Questions and Answers
Teflon-coated Saw Blades
Frequent Reader’s Response contributor George Lathbury, decided to jump into the Teflon coating fray. George pointed out that since Teflon smoothes surfaces, it should also decrease friction and keep heat down. He speculated that this, in turn, would reduce burning and wood swelling from its moisture content boiling out. It seems to him this would be a great boon to hobbyists who don’t have the experience or inclination to fine-tune each cut.
Reader’s Response
Like Jeremy Reid, D.A. Clements uses his old credit cards for spreading glue. But D.A. has gone one step further and uses pinking shears to notch the edge of the cards for use in spreading tile mastic and other adhesives. Since they can be cut any size, they’re very handy in narrow areas when replacing small tiles.
Other Reader Comments
Shopsmiths Forever
We got an Aloha from Roger C. Rule in Hawaii and the saga of his Shopsmiths. He started using his father’s 10ER when he was a boy and, even though he admits its shortcomings (hard to change speeds, so-so table saw) he made good use of it throughout high school and college. In 1983, after a hitch in the Army, and having built up a successful contracting business in California, he and his own son dug it out of storage, stripped it down, buffed the ways, repainted it and sold it for $550. Then he bought his dream machine & a new Mark V with a band saw, jointer, and jigsaw. Knowing the table saw was still the weakest component, he added a combination Robland 10″ sliding table saw (with 10-1/4″ shaper combo) and a 24″ planer/molder/24″ rolling sander combo. For him, these three machines made up a complete shop. Both quality and accuracy were the best, and even the benighted table saw should be viewed in balanced with the space saved by the combination of tools. Now his son has the whole setup and Roger has retired to Hawaii, where he’s anticipating the purchase of his third Shopsmith, supplemented this time with a DeWalt 10″ compound miter saw, Bosch jig saw and a Mini-Max S45 band saw. And, from his experience, he suggests that people just shouldn’t believe all the negative comments they’ve heard about Shopsmith.
Bosch Critique
High school shop teacher, Jon Rufenacht sent in his critique of a couple of Bosch products. He feels the electrical connections to the motor brush on the Bosch 1295 Random orbit sanders are poorly designed. Under heavy use (and abuse), the wire detaches and renders the sander useless. And four of his five Bosch sanders are currently in the repair shop. On the other hand, he’s found Bosch cordless drills fully able to stand up to student use. He suggests that we team up manufactures for some long-term in-school tests.
In Praise of Woodworking
Ed Hardin wrote in to promote the benefits children can derive from woodworking. Learning woodworking from his grandfather (Ed’s father) helped his son overcome a learning disability and grow up into a well-adjusted woodworking minister. His daughter also took an interest in woodworking and he treasures the pieces she created. He suggested that it teaches problem solving, math, patience, responsibility and pride of achievement and that all shop teachers deserve more than a paycheck!
Fold-up Workbench
Canadian Rick Landreville shared his unique idea for a fold-up, garage workbench. On an unused wall, he mounted a solid core pre-hung door sideways on 2″ x 2″ cleats sheathed in pegboard. Then he attached a length of chain to the top and bottom of the door, removed the inside handle and filled in the hole where it had been. Closed up, his folding, lockable workbench sits only 8″ off the wall (leaving plenty of room for his wife’s car), and the pegboard provides ample tool storage.
