Today’s Woodworker
Sandor Nagyszalanczy
James writes to thank us for our article on Sandor Nagyszalanczy. He’s found Sandor’s books to be fun reading, informative, and useful for his woodworking and found it interesting to read how he got his start. Robert Hutchins also enjoyed the article but asked if someone could please provide a phonetic pronunciation of his surname.
Toolmaker Insider
Downdrafter
Our article on the Downdrafter prompted Robert Ambrose to write. If it works, he declared, it would be just what he’s been looking for to deal with the dust problem of his sliding miter saw … at $50 to $75. But at $299, he doesn’t think it’s an affordable solution. In fact, as he’s gotten more involved in woodworking and equipping his shop over the past few years, he’s seen more and more woodworking “gadgets” with what he calls “ridiculous prices.” Though he appreciates that inventors have to recover their costs, he feels many of them don’t justify the price.
Questions and Answers
Difference Between Mineral Spirits and Paint Thinner
According to Doug Ables, paint thinner and mineral spirits are essentially the same product, but mineral spirits have been refined at least one more step to make it odorless.
Drifting While Ripping
Len Gibson generally uses an adjustable outfeed roller to pick up the cut pieces. He’s noticed that if the roller is not perpendicular to the blade, the piece pulls away from the fence during ripping. This also means, he added, that off-square aligning can be used to deliberately pull the materials against the fence.
When to Build a Fence to Protect a Fence
Larry D. Lilly did not completely agree with our experts’ advice. In his shop, whenever the fence is used for a cutoff or multiple cutoffs, he always has the miter on the same side of the blade that the cutoff is being done. According to Larry, with the wood cutoff and the miter both going between the blade and the fence, the kickback problem is eliminated. For cuts that are too short and won’t allow the miter to pass between the blade and fence, he uses the cutoff saw.
Reader’s Response
Is It Home Improvement or Woodworking?
H. Perry Hock was sorry he missed an opportunity to share his opinion on Rob’s question. To Perry, home improvement means doing home maintenance, repair, or improvement on the structure itself. As the DIY’ers skill increases, he or she might take on the role of a finish carpenter … doing trim work, encasing windows, or doing detailed wood installation. The woodworker skills, however, are beyond that of a finish carpenter. Put another way … a woodworker builds a bookshelf, but installing built-in bookshelves is home improvement.
Other Reader Comments
At first we thought Ken Goodell was mad at us, but we soon realized he’d just sent a copy of a letter he’d sent to the organizers of the “The Woodworking Show.” Seems he’d read that “Spouses get in free” at the show, but after driving 65 miles to attend the Kansas City show, he was informed that he should have printed out a coupon from the site to get the free pass. Ken complained there was nothing on the site that indicates he had to print anything out.
