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Bigger is better?


NMBob

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Hi all!

 

I'm going to start cutting out the blanks for my next box tonight or tomorrow. They are all patteren'ed up and ready to go. I want to do two 3/4" oak layers at a time. Will I want to use a bigger/thicker/higher number blade for that? A #3 seemed to work well for one layer.

 

I'm going to work on cutting out a sign for New Mexico first (1/4" poplar). All you dang sign cutting people are distracting me from my primary purpose! :) I'm looking at it as good cutting practice.

 

Thanks!

 

Bob

 

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And you're Kevin's accomplice! :) Thanks.

 

That one's a Frankenstein. The New Mexico and the lines are done in one program, exported as a picture, then sucked into another one, where the The Land Of Enchantment is added as a font, because the white area around the letters can be added in that program, but not the first one...but I think I just figured out a good way to do the lines in the second program. I hope it prints OK. The edges of everything are a little fuzzy on the screen when I blow it up. I have another drawing program that I haven't tried yet.

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Hi all!

 

I'm going to start cutting out the blanks for my next box tonight or tomorrow. They are all patteren'ed up and ready to go. I want to do two 3/4" oak layers at a time. Will I want to use a bigger/thicker/higher number blade for that? A #3 seemed to work well for one layer.

 

I'm going to work on cutting out a sign for New Mexico first (1/4" poplar). All you dang sign cutting people are distracting me from my primary purpose! :) I'm looking at it as good cutting practice.

 

Thanks!

 

Bob

I use  #5 polar blades from Flying Dutchmen to cut 3/4" up to 1  3/4" stock.

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Ya got a challenge. I've done 1 1/8 inch. Not easy.

You'll have a better chance of success if the Oak is rotten. :D

 

I'm not sure what this is. It's that oak shelf material or something that comes planed and squared and wrapped in plastic. It seems kind of "dry" and not really very dense to me.  I have another 1/4" x 6 or 7" plank that I bought up in Albuquerque. Other than oak they weren't even really sure what it is. It's very dense. There's hardly any grain. That I don't think I'd be able to cut an inch and a half of. It gets used for the bottom of the box. 1 1/8", eh?  OK. I'll keep an eye out for flying pieces of blade. If it gets all screwed up I've got extra wood. :) Thanks!

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Cut thick material  like that at a slow saw speed and very slow feed rate.  This works best for me.

 

Roger, Roger. I didn't get to it last night. I was fooling with that SIGN project! (my life is ruined :)) Tonight.

I looked, but I have #3 polars, not 5. I'll just go extra slow. I was obsessed with small blades before I knew anything.

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Roger, Roger. I didn't get to it last night. I was fooling with that SIGN project! (my life is ruined :)) Tonight.

I looked, but I have #3 polars, not 5. I'll just go extra slow. I was obsessed with small blades before I knew anything.

 I understand! (I think I do). You will (should)(probably)(maybe) go thru a lot of #3's because

you need to keep sharp ones cutting.

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 I understand! (I think I do). You will (should)(probably)(maybe) go thru a lot of #3's because

you need to keep sharp ones cutting.

Yup. You all said smart stuff, and I didn't listen. :)

 

Almost threw my saw across our warehouse last night. I DID put one finished layer for my box on the floor and stomp it into pieces and throw it in the trash with the other two pieces.  Nothing went well.

 

Cutting that oak in two layers didn't work with any blade or skill I had. I was going so slowly that I kept smelling smoke. Tried different blades. Tried different speeds. Where the blade was at the top of the block of wood didn't match where the blade was at the bottom of the block. So that was two pieces ruined. Broke a blade or two. I have blades "for thick wood", but didn't try them. I'm not sure they can handle the corners. Anyway, I ain't going to do that anymore.

 

Then I just couldn't hold the line when I decided to cut the only piece out of the four that was left ready to cut. That's the one I stomped when I got it finished.

 

I have to decide if I will just cut a new blank out of the wood I have or get a new 1x6 piece and cut and repattern all four layers. I already have one box where the grain patterns in the top layer don't match the rest. I'll have to drive a bit for a new piece. That's probably what I'll do, though.

 

Didn't EVEN go near the sign. That would have been toast in half a letter with the way things were going.

 

New story for this box: http://www.greschke.com/woods/box2.html

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Yup. You all said smart stuff, and I didn't listen.  

 

Bob, I understand. It's tough to cut 'thick' wood.

Everything has to be right, the right blade, the right speed, the right feed rate,

getting up on the right side of the bed,

Have you tried drilling out as much as possible?

One thing I did was to cut a short space then cut a tiny circle to turn the blade 180

and cut back.

 

You said: ' I'm not sure they can handle the corners

The corners should be cut last... or cleaned up later.

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Bob, I understand. It's tough to cut 'thick' wood.

Everything has to be right, the right blade, the right speed, the right feed rate,

getting up on the right side of the bed,

Have you tried drilling out as much as possible?

One thing I did was to cut a short space then cut a tiny circle to turn the blade 180

and cut back.

 

You said: ' I'm not sure they can handle the corners

The corners should be cut last... or cleaned up later.

 

Yup. It's sure tricky. I didn't do any smart thing you just said.

 

I could have done all of the fancy cutting moves to do corners and stuff, but I was thinking more about how much cleanup work I had to do last time (just because of lousy cutting) and was trying to avoid that.  Now I know better.  I'm also thinking about just not cutting right on the lines on purpose and leaving a little bit of stuff that has to be sanded off. That would give me a little wiggle room until I'm good enough to do it right the first time.

 

If I get up on the left side of the bed I'll hit the wall, so I think I'm good there.

 

I'm learnin'. :)

 

Thanks!

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