I made a bunch of Joints!

[JohnnyEgo]

Built out of a 5x5 sheet of Baltic Birch ply about three months ago. The fence and T-track are made by Kreg. I made it because I wanted my 8 year old to be able to help me cut some things without giving me a heart attack. However, I wish I had built it 20 years ago. It's fast, repeatable, accurate, and lets me safely cross-cut much larger stock. But it really shines in letting me work safely with really small parts that would be better cut by the bandsaw I don't have. I just googled 'crosscut sled' and mostly followed the one built by King Woodworking on their YouTube channel, though I added the dust collection port on the blade guard block.



I rounded mine off and stenciled in huge warning signs to minimize the possibility of my kid getting splinters or running his hands into the saw blade. But they don't have to be that much effort. All you really need is two flat surfaces 90 degrees to the blade and each other. The back fence doesn't matter at all. A simple cross-cut sled set up right can make one as accurate with a $100 Harbor Freight table saw as I am with my $3K Sawstop.

[brutal]

Built out of a 5x5 sheet of Baltic Birch ply about three months ago. The fence and T-track are made by Kreg. I made it because I wanted my 8 year old to be able to help me cut some things without giving me a heart attack. However, I wish I had built it 20 years ago. It's fast, repeatable, accurate, and lets me safely cross-cut much larger stock. But it really shines in letting me work safely with really small parts that would be better cut by the bandsaw I don't have. I just googled 'crosscut sled' and mostly followed the one built by King Woodworking on their YouTube channel, though I added the dust collection port on the blade guard block.


I rounded mine off and stenciled in huge warning signs to minimize the possibility of my kid getting splinters or running his hands into the saw blade. But they don't have to be that much effort. All you really need is two flat surfaces 90 degrees to the blade and each other. The back fence doesn't matter at all. A simple cross-cut sled set up right can make one as accurate with a $100 Harbor Freight table saw as I am with my $3K Sawstop.

Thanks. I made extensions for the crosscut/mitre gauge that came with my saw (a $500 Dewalt large portable), but it's not always accurate enough 90* cuts for some things.

I'd also like to build an extension for cutting larger pieces, instead of trying to drag them on the rip fence while using the crosscut mitre gauge starting off table.

[brutal]

I cringed at a few of his procedures, but like a lot of what this guy did and he didn't build a triple thick deck - something that is overkill for my saw and self abilities.

[JohnnyEgo]

That looks very similar to Kings one I copied. I passed on the insert design because I use a router more often to make my cross dados for a cleaner cut. When I do need to make a bunch of dados, I usually just super-glue a couple of pieces of scrap to do the job.


I do like his idea of the left-handed tape. It had to be a pain to apply it though, as you only get one crack at putting it down in the appropriate relation to the left-hand side. Or perhaps he made another indicator for the stop.

One word of caution I learned the hard way, just in case you aren't already aware; it's a bad idea to use the miter gauge and fence at the same time on a cross-cut piece. That is because as the cut side drags along the fence, it can shift angle minutely such that it binds against the blade and the fence.
If you keep on trying to power through the cut, it can bind the blade completely. Or even worse, it can release unexpectedly and catastrophically. In my case some 20 years ago, it did just that, and that is why I can only give a movie 1 3/4 thumbs up, and my parents still talk about the Christmas of 98.

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I spent most of today watching my son, Dick Cheney Jr, shooting other kids in the face at a laser-tag birthday party. So not much to show, but frankly, there isn't much left to be shown.

Assembled all the finished pieces into a bunch of little boxes:


Attatched the mag blocks to the simple bases:


And put the mag boxes on the stands:


I'll try to take some better pictures when the sun is out tomorrow.

I learned a couple lessons on this one. One is that they mean it when they recommend not planing things less than a foot long. But more specific to the project, I will most likely make my mag blanks out of walnut or similarly dark hardwood in the future. The maple ones look nice, but they show every bit of dirt, grease, and unburnt carbon that was inside the magwell of a dirty 1911. In fact, I'm tempted to glue patches to them and call them magwell cleaning accessories.

I plan to use what I learned to build a couple of higher-density pistol racks and mag boxes so I can finally get my safe and accessory shelves to quit looking like my 9 year old's closet after I tell him to clean his room. This was a fun and relatively quick project to execute over a couple hours a night, without having to open the garage door. I also love my new Jointer-Planer. I worried that I spent so much on a very specific tool that is way overkill for my needs, but it is an absolute joy to use. And now that I can face-joint planks up to 16" wide, I can go nuts in the rough lumber section of the local supplier without hesitation. Very happy.

[brutal]

One word of caution I learned the hard way, just in case you aren't already aware; it's a bad idea to use the miter gauge and fence at the same time on a cross-cut piece. That is because as the cut side drags along the fence, it can shift angle minutely such that it binds against the blade and the fence.

If you keep on trying to power through the cut, it can bind the blade completely. Or even worse, it can release unexpectedly and catastrophically. In my case some 20 years ago, it did just that, and that is why I can only give a movie 1 3/4 thumbs up, and my parents still talk about the Christmas of 98.

Yea, am aware of the bind (which also causes the cuts to be off) and have only done it occasionally on the wide boards that cause me to use the mitre gauge off the deck. It's usually soft woods or chip/pressed or mdf but I probably should have used a clamped straight edge and skill saw, but my skill saw is pretty wobbly.

I know of the thumb game. Took a good good chunk of mine out on a router when I was a lad and forcing the piece through. Not quite down to the bone, and it surprisingly grew back in.

[brutal]

Have you ever stuck your good thumb into the blade of the sawstop to see if it really works?

[JohnnyEgo]

Nope, but it scared the shit out of me and cost me $80 when it found the remnants of a staple in a piece of wood once. Loud bang, purple flash, and the blade was gone long before I realized what happened. So I know it activates fast.

[BladesNBarrels]

Well, before the horror stories, I was inspired to get back into wood working projects.
I have been searching for Router Tables and Miter Saws.

My last project was building drawers for the knife safe, and I could use more.
I really like the display for the magazine fed firearms and that would be a great project.

Materials after preliminary cutting:


Creating drawer shapes:


Assembly and paint:


Fitted into safe:


100 lb full extension slides:


Drawer bottoms lined with felt and labels inserted:

[JohnnyEgo]

Very nicely executed! I like the half-lap drawers. I tell myself all the time that I am going to do something similar in my safe. But then I never get around to it. Perhaps this will be the year!

[BladesNBarrels]

Very nicely executed! I like the half-lap drawers. I tell myself all the time that I am going to do something similar in my safe. But then I never get around to it. Perhaps this will be the year!

Thanks.
I built a prototype drawer using a dovetail jig. It took a long time and I wasn't too pleased with my craftsmanship.
I had a stacking dado blade for my construction grade portable table saw and figured with some trial-and-error I could tweak it enough for the rabbet joints.
Glue and brads worked well, and the drawer bottoms added square and strength.
The prototypes were made with plywood, but I found mdf was stable and cut consistently well, and was cheap for the number of drawers I was making. It was heavier, but that didn't matter.
I had a small Craftsman Bench Router Table with a decades old router and it was good enough to round the edges.
I will pick up some better equipment if I start doing more wood-working.