Fence Straddling

[Richard Gillespie]

Straddling a fence could be painful if you are short in the leg. It's a good thing I don't have that problem.

I love the use of my hand tools and use them every chance I get. I also appreciate the speed of my power tools and therefore don't want to get rid of them.

I'm well into building a bookcase for the second granddaughter. It will be a duplicate of one I built for the first. I've been gluing up 4/4 Ash into panels after surfacing. My 6" jointer is badly in need of new blades but I haven't been able to loosen the hold down bolts. I called the factory and was told to make some case hardened cut nails into mini chisels and use them to start the bolts. I haven't done that yet.

One reason I haven't fixed the jointer is I'm having too much fun using a #7 jointer hand plane to sweeten the joints. There is so much pleasure gained from the use of hand tools if you can spare the time. The other reason for not fixing the jointer is my biggest sin, procrastination. It's only needed the new blades for two years.

[harry strasil]

Richard, not knowing what kind of bolts you are trying to loosen, take a punch and rap the tops several times with a hammer, not too hard as you don't want to damage the bearings. If they are allen head bolts use a brass or soft steel punch on the heads or a punch that will fit in the allen hole. Another alternative is to heat up an iron rod a little smaller than the head to a bright red heat with a propane torch or other means and set on the bolt head and hold down till it cools off a dull red, then quickly try to unscrew them. watch out for fire. both of these methods will give a little clearance so the bolt will not be so tight.

irnsrgn

[Richard Gillespie]

Harry;

I appreciate the advice. These bolts are tightened in reverse of what you would normally think of. By that I mean that the threaded part sits in a bar and the bar is forced against the blade by backing the bolt out till it makes contact with the cutter head. To loosen these bolts you have to turn them clockwise. On top of that there is very little room to fit the wrench between the bar and cutter head.