a wedge under one side and pass it through a drum sander a few times.:D

[Frank Chaffee]

Put a wedge under one side and pass it through a drum sander a few times.:D
Bill, note that the plane of the slope intersects the level land at the top (inner portion), of the sill.