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Thread: MDF, Baltic Birch, and neader tools for them?

  1. #16
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    Quote Originally Posted by Matt Lau View Post
    FWIW, I really hate working with MDF. The fine dust and the formaldehyde scares the crap out of me.
    Nothing that you buy in the Bay Area is going to be all that bad in terms of formaldehyde (unless your supplier does what Lumber Liquidators did and simply lies about whether their materials are CARB-compliant).

  2. #17
    Matt my friend - the glues used in plywood and mdf are the least of your worries unless you are burning the stuff... There is far more carcinogenic stuff in redwood and WRC.... And Cocobolo rosewood is infamous as a horrible allergy sensitizer and is well known for causing some really nasty problems. How do you suppose these woods stay so bug and fungus free? Natural poison in the wood...

    And while these new urethane varnishes are supposedly better for VOC compliance - people have reported some really nasty side effects (splitting headaches and such) they never experienced with old fashioned short oil varnishes.

    Sorry to be a debbie downer... But even natural things can be pretty nasty...

  3. #18
    Thanks for the tips guys.

    FWIW, I don't work in Cocobolo (despite it's beauty). I didn't know that stuff about redwood and WRC, too bad half of my tops are WRC and one is a lucky strike redwood top!

    I think that I'm not as worried about solid woods because I thought it was "natural"--I was thinking of pine, ash, birch, maple anyways.
    My resolution is to try and get away from Ikea, and to make my own stuff as needed...mostly by hand...mostly in solid wood.
    However, I'm a bit of a klutz and stumbling about at this stuff...have yet to do my first dovetail.

    I think my first project will be sort of a take on Roy Underhill's folding workbench.
    Except that it'll be used mostly as a desk, and for light woodworking as needed.

    And in the future, maybe a Roubo? Part of me wants to make do. Part of me wants to be exuberant.

  4. #19
    In the meantime, would someone recommend an okay chisel under $50 that wouldn't completely fracture under the demands of plywood/MDF?

    On my short list is Narex, Stanley Sweetheart, and the Mujingfang HSS chisels.
    I'll probably save up for some of Stan's HSS (Hap40?) chisels if I ever get to building guitars with Carbon fiber bracing.

  5. #20
    Stanley Fat Max or Marples blue handle (non-steel cap). I would just buy individual chisels rather than a set... But it's hard to pass up the Marples set around 6/$55 or the Blue BORG Stanley 4 for $30. Dewalt is the same as Stanley - available at Orange BORG for around 4/$30. All these are quality chisels that will do well enough and can be sharpened on your existing setup. A night in your deep freezer does miracles for the Marples....

    If you don't want rubberized plastic handles with internal steel shanks - the Bailey chisels are the same steel as the Stanley.. They have wood handles and the longer Standard length blades vs the shorter butt length blades....

    I would start with no less than a 30 degree microbevel.... Perhaps move up to 35 if you need to....

    I think the Stanley might edge the Marples for use in MDF and plywood...

    I was chopping hardwoods like mahogany and oak with the Stanley Fat Max using a 4# deadblow mallet (30 degree microbevel) and was not seeing edge rolling or chipping.. It would just whomp right through... That's one heck of a beating that destroyed the edges of lesser chisels...
    Last edited by John C Cox; 04-10-2018 at 4:59 PM.

  6. #21
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    Quote Originally Posted by Matt Lau View Post
    In the meantime, would someone recommend an okay chisel under $50 that wouldn't completely fracture under the demands of plywood/MDF?

    On my short list is Narex, Stanley Sweetheart, and the Mujingfang HSS chisels.
    I'll probably save up for some of Stan's HSS (Hap40?) chisels if I ever get to building guitars with Carbon fiber bracing.
    So to be clear, HAP40 is Hitachi's powdered-metal M4 HSS variant. It's basically the same composition as standard M4, but with finer grain structure due to PM processing.

    I think that HSS is the right way to go for this use. The carbides in M4 range up to almost Rc90 in hardness, and confer better abrasion resistance than any HCS or Chromium-based alloy. I wouldn't want to risk anything as expensive as those HAP40 chisels on this sort of work, though, so of the tools you listed I'd go with the Muji HSS. While I ordinarily dislike non-PM HSS tools, this is an exception.

    With that said, you should try chiseling a bit of MDF with an existing chisel (a little bit won't do too much damage :-) just to see if it's something you want to be doing. The stuff fractures in unpredictable ways when you drive wedges into it, to the point where I've long since given up on trying.
    Last edited by Patrick Chase; 04-10-2018 at 4:53 PM.

  7. #22
    Thanks. I might do that.

  8. #23
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    I cut plywood with white steel chisels, they do fine but usually need to be sharpened after.
    Bumbling forward into the unknown.

  9. #24
    Thanks!

    Fwiw, I think that I'll try to move to working with solid wood instead of mdf or plywood (except jigs or speaker boxes).

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