So now it looks like I have a nasty case of rhykanitis! Following a lot of recent plane talk with some fellow woodworkers, I had the urge to make yet another plane…

OK, I'm lying!This one is actually a little under 2 ½” long. A real pocket plane….a baby smoother…a tiny trim plane…I decided to call it a fingernail plane :^) I’m just playing now, going smaller and smaller it seems…

The plane iron was made from a piece of broken HSS jointer knife.
Be inspired and make more planes!

Yours in sawdust

Recently I had to show someone his way around a table saw. It got me thinking about sharp blades and shortened fingers….

The table saw is at the heart of any woodworking shop – every piece used, whether solid timber or sheet material, goes through it at least once – and will therefore be in use for more of the time than any other single piece of equipment. Unless you are a turner or scroll sawyer!

Consider the versatility of this machine: it is initially used to rip raw timber, can be used for cross cutting, it will mitre, bevel, groove, rebate, tenon, fingerjoint, house and otherwise joint components. Beyond these basic uses lie hundreds of specialist operations which can be carried out with ingenuity and some jigs. In this way even cove moldings can be formed for example.

The table saw’s design is fundamental and normally has only one exposed moving part – the blade. Although simple, I have seen more fingers removed on these than on any other machine in the shop. This might be due to its simplicity, inviting a lack of care and a disregard for safety that invites the machine to bite back – which it can do with alarming ferocity.

With this in mind, the following few simple guidelines will increase your chances of keeping all 10 fingers:

DOS AND DON'TS:
DO ensure the sawblade is sharp; the resulting cut will be more accurate. A blunt blade will make pushing wood through the saw difficult, increasing the chance of a mishap. It will also give a bad finish and might cause burning of the material.

DON’T rush – take the time to set up properly.

DO wear safety goggles, dustmask and earplugs. I don’t wear any earplugs and 20 years later, I can’t hear my wife complaining any more….

DON’T leave clutter on the bed of the saw. This includes offcuts, tape measures and cups of coffee!

DO use a push stick when running wood through the saw. It is an obvious extension to your hands that won’t drip blood if it accidentally touches the blade. It is easily made out of an offcut – ensure the notch is sufficient to hook over the end of the wood for a firm downwards hold. I have several hanging at the ready on the side of my saw.

DON’T wear loose clothing and if a stranger to the barber like me, tie long hair back and out of the way.

DO set the blade as far above the timber as possible so the cutting action is in a downwards direction against the bed – a blade set to low will tend to force the timber back towards the operator. Too high a blade exposes more teeth for potentially taking fingers so try to find a balance, keeping all this in mind! If possible stand slightly to one side of the cutting line so that if the timber does come shooting back, it won’t ruin your manly (or womanly) parts.

DON’T work with the table saw when tired, unfocused or in a hurry. Every single accident I’ve had has been with at least one of those factors in play. Mostly at the end of the day when I’m tired or rushing to meet a deadline…I still have all 10 although some of them are a little crooked and scarred!

DO make sure the fence is locked down firmly. Recently I was cutting some shallow grooves in a batten. I didn’t lock the fence down (unfocused!) and as I did the cut, unbeknown to me, the fence moved. I managed to cut neat grooves in two of my fingers! Lady luck was on my side, the blade only protruded about 3mm above the bed at the time!

DON’T pull out those loose slivers that sometimes lodge themselves beside the blade until the machine has stopped running.

DO make sure that the OFF switch is very accessible and easily switched off. I can switch off my saw with my knee, thus I can keep my eyes and hands on the table. Fitting a homemade wooden hinged paddle can facilitate this.

Guards and riving knifes.
Although a lot gets said about blade guards and riving knifes in safety circles, the reality is that the table saws in most shops don’t have these, for various reasons. The main function of the riving knife is to prevent the wood from binding or pinching the blade. If you don’t have one or can’t fit one, have a shallow wooden wedge handy. If the wood you are cutting moves and starts binding the blade, shove it into the cut behind the blade to force the pieces apart until the cut is done.

Cross cutting.
Never, ever, cross-cut so that the off cut is trapped between the blade and the fence. Always dimension timber from the free side of the blade using a stop on the cross-cut fence and clear off cuts with the push stick immediately.

Follow these guidelines and not only will your chances of finger survival increase but the accuracy and quality of cuts will also improve. Nuff said!

Hi all, I just joined woodspark and hope this is the appropriate place to post this kind of thing. I am an avid wood worker and am fortunate enough to just have moved into a house which has space for a proper workshop. I am busy stocking up on machines and I unfortunately think in my excitement may have made some mistakes in choosing what to spend my precious money on. I went out and bought a Bosch GCM12SD mitre saw, thinking with it I could get by with my Ryobi table saw. The Bosch machine is great but I am wondering if I should have spent the money on upgrading the Ryobi table saw to something more accurate.
I have been looking around for a second hand cabinet/table saw and wanted to see what you guys can recommend.

Hi everybody, I am looking for a thicknesser, my budget is no more than R6000......call me 0765305954

I enjoy cutting dovetails by hand and I enjoy making my own tools. This little gauge was fun to make. I hack sawed the brass shape from 1/8” stock and cleaned it up with a file. I riveted it to a hardwood guide block with two copper nails. The one end has a 1:5 slope, suitable for softwoods, while the other end is 1:8 for hardwoods. I have now dreamt up the Mark II version but still have to make the time to do it….

To finally have my shop and to finish things with ease. I cannot describe in words.

This plane was built for a friend of mine who showed me that he had the same appreciation and passion for tools as I have. It completes the commision of which the panelplane was the first part.The family: Kunz toyplane in front, from left 1/4. 1/2 and Stanley no.1

A while back I posted a pic of large slab of wood I was planing and mentioned that I didn’t have a scrub plane. Today I visited my brother in spirit who also happens to be a serious tool collector amongst many other things. I hardly had a chance to light my pipe before he asked me to close my eyes and hold out my hands.
“A gift for you”. In my hands was a wooden scrub plane! Now I had seen the metal Stanley scrub planes but a wooden plane to me is rather special. To make it even more special, this one is a one off, made by some craftsman who knows when. Call me romantic but there is only one like it in the whole wide world! What can a plane like this tell if it could speak?

I spent some time with the plane tonight. Upon truing the sole I discovered that the plane body is made out of a solid block of Kiaat. I wanted to retain the patina that only old wood can have, so I just scraped the sides a little to take of some paint drops and grime.
I gave the wooden parts some time with steel wool before giving it a coat of Danish oil. The letters DJO is stamped onto the body, no doubt the craftsman’s initials. I wonder what it stands for?
I’m no expert but the blade looks forged to me, nice and thick as well. It needed some work so I flattened the back first. This was done by laying wet-or-dry sandpaper on a thick piece of glass, then working the blade back and forth, using some paraffin as lubricant. By progressively using finer grits, one can obtain a mirror finish. I only got as far as 220 before curiosity got the better of me. I wanted to use the plane!
There was a small nick in the blade so I had to grind that curved bevel some. Not as straight forward as a straight blade but I got a very nice edge by swinging the blade through an arc as I grind. Then to the stone and the strop.

The last thing I did before switching off the shop lights was the test drive, the reason for all the work above - to see those shavings curl, to hear the sound of wood being planed with a sharp plane. I will sleep well tonight.

Thank you brother!