Nothing Severed Yet

3-for-1 tool review special from guest author Kevin

Kevin is a woodworker in San Jose, CA. He mostly works with smaller hand power tools. Most of his projects to date are home-improvement related, but he's starting to tackle some serious furniture construction. His background is in engineering, and we spent many long nights together in the subterranean machine shops of Harvey Mudd College. His non-woodworking jobs include a position at Amdocs and cofounder of Curosoft. --dan

Here are some of my favorite tools:

1)
Have you tried the Porter Cable variable tooth saw blade? Maybe it is just that I upgraded for an old worn out blade to a new sharp blade but I am amazed by the cutting. My wussy little 10" craftsman table saw was having a very hard time cutting the 3/4" oak for my shelving. My friend kept telling me a 10" saw was never going to have the umph to deal with oak. I kept arguing that size doesn't matter. (That's what my girlfriend keeps reassuring me). It's horsepower and blade quality. (yeah bigger saws usually have bigger motors but it's the motor not the blade size that counts.) So I bought the Porter Cable variable tooth blade and now... like butter. When the wood is passed through you almost don't hear it cutting. The wood just disappears, it's almost freaky. The cut quality is just amazing, the cut comes out looking sanded it's so smooth. Not having tried any other new blades I can't compare it but I can't imagine any blade being better (except maybe longevity which is unknown). For $35 who care about longevity, if it wears out, buy a new one.

The New Woodworker did a good review of it here, too.

2)
I also like my husky portable air compressor.

It's as far from industrial strength as you can get. But that's what's so great. It's exactly what I wanted. Small, quiet and cheap. It doesn't take up valuable shop space, the sound doesn't annoy the neighbors or the S.O. and it's portable. The only drawback is the lack of power but look closely at the ratings and you'll notice it's not as far behind larger compressors as you'd expect. This demure unit will produce 2 SCFM @ 90psi and 3 @ 40. That only starts being beaten when you compare it to 5 gallon units. I particularly like how quiet it is (not silent but quiet for a compressor) and it's portable. It even has wheels and a retractable handle like a suitcase. I am using quick connect fittings so when in my garage I have it plumbed to an external reservoir which gives it a 5 gallon capacity, with this addition it cycles less and can power serious tools (intermittently). If you aren't willing to sacrifice shop space, you aren't willing to have your ears ringing and you aren't willing to shell out more that $200 then this is the perfect compressor. Heck, if you are willing to spend $200 I recommend you buy 2.

3)

Dremel. Everyone has a dremel (or should) the question is which model. I'm always disappointed when I see someone buy the standard model. I always wonder why they didn't buy the High speed rotary saw kit. It's just better. In every way better. OK, so it's about $10 more than the other models but other than that it's simply better. It works with all the same attachments but it has more horsepower, it comes with a plunge router kit, it comes with the Flex shaft and the rotary saw bits. Unless you are going with a cordless model this is the one to get. The motor unit is bigger to house it's extra horsepower but with the Flex shaft the motor unit's size doesn't matter. If all that weren't enough, to seal the deal it comes with a great case.

You can buy it here.

-Kevin

Guest writers coming

It aint' just me any more! I'm bringing on some guest writers to give you more and varied opinions. Some of them might even know what they're talking about. I may or may not edit, introduce, censor, mock, defer to, or disagree with them. You're on your own, dear reader.

First up: Kevin Smith, with three quick tool reviews, tomorrow.

A measuring tool you didn't know you needed

I'm always amazed at how many woodworkers don't know about calipers. These little metal instruments of hyperaccurate joyous delight are an absolute staple for machinists; they wouldn't be caught dead without one. It was the only tool I was required to buy in order to complete my engineering degree. Yet many woodworkers don't have one and wouldn't know what to do with it if they did.

A caliper is a brilliant tool designed to measure hyper-super-ultra-accurately in three ways. First, it measures thickness by pinching. This is the best known use for calipers. You can pinch anything in their metal jaws, and the readout will tell you how thick it is to an accuracy of a few mil. Mil, by the way, is the oddly-named abbreviation for thousandth of an inch. My hair, for example, is four mils thick. You would know how thick your hair was too if you had a caliper. Doesn't that just make you want to go out and buy one right now?

Anyway. There's a second wicked-looking set of backwards-point-jaw-things on the backside of a caliper. You can use those instead of the main pinchers with exactly the same readout. These measure width--just stick them in a hole and open the calipers until they won't open any more. You can use it to measure the width of a dado, the interior diameter of a pipe, the width of a kerf, and all sorts of other things. As with all measurements using a caliper be sure not to push too hard, as you can compress the wood fibers and make it look bigger than it really is.

Finally, the one most people don't know about--depth. As you open the caliper, a metal protrusion slides out of the bottom of it. You can set the caliper on the edge of a hole and extend this protrusion to measure the hole's depth, again to mil-level accuracy. Again, perfect for dado depths and the like, but I often repurpose it for length measurements as well--just lean the shoulder of the caliper against one end and extend the protrusion (damn I love that word) to the other end and you're good to go.

So which caliper to buy? First off, stay away from slide calipers and vernier calipers, unless your goal is to exercise your eyeballs and improve your slide-rule math skills, respectively. There's just no reason to abuse yourself like that when the alternatives are so cheap.

So that leaves you three good choices: a digital caliper, a fractional dial caliper, and a decimal dial caliper. All three are excellent choices.

I personally use a decimal dial caliper for nearly everything. I find it fastest to read, but that's probably because it was my first one and I'm used to it. I also have a digital caliper, I use from time to time--it's faster to read sometimes, but the numbers tend to jitter a bit when the thing you're measuring is a little soft and/or has some give to it (like, say, wood). The one I haven't used, but would probably recommend for beginners by reputation alone, is a fractional dial caliper. This mechanically indicates the measurement on a dial, but instead of reading off in mils, it reads off in fractions. The big downside is that it's less accurate than a decimal dial or a digital caliper, because one revolution around the circle is one inch. On a decimal dial caliper, TEN revolutions are one inch, meaning you can read about 10 times as accurately. For this reason, you might want one of each--a fractional caliper for standard measurements, and a digital or decimal dial one for when you're trying to shave a hairsbreadth (literally) off a tenon.

Oh, and length--I use 6". A 12" can be handy sometimes, although it's a little less accurate due to flex over the length of the instrument. 4" is nice because it fits in your pocket.

Get yourself a caliper, or two. You'll thank me for it.

This tool review could save your life (bonus: FREE TOOLS!)

Yup, this is a NSY FREE TOOL review. At the end of the article is information on how you can sign up for a chance to win the apron I'm reviewing in this article, free. Read this link for more information on the NSY editorial policy about reviews.

The Good: Cheap, useful, tough, protective.
The Bad: Rough workmanship; leather is not very heavy-duty.
The Bottom Line: For $25, you'd be a fool not to buy one right now.
NSY rating: FIVE THUMBS UP (5/5)

The Full Deal:
As I've mentioned before, a heavy leather shop apron is a valuable investment in your personal safety. Why is that? Well, it's simple. From time to time, various objects in your shop may decide to jump up in the air and move in a straight line at very high speed. Examples are chipped blade teeth, splinters kicked back from a saw, planer, or jointer, and the cat that likes to hang out near the base of my tablesaw. From time to time, these object like to impale themselves on the skin of a woodworker.

Now, this should be an easy question. Who's skin would you rather be impaled: yours, or a dead cow's?

A heavy apron is a key line of defense at knee-to-neck level, the place that splinters are most likely to be thrown. While it's not bulletproof, it's likely to stop something fast and sharp, or at least slow it down. Possibly enough to save your life, or at least a few pints of blood.

After originally giving this advice, I went to go follow it--and ran into a problem. I couldn't find a decently priced apron that met my requirements. Those requirements were:
1) coverage from my neck to my... well, let's just say coverage of some of the things I treasure most
2) leather, not canvas or denim, for maximum durability/stopping power
3) double-stiched seams and solidly stitched corners
4) handy pockets so I actually want to use it
5) easy on and off
Well, we find things we're looking for when we least expect. I was browsing woodworker.com's site when I stumbled upon this "Rugged Leather Apron". They were kind enough to provide two samples for review.

The pockets are well concieved and convenient. I immediately loaded mine up with pencils, a tape measure, and a box knife. Since I need one of those three things every ten minutes I'm in the shop, this guarantees that I won't be in the shop for more than ten minutes before I remember to put on my apron. There's ample space for more.

The apron is plenty long, covering everything important. I'm 6'3" and my wife is 5"7", and it fit us both perfectly with some quick adjustments to the straps. It's also wide enough to save your clothes from many spare drips and splotches. The multiple straps around the back keep things like untucked shirts out of the way. While it includes quick-release clasps, I found it easier to just slip in and out of, leaving the clasps closed.

Construction is remarkably solid, especially considering the low price (it's imported from China). Seams are double-stitched, with extra stitching around the straps. Corners are riveted (they appear to be plastic in the pictures, but are actually metal rivets). Some of the cut lines are less than straight, perhaps revealing its origins in the bovine protection business, or possibly just the result of some hasty scissorwork.

The leather itself is lighter and thinner than you would find in, say, a heavy-duty farrier's apron, but much more protective than the canvas or denim that most aprons are made out of. I promptly got some panel adhesive on it and scraped it off--some leather fibers came with (it had dried), but the material was completely intact. Try that with canvas.

This is a great apron; very handy from a usefulness standpoint, and a kick-me-in-the-head nobrainer from a safety standpoint.

Go buy one from woodworker.com. You'll thank me for it.

Oh yeah! I promised you a chance to win one of these for free, too, provided by the good folks at www.woodworker.com. Entries must be in by Jan 3 at midnight PST, and the winner will be announced some time after that. Go get it, tiger.

FREE TOOLS

Free tools!

Two notes to start with:
1) This is a brief diversion from Safety Month so I can set up my review of some safety equipment, and
2) The title is for real. I will be hooking you up with bona fide free tools, and I'm not talking about fifty cent tape measures either. You gotta read through a bunch of crap about journalistic ethics first to get to that part, though.

Every woodworking writer worth their salt will write reviews. You may think that's because there's a high demand among readers; that our discerning eye can reveal the finer points of differentiation between identical-seeming products; that we can ferret out the good buys from the bad. Well, you'd be wrong. That's not why woodworking writers get to write reviews.

It's because they get to keep the free stuff when they're done.

So, this poses a conflict of interest. My choices are:
Don't review things
Pros: Morals intact.
Cons: No free stuff.

Review stuff, but pay for it.
Pros: Morals intact.
Cons: Not only is there no free stuff, but I have to pay for stuff.

Accept free stuff, write only articles extolling its praises.
Pros: Free stuff for me!
Cons: I sell out my ethical obligations as a journalist. Ha, ha, ha.

So I was all ready to proceed with my career as a sellout woodworking journalist loaded with free stuff, when I hit upon a brilliant fourth option: sell out, but make you sell out with me. That's right, free tools for EVERYBODY!

It turns out this shouldn't be hard. Usually vendors send two tools for review, and I am hereby making it my policy to notify vendors who I request tools from for review that one of them will be given away, for free, to a lucky NSY reader. The only catch is that you pay the actual UPS shipping cost, 'cause I'm not going to lose money on the deal.

So what does this mean to you? A few things.
1) I am a big freakin sellout.
2) So are you. Instructions will be provided most reviews so you can sign up to win that tool, free.
3) Because of this, I might not publish reviews of certain crappy tools given to me for free. Hey, if they're giving it to me for free, I'm not going to slam it. I just won't run the review.
4) I'm not going to lie about it either, though. If I say it's great, it's great. I won't even leave out the bad parts. I just won't write reviews of crappy tools.
5) The tool vendor doesn't have any say in this at all.
6) If I paid for it, the gloves are off. Like remember when I was harshing on Ridgid? Yeah, that's not going away any time soon. This just applies to the free stuff.

So, summary recap:
1) I get free tools.
2) You get free tools.
3) We're a bunch of big fat sellouts, so...
4) If someone gives me a free tool and it stinks, I won't write a review about it.

And with that, we'll move on to the crown jewel of Safety Month: Nothing Severed Yet's first review, featuring Free Tool! Coming next post.

SawStop?

My brother recently told me about an update to a curious safety story I've been following for a few years: the persistant people of SawStop, who invented a new safety feature for tablesaws. They equip the saw with an enormous brake capable of stopping the blade in an instant. If their finely tuned electrical system detects that the blade has contacted a finger--or a Jenny O hotdog--it brings the whole thing to a screeching halt. Given the title of my weblog, you'd think I might be interested. There's a few catches, though.

First off, the saw you want doesn't come with it. Sawstop is involved in a fascinating battle to get this technology to you, but so far, they haven't got a single saw manufacturer to install their system on their product line. Instead, they've had to custom-commission specialty saws that they sell from their website and at tradeshows. Are they any good? Tough to say. Fine Woodworking has done two articles about the technology, but the only review of it is only available in their book, which I haven't read. It's a new saw from a new company, though, and that's a bit of a concern from a reliability standpoint.

Next, the system is expensive. The contractor version appears to come with stamped sheetmetal wings and a mediocre rip fence, yet still costs $799. The cabinet version weighs in at a hefty $2,499, although it does come with a riving knife. Even if it was available in mass production on conventional saws, it would probably add $100 to the cost of the saw.

And it's not necessarily infalliable. The jury's still out, but it looks like false alarms are possible. At $60 for a new brake cartridge, and $100+ for a replacement blade, you'll be pretty ticked off if it false-triggers for any reason (the braking process destroys the sawblade).

I love this idea. I want to keep my weblog name; I've grown fond of it. But until the big guys start putting it on their saws, I've got to recommend caution.

Dadgum gov'mint

If you want to learn more about safety, there's lots of excellent books and courses you can pay for. But why spend your own hard-earned dollars twice... your friendly federal government has spent the money already!

That's right, I'm talking about OSHA, the Occupational Safety and Health Association. These are the guys whose job it is to monitor real, prodction woodworkers, figure out what's chopping off their fingers, and determine what to do with it.

They've prepared all sorts of information on safety, most of which is deadly boring and hard to understand. However, I heartily recommend a jaunt through their woodworking etool at http://www.osha.gov/SLTC/etools/woodworking/. It's an easy read, and it will tell you on a machine-by-machine basis what's likely to chop your arm off (and what to do about it). After all, you paid for it, you might as well use it.

Note that the etool is "OSHA for dummies", where "dummies" is defined as "people who speak english instead of beauracro-speak". The full codes are there too, if you're having trouble falling asleep.

Give it a look. You'll thank me for it.

There are two kinds of woodworkers

There are two kinds of woodworkers. The first kind is often called the safety nut. This is the kind of woodworker who leaves guards in place wherever possible, uses pushsticks, and buys or builds extra safety equipment like fingerboards and pushsticks.

The second kind is often called stubby.

Are you a stubby? Find out, as the next few NSY posts deal with safety equipment I've known and loved.

For today, let me just share one quick safety note that many people overlook. When you're adjusting your tablesaw fence, it's common practice to have it slant ever-so-slightly away from the sawblade, usually 1/64" offset on the farthest side. If you do this, don't move the fence to the opposite side of the blade! If you do, it will be leaning TOWARDS the blade, which absolutely guarantees that the piece will bind between the blade and the fence, and inevitably cause both burning of the piece and rapid projectile motion of your lumber towards your belly button, aka kickback. While I'm at it, don't forget to stand to the side of your saw when cutting as an extra safety measure.

Keep an eye on your fence tilt. You'll thank me for it.

Stock up at Rockler

Use coupon code V5108 for 15% off at Rockler.com. Don't miss this if you're planning on building the world's most expensive musical jewelery box, or more practically, if you need to stock up on finishing products or sanding supplies.